Download Greek and Roman Religion

Hello and welcome to my research page. I hope you can learn from this as much as I did while
completing this project.
Here is a written response I was requested to give, which will hopefully give you a bit of
information about me:
My Future Career
I am not entirely sure what I want to do when I get older and I am prone to change my mind, but
right now, I would really enjoy working in the video game industry. I do not think I am quite
ready for any in-depth work like programming or scripting, but I think I would be excellent at
graphic design or story writing. I am also not entirely sure if I want to be part of an actual
company, like Sony or Microsoft, or an Indie developer, which are small teams or individual
people working on a game (or several). This is only what I want to do, not necessarily what I
should do for work. What I probably should do, and what has a very good pay (not that I am too
interested in money) would be chemical engineering. I hear that DOW has a shortage of
American workers, and is hiring from other countries as a result. Because of this, they would be
more inclined to accept a qualifying American than a foreigner. I believe that would be a good
career choice. Again, my opinion on this matter is subject to change, and I would hate to have a
desk job. Unless it was in front of a monitor for nine hours, I would not enjoy it. This is quite a
dilemma. What I want to do with good pay, and fun work and interesting environment, or
excellent pay with a potentially boring job and dull environment.
The main question for this topic was: What are the
differences between the Greeks and Romans?
There are also four sub-questions I broke the main question into.
1.
2.
3.
4.
What are the differences between the Greek and Roman religions?
How did the architecture differ between the Greek and Romans?
How did the fighting styles differ between the Greeks and Romans?
When were the Greeks conquered? When were the Romans?
Greek and Roman Religion
The Greek and Roman religions are very similar. Both the Greeks and Romans were
Polytheistic, which is the belief in more than one god. If you look closely; you can find that most
Greek gods have a Roman counterpart.
The Greeks
The Greeks had several main gods, Zeus the god of thunder, Hera, the goddess of marriage
and Zeus’s wife, Poseidon, the god of the oceans, Hades, the god of the underworld, Athena,
goddess of wisdom, Artemis, goddess of the hunt, Apollo, Artemis’s twin brother, god of
archery, Dionysus, the god of wine, Ares, god of war, Hephaestus, god of the forge, Demeter,
goddess of the harvest, Aphrodite, goddess of love, Hermes, the messenger god, and Hestia,
goddess of the hearth. Aside from these “major gods”, there were also large sums of “minor
gods” too. These gods were often described as “human in form, un-aging, nearly immune to all
wounds and sickness, capable of becoming invisible, able to travel vast distances almost
instantly, and able to speak through human beings with or without their knowledge”.
The Romans
The Roman religion did not really evolve until their contact with Greeks. Their religion was
cobbled together from the many locations they added to their empire. Greek, Sabine, and ProtoIndo-European were all prominent within their religion. They had three main gods they
worshipped, including Jupiter, who was the god of rain and lightning, who is comparable to the
Greek god Zeus, Mars, the god of war, was derived from Ares, who is also a Greek god. Finally,
the third god main god of the Romans, named Quirinus, who was either a true Roman god or a
Sabine god.
Architecture
The Greeks
The Romans
Fighting Styles
The Greeks
The Greek warriors were know as hoplites, probably named after their shields, known as
hoplons, which were about seventeen to thirty three pounds and were made of wood and coated
with bronze. These shields were round and had a radius of about one and a half to one and three
quarter feet. Due to the design of the shields, it provided more mobility, a way to rest it on the
shoulder, and as a pseudo weapon to bash opponents with. Greek hoplites could form a shield
wall and use their spears, called Doru, to attack oncoming attackers, while the rows behind them
either help attack or help hold ground. This maneuver was known as a phalanx. The Doru were
about seven to nine feet in length and often had some form of leaf-shaped spearhead. The spears
were carried with the right hand while the shields were carried with the left. There were also less
well-known parts of the Greek armies. The light infantry troops, along with cavalry (warriors
who fought on horseback) were used as skirmishers to
The Romans
The Romans were so effective at warfare, at the height of their power; they conquered
what is now known as “England/Wales, Spain, France, most of Germany, the northern coast of
Africa, the Middle East and Greece,” – HistoryLearningSite, “the Roman Army”. When a Roman
foot soldier, called a legionnaire, went into battle, they carried three main pieces of equipment,
the Pilum, a sort of spear used to cause disorder in the enemy troops while the legionnaires made
short work of the soldiers with their gladius, a double-edged short sword the Romans used in
close-quarters. These were more often used for stabbing rather than slashing. For defense,
legionnaires held a large rectangular shield with a curve around it to protect the holder from all
sides. These shields were called scutum, and were often used to bash and shove opponents as
well as deflect blows. Because of the integrity of these shields, opponents tired themselves out
hacking and slashing at it. When in danger of projectiles, the legionnaires at the edges would
hold out their shields, while the ones in the center would raise them up to form a near
impenetrable barrier. This maneuver is known as the “tortoise,” – Guttman, Jon. "Roman
Gladius and Scutum: Carving out an Empire.”
The End of an Empire
The Fall of Greece
After Alexander the Great conquered most of the western world, absorbing the Persians
and defeating the Egyptians, he died. After his early death, his two wildly different cultures he
had under his control threatened to tear apart. His generals fought each other for control over the
remains of Greece. After a brutal civil war, the generals each left and formed four separate
kingdoms. Apparently, “One of the most famous of these kingdoms was Egypt under the
Ptolemy’s. The Ptolemy dynasty ruled out of Alexandria, where the famous library was built. For
the most part, they retained their Greekness, but portrayed themselves as Pharaoh to the native
Egyptians,” -- "The Fall of Ancient Greece." Squidoo
Due to the spreading of the Greek people, they suffered a massive population loss. “…the
whole of Greece has been subject to a low birth-rate and a general decrease of the population,
owing to which cities have become deserted and the land has ceased to yield fruit…” -- Polybius,
The Histories, Book XXXVI, section V. With all of the population loss, Greece, or what was left
of it, was crippled, and became easy prey for the Romans.
The Fall of Rome
Bibliography
"The Fall of Ancient Greece." Squidoo. Web. 31 May 2012.
<http://www.squidoo.com/fall_ancient_greece>.
"12 Olympians - The Gods and Goddesses of Mt. Olympus." About.com Ancient / Classical History.
Web. 01 June 2012. <http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/greekmythology/g/12Olympians.iA5.htm>.
“Greek Warriors." Ancient Greek Warriors. Web. 01 June 2012.
<http://www.ancientmilitary.com/greek-warriors.htm>.
"The Roman Army." The Roman Army. Web. 01 June 2012.
<http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/roman_army.htm>.
“Roman Weapons." Roman Weapons. Web. 01 June 2012. <http://www.ancientmilitary.com/romanweapons.htm>.
Riordan, Rick. The Son of Neptune. New York: Disney/Hyperion, 2011. Print.
Riordan, Rick. The Lost Hero. New York: Disney/Hyperion, 2010. Print.
Gage, Elizabeth. Pandora's Box. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990. Print.