Essay Greek Mythology vs. Ancient Near East Mytholgy

Greek Mythology played a monumental role in the structural development of ancient Greece, not only as a society, but as individuals. Surprisingly, their religion was not exactly one of originality. In fact, their religion was loosely based on earlier cultures’ religions. It bears many strikingly similar resemblances to some of the oldest recorded religions in history. Ancient Greek religion is a type of polytheism called â€Å"Monarchial Polytheism.† That is, they believe in several different gods and deities but there is a supreme ruler above all of them. In order to fully understand how similar the mythological systems of religions have been throughout the years, you must look back towards the earliest of recorded civilizations. Polytheism†¦show more content†¦Historian Jean Bottero, who is one of the most knowledgeable individuals on ancient Mesopotamian religion, believes that â€Å"their gods were not viewed mystically, who had to be obeyed and feared as opposed to loved and adored.† The city-states of Mesopotamia also had patron gods or goddesses much like the Poleis of the ancient Greek city-states. Each city would adopt a particular god or goddess who they would pray to and offer sacrifices in order to please them. They looked to all the gods with respect as their rulers but their patron god or goddess was of the utmost importance to please. They believed that all fortune, good or bad, stemmed from the deity that watched over their particular city. Even though there are so many similarities between these religions, the ancient Greeks did not just start out with an almost exact parallel to the Mesopotamians. The earliest of the ancient Greeks were agriculturalists living on the Balkan Peninsula. They used Animism and assigned a spirit to virtually every aspect of nature. When tribes north of the peninsula invaded and conquered them, the spirits of nature either fused with the new pantheon of gods based on power, battle, force and conquest or faded into insignificance. Although there are many similarities to these religions, the ancient Greeks went a little more in depth with their