Polytheism of Ancient Greek and Babylonians Compared

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Common Features
Differences
Conclusion
Work Cited

Introduction

Religion is part and parcel of the complex whole in any given social structure. Religion as a whole covers people’s belief systems, which enable members of society to adapt and survive in a given environment. Some people may believe in the existence of one god (monotheist) while others may believe in the existence of many gods as well as goddesses (polytheist). From polytheist, we derive polytheism which simply refers to a belief system whereby members of a society believe in or worship multiple supernatural beings.

These supernatural beings are either good or bad and do hold a special position in people’s day-to-day activities. They are worshiped and from time to time feasts or ceremonies are held in their honor. Polytheism is predominant in both the ancient Greek and Babylonian societies’ religions. Like many societies, Greek and Babylonian polytheism do share some common characteristics and they also portray a good deal of differences which will be outlined in this essay.

Common Features

To begin with polytheism as per my definition represents the presence of many gods in society and this is evident in the Greek society as well as among the Babylonians. The Greeks, for example, have gods and goddesses with names such as Athena, Zeus, Hera, and Apollo among many others while among the Babylonians we have Anu, Mardux, Kingu, Ishtar, and Ea among others. All these gods are united and they function together but they are not given the same treatment during feasts and ceremonies. This is due to the fact that some gods are seen as being more important than others although we all understand that they all fulfill the same purpose in society.

Johnstone (2004) points out that the Greek and Babylonian polytheism ‘know three spheres of dimensions of divine presence and religious experience.’ These three religious spheres are the cosmos, cult and political organization, and myth. Cosmos basically represents a system that is orderly and all the sub-parts of the system are in harmony with one another and they work together in addressing various societal problems. In the two societies, one can confidently say that the deities work closely in creating and maintaining the world of the people. This aspect expresses itself very well in the social and political structures of society. Among Babylon’s, we have Marduk while the Greek has Zeus.

Turning on to the cult and political organization the gods do participate in the political and governance structures of the societies. Johnstone (2004) argues that ‘town names are associated with a deity whose temple is the chief temple of that town.’ The Greek city Athens is associated with Athena which is a deity while the big city in Babylon is Marduk which also represents one of the deities among Babylon’s. Remember that the deities are worshiped and this makes the divinity ideology in the politics of this society become a cult. The deities receive cultic worship in terms of ceremonies as well as feasts that are celebrated by the people who dwell in the city because to them they represent the roles of a town lord or a lady who deserves and commands respect.

Myths on the other hand represent the personal or biographic aspect of the divine world (Johnstone, 2004). This basically means that at no one time can a person speak of one deity without mentioning other deities. This is due to the fact that although deities may be many and different they make up one body which enhances the survival of the society. In addition, Johnston points out that all these gods ‘live, act, and display their personalities and characters in interactions in relations to other gods.’ Thus from a look at the relationship of the deities in a society one can easily construct a lineage, i.e. we end up talking of a husband and wife, mother and daughter, father and son, brother and sister, etc.

To add more weight to this Lloyd-Jones (2001) reporting in the Proceedings of the American philosophical society gives us the myth of the ancient Greek which gives us a good example of the relationship that existed among the deities in ancient Greek. ‘Hera is the consort of Zeus ant the patroness of marriage, she is also the mother of craftsman’s god Hephaestus and of the war god Ares and she was not the mother of Athena the goddess of wisdom and Apollo.’ Tallon (2007) presents the case for the Babylonians. He points out that ‘The moon god Sin, was the son of Enkil, consorted with Ningal and fathered other god Ishtar, Shamash and Eris Kigali.

Differences

The Babylonian culture was more advanced compared to the Greeks and this is due to the fact that the Babylonians had well-documented evidence which gave hints into their gods and goddesses. Babylonians were very good at building structures and through archaeological excavations, a lot of information on deity worshipping has been obtained. King (2005) argues that ‘from the records of building operations, and from the votive tablets deposited in the temples, we gain much information regarding worship of the deities.’ The bible which is very well documented also gives us a good account of the Babylonian religion.

Among the Ancient Greek religion, written records on their religion are not many. Instead, they valued art and literature. Thus the Greeks had more emphasis on poetry and other forms of literature which is not recorded. The poetry work was passed on from one generation to the next and therefore the vital information on their deities could not be lost easily. Lloyd also points out that the Greeks ‘had no conception of soul, and there was no heaven for departed souls.’ Although there was no heaven or hell the ancient Greeks did obey their deities because failure to do was attracted contagion or pollution which called for a cleansing ceremony.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both the ancient Greeks and Babylonians were polytheists; they did not believe in the existence of one Supreme Being. Their religions were characterized by the presence of many gods which were worshipped at different times. Although these gods and goddesses are not equal from society’s point of view they are important since the beliefs around them enable the society to address the problems which are beyond human comprehension. The two societies also share the same cosmic, political organization and myths in terms of their religious experiences even though they are totally different. The Babylonians had a more advanced culture in that written records could be traced easily while the Greeks had very well-detailed poems which carried all the information touching on their religions.

Work Cited

Johnstone, S. I. Religions of the Ancient World: A guide. New York: Harvard University Press, 2004.

King L. W. Babylonian Religion and mythology. London: Adamant Media Corporation, 2005.

Lloyd-Jones, H. (2001): Proceedings of the American Philosophical society: promoting useful knowledge (Volume.145, 4).

Orrreux, C. and Schmitt, P. A history of Ancient Greece. New York: Blackwell publishing company, 1999.

Tallon, J.: The scientific origin of God-a Response. New Zealand Science Review. Vol. 64 (2) 2007.

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Polytheism of Ancient Greek and Babylonians Compared

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