Humanities reflection

Running head: REFLECTION ESSAY 1

REFLECTION ESSAY 3

Reflection Essay

The Odyssey is a poem written during peacetime in the eighth century BCE about events that had occurred 200 years earlier. The poem is about a Greek hero Odysseus who was also the king of Ithaca and his journey which took about ten years to reach Ithaca after the Trojan War. According to the poem, assumed dead Odysseus's wife Penelope a son had to contend with a group of suitors who were unruly suitors. After returning to Ithaca, Odysseus had to kill all those unruly suitors something that started a cycle of violence (CrashCourse, 2014). The other story is about Democritus an ancient Greek who lived about 440BCE. Democritus was a pre-Socratic philosopher well known for his formulation of the atomic theory where he proposed about tiny particles making up everything in the world. The theory was proven centuries later by J.J Thomson with electron discovery and other scientists such as Rutherford and Werner Heisenberg (TED-Ed, 2014). This discussion will be a reflection paper comparing these religious ideas presented by both the Odyssey literature and the search for the atom literature which started with Democritus.

In terms of religion, the Greek religion had a set of complex sets of ideas, values, and rituals. Some of the different ways through which people understood religion is that during this period Greeks worshiped many gods with different domains and personalities, for instance, Athena who liked Odysseus very much. The ancients believed in powerful influences such as the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer where mortal and immortal existed. More so, Greek religion during this period was being followed by most of the ancient humans across the world as considering Greek was a major influence in most aspects of human lives. Unlike today where we have a single guiding scripture such as the Muslim Qur’an and the Christian bible, that was not the case in ancient Greek nor were there a priestly case where people could practice their religion. The relationship between human beings, gods, and goddesses was based on the expectation that the immortals would give the mortal’s gifts. On the other hand, the human would thank gods and goddesses through votive offerings as a form of worship. During the Democritus period, people understood religion as conservative but still tried to formulation some of the science knowledge to how things existed. This is a period where some aspects of religions such as gods' immortality could be criticized by some of the artists, intellectuals, and philosophers. For instance, Democritus was a materialistic person who believed that through a physical process, his soul was made of atoms. He disbelieved in some of the popular religions as his mindset was towards the universe having only atoms where mechanical laws governed them. More so, religion was more personal and present in all walks of life which were characterized libation, myths, animals sacrifice temples, artistic competition, national sporting, and city festivals. So in terms of religious similarities between the two units, they were temples, rituals and priests, mysteries and oracles, festivals and games, and personal religion.

Personal religion was one similarity in both units as Greek religion was practiced by private individuals anywhere and anytime in a very personal way. This was in private homes, temples, and other places where people could want to visit and say a customary player as they believed the various gods were together with them anywhere, they walked. If they need a god of war, they would seek him through sacrifices and prayer and thus religion formed a significant part of the ancient Greeks in both units the raise of other religions such as Christianity. Another similarity in fewer religions among the two units was holding festivals and games to honor various gods. During such times, warfare was not allowed to show the sacred nature of such events. More so, in terms of religion, ancient Greeks viewed priests, rituals, and temples as part of their religious lives. Even if during the Democritus period people believed in gods with only the intellect and philosophers questioning their immortality, most of the population believed in gods dwelling in places such as temples and springs.

Some of the occurrences that made ancient Greek change their view included sympathetic interest and also criticism among the intellect who could question some of the religious-related actions. Generally, people prayed to the gods for safety and health in all aspects of lives with most praters being committed in a community setting through sacrifice and offerings to please the immortals who believed to control their lives. Regardless, things were not the same in death where they believed they were no reassurance in the underworld ruled by Hades with moldering horror. Due to sympathetic interest for even life after death, ancient Greeks opted for new cults and religions making their religious lives become a more personal quest. More so, the number of intellects and philosophers would question nature and religious beliefs were also increasing leading to criticism in some religious aspects changing how Greeks view some of the past believed and values of their religion.

Comparing 21st-century ideas to the ideas from the two periodic times in ancient Greek, one can argue that today's ideas are more rational in almost angle. People have improved in terms of science with some of the ideas from such periods like the formulation of atoms that have been explored and utilized to advance the technology in the 21st century. One may differentiate between the ideas of the ancient Greeks and today is in terms of religions. People are more reasoned even when choosing regions having few major religions such as Christianity, and Muslim being followed by a large magnitude. More, today ideas are measured, analyzed, and reviewed as compared to an ancient time where people mainly believed in almost every idea without analyzing them or reviewing them.

Reference

CrashCourse (2014). A Long and Difficult Journey, or The Odyssey: Crash Course Literature 201. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS4jk5kavy4&feature=youtu.be

TED-Ed (2014). The 2,400-year search for the atom-Theresa Doud. Retrieved fromhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xazQRcSCRaY&feature=youtu.be