Abstract
Ancient Greece and Egypt went though the long historical path with each civilization inheriting its own peculiarities and features. However, there was a period when they coexisted together in terms of time frameworks, thus influencing each other and adopting some common patterns. As regards to the religious believes these two civilizations introduced some common believes and perception of the world through religion and local believes. On the other hand, they both developed their own understanding of the environment and organizational structure with religion being in the center of both societies.
Keywords: Egypt, Greece, religion, gods, pantheon, believes.
The similarities and differences between religious beliefs of the ancient Greece and Egypt civilizations
Ancient Greece and Egyptian civilization are lost in times of history, but still widely discussed in terms of their religious structures. According to the Hellenic Foundation, Ancient Greece dates of 1100 BC with its decline in 146 BC, while Egyptian civilization lasted from 3110 BC to 31 BC when Pharaoh rule terminated (The British Museum). Both civilizations have some common features and fundamental differences, in particular as regards to the religion and its understanding. However, religious believes of two civilization are directly linked to their cultures as both are “inextricably interwoven” with religion being a subset of the later (Blanco, Leyva, Nicklaw, Winton, 2006).
When exploring Greek and Egyptian cultures in terms of their religious believes, we see that both ancient civilizations had Gods’ pantheon in the center of their world perception. For instance, ancient Egypt recognized various gods that were divided into personal gods, local gods and cosmic gods with over eighty gods being worshipped totally (Durant, 1935, p.197). On the other hand, we can see that Greece had many different gods as well. They were distinguished by the functional and attributive hierarchy with twelve major divinities being worshiped on a permanent basis (American Philosophical Society, 2001).
At the same time, with Gods’ pantheon being a center of both civilizations believes, they had significant differences as regards to society structure and outer world perception. When talking about Egypt we can say that religion was pervasive and deeply penetrated the entire society from totemism to theology, however, with no influence on morality (Durant, 1935, p.197). On the other hand, Greeks personified abstract objects and tools as well as endorsed moral sense and life to the surrounding world: they had Naiads, Gods of winds, Gods of rivers, Gods of seas, Gods of the woods and trees, Eurus, Auster and Zephyr, etc. (Godwin, 1814).
Further, both Greeks and Egyptians endorsed their gods with symbolic features that explained material world, social life and emotional conditions of the individual. We can see that dual nature of life is symbolically featured in negative and positive forces represented by opposite gods. For instance, Seth and Osiris were associated with death and life respectfully in Egypt (Morenz, 1994), while Uranus and Tellus represented Heaven and Earth relatively in Ancient Greece (Godwin, 1814). Egyptians presented their gods in pairs and through the divine family of …