this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2023
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People call it mythology, but it was really Greek and Roman religion.
No, actually, it wasn't. It is categorically called mythology and not religion for one very simple reason. A religion requires an overarcing system of formal beliefs or dogma that it teaches. Mythology establishes faith through stories and epics. There is no dogma or belief system that's taught hand in hand with these Greek stories. You're expected to gain basic lessons through the folly of others.
Religion and mythology are not the same. Things aren't suddenly called mythology once they're not believed by a lot of people. It is called mythology because that's what it is.
Thanks for the splainer. You sure know a lot about this stuff......
I just like to read.
No...that's pretty much exactly how that happens.
Religion is ritual devotion to a higher being. Full stop. The fact that the Greeks and Romans worships a pantheon instead of a single god makes no difference whatsoever.
I majored in Near Eastern Classical Archaeology and that came with a heavy does of anthropology. What you're saying is meaningless pedantry that ONLY comes from people who are too insecure to admit that their own Monotheistic religion is in fact just a made up mythology like every other faith that's ever come and gone on the planet.
No. You are flagrantly wrong in this case.
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I'm more inclined to believe trusted experts than I am a commenter like yourself.
Dude you literally just said it yourself;
"formally organized beliefs and practices typically centered around the worship of supernatural forces or beings"
What do you think is taking place when they are sacrificing a bull or a lamb to Zeus, or visiting the temple of Dionysus. Romans (since we're using them as an example) had very structured forms of worship around their gods. So how exactly is that NOT a religion in your brain?
Because we are talking about mythology not religion. I have never stated that mythology cannot be a part of religion or that they are mutually exclusive. I am merely stating that they are different. Anything else is something you're adding onto it yourself.
I don't get what's so difficult to understand about it. They're not mutually exclusive but you keep compounding them into the same thing. Religion can have mythology and I've never said that it can't. I've merely said that they're different which is true. You're arguing that the liver and the immune system is the same thing. I'm merely saying that they work together.
I have provided sources. You can educate yourself on your own time, not mine. I'm not interested in continuing this conversation. You clearly don't know what you're talking about. You keep claiming you have an education in this yet every single source contradicts you and proves you wrong. You, on the other hand, haven't provided a single source beyond "I have a diploma". I don't trust your education. I trust sources and experts. Considering you have failed to provide a single shred of evidence to back up your claims, I'm going to stick to stuff that has been proven over your random claims based off of your own insane misunderstanding of what is even being talked about in the first place, claims that you have not once backed up at any point in this thread.
Good luck with whatever that behavior is. If you even do have a diploma I feel so incredibly bad for your professors that you didn't learn rule number 1: Provide sources and don't believe blindly.
A degree in classical archaeology is more than enough education versus someone who read a couple of articles online. But keep on believing what you want. Enjoy your day.
Religion doesn't require devotion to a higher being, or even ritual. What about, say, Zen?
The whole distinction between philosophy, religion and, heck, even psychology is a very very Abrahamic/western-centric view.
I'm just curious, but the definition sounds like distinguishing between religion and faith not exactly religion and mythology. Animism or shamanism doesn't always have overarching dogma to teach nor actively ask other people to believe in them. Ancient Greek people did some rituals and sacrifice, that practices they did doesn't count as religion?
And yet it was part of their religion. The fact that other aspects did not survive to the present day does not change that.
Dude. No. Again, you are conflating religion with mythology.
They are seperate things. Religion can exist without mythology and mythology can exist without religion. Some forms of Greek religion, such as ancient Greek paganism, did include mythology as part of their religion but it was not universal.
This "Part of their religion" thing makes even less sense than saying mythology and religion are the same. Not all Greeks shared the same beliefs. There is a reason why we keep saying Greek mythology when we're talking about Greek mythology. It's because we're talking about the mythology. Religion has no relevance here. Please stop confusing the two and throwing them in the same basket.
Id argue that they are the same conceptually, and digging any deeper is splitting hairs. Both are made up stories to make ourselves feel better about death, as well as tips and tricks on how to live.
Which is an aggressively bad argument that is a gross generalization of what's going on, conflating two completely different fields, and then ignoring the conversation as a whole being about MYTHOLOGY and not religion.
They're the not same thing. It isn't splitting hairs. They are related but they are very distinctly different. What you're essentially saying is that Texans are Americans and its splitting hairs to point out the differences. It really isn't splitting hairs when the differences are beyond vast. So vast that they literally have classes on the differences between mythology and religion...
... but texans are americans?
look, mythology and religion may not refer to precisely the same thing, but there was a relationship between greek mythology and religious practice. understanding one is helpful in understanding the other.
Yes. And mythology can be part of religion. My point is that they are distinctly different from one another. This does not mean mutually exclusive from one another. You can have mythology within a religion but the entire post and conversation has been about mythology, not religion. You came into this conversation and immediately conflated them both by saying that "people think they're talking about mythology when they're talking about religion." That is categorically false. Most people are not talking about the religious aspects of the beliefs of Ancient Greeks. People don't focus on the sacrifices that were made to Zeus. They focus on the tales and fables like that of Narcissus or Heracles or Arachne. None of which are religion. They are myths that are then folded into the religion itself. You are the one who isn't recognizing the difference between what is a myth and what is religion.
I'm disengaging from the rest of this thread. Sources have been provided. Feel free to read them for clarification.
And it was sooooo gay.