The Greeks originally viewed their gods as impersonal forces of nature like Zeus representing the sky. Later, as Greek culture developed, the gods took on more human traits and emotions. For example, Athena came to represent wisdom and moderation while Aphrodite embodied love. The myths describe both positive traits like wisdom as well as negative ones like Zeus' womanizing and Poseidon's rape. Greeks viewed the gods out of fear, believing failure to please them could result in divine wrath and retribution.
The Greeks originally viewed their gods as impersonal forces of nature like Zeus representing the sky. Later, as Greek culture developed, the gods took on more human traits and emotions. For example, Athena came to represent wisdom and moderation while Aphrodite embodied love. The myths describe both positive traits like wisdom as well as negative ones like Zeus' womanizing and Poseidon's rape. Greeks viewed the gods out of fear, believing failure to please them could result in divine wrath and retribution.
The Greeks originally viewed their gods as impersonal forces of nature like Zeus representing the sky. Later, as Greek culture developed, the gods took on more human traits and emotions. For example, Athena came to represent wisdom and moderation while Aphrodite embodied love. The myths describe both positive traits like wisdom as well as negative ones like Zeus' womanizing and Poseidon's rape. Greeks viewed the gods out of fear, believing failure to please them could result in divine wrath and retribution.
Hera – God of the earth Later on As Greek culture developed, Greeks viewed their gods as more human by taking on human character traits or emotions:
Athena – Stands for wisdom and
moderation Aphrodite - Goddess of love Later on As Greek culture developed, Greeks viewed their gods as more human by taking on human character traits or emotions:
Athena – Stands for wisdom and
moderation Aphrodite - Goddess of love On a side note In the most famous version of her myth, Aphrodite’s birth was the consequence of a castration:
“Cronus severed Uranus' genitals and threw
them behind him into the sea. The foam from his genitals gave rise to Aphrodite (hence her name, meaning "foam-arisen")” Contrasting character traits Gods did not always have positive moral traits…they were often mischievous and sexual:
Zeus - the womaniser
Poseidon - the rapist View of the gods Gods were viewed out of fear of divine retribution. That meant to displease them or ignore them would result in their wrath.