Free Essays on Western Civilization

Greeks viewed gods in different ways. "Poseidon, now with all your heart defend the Danaas and give them glory, though only for a little, while Zeus still sleeps; since I have mantled a soft slumber about him and Hera beguiled him into sleeping in love beside her" (Iliad 44) shows that Greeks thought gods to be cunning or even deceiving. Even though they are icons of divinity, the fact that they deceive each other shows that they also possess human-like traits. Hera was cunning enough to distract Zeus with a ploy involving intimacy. As a result she was able to get her brother to help an attack on Earth that Hera wanted as victors. Greeks also had a large respect for the gods since they were the supreme beings. In the Iliad Hektor says, "Come then, shall we swear before the gods? For these are the highest who shall be witness over our arguments" (Iliad 45) to his opponent, Son of Peleus, during a fight. Gods were respected in a way that the Greeks thought that they were the most intelligent and able to decide what is just. The Greeks basically stressed the fact that the Gods were the epitome of divinity and the ultimate powers yet were still human-like. Unfortunately for this religion though, there was no evidence of the Gods showing love or emotion to the religion's followers. This led to the decline in early Greek Olympian religion and spawned the beginning of Mystery Cults. Mystery Cults branched off from the Greek Olympian religion. Mystery Cults' main purpose was to select a god to pay all attention to. These gods were gods who had died and were then reborn. In giving all of their attention to a single god they believed that they in turn would get special attention or even reborn within their life with better luck and a more fortunate life. Most Mystery Cults were based on a story about the god and what had happened in the story, very similar to how Christianity focuses on Jesus’ crucifixion. Also, a trait that most Myster... Free Essays on Western Civilization Free Essays on Western Civilization History is a subject in which people learned of their culture and lands back round. Most people learn about history from textbooks and or oral traditions. Other had a passion to present history in a different way. A way that others would appreciate more and still others would appreciate less. Movies are just another way to tell a story. That’s what history was, a story. There are many different stories that talk of our nations history or story. There were many important events that were documented in many films. This includes movies like â€Å"Glory†, â€Å"The Patriot†, just to name a few. This paper will concentrate on a smaller time frame though. This paper will deal with the area of time from our countries great depression, to the assassination of our countries youngest nominated president, John F. Kennedy. This area of time will deal with the adversity of this country. This counties strength in war, this countries corruption, this countries perseverance, and this countries screw ups. There are many things that are fabricated in these stories though. Things that will make Americans look less cruel or other ethnic groups that discriminated the Americans years ago. The United States army was and still is the strongest army in the world. But our forces faced a very grave challenge in the Second World War. That war brought about hard times. The Germans and the Japanese were just some of the people the Americans were fighting. There was a film released in the 2000’s that depicted the World War well. The movie was called â€Å"Saving Private Ryan.† This movie had a opening scene that depicts the battles that were very possible. This showed the United States forces landing on japans soil and attacking the Japanese forces. This battle was very deadly. Literally there were hundreds of lives were shown dying on film. The way war really was. Back then. The heartlessness, the racism, the torment that these soldiers. There was also the lo... Free Essays on Western Civilization Greeks viewed gods in different ways. "Poseidon, now with all your heart defend the Danaas and give them glory, though only for a little, while Zeus still sleeps; since I have mantled a soft slumber about him and Hera beguiled him into sleeping in love beside her" (Iliad 44) shows that Greeks thought gods to be cunning or even deceiving. Even though they are icons of divinity, the fact that they deceive each other shows that they also possess human-like traits. Hera was cunning enough to distract Zeus with a ploy involving intimacy. As a result she was able to get her brother to help an attack on Earth that Hera wanted as victors. Greeks also had a large respect for the gods since they were the supreme beings. In the Iliad Hektor says, "Come then, shall we swear before the gods? For these are the highest who shall be witness over our arguments" (Iliad 45) to his opponent, Son of Peleus, during a fight. Gods were respected in a way that the Greeks thought that they were the most intelligent and able to decide what is just. The Greeks basically stressed the fact that the Gods were the epitome of divinity and the ultimate powers yet were still human-like. Unfortunately for this religion though, there was no evidence of the Gods showing love or emotion to the religion's followers. This led to the decline in early Greek Olympian religion and spawned the beginning of Mystery Cults. Mystery Cults branched off from the Greek Olympian religion. Mystery Cults' main purpose was to select a god to pay all attention to. These gods were gods who had died and were then reborn. In giving all of their attention to a single god they believed that they in turn would get special attention or even reborn within their life with better luck and a more fortunate life. Most Mystery Cults were based on a story about the god and what had happened in the story, very similar to how Christianity focuses on Jesus’ crucifixion. Also, a trait that most Myster...