Ancient Greek Belief System

Ryan Sanders
15 September 2013
Humanities
Essay 1

Belief Systems of Ancient Civilizations
Taking a look at two early civilizations, the Greeks and the Mayas, there are many differences between the two. However, even though they were thousands of miles apart, there were also many similarities. The belief systems, for example, of the Greeks and Maya centered on gods and goddesses because of the lack of an original text such as the Bible. For the Greeks Zeus was the supreme god, and for the Mayas it was Itzamna. The Greek people chose stories of gods and heroes as a way to explain the world around them from the weather to natural disasters. The Mayan people also chose gods to explain the things they could not. The Mayans, however, had gods
Disputes, such as murders, were handled by the affected families which compounded the issues and many times led to blood feuds. Then, there was an amazing advancement in the legal system of the ancient Greeks. Around 620 BC Draco, the lawgiver, wrote the first known written law of Ancient Greece. The two most well-known developers of laws in Ancient Greece were Draco and Solon. They wrote laws called tort laws, which occurs when someone does harm to you or your property, family laws, public laws, and procedural laws. The Mayans, however, had a different start to their legal system. “The laws that governed the various Maya states were issued by the halach uinic and his council, or by the council alone if the state did not have a halach uinic” (Foster 2002). The batabs, who served as judges and administrators, would review the evidence in a public meeting house, known as a popilna, evaluate the circumstances, determine if the act was deliberate or accidental, and order appropriate punishment. There are differences between the two civilizations and how they came about laws and carried out punishments, but there definitely were laws early on in both
In the Mayan culture, “noble status and the occupation in which a noble served were passed on through elite family lineages” (Foster 2002). Nobles served as rulers, government officials, military leaders, and high priests. In Ancient Greece, to be a member of the upper class you must be from Athens and you can’t be tied down by an occupation. Meaning, a member of the upper class must be free from economic tasks such as trading. The two cultures have very much in common when it comes to how social order is determined. The middle class, or commoners, usually worked as farmers, laborers, or servants. This was generally the case in both cultures. This is the same with the lower class. This class was made up of serfs and slaves or men and women who were once slaves. The belief system really didn’t have an effect on a person’s status in the social order. Unless that person is a priest in which case they would most definitely be a member of the upper