What was the religion like in Athens during the 5th century?

westcivhistory: What was the religion like in Athens during the 5th century?
I am doing a paper on the difference between religion between Athens in the 5th century and Florence in the 15th century. I know that gods were really important but I need more details about Athens’ religion in this century.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Zucary R
catholiC?

Answer by willk_500
greek mythology

Answer by Rickyyy
fu7

Answer by Nic O
it was greek???? They belived in alll gods in stuff>>>>

Answer by Gary X
try reading greek mythology which is tales of the gods

the main diff is gods (5th ) thus many temples vs God (15th) thus
Catholic catherdrals

other main thing is Greeks believed Gods were directly involved in everyday life which is what the tales of mythology are about

the Catholic church told the masses about any direct interaction of god or his agents in everyday life -modern example is how church goes about naming a saint-specific steps are involved such as the witnesses to a set number of miracles as defined by the church

Answer by carol j
The Greeks believed in many gods, like Zeus, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Apollo, Hermes, Ares, etc. Each major city-state had its own patron god or goddess – like Athena was the patron goddess of Athens and Aphrodite was the patron goddess of Corinth. Some more educated people in Athens and elsewhere didn’t believe in the gods as much as in Homer’s day. But poorer, less educated, or more rural people still did. There were shrines to gods and goddesses throughout Greece. They prayed to the gods and goddesses for favors, etc. Each god/goddess had their own attributes – for instance, you prayed to Hera the queen of the gods if you were expecting a baby or in childbirth. Athena was the goddess of wisdom and war and you would pray to her about these things. In Athens, they also had the Panathenaic games every year in honor of Athena – sports contests like the Olympics. Religion was one of the very few areas in ancient Greece where women played a prominent part.

Answer by Year of the Dragon
Athens was part of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, and this was the century that Rome fell.

Rome was Christian and had been since the time of the Emporer Constantine in the 4th century. When Rome fell, the eastern portion of the empire, which included Greece, became the Eastern Roman Empire, and its religion was Christianity. This empire eventually became known as the Byzantine empire. The type of Christianity that evolved there is known as Orthodox Christianity. this is essentiaslly the same religion practiced in Greece today.

In the west, Catholicism developed, although it was a pretty weak institution until the 11th century. The ‘Greek’ church of the east and the ‘Latin’ church of the west hated each other.

Hope that helps.