Blog Post 22- Ancient Western Religions

Chapter Review Questions

1.     Zoroastrianism rose and flourished in ancient Iran or Persia near the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.

2.     After Persia was conquered by the Greeks Zoroastrianism spread. Islam also pushed Zoroastrianism to India.

3.     Around the age of thirty, Good Thought carried Zarathustra in the form of a disembodied soul to Ahura Mazda. After this event he realized and started preaching about monotheism.

4.     The sacred text is the Avesta and the Gathas are the oldest part of them. It was written by Zarathustra.

5.     Ahura Mazda is the one true God or Wise Lord. It is eternal and universal goodness.

6.     Ethical dualism is the belief in the forces of good and evil.

7.     The Lie is the evil force that his hostile spirit child took on.

8.     Humans must chose between the truth and the Lie or good verses evil.

9.     After death, humans undergo judgment the good enter paradise and the evil are cast to the abyss. It is the individual’s responsibility is they are to pass or fail judgment.

10.  The ethical demands include caring for livestock and fields, live a simple life and tell the truth and do what is right.

11. Parsis are the Zoroastrians that are still around and live in India.

12. The Bible of the ancient Greeks are the poems the Iliad and the Odyssey.

13.  The Greek gods had human characteristics.

14.  Aeschylus shows the gods as having great power but also enforcing moral principles. This can be shown in the play Agamemnon.

15.  An oracle was a sanctuary favored by a particular god who communicated with those who visited the site. The most famous was the one at Delphi.

16. The three basic aspects are individuals had to choose to become initiated and went through an initiation ritual. Initiates experienced a personal encounter with the deity, and initiates gained spiritual renewal through participation and hope for a better afterlife.

17.  The Eleusinian mysteries honored Demeter and Persephone.

18. Dionysus is the god or fertility vegetation and the vine. He is often depicted with vines and grapes.

19.  The goal is that the soul might eventually escape the body realize its divine nature.

20. Plato believed that we know things in this life because of what we experienced in previous lives.

21. Plato believed that the truth exist independently from the body.

22. Both were called Savior and the intimacy of the worshipers with them is similar.

23.  Numina is supernatural powers and they populated Roman homes, towns, and countrysides. They inhabited fields, streams, trees, doorways, altars, and shrines.

24.  Jupiter was the most powerful Roman god.

25.  Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Neptune, Mercury, and Saturn are gods and planets.

26. The official worship practices helped maintain the welfare of the state because the gods were at peace.

27.  Mithraism and the mystery religion that celebrated Isis were the two rivals to Christianity.

28. Osiris was married to Isis. Osiris was hacked into pieces by his brother and Isis searched for the body parts and mummified them. He came back to life and became god of the underworld.

29. Augustus encouraged the worship of the emperor’s genius or guardian spirit, which guarded the welfare of the entire state of Rome.

30.  Christian didn’t want to go against their belief in one God, and the Romans thought that if they didn’t accept emperor worship they didn’t support the state.