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Greek Religion
Religion was very important to the ancient Greeks They believed that the gods controlled everything in their lives and it was important to please the gods otherwise they might punish you. Olympus, the biggest mountain in mainland Greece is 2917 metres high. It is part of a large mountainous area in northern Greece. From the south side the mountain looks bare, grim and uninviting. For much of the year the mountain is covered in snow. It is often surrounded by wisps of clouds, which make it look mysterious. The Greeks believed that Mt Olympus reached the upper air and was chosen as the ideal place in which to live by the gods. In places the rocky peaks looked like huge seats for the gods to sit on. They could look out from here and see all that was taking place below them. They could fly to far away places and help and protect any mortal who called on them. The people below working in the fields or sailors out at sea could look up at the clouds and imagine that the gods were looking after them or, more often, causing trouble. The Greeks imagined that their gods looked very much like human beings. They even behaved like them and could feel such things as anger, love and jealousy. If there were a war on earth the gods would take sides and argue among themselves. However there were important differences between gods and men.

The gods were immortal and instead of blood they had an undying liquid called ichor, which made them immortal.Their food, called ambrosia, which was very sweet, made them live forever. They were fond of feasts and ate at golden tables. They had a honey drink called nectar, which they always drank out of golden cups. In addition the gods loved the smell of meat being cooked by mortals after a sacrifice. Sacrifices were made by humans as part of ceremonies to honour the gods. The gods were extremely powerful. If they liked the offerings made by humans they could be very kind, but if something angered them they could turn cruel and nasty and send things like storms, famines, plagues earthquakes, illness and even death. When a god or goddess visited earth, he or she would usually change appearance. Sometimes they could look like a well known human, sometimes an animal or bird or sometimes be invisible. So you would never know how a god might be disguised!