WORLD HISTORY
he Judeo-Christian religions were founded in an area of the world where savior religions survive for thousands of years before the infusion of the Judeo Christian religion
SOME CHARACTERISTICS:
Judeo Christian mythos was based on monotheism - belief in only one god whereas Greco-Roman mythos was based on polytheism - belief in many goods. This is one of the basic differences
The nature of the Gods was also an important difference. While Greco Romans believed the gods to be as human men with the same natures as human men and the same feelings and faults while the Judeo-Christians believed their god to be perfect in every way, without faults or human foibles, thus making their god beyond reach of human understanding and perception thus the Judeo-Christian approached their god with great fear.
The Romans viewed their gods as approachable since their natures were the same with the one and only difference mortality, this made the Roman gods a approachable and better understood than the Judeo-Christian god thus the Romans approached their gods as almost equals and lacked the great fear that the Judeo-Christian felt for their god.
Another difference was the equality of the sexes. Roman mythos viewed the female as an honorable partner of the male and as such honored her and revered in the form of many of the Goddess such as Hera, Minerva, Ceres, Vesta, Diana, Venus, etc.
Here is a list of the Roman gods…as you can see there are as many female gods as there are male whereas in the Judeo-Christian god there is NO mention of the female which are excluded from divinity.
Jupiter - King of the Gods Juno - Queen of the Gods Neptune - God of the Sea Pluto - God of Death Apollo - God of the Sun Diana - Goddess of the Moon Mars - God of War Venus - Goddess of Love Cupid - God of Love Mercury - Messenger of the Gods Minerva - Goddess of Wisdom Ceres - The Earth Goddess Proserpine - Goddess of the Underworld Vulcan - The Smith God Bacchus - God of Wine Saturn - God of Time Vesta - Goddess of the Home Janus - God of Doors Uranus - Father of Saturn Maia - Goddess of Growth Flora - Goddess of Flowers (see Maia)
Plutus - God of Wealth (see Pluto)
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES:
SACRIFICE - both offered sacrifices however, the Romans' sacrifice was to honor their gods while the Judeo Christians was to appease and pacify - again the evidence of fear that the Romans andother pagan religions lacked.
STRUCTURES - Both erected 'great houses' [temples churches and synagogues] to house their gods however the embellishments were very different. Romans were almost stoic in their decorations of these great houses for the gods, large in proportions but sparse in decorations whereas the Judeo Christians heaped gold, jewels and other embellishments again with the purpose of appeasing and pacifying.
CONCEPT OF THE FEMALE: In Roman mythology the female was revered, respected and honored whereas in the Judeo Christian mythos the female was viewed as object of revulsion, rejection and defilement. The bible contains multiple examples of this change of attitude towards the portion of the population which was and still is viewed and measured as less than equal to the male portion of the population.
SAVIOUR WHO IS KILLED AND RESURRECTS: Preceding religions such as Mithraism which was a Persian religion adopted by the Romans also contains the same concept. As a matter of fact the story of Jesus Christ is almost a point by point retelling of the story of Mithras.
Answered by Satya SytaS
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11:43 AM on November 28, 2008
