Running head: VIEWS OF THE AFTERLIFE IN GREECE
How Views of the Afterlife in Greece 3000-323 B.C.E.
Affected Their Psychological Ideals
Throughout human history, ideas about the afterlife have shaped the psychological ideals of the societies that come into contact with them. Though some might argue that it is science, specifically, that has shaped our way of life beyond all else, this is too narrow an idea because science has only recently become a part of many people’s daily lives. Beliefs about the afterlife have shaped the psychological ideals of whole societies as well as altering the daily lives of the individuals within them. Greece will be examined from the beginning of the Bronze Age in 3000 B.C.E. to the end of the Classical Period in 323 B.C.E..
The ancient Greek men of the Bronze Age were warriors above all else. They did not have the visions of Heaven and Hell as we do now. Specifically, the idea that living a good life will lead one to a pleasant afterlife and that living a bad or immoral life will lead one to an unpleasant afterlife. The ancient Greeks saw life after death as something only attainable through glory in their present lives. As Achilles said in the Iliad (1997 trans.), “If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy, my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies. If I voyage back to the fatherland I love, my pride, my glory dies.” (p. 265). If they were worthy warriors, if they performed heroic deeds, then these deeds would be talked about. If their deeds were impressive enough, then this talk about them would continue even after they died.
There are some interesting extensions to this first theory of afterlife. ...