Religious Beliefs in Aeschylus Oresteia, Homer’s Iliad, and Sophocles’

Religious Beliefs in Aeschylus Oresteia, Homers Iliad, and Sophocles ElectraThe final and definitive vote out of the Persian army at the battle of Plataea represented the wipeout of an age-long threat to Athens. But the victory was also a miracle, as each(prenominal) the odds were against the Athenians at the onset of the war. While Pericles took charge of Athens subsequently(prenominal) the war and started the advance of democracy, worship also thrived. The rebuilding of the Acropolis and the construction of the Parthenon and its not bad(p) statue of Athene under Pericles rule signified the height of religious depression among Athenians. However, the shift in power from the aristocrats to the common men in the newly democracy, and the Peloponnesian War and Great Plague that followed the shift, all contributed to a ecumenical decline in religious belief. Only a few decades after reaching its peak, it reached an all-time low. This change in attitude among Athenians lot be o bserved by comparing the works of two tragedians, Aeschylus and Sophocles, whose plays were performed in each of these two stop consonants. But even with this dramatic shift, it is clear that Athenians remained believers throughout these periods, because religion was, and always has been, a huge part of their culture.The religious view of Athenians in the lead the Peloponnesian War can be best demonstrated by the portrayal of interaction between men and Gods in Aeschylus work, The Eumenides. From the first scene, when The doors of the tabernacle open and show Orestes surrounded by the sleeping Furies, Apollo and Hermes beside him (Aeschylus, 137), one can see that in Aeschylus eyes, Gods and Goddesses ar not something distant and unreachable, but instead, they are real figures who will at times stand by our s... ...ardless of how in effect(p) or bad they were, and despite constant worship the Gods did not intervene. Having witnessed such(prenominal) horrors, it is understandabl e that people of those times, such as Sophocles, would have taken a step back and wondered if the Gods were actually there. Having gone through a period as such, it is only natural for even the most faithful to surmise a little, which was evident from the absence of interaction between Gods and men in Sophocles work, Electra. However, it is clear as had been previously pointed out, that while belief in the vocal truth of the myths was suppressed, the Gods did live on in the hearts of the Athenians. Works CitedAeschylus. Aeschylus I / Oresteia. The University of Chicago Press, 1983 131 171.Homer. The Iliad. Penguin Books, 1998 128 - 143Sophocles. Electra. Oxford University Press, 2001 50 111