Persia vs. Greek
Many changes took place during the first millennium B.C.E regarding the Mediterranean and Asian lands involving two major empires; the Persians and Greeks. The constant thrashing of these empires caused a variety of cultural diffusions, but staying true to their country, many times they kept their original values and customs. As the reader, you most likely ponder what these similarities and differences are. Concepts throughout this essay will explain just these taking into account the theme of religion, social structure in terms of women and slaves, and economy. While many empires adopted new ways of respect to their god’s some turned to monotheism, while others stayed with the typical polytheistic lifestyles. Persian kings and nobility were known as, Zoroastrians, a religion named after its founder Zarathustra. It was a religion based on the concept of monotheism and was a base/influence on later religions such as, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Good vs. evil, free will, and reward and punishment was a departure of polytheistic religions. The after life was determined by their god, Ahuramazda’s judgment. Meanwhile in Greece the theme of polytheism continued to play a major role in Greek life. Here, the majority of gods were male, but there started to become several female deities that had important roles as well. But there wasn’t just one set of beliefs; because Greece was set up in city-states these cults and beliefs ranged. Being said, in the majority of religions, gods represented forces in nature. In order to be pleased, the citizens performed sacrifices and built altars in front of temples Many great priests and nobles would seek advice and predictions from oracles, a place where gods communicated with humans. Continuing on we go learn about social structures, and how, even till this point women were kept well under their potentials. In Greece, slaves were foreign, and all Athenian families had at least one or more. Often, close