Ancient Greece Economics
Ancient
First of all, the temples cost a lot to make. They were very large and ornately decorated, so naturally they were very expensive. They also usually contained a very large gold and ivory statue of the god or goddess the temple was devoted to (each temple was the home of a different god or goddess), which just added to the cost.
Some Greeks had religion-related jobs. The religious jobs they had were: priests, priestesses, and oracles. The priests would usually make the sacrifices and the priestesses would weave clothes for the statues and also things like the goddess Athena’s birthday present at the Panathenaia, the festival of Athena. They would both have to carry out the religious ceremonies and rituals. Oracles were priestesses who were sort of like the voice of the gods. When someone wanted to ask one of the gods a question, they would go to an oracle and tell her the question. The oracle would tell the person the god or goddess’s answer. Being a priestess or an oracle were the only jobs women could have.
Something many people may want to know is if wars and slavery were decisions by the gods? The answer to that question is not really very clear or simple. There were gods and goddesses for different things like love or wisdom or war. The god or goddess of war would tell them when to go to war. Slavery was not exactly the same. There was no god or goddess of slavery but the gods did start it.
Another question someone may have is, “How much money was spent on religious items and sacrifices?” People didn’t really spend money on sacrifices but they did sacrifice some pretty valuable things. They mostly sacrificed animals but sometimes they gave the gods gold and silver. As for religious items the exact amount of money spent on religious items is unknown but most Greeks did have an altar inside their house for praying, and it probably cost a lot.
Lastly, one may wish to know more about the priests and priestesses. Were they of a higher class? Did they have special privileges? Actually they were not of a higher class. They were just ordinary people and their job hardly made them more special than anyone else. They didn’t really have many special privileges, except that they got to go in certain places in the temple that other people weren’t allowed in, and the priests of Dionysus, the god of wine and pleasure, got the best seats at the plays because theaters were his temples.
In conclusion, religion had a fairly large influence on the economics of Ancient Greece. Maybe it had this large of an influence on not just the economics, but daily life in Ancient Greece because according to their religion the gods basically were in charge of how the Greeks lived their lives. Maybe it was just because they were very religious people. We may never know.
Bibliography
BOOKS
MacDonald, Fiona. A
Nardo, Don. Daily life: Ancient
Pearson, Anne. Eyewitness Books: Ancient
Simpson, Judith. Ancient