By Rachel W

Ancient Religion

There were many different beliefs in Ancient Mesopotamia. The citizens there thought that the gods were responsible for what happened in their lives. Each city had one of it’s own gods. In the center of the town there would be a temple (ziggurat) built for just that god. In the temple, priests could live and make sacrifices. Some of the temples were so large, they would look like pyramids with flat tops.In Ancient Mesopotamia, there were three distinct civilizations: Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian. Each civilization had their own gods and goddesses that had there own story and meaning that the Ancient Mesopotamians worshipped.

Ancient Mesopotamians also believed that there were demons, that were created by the gods and could be either good or bad. The citizens kept in contact with the demons to keep them happy. They did this because they believed that if not, the demon would punish them for it’s unhappiness. Some of the most important gods were: -An, sky god or father of gods-Enki, god of fresh water and wisdom-Inanna, goddess of love and war-Nanna, the moon god-Utu, the god of sun and justice(The names vary depending on the civilization)

Ancient Mesopotamia

Like many of the cultures in this presentation, the Ancient Egyptians had a wide variety of gods-over 2000. The 2 most major gods were Ra: the sun god, and Isis: the mother of gods. Other gods included Osiris: god of the underworld, Horus: god of the sky, and Thoth: god of knowledge. In the ancient times, pharaohs would build temples for the gods, which would have gardens, statues, memorials and somewhere to worship them. Pharaohs were also very highly valued by the people. They were considered high priests. Sometimes, people even believed that the pharaohs were gods in human form.

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptians also believed there was a life after death. There were two parts of the human, the “Ka”, a life force that people only obtained while they were alive, and the “Ra”, which was considered the soul. If these two elements connected in the afterlife, the person would live again. To do such things, the body of the deceased would be mummified to preserve them. The heavenly land the Egyptians believed in was called “Land of Two Fields”. To get to such a place, the goddess Maat would weigh your heart. The more good deeds you did, the lighter your heart would be. If you heart was not light enough, you would be stuck in your tomb forever.

Ancient Egypt

Another requirement was two have your name written down somewhere and your body had to be preserved. Since they believed that your body split in two when you died, your two spirits would go do different jobs. The “Ka” would go enjoy the afterlife, while the “Ba” would go watch over your family. Then, every night the spirits would fly back to you so you could go to sleep. If you did not write your name down, or something went wrong in your mummification, the Ba and Ka would not be able to find you, and you would disappear.

Ancient Egypt

Like many of you probably know, Greece is famous for it’s Greek myths and gods. The Greeks believed in many gods that made up the aspects of Earth. Some of the most major gods lived up on the top of Mount Olympus. The gods that lived up there were: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Aphrodite, Hestia (who gave her place to Dionysus) and depending on the myth, sometimes Hades or Hephaestus. -http://greece.mrdonn.org/greekgods/mountolympus.html(If you scroll to the bottom of this link, you can click on the twelve gods to find their purposes and powers.)Each city-state in Greece had there own Patron god, who they worshiped so they would reward the people.

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece Map

Along with the patron god, the citizens would also worship Zeus, the king of gods.In the myths, most gods were born from the titan Kronos, while some like Aphrodite and Athena were born in different ways. Aphrodite was born from the sea foam, and Athena from Zeus’ head. Along with that the Greeks have many myths that explain the way our world works. They believe that the gods created men before women, and that the first girl was Pandora, another character of a story. So, in the end, the Greek myths keep everyone interested, and explain the events that happen around us.

Ancient Greece

Roman religion was quite similar to Greek. The gods were mainly the same, but their names were changed to represent the planets. For example: Zeus was Jupiter, Hades was Pluto and Ares was Mars. Along with that, they believed that there were gods for everything. Rivers, rocks, streams, bridges, even for doors, baths, kitchens and sleeping. They also were fond of the Greek myths, so they used the legends, but changed some things to make it more Roman. The Romans also liked to borrow other gods. When the Romans conquered a civilization, they thought that taking the gods would make them stronger. For example: they took Isis from Egypt. They also worshipped Mithras, a god from Iran.

Ancient Rome

Somewhat like Ancient Egypt and Greek, Roman people thought that your spirit went to the underworld. To get there, the dead would have to cross the River Styx. To do so, the deceased’s family would leave a coin on the body, so they could pay the ferry man to paddle them across (whose name was Charon). Some of their beliefs changed when Roman Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion in Ancient Rome at around the 4th century AD. Before that, many Christians were arrested or killed because they refused to worship emperors as gods.

Ancient Rome

In Canada, we have many different religions. Unlike Greece, or Rome, we have the freedom to believe what we want. Some examples of the religions are: Muslim, Catholic, Christian, Jewish, etc.Overall, Canada is made up around 67% of Christians, the most populated religion, followed by people having no religion at 24%. Times are changing though the percentages are always changing. Muslims are also very common. The fist mosque was built in Edmonton, back in 1936.

Canada

Many people come to Canada because of our freedom. Unlike some places with strict rules about your religion or choices, Canada lets you be who you want to be.Examples:-Hindu-Sikh-Buddhist-Lutheran-Unitarian -AtheistOr no religion at all

Canada

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