the Greek gods today

the Greek gods today

But what led the Greeks to renounce their gods? It is the appearance of another god and an even more fashionable religion: Christianity.
For a new fashion to be successful, a star often has to lead by example. In our case, it is the Emperor Constantine who will play this role. Constantine lived between 274 and 337 AD. As emperor of the Roman empire, Constantine was obviously the most famous person around the Mediterranean at the time. When he publicly decided to become a Christian, he made it the new religion «cool».
So little by little the Greek polytheism (=believe in several gods) is erased in favor of Christianity. Which has become the most widely practiced religion.*

After this religious domination the Greek gods are still very present, even after centuries.

Here are several examples:

Malpertius, a fantastic novel by Belgian writer Jean Ray, published in 1943 featuring elements of Greek mythology and Shakespeare who also adds elements of these myths to his comedy Le Songe d'une nuit d'été (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) written between 1594 and 1595.
Today, Olympians are still fascinating people, they're starring in numerous movies, books and series; like Xena or Hercules.

Other productions, Hollywood this time also exploited the Olympians. By further transforming the original myth. Of course, most of the time, it is not the gods in people who are the heroes of the film, but their children, demigods. Like in "Jason and the Argonauts" where we follow Jason and his crew on fantastic adventures. He will challenge monsters and skeletons in fury to achieve his goal. But also the more recent film "Percy Jackson" adapted from Rick Riordan’s books.

But also Clash Of the Titans, which follows the adventures of Perseus who will ride Pegasus and challenge the Kraken and the gods! These three adaptations, based on the myth by modifying some details while keeping the essence of it. In my opinion, these films are to be seen for any lover of mythology, while keeping a strong second degree.

In my opinion the Greek gods are not ready to be forgotten and will continue to fascinate us for a long time to come. Their powers and at the same time their humanity so pronounced reminds us of a civilization that we know well, and that finds it to be ours. These divine beings self-destruct as we continue to do and as long as the human has an ounce of feeling in him, the Greek gods will continue to occupy our thoughts. However, polytheistic religions have not disappeared: a multitude of different deities are still worshipped in India, China or Japan, for example.

QUIZZ :

What religion has overthrown the Greek religion?

What famous character played a role in the change of religion?

Quote a film inspired by Greek mythology?

Quote a famous theatre writer who was inspired by Greek mythology?

On what hero or gods would you make a movie or a book if you could?