Lesson video

Hello my friends, and welcome to the fifth lesson on the history of Ancient Greece.

My name is Mr. Pedroza and in this lesson, we're going to tackle the following question.

So the question is, what do the Ancient Greeks believe in? In this lesson, we're going to talk about Ancient Greek religion and we're going to talk about the Ancient Greek gods and goddesses.

How exciting? Let's have a look at the lesson structure.

So we going to begin with the star words.

I'll share some key vocabulary, then we're going to talk about myths and what they were and why they were useful? And then we'll talk about who are the Olympians.

The next question would be, what were Greek temples like? At the very end, we're going to talk about what did the Ancient Greeks believe about the afterlife? And then we'll do an of lesson quiz as always.

Things you're going to need in this lesson, you're going to need an exercise book or paper, need a pencil or pen and you need a ruler.

So if you haven't got those things, go and get them now.

Awesome job guys, very speedy.

Now, let's come back at key star words.

We've got five.

We got myth, god, goddess, underworld and afterlife.

And a myth is a story or a group of stories that form part of the traditional knowledge of a society.

Next, we've got god and a god is a being that is worshipped and believed to have special powers of a nature or life.

A goddess it's just a female god.

The underworld is an imaginary world beneath the earth surface.

where dead people and spirits live.

And the afterlife is life after death.

Now, let's begin with myths.

What are myths? Well, mess were created by early civilizations to make sense of things happening in the natural world around them.

These early civilizations, did not have the scientific knowledge that we have today.

Therefore myths were a way of explaining the unexplainable.

And the Ancient Greeks often use myths as a way of understanding their world.

It could be faced from lightning, to rain, to flooding, could be love, war and death.

Myths were shared through storytelling and they could be myths about heroes and heroines.

It could be myths about missing mythical creatures and monsters to gods and goddesses.

There was also an astronomical element to these myths because Ancient Greeks believed that the stories were sometimes written in the stars.

Now complete the sentence.

So the Ancient Greeks use myths in order to understand the.

What did the Ancient Greeks use myths to better understand? At this point, pause the video and complete the sentence.

Okay, let's look at the answer, the first task.

So the Ancient Greeks use myths in order to understand the world.

Remember that they didn't have the scientific knowledge that we have now.

So therefore they use myths in order to better understand the world.

The Greeks believe that god's just like god Zeus and goddesses watch over them.

And these gods were a bit like humans, but they let forever, they were immortal and they were much more powerful.

And these gods were set to have human emotions.

It could be, they could feel love, they could feel anger, they could also feel jealousy.

And these gods the not always behave themselves.

The Greeks thought the gods live high above Mount Olympus in a palace in the clouds.

And from here, the gods could keep an eye on life below.

From time to time, they would interfere in what was going on.

They could send storms if they were angry or they could decide who would be victorious in a war.

Sometimes they even play tricks on humans.

Now let's look at this question.

So why did Ancient Greeks believe that the gods lived? So the Ancient Greeks believed that the gods lived.

Where did they think they lived? Pause the video and complete that task.

Okay, let's have the answer to this question.

The Ancient Greeks believed that the gods lived high above Mount Olympus in a palace and the clouds.

Awesome job my friends.

Well done.

Let's now were the Olympians? In the Ancient Greek world, the 12 great gods and goddesses of the Greeks were referred to as the 12 Olympians.

We've got the 12 Olympians there, let's go through them.

So we got Dionysus.

My apologies.

we got Dionysus, we got Hermes, we have Apollo, we have Zeus, we have Ares, we have Artemis, we have Poseidon, we have Demeter, we have of Hades, we have Athena, we have Hera and we have Aphrodite.

So all those 12, were known as the Olympians.

and all 12 Olympians had a home on Mount Olympus.

And that was where that were most commonly found.

The name of this part of a group of gods and goddesses comes from Mount Olympus where they always met to discuss matters.

So, how many Olympians were there? Were there two Olympians? Were they 12 Olympians? Were they 22 Olympians? Or there were 122 Olympians? My goodness, that would be a lot of Ancient Greek gods and goddesses.

So, which is the right answer? A, B, C or D.

Have a think.

Pause the video and complete that task.

K.

Let's look at the right answer.

How many Olympians were there? It was of course 12.

There were 12 Ancient Greek gods and goddesses known as the Olympians.

Remember that they live in a palace above Mount Olympus, and that's where they met and that's where they lived.

So let's now look at the next one.

There are 12 Olympians, but we're going to focus on just four of them.

And we're going to begin with Zeus.

And Zeus had two brothers called Poseidon and Hades.

And he was considered to be the most powerful of all of the gods.

He was known as the god of the sky and he was the king of Olympus which is the home of the gods.

And as a child, Zeus had to escape from his father who had eaten his other children as he had been warned that one of them would take his friend and later on Zeus defeated his dad and he became a god.

Now, Zeus's temper affected the weather and he threw thunderbolts when he was unhappy.

Zeus was the god of all gods and he had the power to change the shape and form.

And Ancient Greece thought of Zeus as powerful, strong but unpredictable.

And he had many children and he was married to Hera who was another goddess.

All right, let's look at this one.

So what did Zeus do when he was unhappy? So in answer you can say, when he was unhappy, Zeus.

What did he do? Pause the video and complete that task.

Okay, let's look at the answer to that.

What did Zeus do when he was unhappy? When he was unhappy, Zeus threw thunderbolts.

As the god of the sky, Zeus temper affected the weather.

So remember whenever he was angry, whenever Zeus was double crossed, he would throw thunderbolts.

What an awesome power to have? At this point, I want to make it really big so that you can compare your answers against mine.

Okay, let's continue onto the next one.

So, now let's read about Zeus now.

Let's move on to Poseidon.

Poseidon was the god of the sea.

He was ruler of the waves and he was the brother of Zeus and Hades.

Now Poseidon was also the god of earthquakes.

He was said to have blue hair and a long beard.

And he lived in a beautiful palace under the sea.

Poseidon carried a trident, which is a three folk.

And he used this in order to create earthquakes and control the sea.

Poseidon also rode on a golden chariot.

So let's have a look at these statements and we're going to decide whether they're true or false.

So the first one is, Poseidon was the god of the sky and the king Olympus.

Is that true or false? B, Poseidon lived in a beautiful palace under the seas.

And C, Poseidon carried a trident which he used to stop earthquakes and control the seas.

Is that true or is that false? So at this point pause the video, decides which one of those that's true or false.

Have a go.

Okay, let's check.

Which of these statements is true or false.

So number one, Poseidon was the god of the sky and the king Olympus.

That's false.

Remember that Poseidon's brother Zeus was the god of the sky and he was the king of Olympus.

Poseidon was the god of the sea and earthquakes.

B, Poseidon lived in a beautiful palace under the seas.

That is true.

And then C, Poseidon carried a trident, which he used to start earth quakes and control the seas.

That is also true.

So, I am going to leave the answer so that you can check your own.

Okay, let's move on to the next brother.

So we got Zeus, we got his brother Poseidon, next one, we going to look at Hades.

So we've got the brothers Zeus, Poseidon and Hades were then considered to be the most important gods of all.

Zeus, he was the strongest and he was the wisest of three and he ruled over the earth.

Poseidon ruled the seas.

Hades, he ruled the underworld which was the world of the dead, scary.

Now Hades was not particularly liked by the other gods.

And he was really feared by humans because his duty was to make sure that the dead stayed in the underworld forever.

Hades was married to Persephone who was the queen of the dead.

And he had dark hair and he had the dark beard and he drove a chariot drawn by four dark horses.

Hades was guarded by a three-headed dog named Cerberus, whoa! Lets look at this one.

True or false.

Hades was protected by a three-headed tiger named Cerberus.

Is that true? Or is that false? Have a think, pause the video and complete that task.

Okay, let's have a look and answer to this one.

He's definitely protected by three heads of something, but wasn't a three-headed tiger? Hades was protected by a three-headed tiger named Cerberus.

Is that true or is that false? That is false.

Cerberus was a three-headed dog, not a tiger.

Now let's move on to Athena.

And Athena was the daughter of Zeus.

And she had a really unusual birth.

She was born fully grown out of his head and she was wearing her full armour.

That is a strange birth.

Now, Athena was seen as the goddess wisdom and strategy and has symbol was an owl which is the wisest of all the birds.

Now Athena is usually picture wearing a bracelet, wearing a helmet and holding a shield.

And Athena was the protector of the city of Athens and the great Parthenon, which is built on top of the Acropolis in Athens, was built in her honour.

Latin says that the city got its name after Athena won a contest against Poseidon by offering the city citizens and olive tree, which they could use a source of food and firewood.

Let's answer the question.

So what was unusual.

What's a little bit strange about Athens's birth? So you could say, Athens's birth was unusual because.

she'd had a really strange birth.

What was unusual about it? So at this point, pause the video and complete that task.

Okay, let's not look at the answer to this question.

I find it very unusual the way she was born.

What was unusual about Athena's birth? Well, Athena's birth was unusual because as said, she was born straight after her father Zeus head.

Sh was born fully grown.

wearing her full armour.

That is a strange birth.

I'm going to leave the answer out so that you can compare it against your own.

Okay.

Let's move on.

What were Ancient Greek temples like? Now the Greeks built temples to the gods and goddesses.

Sometimes posts were small while others were grand and beautiful, and had amazing decorations.

Every city in Greek, every city in Ancient Greece had the patron god or goddess.

People believe that patron gods protect them from harm.

And when people needed the help from the gods, they went to the temple to pray.

They went if they were feeling sick, maybe they were going on a journey and they were feeling worried or to pray for a good harvest.

So that's where some of the reasons why Ancient Greece prayed to that gods.

And to please the gods, to keep them happy, people often brought gifts of money, flowers, food and drink.

And they offer these gifts as sacrifices.

Animals like cattle were sometimes killed as sacrifices too.

And the people would often feast on the rest of the meat.

Let's complete the sentence.

Every city had a mh god or goddess.

People to their gods when they need the help and then made to please them.

So, which words go where? Have a thing, where do you think offerings, patron or prayed go.

Once you think you've got that, write it out, complete the sentence, and then read it back to see if it makes sense.

So at this point what I want you to do, is we need to pause the video and complete that task.

Okay, let's have a look and see how we completed our sentence.

So every city have a patron god or goddess.

People pray to their god when they need help and they made offerings to please them.

So we've got patron, prayed and offerings.

I'll leave the answer up for you to check against your own.

Okay, let's have look at the next part now.

So, what did the Ancient Greeks believe about the afterlife? The Greeks believed that when he died, your soul travelled to a place called the underworld which was an underground kingdom ruled by the god of death, Hades.

And Hades lived in the underworld rather than on Mount Olympus with the other gods.

Remember that Hades was the brother of Zeus and Poseidon.

And to reach the underworld, that souls will have to cross the river known as the River Styx and a really grumpy ferry man called Charon would take them across, but only if they paid him.

And Ancient Greeks would place a coin in the mouth of that debt to pay Charon for his crossing.

And once the soul had made the crossing across the River Styx, three judges will decide on your fate.

If you had lived a good life, you could live in a tonne of happiness in the Elysian Fields.

If you had led a bad life, you were sent to Tartarus, a horrible pit where the souls will be tortured for eternity.

How scary.

Now, let's two questions to finish up.

So we have, which river did dead have to cross in order to each the underworld? And B, why did the Ancient Greeks put a coin in the mouth of their dead? That's a strange practise, but there was a reason as to why they did that.

And that you have my two sentence prompts.

You could have for A you can say, in order to reach the underworld.

What the people have to cross? And B, you can say Ancient Greeks put a coin in the mouth of the that.

why did they do that? So at this point, pause the video and complete this task.

Make sure you're writing in full sentences.

Okay, let's start like the answer to those questions already.

So, which river did the dead have to cross in order to reach the underworld? In order to reach the underworld, the dead had to cross River Styx.

Remember River Styx has to be in capital letters because is the name of a place.

Is a name of a river.

B, why did Ancient Greeks put a coin in the mouth of their dead? Again that seems really weird, but there was a reason.

The Ancient Greeks put a coin in the mouth of their dead, so that they could pay the ferryman Charon to transport them across the River Styx.

If you didn't pay him, he will not transport you to the other side.

Sad times.

Now, I'm going to leave it up so that you can check your answers.

My friends, that is the end of another great lesson.

So great work today.

Well done.

It's now time to complete your end of lesson quiz.

And if you'd like to, as always, please ask your parent or carer to share your work.

They can do on Instagram, they can do on Facebook they can do on Twitter.

They're got to tag @OakNational, and they're going to use #LearnwithOak.

But, remember if there is any anyone that you want to share, you have to ask your parent or carer to do it for you.

Awesome job guys.

Well done.

I can't wait until we see each other in our next lesson.

Goodbye for now.