In Ancient Greece, religion was connected to literature as well as the religious rites. Each city-state had its own religious rites. In the book “Theogony”, the muses are the source of men’s judgment and the history of the gods. Its author Hesiod thought the origin of all things was chaos, then came earth. Hesiod also believed in divine sanctions and thought that when heaven created men, it gave them good and evil at birth and the sources of good and evil are outside of man. 

Prometheus was chained by the god Zeus. However, after Zeus let him go, he tried to trick Zeus by giving him a meatless sacrifice. When Zeus was not fooled, Prometheus gave fire to men. In the “Theogony”, the gods created nature, rivers, the sun, the moon, and the stars through procreation. Zeus made the goddess Hecate, who men must placate through sacrifices and prayer. 

The Ancient Greek gods were thought to marry each other. Zeus married Themis, then he seduced Leto. She bore his sons Apollo and Artemis, then he married Hera. Needing the help of the sons of heaven to defeat the Titans, with whom he was at war, he rewarded the gods with positions and promises. 

War and conflict are basic to the gods of Mount Olympus, and no resolution of peace can be achieved. Zeus is the supreme god, but he is not omnipotent and often worries about being overthrown. Unlike in Hebrew literature, where God is seen as being all-knowing and only acts justly, the Greek gods often deceive each other and lie, and need sacrifices for their power. In ancient Greek literature, the gods represent mankind, they are sinful and often do harm to each other for their own personal benefit.