In western thought until 1600, speech played a vital social role. Here is an essay that analyzes speech in The Bible, The Iliad, and Gorgias.

Religion can have a profound effect upon a civilization. On one hand, religion can answer such questions as where the world came from or what happens after death. However, perhaps more importantly, religion can determine a people’s attitudes and values; it can even define the manner in which a people live. This phenomenon can be observed especially well by studying classical Greece. Religion played a pivotal role in ancient Greek society because it affected virtually all aspects of Greek life.

Many people believe that there is only one god, an omnipresent creator. But how can this reconcile with a world full of beliefs in many diverse gods; surely the existence of one god would make belief in him or her intuitive, echoed by their influence in everything around us. Does this rule out the possibility of a single god, or is the answer in our own perceptions of the divine?