General order of existence

Greek mythology as a religion also provides a sense of security, another aspect of the definition by Geertz.  This is done through the complicated process of the afterlife.  Without getting too much into it, they believed in a system somewhat similar to heaven and hell. Everyone passes a three-headed dog, Cerebus (Hamilton 43).  He is the main reason that nobody leaves once they have entered the underworld, commonly known as Tartarus.  There are three judges, Rhadamanthus, Minos and Aeacus who judge each individual and determine whether they suffer in torment for eternity of live in the Elysian Fields, the place for "good" people (Hamilton 44).  The three furies torment sinners forever while heroes and people who worshiped appropriately spend the rest of time in a lovely environment.  The ideas presented by this very complex system convinced the ancient Greeks to stay pious and moral.

The morals included in this society were ones taught by the stories in their mythology.  Each god had weaknesses just like mortals, only these weaknesses caused much more trouble for beings on such a massive scale.  Pandora's box is a prime story to exemplify the lessons Greeks learned from their religion.  Each god had put something harmful into a box and gave it to Pandora.  Since she was a woman and therefore, according to the ancient Greeks, inherently curious, she opened this box against their strictest orders.  From then on the human race was plagued with sorrows (Hamilton 88).  At the bottom of the box, however, remained a final trait from the gods; hope.  This displays not only the shallow weariness of women, but the idea that flaws exist in society and each individual has the choice to have hope and will power to overcome those flaws.  Through the innumerable stories of deceit, adultery, and revenge within Greek mythology, there is always a clear alternative option in the stories that provides a moral direction for how readers should live.