Content deleted Content added
→Cult images: move |
|||
| (16 intermediate revisions by 13 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{Short description|Religion in ancient Greece}}
{{Pp
[[File:Oracle of Delphi, red-figure kylix, 440-430 BC, Kodros Painter, Berlin F 2538, 141668.jpg|thumb|[[Aegeus]] at right consults the [[Pythia]] or [[oracle]] of [[Delphi]]. Vase, 440–430 BCE. He was told "Do not loosen the bulging mouth of the wineskin until you have reached the height of [[Athens]], lest you die of grief", which at first he did not understand.|235x235px]]
{{Ancient Greek religion}}
Religious practices in [[ancient Greece]] encompassed a collection of beliefs, [[
Most ancient Greeks recognized the [[Twelve Olympians|twelve major Olympian gods and goddesses]]—[[Zeus]], [[Hera]], [[Poseidon]], [[Demeter]], [[Athena]], [[Ares]], [[Aphrodite]], [[Apollo]], [[Artemis]], [[Hephaestus]], [[Hermes]], and either [[Hestia]] or [[Dionysus]]—although philosophies such as [[Stoicism]] and some forms of [[Platonism]] used language that seems to assume a single [[Transcendence (religion)|transcendent deity]]. The worship of these deities, and several others, was found across the Greek world, though they often have different [[epithet]]s that distinguished aspects of the deity, and often reflect the absorption of other local deities into the pan-Hellenic scheme.
Line 11:
==Beliefs==
"There was no centralization of authority over Greek religious practices and beliefs; change was regulated only at the civic level. Thus, the phenomenon we are studying is not in fact an organized "religion
===Theology===
Line 20:
[[File:Aphrodite swan BM D2.jpg|thumb|Aphrodite riding a swan: Attic white-ground red-figured ''[[kylix (drinking cup)|kylix]]'', c. 460, found at Kameiros (Rhodes)]]
The gods
Some gods were specifically associated with a certain city. Athena was associated with [[Athens]], Apollo with [[Delphi]] and [[Delos]], Zeus with [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] and Aphrodite with [[Corinth]]. But other gods were also worshipped in these cities. Other deities were associated with nations outside of Greece; Poseidon was associated with [[Ethiopia]] and [[Troy]], and Ares with [[Thrace]].
Identity of names was not a guarantee of a similar [[cult]]us; the Greeks themselves were well aware that the Artemis worshipped at [[Sparta]], the virgin huntress, was a very different deity from the Artemis who was a many-breasted [[fertility rite|fertility goddess]] at [[Ephesus]]. Though worship of the major deities spread from one locality to another, and though most larger cities had temples to several major gods, the identification of different gods with different places remained strong to the end.
[[File:
Ancient sources for Greek religion tell a good deal about cult but very little about creed, in no small measure because the Greeks in general considered what one believed to be much less importance than what one did.<ref>Rosivach, Vincent J. (1994).''The System of Public Sacrifice in Fourth Century (B.C.E.) Athens'' Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press. p. 1.</ref>
Line 39:
===Mythology===
{{main|Greek mythology}}
[[File:Rubens - Judgement of Paris.jpg
[[File:Sandro_Botticelli_-_La_nascita_di_Venere_-_Google_Art_Project_-_edited.jpg|thumb|''[[The Birth of Venus]]'' ({{circa}} 1485) by [[Sandro Botticelli]],{{sfn|Ames-Lewis|2000|page=194}} [[Uffizi]], Florence]]
{{Greek
Greek religion had an extensive [[mythology]]. It consisted largely of stories of the gods and how they interacted with humans. Myths often revolved around heroes and their actions, such as [[Heracles]] and his [[Twelve Labors|twelve labors]], [[Odysseus]] and his voyage home, [[Jason]] and the quest for the [[Golden Fleece]] and [[Theseus]] and the [[Minotaur]].
Line 57:
The Greeks had no [[religious text]]s they regarded as "revealed" scriptures of sacred origin, but very old texts including [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]'', and the [[Homeric hymns]] (regarded as later productions today), Hesiod's ''[[Theogony]]'' and ''[[Works and Days]]'', and [[Pindar]]'s [[Ode]]s were regarded as authoritative<ref>Burkert (1985), Introduction:2; [https://books.google.com/books?id=uvtebmqZZDYC&pg=PA634 Religions of the ancient world: a guide]</ref> and perhaps inspired; they usually begin with an invocation to the [[Muse]]s for inspiration. [[Plato]] even wanted to exclude the myths from his ideal state described in the ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'' because of their low moral tone.
While some traditions, such as Mystery cults, upheld certain texts as canonic within their praxis, such texts were respected but not necessarily accepted as canonic outside their circle. In this field, of particular importance are certain texts referring to [[Orphic cults]]: multiple copies, ranging from between 450 BCE and 250 CE, have been found in various parts of the Greek world. Even the words of the oracles never became a sacred text. Other texts were specially composed for religious events, and some have survived within the lyric tradition; although they had a cult function, they were bound to performance and never developed into a common, standard prayer form comparable to the Christian [[Pater Noster]]. An exception to this rule were the already named Orphic and Mystery rituals, which, in this, set themselves aside from the rest of the Greek religious system. Finally, some texts called {{Lang|el-Latn|ieri logi}} ({{
==Practices==
[[File:Paestum BW 2013-05-17 13-58-28.jpg|thumb|The [[Temple of Athena (Paestum)|Temple of Athena, Paestum]]]]▼
===Ceremonies===
{{main|Ceremonies of ancient Greece}}
Line 68 ⟶ 66:
[[Ceremonies of ancient Greece|Greek ceremonies]] and rituals were mainly performed at [[altar]]s, which were never inside temples, but often just outside, or standing by themselves somewhere. These were typically devoted to one or a few gods, and supported a statue of the particular deity. [[Votive deposit]]s were left at the altar, such as food, drinks, as well as precious objects. Sometimes [[animal sacrifice]]s were performed here, with most of the flesh taken for eating and the [[offal]] burnt as an offering to the gods. [[Libations]], often of wine, would be offered to the gods as well, not only at shrines, but also in everyday life, such as during a [[symposium]].
One [[rite of passage]] was the [[amphidromia]], celebrated on the fifth or seventh day after the birth of a child. Childbirth was extremely significant to Athenians, especially if the baby was a boy. One ceremony was [[pharmakos]], a ritual involving expelling a symbolic [[scapegoat]] such as a slave or an animal, from a city or village in a time of hardship. It was hoped that by casting out the ritual scapegoat, the hardship would go with it.
===Sacrifice===
[[File:Sacrifice to Athena, Amphora from Vulci, 550-540 BC, Berlin F 1686, 141662.jpg|thumb|left|A bull is led to the altar of [[Athena]], whose image is at right. Vase, c. 545 BCE.]]
Worship in Greece typically consisted of [[animal sacrifice|sacrificing domestic animals]] at the altar with hymn and prayer. The altar was outside any temple building, and might not be associated with a temple at all. The animal, which should be perfect of its kind, was decorated with [[garland]]s and the like, and led in procession to the altar; a girl with a basket on her head containing the concealed knife led the way. After various rituals, the animal was slaughtered over the altar. As it fell, all the women present "[cried] out in high, shrill tones". Its blood was collected and poured over the altar. It was butchered on the spot and various internal organs, bones and other inedible parts burnt as the deity's portion of the offering, while the meat was removed to be prepared for the participants to eat; the leading figures tasted it on the spot. The temple usually kept the skin to sell to tanners. That humans got more use from the sacrifice than the deity did not escape the Greeks, and was often the subject of humor in [[Greek comedy]].<ref>Walter Burkert, ''Greek Religion'' (1985), 2:1:1, 2:1:2. For more exotic local forms of sacrifice, see the [[Laphria (festival)]], [[Xanthika]], and [[Lykaia]]. The advantageous division of the animal was supposed to go back to [[Prometheus]]'s trick on [[Zeus]]</ref>
▲[[File:Paestum BW 2013-05-17 13-58-28.jpg|thumb|The [[Temple of Athena (Paestum)|Temple of Athena, Paestum]]]]
The animals used were, in order of preference, bulls or oxen, cows, sheep (the most common sacrifice), goats, pigs (with piglets being the cheapest mammal), and poultry (but rarely other birds or fish).<ref>Walter Burkert, ''Greek Religion'' (1985): 2:1:1; to some extent different animals were thought appropriate for different deities, from bulls for Zeus and Poseidon to doves for Aphrodite, Burkert (1985): 2:1:4</ref> Horses and asses are seen on some [[Pottery of ancient Greece#Geometric style|vases in the Geometric style]] (900–750 BCE), but are very rarely mentioned in literature; they were relatively late introductions to Greece, and it has been suggested that Greek preferences in this matter were established earlier. The Greeks liked to believe that the animal was glad to be sacrificed, and interpreted various behaviors as showing this. [[Divination]] by [[haruspex|examining parts of the sacrificed animal]] was much less important than in [[Ancient Roman religion|Roman]] or [[Etruscan religion]], or [[Near Eastern religions]], but [[Greek divination|was practiced]], especially of the liver, and as part of the [[cult of Apollo]]. Generally, the Greeks put more faith in [[Ornithomancy|observing the behavior of birds]].<ref>Struck, P.T. (2014). "Animals and Divination", In Campbell, G.L. (Ed.), ''The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life'', 2014, Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199589425.013.019, [https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1186&context=classics_papers online]</ref>
Line 87 ⟶ 86:
===Festivals===
Various religious festivals were held in ancient Greece. Many were specific only to a particular deity or city-state. For example, the festival of [[Lykaia]] was celebrated in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]] in Greece, which was dedicated to the pastoral god [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]]. Like the other [[Panhellenic Games]], the [[ancient Olympic Games]] were a religious festival, held at the sanctuary of Zeus at [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]]. Other festivals centered on [[Greek theatre]], of which the [[Dionysia]] in Athens was the most important. More typical festivals featured a procession, large sacrifices and a feast to eat the offerings, and many included entertainments and customs such as visiting friends, wearing fancy dress and unusual behavior in the streets, sometimes risky for bystanders in various ways. Altogether the [[Attic calendar|year in Athens]] included some 140 days that were religious festivals of some sort, though they varied greatly in importance.
==Sanctuaries and temples==
Line 103 ⟶ 99:
===Cult images===
[[File:Delphi chryselephantine.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.8|Gold and fire-blackened ivory fragments of a burnt Archaic [[chryselephantine statue]] - [[Delphi Archaeological Museum]]]]
The temple was the house of the deity it was dedicated to, who in some sense resided in the [[cult image]] in the ''[[cella]]'' or main room inside, normally facing the only door. The cult image normally took the form of a statue of the deity, typically roughly life-size, but in some cases many times life-size. In early days these were in wood, marble or [[terracotta]], or in the specially prestigious form of a [[Chryselephantine sculpture|chryselephantine statue]] using ivory plaques for the visible parts of the body and gold for the clothes, around a wooden framework. The most famous Greek cult images were of this type, including the [[Statue of Zeus at Olympia]], and [[Phidias]]'s [[Athena Parthenos]] in the [[Parthenon]] in Athens, both colossal statues, now completely lost. Fragments of two chryselephantine statues from [[Delphi]] have been excavated. Bronze cult images were less frequent, at least until Hellenistic times.<ref>Miles, 213</ref> Early images seem often to have been dressed in real clothes, and at all periods images might wear real jewelry donated by devotees.
The [[acrolith]] was another composite form, this time a cost-saving one with a wooden body. A [[xoanon]] was a primitive and symbolic wooden image, perhaps comparable to the Hindu [[lingam]]; many of these were retained and revered for their antiquity, even when a new statue was the main cult image. Xoana had the advantage that they were easy to carry in processions at festivals. The [[Palladium (classical antiquity)|Trojan Palladium]], famous from the myths of the [[Epic Cycle]] and supposedly ending up in Rome, was one of these. The sacred boulder or [[baetyl]] is another very primitive type, found around the Mediterranean and [[Ancient Near East]].
[[File:7315 - Piraeus Arch. Museum, Athens - Artemis - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 14 2009 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|The (first) [[Piraeus Artemis]], probably the [[cult image]] from a temple, 4th century BCE]]
Many of the Greek statues well known from Roman marble copies were originally temple cult images, which in some cases, such as the [[Apollo Barberini]], can be credibly identified. A very few actual originals survive, for example, the bronze [[Piraeus Athena]] ({{convert|2.35|m|ft|abbr=on}} high, including a helmet). The image stood on a base, from the 5th century often carved with reliefs.
Line 117 ⟶ 113:
== Role of women ==
[[File:Woman altar MAR Palermo NI2129.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.7|Woman pouring a [[libation]] on an altar]]
It is contested whether there were gendered divisions when it came to serving a particular god or goddess, who was devoted to what god, gods and/or goddesses could have both priests and priestesses to serve them. Gender specifics did come into play when it came to who would perform certain acts of sacrifice or worship. Per the significance of the male or female role to a particular god or goddess, a priest would lead the priestess or the reverse.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holderman |first1=Elisabeth |title=A Study of the Greek Priestess |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015006946365&view=1up&seq=27 |via=HathiTrust|date=7 June 2021 |publisher=Printed by the University of Chicago press }}</ref> In some Greek cults priestesses served both gods and goddesses; [[Pythia]], or female [[Oracle of Apollo]] at [[Delphi]], and that at [[Didyma]] were priestesses, but both were overseen by male priests. The festival of Dionosyus was practiced by both and the god was served by women and female priestesses known as the [[Gerarai]] or the venerable ones.<ref name="researchgate.net">{{cite web |last1=Dillon |first1=Matthew |title=Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290875541|website=Researchgate}}</ref>
There were segregated religious festivals in Ancient Greece; the [[Thesmophoria]], Plerosia, Kalamaia, [[Adonia]], and [[Skira]] were festivals that were only for women. The Thesmophoria festival and many others represented agricultural fertility, which was considered to be closely connected to women. It gave women a religious identity and purpose in Greek religion, in which the role of women in worshipping goddesses [[Demeter]] and her daughter [[Persephone]] reinforced traditional lifestyles. The festivals relating to agricultural fertility were valued by the [[polis]] because this is what they traditionally worked for; women-centered festivals that involved private matters were less important. In [[Athens]] the festivals honoring Demeter were included in the calendar and promoted by Athens. They constructed temples and shrines like the Thesmophorion, where women could perform their rites and worship.<ref
==Mystery religions==
Line 129 ⟶ 125:
Here, they could find religious consolations that traditional religion could not provide: a chance at mystical awakening, a systematic religious doctrine, a map to the [[afterlife]], a communal worship, and a band of spiritual fellowship.
Some of these mysteries, like the [[Eleusinian Mysteries|mysteries of Eleusis]] and [[Mysteries of Samothrace|Samothrace]], were ancient and local. Others were spread from place to place, like the [[Dionysian Mysteries|mysteries of Dionysus]]. During the [[Hellenistic]] period and the [[Roman Empire]], exotic mystery religions became widespread, not only in Greece, but all across the empire. Some of these were new creations, such as [[Mithras]], while others had been practiced for hundreds of years before, like the Egyptian [[mysteries of
==History==
Line 139 ⟶ 135:
The Mycenaeans perhaps treated Poseidon, to them a god of earthquakes as well as the sea, as their chief deity, and forms of his name along with several other Olympians are recognizable in records in [[Linear B]], while Apollo and Aphrodite are absent. Only about half of the Mycenaean pantheon seems to survive the [[Greek Dark Ages]]. The archaeological evidence for continuity in religion is far clearer for Crete and [[Cyprus]] than the Greek mainland.<ref name="Burkert 1985: 1:3:6">Burkert (1985): 1:3:6</ref>
Greek religious concepts may also have absorbed the beliefs and practices of earlier, nearby cultures, such as [[Minoan religion]],<ref>Burkert (1985): 1:3:1</ref> and other influences came from the Near East, especially via Cyprus
The [[Great Goddess hypothesis]], that a Stone Age religion dominated by a female Great Goddess was displaced by a male-dominated Indo-European hierarchy, has been proposed for Greece as for [[Minoan civilization|Minoan Crete]] and other regions, but has not been in favor with specialists for some decades, though the question remains too poorly evidenced for a clear conclusion; at the least the evidence from [[Minoan art]] shows more goddesses than gods.<ref>Burkert (1985): 1:3:5</ref> The [[Twelve Olympians]], with Zeus as [[sky father]], certainly have a strong Indo-European flavor;<ref>Burkert (1985): 1:2</ref> by the time of the epic works of Homer all are well-established, except for [[Dionysus]], but several of the [[Homeric Hymns]], probably composed slightly later, are dedicated to him.
Line 157 ⟶ 153:
===Roman Empire===
[[File:Wall painting - Dionysos with Helios and Aphrodite - Pompeii (VII 2 16) - Napoli MAN 9449 - 01.jpg|thumb|left|[[Dionysus]] with
When the [[Roman Republic]] conquered Greece in 146 BCE, it took much of Greek religion (along with many other aspects of [[Greek culture]] such as literary and architectural styles) and incorporated it into its own. The Greek gods were equated with the ancient Roman deities; Zeus with [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], Hera with [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], Poseidon with [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]], Aphrodite with [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], Ares with [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], Artemis with [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]], Athena with [[Minerva]], Hermes with [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]], Hephaestus with [[Vulcan (mythology)|Vulcan]], Hestia with [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]], Demeter with [[Ceres (Roman mythology)|Ceres]], Hades with [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]], Tyche with [[Fortuna]], and Pan with [[Faunus]]. Some of the gods, such as Apollo and [[Bacchus]], had earlier been adopted by the Romans. There were also many deities that existed in the Roman religion before its interaction with Greece that were not associated with a Greek deity, including [[Janus]] and [[Quirinus]].
Line 165 ⟶ 161:
===Suppression and decline===
The initial [[decline of Greco-Roman polytheism]] was due in part to its syncretic nature, assimilating beliefs and practices from a variety of foreign religious traditions as the Roman Empire expanded.{{page
The Roman Emperor [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]], a nephew of Constantine, initiated an effort to end the ascension of Christianity within the empire and reorganize a syncretic version of Greco-Roman polytheism that he termed "Hellenism". Later known as "The Apostate", Julian had been raised Christian but embraced his ancestors' paganism in early adulthood. Taking notice of how Christianity ultimately flourished under suppression, Julian pursued a policy of marginalization but not destruction towards the Church; tolerating and at times lending state support to other prominent faiths (particularly Judaism) when he believed doing so would be likely to weaken Christianity.<ref name="Brown, Peter 1971, p. 93">Brown, Peter, The World of Late Antiquity, W. W. Norton, New York, 1971, p. 93.</ref> Julian's Christian training influenced his decision to create a single organized version of the various old pagan traditions, with a centralized priesthood and a coherent body of doctrine, ritual, and liturgy based on [[Neoplatonism]].<ref name="hughes">"A History of the Church", Philip Hughes, Sheed & Ward, rev ed 1949, vol I chapter 6.[http://www.ewtn.com/library/CHISTORY/HUGHHIST.TXT]</ref><ref>[[Ammianus Marcellinus]] ''Res Gestae'' 22.12</ref> On the other hand, Julian forbade Christian educators from utilizing many of the great works of philosophy and literature associated with Greco-Roman paganism. He believed Christianity had benefited significantly from not only access to but influence over classical education.<ref
Julian's successors [[Jovian (Emperor)|Jovian]],<ref>Themistius Oration 5; Photius, Epitome of the Ecclesiastical History of [[Philostorgius]], 8.5</ref> [[Valentinian I]], and [[Valens]] continued Julian's policy of [[religious toleration]] within the Empire, garnering them both praise from pagan writers.<ref>Ammianus Res Gestae 20.9; Themistius Oration 12.</ref> Official persecution of paganism in the Eastern Empire began [[Christian persecution of paganism under Theodosius I|under Theodosius I]] in 381 CE.<ref name="Grindle1892pp29-30">Grindle, Gilbert (1892) ''The Destruction of Paganism in the Roman Empire'', pp.29-30.</ref> Theodosius strictly enforced anti-pagan laws, had priesthoods disbanded, temples destroyed, and actively participated in Christian actions against pagan holy sites.<ref name="Ramsay1984p90">Ramsay McMullan (1984) ''Christianizing the Roman Empire A.D. 100–400'', Yale University Press, p.90.</ref> He enacted laws that prohibited worship of pagan gods not only in public, but also within private homes.<ref name="hughes"/> The last Olympic Games were held in 393 CE, and Theodosius likely suppressed any further attempts to hold the games.<ref name="Burkert 1985, Introduction:3"/> Western Empire Emperor [[Gratian]], under the influence of his adviser [[Ambrose]], ended the widespread, unofficial tolerance that had existed in the Western Roman Empire since the reign of Julian. In 382 CE, Gratian appropriated the income and property of the remaining orders of pagan priests, disbanded the Vestal Virgins, removed altars, and confiscated temples.<ref>Theodosian Code 16.10.20; Symmachus Relationes 1-3; Ambrose Epistles 17-18.</ref>
Line 180 ⟶ 176:
[[Hellenism (religion)#Early revivals|Early revivalists]], with varying degrees of commitment, were the Englishmen [[John Fransham]] (1730–1810), interested in [[Neoplatonism]], and [[Thomas Taylor (neoplatonist)|Thomas Taylor]] (1758–1835), who produced the first English translations of many Neoplatonic philosophical and religious texts.
More recently, a revival has begun with contemporary [[Hellenism (religion)|Hellenism]], as it is often called. In Greece, the term is ''Hellenic
==See also==
Line 186 ⟶ 182:
*[[Family tree of the Greek gods]]
* [[Hellenistic religion]]
* [[List of
== Notes ==
{{
== References ==
* {{citation |last=Ames-Lewis |first=Francis |date=2000 |title=The Intellectual Life of the Early Renaissance Artist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FrcsXlpD6NIC&q=Botticelli+Apelles+Birth+of+Venus&pg=PA194 |location=New Haven, Connecticut |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-300-09295-4}}
* [[Walter Burkert|Burkert, Walter]] (1972), ''[[Homo
*
* {{cite book |last=Burckhardt |first=Jacob |title=The Greeks and Greek Civilization |year=1999 |orig-year=1872 |location=New York |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-24447-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6viARAF6uowC}}
* Miles, Margaret Melanie. ''A Companion to Greek Architecture''. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, 2016.
Line 200 ⟶ 196:
==Further reading==
{{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Ancient Greek Religion▼
|viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}▼
{{refbegin|30em}}
* [[Arthur Bernard Cook|Cook, Arthur Bernard]], ''Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion'', (3 volume set), (1914–1925). New York, Bibilo & Tannen: 1964. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006BMDNA ASIN B0006BMDNA]
Line 238 ⟶ 233:
== External links ==
▲{{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Ancient Greek Religion
▲ |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Greek Religion}}
| |||
