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{{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, [[ritual]]s, and [[Greek mythology|mythology]], in the form of both popular public religion and [[Cult (religious practice)|cult practices]]. The application of the modern concept of "religion" to ancient cultures has been questioned as [[anachronistic]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/826075990|title=The Cambridge companion to ancient Mediterranean religions|date=2013|author=Barbette Stanley Spaeth|author-link=Barbette Spaeth|isbn=978-0-521-11396-0|location=New York|oclc=826075990}}</ref> The ancient Greeks did not have a word for 'religion' in the modern sense. Likewise, no Greek writer known to us classifies either the gods or the cult practices into separate 'religions'.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/987423652|title=The Oxford handbook of ancient Greek religion|date=2017|author1=Esther Eidinow |author2=Julia Kindt|isbn=978-0-19-881017-9|location=Oxford, United Kingdom|oclc=987423652}}</ref> Instead, for example, [[Herodotus]] speaks of the Hellenes as having "common shrines of the gods and sacrifices, and the same kinds of customs."<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Warrior|first=Valerie M.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/422753768|title=Greek religion : a sourcebook|date=2009|publisher=Focus|isbn=978-1-58510-031-6|location=Newburyport, MA|oclc=422753768}}</ref>
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.
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==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". Instead we might think of the beliefs and practices of Greeks in relation to the gods as a group of closely related "religious dialects" that resembled each other far more than they did those of non-Greeks."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/826075990|title=The Cambridge companion to ancient Mediterranean religions|date=2013|author=Barbette Stanley Spaeth|isbn=978-0-521-11396-0|location=New York|oclc=826075990}}</ref>
===Theology===
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[[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>
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[[File:Rubens - Judgement of Paris.jpg|thumb|[[The Judgement of Paris (Rubens)|''The Judgment of Paris'' by Peter Paul Rubens]] (c. 1636), depicting the goddesses [[Hera]], [[Aphrodite]] and [[Athena]], in a competition that causes the [[Trojan War]]. This Baroque painting shows the continuing fascination with Greek mythology]]
[[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]].
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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==
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[[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===
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===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==
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== 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==
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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<ref name="Burkert 1985: 1:3:6"/> and [[Phoenicia]].<ref name=":0" /> [[Herodotus]], writing in the 5th century BCE, traced many Greek religious practices to [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]]. Robert G. Boling argues that Greek and [[Ugarit
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.
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===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>
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== Notes ==
{{
== References ==
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