View source for Ancient Greek religion

{{Short description|Religion in ancient Greece}}
{{Protection padlock|small=yes}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}
[[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.]]
'''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|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 Greece|ancient Greeks]] did not have a word for 'religion' in the modern sense. Likewise, no Greek writer is known to have classified either the gods or the cult practices into separate 'religions'.<ref>{{Cite book|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.|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#Religion|epithets]] that distinguished aspects of the deity, and often reflect the absorption of other local deities into the pan-Hellenic scheme.

The religious practices of the Greeks extended beyond mainland Greece, to the islands and coasts of [[Ionia]] in [[Asia Minor]], to [[Magna Graecia]] ([[Sicily]] and southern Italy), and to scattered Greek colonies in the Western Mediterranean, such as [[Massalia]] (Marseille). Early Italian religions such as the [[Etruscan religion]] were influenced by Greek religion and subsequently influenced much of the [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]].

==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|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===
{{Further|List of Greek deities}}
Ancient Greek [[theology]] was [[polytheism|polytheistic]], based on the assumption that there were many gods and goddesses, as well as a range of lesser supernatural beings of various types. There was a hierarchy of deities, with [[Zeus]], the king of the gods, having a level of control over all the others, although he was not almighty. Some deities had dominion over certain aspects of [[nature]]. For instance, Zeus was the sky-god, sending thunder and lightning, [[Poseidon]] ruled over the sea and [[earthquakes]], [[Hades]] projected his remarkable power throughout the realms of death and the [[Greek Underworld|Underworld]], and [[Helios]] controlled the sun. Other deities ruled over abstract concepts; for instance [[Aphrodite]] controlled love. All significant deities were visualized as "human" in form, although often able to transform themselves into animals or natural phenomena.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=2:1:4}}

While being immortal, the gods were certainly not [[Omnibenevolence|all-good]] or even [[omnipotence|all-powerful]]. They had to obey [[destiny|fate]], known to Greek mythology as the [[Moirai]],{{sfn|Burkert|1985|p=129}} which overrode any of their divine powers or wills. For instance, in mythology, it was [[Odysseus]]' fate to return home to [[Homer's Ithaca|Ithaca]] after the [[Trojan War]], and the gods could only lengthen his journey and make it harder for him, not stop him.
[[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 had human [[vice]]s and many behaved with arguably less morality than a typical human.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Homeric Gods: The Spiritual Significance of Greek Religion|last=Otto|first=W.F.|publisher=Pantheon|year=1954|location=New York|pages=131|title-link=The Homeric Gods}}</ref> They interacted with humans, sometimes even spawning children—called [[demigod]]s—with them. At times, certain gods would be opposed to others, and they would try to outdo each other. In the ''[[Iliad]]'', [[Aphrodite]], [[Ares]], and [[Apollo]] support the Trojan side in the Trojan War, while [[Hera]], [[Athena]], and Poseidon support the Greeks (see [[theomachy]]).

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:Esculape, Ma 639 (201).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|[[Asclepios]], god of medicine. Marble Roman copy (2nd century CE) of a Greek original of the early 4th century BCE. Asclepios was not one of the Twelve Olympians, but popular with doctors like [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], and their patients.]]

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>{{cite book |last=Rosivach |first=Vincent J. |year=1994 |title=The System of Public Sacrifice in Fourth Century Athens |location=Atlanta |publisher=Scholars Press |page=1}}</ref>

===Afterlife===
{{main|Greek underworld}}
The Greeks believed in an [[underworld]] inhabited by the spirits of the dead. One of the most widespread areas of this underworld was ruled by Hades, a brother of Zeus, and was also known as [[Hades]] (originally called 'the place of Hades'). Other well-known realms are [[Tartarus]], a place of torment for the damned, and [[Elysium]], a place of pleasures for the virtuous. In the early Mycenaean religion all the dead went to Hades, but the rise of [[Greco-Roman mysteries|mystery cults]] in the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic age]] led to the development of places such as Tartarus and Elysium.

A few Greeks, like [[Achilles]], [[Alcmene]], [[Amphiaraus]], [[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]], [[Ino (Greek mythology)|Ino]], [[Melicertes]], [[Menelaus]], [[Peleus]], and a great number of those who fought in the [[Trojan War|Trojan]] and [[Theban–Spartan War|Theban]] wars, were considered to have been physically immortalized and brought to live forever in either Elysium, the [[Fortunate Isles|Islands of the Blessed]], heaven, the ocean, or beneath the ground. Such beliefs are found in the most ancient Greek sources, such as [[Homer]] and [[Hesiod]]. This belief remained strong even into the [[Christianity|Christian era]]. For most people at the moment of death there was, however, no hope of anything but continued existence as a disembodied soul.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rohde |first=Erwin |author-link=Erwin Rohde |year=1925 |orig-year=1921 |title=Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality among the Greeks |location=New York |publisher=Harcourt, Brace & company, inc.}}</ref>

Some Greeks, such as the philosophers [[Pythagoras]] and [[Plato]], also embraced the idea of [[reincarnation]], though this was only accepted by a few. [[Epicurus]] taught that the soul was simply atoms which were dissolved at death, so one ceased to exist on dying.

===Mythology===
{{main|Greek mythology}}
[[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 mythology sidebar}}

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]].

Many species existed in Greek mythology. Chief among these were the gods and humans, though the [[Titan (mythology)|Titans]] (who predated the Olympian gods) also frequently appeared in Greek myths. Lesser species included the half-man-half-horse [[centaur]]s, the nature-based [[nymph]]s (tree nymphs were [[dryad]]s, sea nymphs were [[Nereid]]s) and the half-man, half-goat [[satyr]]s. Some creatures in Greek mythology were monstrous, such as the one-eyed giant [[Cyclopes]], the sea beast [[Scylla]], whirlpool [[Charybdis]], Gorgons, and the half-man, half-bull [[Minotaur]].

There was no set Greek [[cosmogony]], or creation myth. Different religious groups believed that the world had been created in different ways. One Greek creation myth was told in Hesiod's ''[[Theogony]]''. It stated that at first there was only a primordial deity called [[Chaos (cosmogony)|Chaos]], after which came various other primordial gods, such as Gaia, Tartarus and Eros, who then gave birth to more gods, the Titans, who then gave birth to the first Olympians.

The mythology largely survived and was expanded to form the later [[Roman mythology]]. The Greeks and Romans were literate societies, and much mythology, although initially shared orally, was written down in the forms of [[epic poetry]] (such as the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' and the ''[[Argonautica]]'') and plays (such as [[Euripides]]' ''[[The Bacchae]]'' and [[Aristophanes]]' ''[[The Frogs]]''). The mythology became popular in Christian post-[[Renaissance]] Europe, where it was often used as a basis for the works of artists like [[Botticelli]], [[Michelangelo]] and [[Rubens]].

===Morality===
One of the most important moral concepts to the Greeks was aversion to [[hubris]]. Hubris constituted many things, from rape to desecration of a corpse,<ref>Omitowoju {which book?}, p. 36</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cartlege |first1=Paul |last2=Millett |first2=Paul |last3=Todd |first3=Stephen |year=1990 |title=Nomos: Essays in Athenian Law, Politics and Society |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=126}}</ref> and was a crime in Athens. Although pride and vanity were not considered sins themselves, the Greeks emphasized moderation. Pride only became hubris when it went to extremes, like any other vice. The same was thought of eating and drinking. Anything done to excess was not considered proper. Ancient Greeks placed, for example, importance on athletics and intellect equally. In fact many of their competitions included both. Pride was not evil until it became all-consuming or hurtful to others.

===Sacred texts===
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{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=Introduction:2}}<ref> {{cite book |last=Johnston |first=Sarah Iles |year=2004 |title=Religions of the Ancient World: a Guide |location=Cambridge |publisher=Harvard University Press}}</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 [[Greco-Roman mysteries|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|hierói lógoi}} ({{langx|grc|ἱεροί λόγοι}}) (sacred texts) by the ancient sources, originated from outside the Greek world, or were supposedly adopted in remote times, representing yet more different traditions within the Greek belief system.

==Practices==
===Ceremonies===
{{main|Ceremonies of ancient Greece}}
The lack of a unified priestly class meant that a unified, [[Canon of Scripture|canonic]] form of the religious texts or practices never existed; just as there was no unified, common sacred text for the Greek belief system, there was no standardization of practices. Instead, religious practices were organized on local levels, with priests normally being [[magistrates]] for the city or village, or gaining authority from one of the many sanctuaries. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] notes that the priest of the [[temple of Athena Alea]] at [[Tegea]] was a boy, who held office only until reaching the age of [[puberty]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' 8. 47.2</ref>  Some priestly functions, like the care for a particular local festival, could be given by tradition to a certain family. To a large extent, in the absence of "scriptural" sacred texts, religious practices derived their authority from tradition, and "every omission or deviation arouses deep anxiety and calls forth sanctions".{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=Introduction:3}}

[[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]].{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=2:1:1}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=2:1:2}}<ref>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).{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=2:1:1}}<ref>To some extent, different animals were thought appropriate for different deities. From bulls for Zeus and Poseidon to doves for Aphrodite. {{Harvnb|Burkert|1985|loc=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>

For a smaller and simpler offering, a grain of [[incense]] could be thrown on the sacred fire,{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=2:1:2}} and outside the cities farmers made simple sacrificial gifts of plant produce as the "first fruits" were harvested.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=2:1:4}} The [[Libation#Ancient Greece|libation]], a ritual pouring of fluid, was part of everyday life, and libations with a prayer were often made at home whenever wine was drunk, with just a part of the cup's contents, the rest being drunk. More formal ones might be made onto altars at temples, and other fluids such as [[olive oil]] and honey might be used. Although the grand form of sacrifice called the [[hecatomb]] (meaning 100 bulls) might in practice only involve a dozen or so, at large festivals the number of cattle sacrificed could run into the hundreds, and the numbers feasting on them well into the thousands.
[[File:Greekreligion-animalsacrifice-corinth-6C-BCE.jpg|thumb|Sacrifice of a lamb on [[Pitsa panels|a Pitsa Panel]], [[Corinth]], 540–530 BCE]]

The evidence of the existence of such practices is clear in some ancient Greek literature, especially [[Homer]]'s epics. Throughout the poems, the use of the ritual is apparent at banquets where meat is served, in times of danger or before some important endeavor to gain the gods' favor. For example, in the ''[[Odyssey]]'' [[Eumaeus]] sacrifices a pig with prayer for his unrecognizable master Odysseus. But in the ''[[Iliad]]'', which partly reflects very early Greek civilization, not every banquet of the princes begins with a sacrifice.<ref>Sarah Hitch, ''King of Sacrifice: Ritual and Royal Authority in the Iliad'', [https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/6164.1-defining-homeric-sacrifice online at] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125114458/https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/6164.1-defining-homeric-sacrifice |date=2021-01-25 }} Harvard University's Center for Hellenic Studies</ref>

These sacrificial practices share much with recorded forms of sacrificial rituals known from later. Furthermore, throughout the poem, special banquets are held whenever gods indicated their presence by some sign or success in war. Before setting out for Troy, this type of animal sacrifice is offered. Odysseus offers Zeus a sacrificial ram in vain. The occasions of sacrifice in Homer's epic poems may shed some light onto the view of gods as members of society, rather than external entities, indicating social ties. Sacrificial rituals played a major role in forming the relationship between humans and the divine.<ref>Meuli, ''Griechische Opferbräuche'', 1946</ref>

It has been suggested that the [[Chthonic]] deities, distinguished from Olympic deities by typically being offered the [[Holocaust (sacrifice)|holocaust]] mode of sacrifice, where the offering is wholly burnt, may be remnants of the native [[Pre-Greek substrate|Pre-Hellenic]] religion, and that many of the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympian]] deities may come from the Proto-Greeks who overran the southern part of the [[Balkans|Balkan Peninsula]] in the late third millennium BCE.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Chadwick|first1=John|title=The Mycenaean World|date=1976|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-521-29037-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/mycenaeanworld00chad/page/85 85]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/mycenaeanworld00chad/page/85}}</ref>

===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==
[[File:Athena Parthenos LeQuire.jpg|thumb|right|Reproduction of the ''[[Athena Parthenos]]'' cult image at the original size in the [[Parthenon (Nashville)|Parthenon in Nashville]], Tennessee.]]
{{main|Ancient Greek temple}}
The main [[Ancient Greek temple|Greek temple]] building sat within a larger precinct or [[temenos]], usually surrounded by a [[peribolos]] fence or wall; the whole is usually called a "sanctuary". The [[Acropolis of Athens]] is the most famous example, though this was apparently walled as a citadel before a temple was ever built there. The tenemos might include many subsidiary buildings, [[sacred grove]]s or springs, animals dedicated to the deity, and sometimes people who had taken sanctuary from the law, which some temples offered, for example to runaway slaves.{{sfn|Miles|2016|pp=219–220}}

The earliest Greek sanctuaries probably lacked temple buildings, though our knowledge of these is limited, and the subject is controversial. A typical early sanctuary seems to have consisted of a tenemos, often around a sacred grove, cave, rock ([[baetyl]]) or spring, and perhaps defined only by marker stones at intervals, with an altar for offerings. Many rural sanctuaries probably stayed in this style, but the more popular were gradually able to afford a building to house a cult image, especially in cities. This process was certainly under way by the 9th century, and probably started earlier.<ref>Theories are discussed in chapter 1 of ''Greek Sanctuaries: New Approaches'', Eds. Robin Hagg and [[Nanno Marinatos]], 2002, Routledge, {{ISBN|113480167X}}, 9781134801671, [https://books.google.com/books?id=WvSHAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT11 google books]</ref>

The temple interiors did not serve as meeting places, since the [[ritual sacrifice|sacrifice]]s and rituals dedicated to the respective deity took place outside them, at altars within the wider precinct of the sanctuary, which might be large. As the centuries passed both the inside of popular temples and the area surrounding them accumulated statues and small shrines or other buildings as gifts, and military trophies, paintings and items in precious metals, effectively turning them into a type of museum.

Some sanctuaries offered [[oracle]]s, people who were believed to receive divine inspiration in answering questions put by pilgrims. The most famous of these by far was the female priestess called the [[Pythia]] at the Temple of Apollo at [[Delphi]], and that of Zeus at [[Dodona]], but there were many others. Some dealt only with medical, agricultural or other specialized matters, and not all represented gods, like that of the hero [[Trophonius]] at [[Livadeia]].

===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.{{sfn|Miles|2016|p=213}} 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.

It used to be thought that access to the ''cella'' of a Greek temple was limited to the priests, and it was entered only rarely by other visitors, except perhaps during important festivals or other special occasions. In recent decades this picture has changed, and scholars now stress the variety of local access rules. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] was a gentlemanly traveller of the 2nd-century CE who declares that the special intention of his travels around Greece was to see cult images, and usually managed to do so.{{snf|Miles|2016|pp=212–213, 220}}

It was typically necessary to make a sacrifice or gift, and some temples restricted access either to certain days of the year, or by class, race, gender (with either men or women forbidden), or even more tightly. Garlic-eaters were forbidden in one temple, in another women unless they were virgins; restrictions typically arose from local ideas of ritual purity or a perceived whim of the deity. In some places visitors were asked to show they spoke Greek; elsewhere [[Dorians]] were not allowed entry. Some temples could only be viewed from the threshold. Some temples are said never to be opened at all. But generally Greeks, including slaves, had a reasonable expectation of being allowed into the ''cella''. Once inside the ''cella'' it was possible to pray to or before the cult image, and sometimes to touch it; [[Cicero]] saw a bronze image of Heracles with its foot largely worn away by the touch of devotees.{{sfn|Stevenson|2012|pp=48–50}}{{snf|Miles|2016|pp=212–213, 220}} Famous cult images such as the [[Statue of Zeus at Olympia]] functioned as significant visitor attractions.{{snf|Stevenson|2012|pp=68–69}}

== Role of women ==
[[File:Woman altar MAR Palermo NI2129.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.7|Woman pouring a [[libation]] on an altar]]
In addition to the role that women performed in sacrifices, the only public roles that [[Greek women]] could perform were [[priest]]esses;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Simon |first1=Stephen J. |title=The Functions of Priestesses in Greek Society |journal=The Classical Bulletin |volume=67 |issue=2 |id={{ProQuest|1296355183}} }}</ref> either ''[[hiereiai]]'', meaning "sacred women", or {{Lang|grc-Latn|amphipolis}}, a term for lesser attendants. As priestesses, they gained social recognition and access to more luxuries than other Greek women who worked or stayed in the home. They were mostly from local elite families; some roles required virgins, who typically only served for a year or so before marriage, while other roles went to married women. Women who voluntarily chose to become priestesses received an increase in social and legal status to the public, and after death, they received a public burial site. Greek priestesses had to be healthy and of a sound mind, the reasoning being that the ones serving the gods had to be as high-quality as their offerings.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dillon |first1=Matthew |title=Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290875541 |website=Researchgate}}</ref> This was also true of male Greek priests.

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 name="researchgate.net"/>

==Mystery religions==
Those who were not satisfied by the public cult of the gods could turn to various [[Greco-Roman mysteries|mystery religions]] that operated as [[Cult (religious practice)|cult]]s into which members had to be initiated in order to learn their secrets.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=4:1:1}}

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 Osiris]].

==History==
[[File:7262 - Piraeus Arch. Museum, Athens - The Piraeus Apollo - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 14 2009.jpg|thumb|The [[Piraeus Apollo]], c. 525 BCE]]

===Origins===
Mainstream Greek religion appears to have developed out of [[Proto-Indo-European religion]] and although very little is known about the earliest periods there are suggestive hints that some local elements go back even further than the [[Bronze Age]] or [[Helladic chronology|Helladic period]] to the farmers of [[Neolithic Greece]]. There was also clearly [[cultural evolution]] from the Late Helladic [[Mycenaean religion]] of the [[Mycenaean civilization]]. Both the literary settings of some important myths and many important sanctuaries relate to locations that were important Helladic centers that had become otherwise unimportant by Greek times.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=1:1}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=1:2}}

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.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=1:3:6}}

Greek religious concepts may also have absorbed the beliefs and practices of earlier, nearby cultures, such as [[Minoan religion]],{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=1:3:1}} and other influences came from the Near East, especially via Cyprus{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=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]]ic/[[Canaan]]ite mythology share many parallel relationships and that historical trends in Canaanite religion can help date works such as [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]''.<ref name=":1" />

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.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=1:3:5}} The [[Twelve Olympians]], with Zeus as [[sky father]], certainly have a strong Indo-European flavor;{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=1:2}} 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.

===Archaic and classical periods===
[[File:20190507 061 olympia museum.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Group of Zeus and Ganymede|Zeus carrying away Ganymede]]'' (Late Archaic terracotta, 480-470 BCE)]]
[[Archaic Greece|Archaic]] and [[Classical Greece]] saw the development of [[List of ancient Greek cities|flourishing cities]] and of stone-built temples to the gods, which were rather consistent in design across the Greek world. Religion was closely tied to civic life, and priests were mostly drawn from the local elite. Religious works led the development of [[Greek sculpture]], though apparently not the now-vanished Greek painting. While much religious practice was, as well as personal, aimed at developing solidarity within the ''[[polis]]'', a number of important sanctuaries developed a "Panhellenic" status, drawing visitors from all over the Greek world. These served as an essential component in the growth and self-consciousness of Greek nationalism.<ref name=Burckhardt>{{harvnb|Burckhardt|1999|loc=p. 168: "The establishment of these Panhellenic sites, which yet remained exclusively Hellenic, was a very important element in the growth and self-consciousness of Hellenic nationalism; it was uniquely decisive in breaking down enmity between tribes, and remained the most powerful obstacle to fragmentation into mutually hostile ''poleis''."}}</ref> 
 
The mainstream religion of the Greeks did not go unchallenged within Greece. As [[Greek philosophy]] developed its ideas about [[ethics]], the Olympians were found wanting. Several notable philosophers criticized belief in the gods. The earliest of these was [[Xenophanes]], who chastised the gods' human vices and their anthropomorphic depiction. [[Plato]] wrote that there was one supreme god, whom he called the "[[Form of the Good]]", which he believed was the emanation of perfection in the universe. Plato's disciple [[Aristotle]] also disagreed that polytheistic deities existed, because he could not find enough empirical evidence for it. He believed in a [[Primum movens|Prime Mover]], which had set creation going but was not connected to or interested in the universe.

===Hellenistic period===
[[File:Egyptian - Pendant with Image of Sarapis - Walters 571524 - Front View B (cropped).jpg|thumb|Pendant with [[Serapis]], Egypt, 2nd century BCE]]
{{main|Hellenistic religion}}
In the [[Hellenistic period]] between the death of [[Alexander the Great]] in 323 BCE and the [[Roman conquest of Greece]] (146 BCE), Greek religion developed in various ways, including expanding over at least some of Alexander's conquests. The new dynasties of [[diadochi]], kings and tyrants often spent lavishly on temples, often following Alexander in trying to insinuate themselves into religious cult; this was much easier for the [[Ptolemaic dynasty]] of Egypt, where the traditional [[ancient Egyptian religion]] had long had deified monarchs. The enormous raised [[Pergamon Altar]] (now in Berlin) and the [[Altar of Hieron]] in [[Sicily]] are examples of unprecedentedly large constructions of the period.

New cults of imported deities such as [[Isis#In the Greco-Roman world|Isis from Egypt]], [[Atargatis]] from Syria, and [[Cybele]] from Anatolia became increasingly important, as well as [[Hellenistic philosophy|several philosophical movements]] such as [[Platonism]], [[stoicism]], and [[Epicureanism]]; both tended to detract from the traditional religion, although many Greeks were able to hold beliefs from more than one of these groups. [[Serapis]] was essentially a Hellenistic creation, if not devised then spread in Egypt for political reasons by [[Ptolemy I Soter]] as a hybrid of Greek and local styles of deity. Various philosophical movements, including the [[Orphics]] and [[Pythagoreans]], began to question the ethics of animal sacrifice, and whether the gods really appreciated it; from the surviving texts [[Empedocles]] and [[Theophrastus]] (both vegetarians) were notable critics.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|pp=6–8}} [[Hellenistic astrology]] developed late in the period, as another distraction from the traditional practices. Although traditional myths, festivals and beliefs all continued, these trends probably reduced the grip on the imagination of the traditional pantheon, especially among the educated, but also in the general population.

===Roman Empire===
[[File:Wall painting - Dionysos with Helios and Aphrodite - Pompeii (VII 2 16) - Napoli MAN 9449 - 01.jpg|thumb|left|[[Dionysus]] with ''[[thyrsus]]'' sitting on a throne, with [[Helios]], [[Aphrodite]] and other gods. Fresco from [[Pompeii]].]]
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]].

The Romans generally did not spend much on new temples in Greece other than those for [[Imperial cult of ancient Rome|their Imperial cult]], which were placed in all important cities. Exceptions include [[Antoninus Pius]] (r. 138–161 CE), whose commissions include the [[Baalbec]] [[Temple of Bacchus]], arguably the most impressive survival from the imperial period (though the Temple of Jupiter-[[Baal]] next to it was larger). It could be said the Greek world was by this time well furnished with sanctuaries. Roman governors and emperors often pilfered famous statues from sanctuaries, sometimes leaving contemporary reproductions in their place. [[Verres]], governor of [[Sicilia (Roman province)|Sicily]] from 73 to 70 BCE, was an early example who, unusually, was prosecuted after his departure.

After the huge Roman conquests beyond Greece, new cults from Egypt and Asia became popular in Greece as well as the western empire.

===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 needed|date=January 2021}} Greco-Roman philosophical schools incorporated elements of [[Judaism]] and [[Early Christianity]], and mystery religions like Christianity and [[Mithraism]] also became increasingly popular. [[Constantine I]] became the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity, and the [[Edict of Milan]] in 313 CE enacted official tolerance for Christianity within the Empire. Still, in Greece and elsewhere, there is evidence that pagan and Christian communities remained essentially segregated from each other, with little mutual cultural influence.{{page needed|date=January 2021}} Urban pagans continued to use the civic centers and temple complexes, while Christians set up their own, new places of worship in suburban areas. Contrary to some older scholarship, newly converted Christians did not simply continue worshiping in converted temples; rather, new Christian communities formed as older pagan communities declined and were eventually suppressed and disbanded.<ref name=survival_greece>{{cite journal|last=Gregory|first=T.|year=1986|title=The Survival of Paganism in Christian Greece: A Critical Essay|journal=The American Journal of Philology|volume=107|issue=2|pages=229–242|doi=10.2307/294605|jstor=294605 }}</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2021}}

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 name="Brown, Peter 1971, p. 93"/>

Julian's successors [[Jovian (Emperor)|Jovian]],<ref>Themistius Oration 5</ref><ref>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.</ref><ref>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.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|loc=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.</ref><ref>Symmachus Relationes 1-3.</ref><ref>Ambrose Epistles 17-18.</ref>

Despite official suppression by the Roman government, worship of the Greco-Roman gods persisted in some rural and remote regions into the [[early Middle Ages]]. A claimed temple to Apollo, with a community of worshipers and associated sacred grove, survived at [[Monte Cassino]] until 529 CE, when it was forcefully converted to a Christian chapel by Saint [[Benedict of Nursia]], who destroyed the altar and cut down the grove.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Life of Saint Benedict|author=Pope Gregory I|translator=Terrence Kardong, OSB|section=7:10-11|page=49|publisher=Liturgical Press|year=2009|location=Collegeville, MN}}</ref> Other pagan communities, namely the [[Maniots]], persisted in the [[Mani Peninsula]] of Greece until at least the 9th century.<ref name=survival_greece/>

=== Pagan Continuation ===
During [[Late Antiquity]], the decline of traditional practices was marked by a significant shift in nomenclature. In the Greek-speaking [[Eastern Roman Empire|East]], Christians increasingly referred to polytheistic practitioners as [[Hellenes (religion)|Hellenes]] ({{lang|grc|Ἕλληνες}}), causing the word to largely lose its cultural meaning and take on a derogatory religious connotation by the latter half of the 4th century.<ref>Brown, Peter. ''Late Antiquity: A Very Short Introduction''. Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 100.</ref> The final generation of classical philosophers, such as the Neoplatonist heads of the Athenian School, [[Proclus]] (412–485) and [[Damascius]] (458–538), were overt practitioners of Hellenic paganism and Theurgy.<ref>Cameron, Alan. ''Wandering Poets and Other Essays on Late Greek Literature and Philosophy''. Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 200–205.</ref> The intellectual survival of their doctrines was later secured by Byzantine scholars through conscious strategies of intellectual accommodation, or [[Oikonomia|oikonomia]], often discussed under the framework of crypto-pagan dissimulation, which allowed non-Christian material to be preserved within academic contexts.<ref>Trombley, Frank R. ''Hellenic Religion and Christianization, c. 370-529'', Vol. I. Brill, 1993, p. 305.</ref> Geographically isolated regions provided refuge; the [[Maniots]] in the [[Mani Peninsula]], for instance, were noted for being among the last Greeks to abandon the old religion, achieving full Christianization only towards the end of the 9th century, as noted by [[Patrick Leigh Fermor]].<ref>Fermor, Patrick Leigh. ''Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese''. John Murray, 1958, p. 45.</ref>

===Modern revivals===
[[File:YSEE Hellenic priest (reading).png|thumb|right|Modern Hellenic priest performing ritual.]]
{{Main|Hellenism (religion)|Platonism in the Renaissance}}
Greek religion and [[Hellenistic philosophy|philosophy]] have experienced a number of revivals, firstly in the arts, humanities and spirituality of [[Renaissance Neoplatonism]], which many believed had effects in the real world. During the period (14th–17th centuries) when ancient Greek literature and philosophy gained widespread appreciation in Europe, this new popularity did not extend to ancient Greek religion, especially the original theist forms, and most new examinations of Greek philosophy were written in a solidly Christian context.<ref name="openuni">Open University, ''[http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/renaissance2/religion.htm Looking at the Renaissance: Religious Context in the Renaissance]'' (Retrieved May 10, 2007)</ref>

[[Hellenism (religion)#History|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 National Religion'' ({{Lang|el|Ελληνική Εθνική Θρησκεία}}). Modern Hellenism reflects [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonic]] and [[Platonism|Platonic]] speculation (represented in [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]], [[Libanius]], [[Proclus]], and [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]]), as well as classical cult practice. But it has far fewer followers than [[Greek Orthodox Church|Greek Orthodox Christianity]]. According to estimates reported by the [[U.S. State Department]] in 2006, there were perhaps as many as 2,000 followers of the ancient Greek religion out of a total Greek population of 11 million,<ref>[https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71383.htm Greece]. State.gov. Retrieved on 2013-07-28.</ref> but Hellenism's leaders place that figure at 100,000.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=617qc8gmta8 Hellenic Religion today: Polytheism in modern Greece]. YouTube (2009-09-22). Retrieved on 2013-07-28.</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Ancient Greece|Religion}}
*[[Family tree of the Greek gods]]
* [[Hellenistic religion]]
* [[List of Ancient Greek temples]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* {{cite book |last=Ames-Lewis |first=Francis |year=2000 |title=The Intellectual Life of the Early Renaissance Artist |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-300-09295-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FrcsXlpD6NIC&q=Botticelli+Apelles+Birth+of+Venus}}
* {{cite book |last=Burkert |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Burkert |year=1972 |title=Homo Necans |title-link=Homo Necans |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter}}
* {{cite book |last=Burkert |first=Walter |year=1985 |title=Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical |location=Cambridge |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=0674362810 |url=https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/23/mode/2up}} Widely regarded as the standard modern account.
* {{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}}
* {{cite book |last=Miles |first=Margaret Melanie |year=2016 |title=A Companion to Greek Architecture |location=Hoboken |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell}}
* {{cite book |last=Stevenson |first=Gregory |year=2012 |title=Power and Place: Temple and Identity in the Book of Revelation |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9783110880397 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9dcfAAAAQBAJ}}

==Further reading==

{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Cook |first=Arthur Bernard |author-link=Arthur Bernard Cook |year=1914–1940 |title=Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
** Volume 1: {{cite book |year=1914 |title=Zeus, God of the Bright Sky}}
** Volume 2: {{cite book |year=1925 |title=Zeus, God of the Dark Sky (Thunder and Lightning)}}
** Volume 3: {{cite book |year=1940 |title=Zeus, God of the Dark Sky (Earthquakes, Clouds, Wind, Dew, Rain, Meteorites)}}
* {{cite book |last=Dodds |first=Eric Robertson |author-link=E. R. Dodds |year=1951 |title=The Greeks and the Irrational |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Eliade |first=Mircea |author-link=Mircea Eliade |year=1964 |title=Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy |location=New York |publisher=Bollingen Foundation}}
* {{cite book |last=Farnell |first=Lewis Richard |year=1896–1909 |title=Cults of the Greek States, 5 vols. |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon}} Still the standard reference.
* {{cite book |last=Farnell |first=Lewis Richard |year=1921 |title=Greek Hero Cults and Ideas of Immortality |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon}}
* {{cite book |last=Harrison |first=Jane Ellen |year=1912 |title=Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion |url=https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/eos/eos_title.pl?callnum=BL781.H32 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Harrison |first=Jane Ellen |year=1921 |title=Epilegomena to the Study of Greek Religion |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Kerényi |first=Karl |year=1951 |title=The Gods of the Greeks |author-link=Karl Kerényi}}
* {{cite book |last=Kerényi |first=Karl |year=1967 |title=Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter}} The central modern accounting of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]].
* {{cite book |last=Kerényi |first=Karl |year=1976 |title=Dionysos: Archetypical Image of Indestructible Life}}
*{{cite book |last=Larson |first=Jennifer |year=2007 |title=Ancient Greek Cults:A Guide |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-32448-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Mikalson |first=Jon D. |year=1983 |title=Athenian Popular Religion |location=Chapel Hill |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=0-8078-4194-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Mikalson |first=Jon D. |year=2022 |title=Ancient Greek Religion |edition=3rd |location=Hoboken |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-119-56562-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Nilsson |first=Martin P. |year=1940 |title=Greek Popular Religion |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/gpr/}}
* {{cite book |last=Otto |first=Walter F. |author-link=Walter F. Otto |year=1954 |title=The Homeric Gods: The Spiritual Significance of Greek Religion |title-link=The Homeric Gods |location=New York |publisher=Pantheon}}
* {{cite book |last=Padilla |first=Mark William |year=1999 |title=Rites of Passage in Ancient Greece: Literature, Religion, Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-0JVScga2oYC |location=Lewisburg |publisher=Bucknell University Press |isbn=0-8387-5418-X}}
* {{cite book |last=Parker |first=Robert |year=1996 |title=Athenian Religion: A History |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=0-19-815240-X}}
* {{cite book |last=Parker |first=Robert |title=Polytheism and Society at Athens |year=2005 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-927483-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_ATDAAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book |last=Parker |first=Robert |title=On Greek Religion |year=2011 |location=Ithaca |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-6175-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e_ytDwAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book |last=Purvis |first=Andrea |year=2003 |title=Singular Dedications: Founders and Innovators of Private Cults in Classical Greece |location=London |publisher=Routledge}}
* {{cite book |last=Rask |first=K. A. |year=2023 |title=Personal experience and materiality in Greek religion |location=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781032357485}}
* {{cite book |last=Ridgeway |first=William |year=1910 |title=Origin of Tragedy with Special Reference to the Greek Tragedians |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Ridgeway |first=William |year=1915 |title=The Dramas and Dramatic Dances of non-European Races in special Reference to the Origin of Greek Tragedy, with an Appendix on the Origin of Greek Comedy |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Riu |first=Xavier |year=1999 |title=Dionysism and Comedy |location=Lanham |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield Publishers |isbn=0-8476-9442-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Rohde |first=Erwin |author-link=Erwin Rohde |year=1925 |orig-year=1921 |title=Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality among the Greeks |location=New York |publisher=Harcourt, Brace & company, inc.}}
* {{cite book |last=Smith |first=William |author-link=William Smith (lexicographer) |year=1870 |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |location=Boston |publisher=Little, Brown, and Company}}
* {{cite book |last=Sourvinou-Inwood |first=Christiane |editor1-last=Murray |editor1-first=Oswyn |editor2-last=Price |editor2-first=S. R. F. |title=The Greek City: From Homer to Alexander |year=1990 |publisher=Oxford University Press / Clarendon Press |location=Oxford / New York |pages=295–322 |chapter=What Is Polis Religion?}}
* {{cite book |last=West |first=Martin Litchfield |author-link=Martin Litchfield West |year=1971 |title=Early Greek philosophy and the Orient |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press}}
* {{cite book |last=West |first=Martin Litchfield |year=1983 |title=The Orphic Poems |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press}}
* {{cite book |last=West |first=Martin Litchfield |year=1997 |title=The East Face of Helicon: west Asiatic elements in Greek poetry and myth |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press}}
{{refend}}

== 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}}

{{Ancient Greece topics}}
{{Greek religion}}
{{Paganism}}
{{Religion topics}}
{{Ancient Roman religion horizontal}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ancient Greek religion| ]]