Full Answer
How did religion affect life in ancient Greece?
Although there were atheists among the ancient Greeks, Greek religion pervaded community life. Religion was not a separate sphere. People did not take breaks each day or once a week to pray to the gods. There was no synagogue/church/mosque of Greece.
What happened to the Ancient Greek gods?
What Happened to the Greek Gods? Unfortunately, there is no evidence to state what exactly happened to the Greek gods. When the Romans overtook the Greeks, the Romans took the Greek gods and changed them in a more suitable way to make them the gods of an empire. Eventually, the Roman Empire beliefs were passed down to Christianity.
Did Greek religion die off before the classical period?
Going back to pre-classical times Dionysus and Aphrodite seem to be an adopted gods not native ones so did Greek religion (the pure Indo-European one) start to die off before the beginning of the classical period when that happened? Later Greeks merged their gods with local gods like Zeus-Ammon under Alexander and Serapis under the Ptolomies.
Was there a unified religion in ancient Greece?
Each city had its own stories and heroes, there wasn't a single unified religion. Sure the Greek world all recognized Zeus, the Iliad and Odyssey but even Zeus had cults that existed in one place and not another, which ones are part of Greek Mythology and which are other cults where does the line get drawn and why?
What happened to the ancient Greek religion?
The short answer is the classical Greek religion we recognize as Greek mythology came to an end in the 9th century in the Mani Peninsula area of Greece when the last pagans were converted.
When did the Greek religion stop?
9th century CEThe majority of modern historians agree that the religion practiced by the ancient Greeks had been extinguished by the 9th century CE at the latest and that there is little to no evidence that it survived (in public form at least) past the Middle Ages.
When did Greek religion start and end?
Though the worship of the sky god Zeus began as early as the 2nd millennium bc, Greek religion in the established sense began c. 750 bc and lasted for over a thousand years, extending its influence throughout the Mediterranean world and beyond.
Is the Greek religion still around?
About 98% of Greeks are Orthodox Christian, and all other religions except Judaism and Islam had been banned. Yet the pagans say as many as 2,000 Greeks have signed up to their movement.
Do Greek still believe in Zeus?
In A Nutshell Today, around 98 percent of Greeks identify themselves as Orthodox Christians, with the remaining 2 percent mostly made up of Muslims and a handful of Jews. Yet there's a growing number of Greeks who oppose the Abrahamic religions—not in favor of Hinduism, Buddhism, or even atheism, but in favor of Zeus.
What happened to Greek gods?
Unfortunately, there is no evidence to state what exactly happened to the Greek gods. When the Romans overtook the Greeks, the Romans took the Greek gods and changed them in a more suitable way to make them the gods of an empire. Eventually, the Roman Empire beliefs were passed down to Christianity.
Who created the Greek gods?
Kronos married his sister Rhea and gave birth to 6 children, who were called the gods. Kronos, who was afraid of a prophecy delivered to him which stated that one day his children would cut him up, swallowed each of his children the second they were born.
What caused the fall of Olympus?
Zeus,not wanting the deal,refused. Then,Hades used his dark magic to suffocate the god. After that,he killed every guard of the Olympus Prison and imprisoned Zeus. Now,he went out of Olympus and announced to the mortals,"Olympus Has Fallen".
Why do people no longer worship Greek gods?
The Greek gods are no longer worshipped because the spread of Christianity made the worship of pagan gods illegal. As Christianity spread through Europe, Greek and Roman polytheism became less and less popular. Eventually, paganism was outlawed completely.
Does anyone still pray Greek gods?
Although many Greeks only actually attend church a few times a year, the Orthodox religion is a "cornerstone" of Greek identity, he says. Those who worship the ancient Greek gods are widely regarded as no more than "interesting curiosities", he adds.
What is the oldest religion?
The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्म, lit.
What is Greek religion called?
While it is more than 2,000 years old, Hellenism – also called Hellenic ethnic religion, or Dodekatheism – which is the practice of worshipping ancient gods, has been growing in popularity since the 1990s. Learn more about the modern Greeks who worship the ancient gods.
When did Greece convert to Christianity?
According to the history of Orthodoxy, the first who came in the Greek territory to preach Christianity was Saint Paul in 49 AD.
When did people stop believing in Roman gods?
Roman religion, also called Roman mythology, beliefs and practices of the inhabitants of the Italian peninsula from ancient times until the ascendancy of Christianity in the 4th century ad.
How long did Greek mythology last?
The Greek stories of gods, heroes and monsters are told and retold around the world even today. The earliest known versions of these myths date back more than 2,700 years, appearing in written form in the works of the Greek poets Homer and Hesiod.
What caused the fall of Olympus?
Zeus,not wanting the deal,refused. Then,Hades used his dark magic to suffocate the god. After that,he killed every guard of the Olympus Prison and imprisoned Zeus. Now,he went out of Olympus and announced to the mortals,"Olympus Has Fallen".
Why were oracles important?
Such places became hugely important centres with their priest oracles consulted by both individuals and city-states so that the rather vague and ambiguous proclamations might help guide their future conduct.
What is the most important god in Greek mythology?
The most important gods, though, were the Olympian gods led by Zeus:
What was the religion of ancient Greece?
In the ancient Greek world, religion was personal, direct, and present in all areas of life. With formal rituals which included animal sacrifices and libations, myths to explain the origins of mankind and give the gods a human face, temples which dominated the urban landscape, city festivals and national sporting and artistic competitions, religion was never far from the mind of an ancient Greek. Whilst the individual may have made up their own mind on the degree of their religious belief and some may have been completely sceptical, certain fundamentals must have been sufficiently widespread in order for Greek government and society to function: the gods existed, they could influence human affairs, and they welcomed and responded to acts of piety and worship.
What is the Greek religion?
Definition. In the ancient Greek world, religion was personal, direct, and present in all areas of life. With formal rituals which included animal sacrifices and libations, myths to explain the origins of mankind and give the gods a human face, temples which dominated the urban landscape, city festivals and national sporting ...
Why were temples visited?
In addition, temples were often visited in order to seek healing, especially at those sites associated with Asclepius the god of medicine, notably at Epidaurus. People also looked for signs from the gods in everyday life and to interpret these signs as indicators of future events.
What is the name of the statue of Athena?
Mark Cartwright (CC BY-NC-SA) At first, sacred sites were merely a simple altar in a designated area, but over time massive temples came to be built in honour of a particular god and these usually housed a cult statue of the deity, most famously the huge statue of Athena in the Parthenon of Athens or Zeus at Olympia.
What did people leave for the past?
People left offerings such as incense, flowers, and food, no doubt with a hopeful prayer or in gratitude for a past deed. Individuals could also organise their own private sacrifice if they had the means to do so, and these have been commemorated in thousands of stone relief markers found at sacred sites.
What is the Greek god's theology?
Ancient Greek theology was 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 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.
How many followers did Hellenism have?
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; however, Hellenism's leaders place that figure at 100,000 followers.
What did the gods do in the Trojan War?
The gods acted like humans and had human vices. They would interact with humans, sometimes even spawning children 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 ).
How tall is the statue of Athena?
A very few actual originals survive, for example, the bronze Piraeus Athena (2.35 m (7.7 ft) high, including a helmet). The image stood on a base, from the 5th century often carved with reliefs.
What is the Greek religion?
Ancient Greek religion encompasses the collection of beliefs, rituals, and mythology originating in ancient Greece in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices. These groups varied enough for it to be possible to speak of Greek religions or "cults" in the plural, though most of them shared similarities.
Where was Aphrodite found?
Pottery vessel in the shape of Aphrodite inside a shell; from Attica, Classical Greece, discovered in the Phanagoria cemetery, Taman Peninsula ( Bosporan Kingdom, southern Russia ), 1st quarter of the 4th century BC, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.
Where did the Greeks believe in the Underworld?
The Greeks believed in an underworld where the spirits of the dead went after death. One of the most widespread areas of this underworld was ruled over by Hades, a brother of Zeus, and was itself 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 mystery cults in the Archaic age led to the development of places such as Tartarus and Elysium.
Why was Athens named after the goddess?
Athena's temple on the Acropolis was called the Parthenon, which means "maiden" because the temple was the place to honor the virgin goddess aspect, Athena.
Why do some stories tell of gods offended?
Some stories tell of gods offended because they were omitted from a list of gods honored with sacrifice or prayer, while other stories tell of gods offended by humans boasting they were as good as the gods. Such wrath might be demonstrated by the sending of a plague.
Why do we pray to the Virgin Goddess?
One might pray to a virgin goddess for the safety of one's children when one's city was under siege or, more likely, to help in a boar hunt since the virginal goddess Artemis was associated with the hunt.
Why do we revere the flag?
We, in the U.S., revere the flag as if it were a person and have prescribed rules for how to handle it. The Greeks might have honored their city-state's patron deity with a hymn instead of an anthem. Furthermore, the connection between religion and theater lasted beyond the ancient Greeks and into the Christian era.
Did each city have its protector deity?
Not only did each city have its protector deity, but its ancestral hero (es). These heroes were the half-mortal offspring of one of the gods, usually Zeus. Many also had mortal fathers, as well as the divine one. Greek anthropomorphic gods lived active lives, primarily different from mortal lives in that the gods were deathless. Such stories about the gods and heroes formed part of the history of a community.
Is honoring one god offensive?
Honoring one god would not be viewed as offensive to another god. Although you wouldn't incur the wrath of one god, by honoring another, you had to remember the first one, too. There are cautionary tales of gods offended that their cults were neglected. There were many gods and various aspects of them.
Did Greeks have a religion?
Although there were atheists among the ancient Greeks, Greek religion pervaded community life. Religion was not a separate sphere. People did not take breaks each day or once a week to pray to the gods. There was no synagogue/church/mosque of Greece. There were temples, though, to store the statue of the deities, and the temples would be in the sacred spaces (temene) where public rituals would be carried out.
Why is Zeus called Xenios?
Zeus is known as Zeus Xenios in his role as guarantor of guests. It is possible that Xenios was originally an independent deity, absorbed by Zeus as a result of the Olympo-centric tendencies of Greek religion encouraged by the poems of Homer and Hesiod. In Homer the gods constitute essentially a super- aristocracy.
Why did Hesiod use the relationships of the deities?
Hesiod uses the relationships of the deities, by birth, marriage, or treaty, to explain why the world is as it is and why Zeus, the third supreme deity of the Greeks, has succeeded in maintaining his supremacy—thus far—where his predecessors failed. Essentially, Zeus is a better politician and has the balance of power, practical wisdom, ...
What does the River say to Achilles when he fights with the River?
When Achilles fights with the River in the Iliad, the River speaks to Achilles but uses against him only such weapons as are appropriate to a stream of water. In Hesiod what could be distinguished as anthropomorphic deities and personalizations of natural or cultural phenomena both beget and are begotten by each other.
Why do the gods prefer peace on Olympus?
The gods might prefer peace on Olympus to helping their worshippers. These are not merely literary fictions; they reflect the beliefs of people who knew that though it might be necessary to offer prayer and sacrifice to the gods, it was not sufficient.
What is the feeling of awe before Oedipus?
It is power, not righteousness, that distinguishes the hero; it is the feeling of awe before the old, blind Oedipus that stimulates the Thebans and the Athenians to quarrel over his place of burial. Since they are the mightiest of the dead, heroes receive offerings suitable for chthonic (underworld) deities.
Why were heroes worshipped?
Heroes were worshipped as the most powerful of the dead, who were able, if they wished, to help the inhabitants of the polis in which their bones were buried. Thus, the Spartans brought back the bones of Orestes from Tegea. Historical characters might be elevated to the status of heroes at their deaths.
What were the Greeks' personal experiences?
The early Greeks personalized every aspect of their world, natural and cultural, and their experiences in it. The earth, the sea, the mountains, the rivers, custom-law ( themis ), and one’s share in society and its goods were all seen in personal as well as naturalistic terms. When Achilles fights with the River in the Iliad, ...
What is the religion of Greece?
Religion in Greece is dominated by the Greek Orthodox Church, which is within the larger communion of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It represented 90% of the total population in 2015 and is constitutionally recognized as the "prevailing religion" of Greece. Religions with smaller numbers of followers include Islam (comprising 5% of the population), Catholicism (comprising less than 1% of the population), Evangelicalism, Hellenic Paganism, Sikhism and Hinduism. Also a small number of Greek Atheists exists, not self-identifying as religious. Religion is key part of identity for most Greeks, with 76% of Greeks in a 2015-17 survey saying that their nationality is defined by Christianity. Statistics on metaphysics and worldview, do not concern narrowly only the hyponym religion. According to other sources the 81.4% of Greeks identify as orthodox Christians and 14.7% are atheists.
How many Muslims are there in Greece?
The number of citizens of Greece who are Muslims is estimated to be at 150,000. They live mostly in Western Thrace and are primarily Greek Muslims, Turkish, Slavonic ( Pomak) and Romani. Immigrant Muslims are estimated between 200,000-300,000. and approximately half of them live in Athens In 2020, Islam was the religion of 5% of the total population of Greece.
How many people are members of the Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes?
Over 2000 people are members of the Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes, the foremost organisation of Hellenic ethnic religion. Over 100,000 people are "sympathisers". On 9 April 2017 the Hellenic ethnic religion was officially recognized by the Greek state.
How many members does the Greek Synod of Apostolic Church have?
Assemblies of God, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and other Pentecostal churches of the Greek Synod of Apostolic Church have 12,000 members. The Independent Free Apostolic Church of Pentecost is the biggest Protestant denomination in Greece with 120 churches.
What is the pattern of ethnic fusion?
The second pattern is that of “ethnic religion,” where religion is one of several foundations of ethnicity.
How many Christians were in Greece in 2015?
As of 2015, 93% of the population of Greece were Christians.
Where do Catholics live in Greece?
Roman Catholic Greeks number approximately 50,000 and are found all over Greece; the majority, however, live in the Cyclades and the Ionian Islands. The presence of Catholics in the Greek islands is mostly a heritage from the time of the Venetian domination from the Middle Ages.
What Happened to the Greek Gods?
One of the questions I could ask quite often is what happened to the Greek gods and goddesses? Why did they disappear so suddenly with no explanation?
What is the myth of the gods based on?
The actual things told about the gods in the myths may not be accurate, but they probably are based on the knowledge that there are superior beings who have had dealings with men. There’s one other point that we might make about this as well.
What would the generations after Noah and his three sons have been doing?
So, if we think about what the generations after Noah and his three sons would have been doing, they would pass on the knowledge they have. It would be primarily motivated by the fact that the earth has been destroyed and they’re the only people who survived the flood.
What does Genesis say about Noah's sons?
Through Noah and his three sons, the earth is repopulated; and so, we read in early chapters of Genesis that the three sons of Noah become the antecedents of the nations of the world and we’re these the nations of where their descendants have spread out. But if we think about the way generations were, about the dynamic that goes on between parents and the children they’re raising, parents teach their children things. Parents tell them where they came from. Parents tell their children what the history of their family is.
What religions bulldozed the land?
Christianity and other religions bulldoze their way across the land, and through a series of smear campaigns, they demonize the worship of all other deities. And this is something we’ve seen of Greek, Roman, Norse, Celtic, and Slavic gods, to name a few. Throughout ancient Greece, there has always been a major cult to a period ...
Where did the Greek gods go?
So, to answer the question of “where the Greek gods went”—Nowhere. They are part of Satan’s active demons ruling the world that we live in right now.
Where is the statue of Augustine of Hippo?
St. Augustinus or Augustine of Hippo Statue for Czechia people and foreigner travellers visit at Charles Bridge crossing Vltava river on August 30, 2017, in Prague, the Czech Republic (St. Augustinus or Augustine of Hippo Statue for Czechia people and foreign.
What was OBL intended for?
There is a common narrative I have heard over the last 20 years that OBL intended for the US to be drawn into wars in the ME and to bankrupt them in a similar way to the Soviet Union was in Afghanistan, leaving room for the overthrow of ME despots and the installation of Salafist regimes.
How much of Germany's territory was lost in WW1?
Germany lost 13% of it's European territory after WW1, and roughly 25% of its territory after WW2 which largely make up modern day Poland and Kaliningrad. What happened to all the Germans living in those areas?
What did people use the Aeneid for?
People in the middle ages used the Aeneid (yes its Roman but tied back to Greek mythology) for divination purposes. They would open to a random page to determine a fortune.
Why did the Dupont family create propaganda?
They created propaganda because they wanted to make marijuana illegal so that hemp wouldn’t be able to compete with their businesses. They were successful and cannabis remains illegal to this day.
Which two cults were gaining strength over the next 200 years?
Larger persecutions under Decius (250AD) and Diocletian (303AD) show that Christianity was gaining strength over the next 200 years, but so where other cults like that of Mithris and Glycon, all presumably at the expense of the classical religion.
When was the Greek religion banned?
In AD 394 Theodosious I formally banned Greek "pagan" religion and that was the year of the last Ancient Olympic Games. Remnants of the religion carried on for centuries in the hinterlands, and arguably into modern times. (Greek Folk Religion, Nilsson, M.; A History of the Church I, Hughes, P.)
Did OBL think 9/11 would cause the US to withdraw from the ME?
However, the renowned OBL expert Peter Bergen has always had an alternative view, that OBL naively thought 9/11 would cause the US to withdraw from the ME, having looked at the example of Reagan withdrawing from Lebanon following the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings. Bergen says that OBL was surprised by the American invasion of Afghanistan and later tried to claim this was the result of some master plan.
The Olympian Gods
Temples, Rituals & Priests
- Gods became patrons of cities, for example, Aphrodite for Corinth and Helios for Rhodes, and were called upon for help in particular situations, for example, Ares during war and Hera for weddings. Some gods were imported from abroad, for example, Adonis, and incorporated into the Greek pantheonwhilst rivers and springs could take on a very localised personified form such a…
Mysteries & Oracles
- In addition to the formal and public religious ceremonies there were also many rites which were open to and known only by the initiated who performed them, the most famous example being the Mysteries of Eleusis. In these closed groups, members believed that certain activities gave spiritual benefits, amongst them a better after-life. Places could also acquire a divine connection…
Festivals & Games
- Athletic Games and competitions in music (especially playing the kithara and lyre) and theatre (both tragedy and comedy) were held during festivals such as the City Dionysia of Athens and the Panhellenic games at the most important sacred sites of Olympia, Delphi, Nemea, and Isthmia to honour a particular god. These events were attended by visitors from all over Greece and the ex…
Personal Religion
- Although the historical record reveals much about formal religious occasions and ceremony, we should remember that Greek religion was in fact practised anywhere, at any time, by private individuals in a very personal way. Not only temples but also the hearth in private homes was regarded as sacred, for example. Individuals could also visit a temple...
Overview
Religious practices in ancient Greece encompassed a collection of beliefs, rituals, and mythology, in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices. The application of the modern concept of "religion" to ancient cultures has been questioned as anachronistic. The ancient Greeks did not have a word for 'religion' in the modern sense. Likewise, no Greek writer known to us classifie…
History
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 period to the farmers of Neolithic Greece. There was also clearly cultural evolution from the Late Helladic Mycenaean religion of the M…
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 th…
Practices
The lack of a unified priestly class meant that a unified, 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 fro…
Sanctuaries and temples
The main 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 groves or springs, animals dedicate…
Role of women
The role of women in sacrifices is discussed above. In addition, the only public roles that Greek women could perform were priestesses: either hiereiai, meaning "sacred women", or 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 f…
Mystery religions
Those who were not satisfied by the public cult of the gods could turn to various mystery religions that operated as cults into which members had to be initiated in order to learn their secrets.
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.
See also
• Family tree of the Greek gods
• Hellenistic religion
• List of ancient Greek temples
Proper Public Religious Behavior Counted
Greeks Honored Many Gods
- The Greeks were polytheists. Honoring one god would not be viewed as offensive to another god. Although you wouldn't incur the wrath of one god, by honoring another, you had to remember the first one, too. There are cautionary tales of gods offended that their cults were neglected. There were many gods and various aspects of them. Each city had its own particular protector. Athens …
Festivals as Public Feasts
- Greek religion focused on sacrifice and ritual. Priests cut open animals, removed their entrails, burned the appropriate sections for the gods—who didn't really need the mortal food since they had their own divine nectar and ambrosia—and served the remaining meat as a festive treat to the people.
The Altar
- Priestesses poured libations of water, milk, oil, or honey onto a flaming altar. Prayers would be offered for favors or help. The help might be to overcome the wrath of a god angry at an individual or community. Some stories tell of gods offended because they were omitted from a list of gods honored with sacrifice or prayer, while other stories tell of gods offended by humans boasting th…
Contradictions Were Not Considered A Problem
- Stories told about the gods and goddesses, the mythology, changed over time. Early on, Homer and Hesiodwrote accounts of the gods, as later did playwrights and poets. Different cities had their own stories. Unreconciled contradictions didn't discredit the gods. Again, the aspects play a part. One goddess could be both virgin and mother, for instance. Praying to the virgin goddess for hel…
Mortals, Demi-Gods, and Gods
- Not only did each city have its protector deity, but its ancestral hero(es). These heroes were the half-mortal offspring of one of the gods, usually Zeus. Many also had mortal fathers, as well as the divine one. Greek anthropomorphic gods lived active lives, primarily different from mortal lives in that the gods were deathless. Such stories about the gods and heroes formed part of the histor…