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{{Ancient Greek religion}} | {{Ancient Greek religion}} | ||
Religious practices in [[ancient Greece]] encompassed a collection of beliefs, [[ | 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="Barbette Stanley Spaeth 2013">{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/826075990|title=The Cambridge companion to ancient Mediterranean religions|date=2013|author=Barbette Stanley Spaeth|isbn=978-0-521-11396-0|location=New York|oclc=826075990}}</ref> The ancient Greeks did not have a word for 'religion' in the modern sense. Likewise, no Greek writer known to us classifies either the gods or the cult practices into separate 'religions'.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/987423652|title=The Oxford handbook of ancient Greek religion|date=2017|author1=Esther Eidinow |author2=Julia Kindt|isbn=978-0-19-881017-9|location=Oxford, United Kingdom|oclc=987423652}}</ref> Instead, for example, [[Herodotus]] speaks of the Hellenes as having "common shrines of the gods and sacrifices, and the same kinds of customs."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Warrior|first=Valerie M.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/422753768|title=Greek religion : a sourcebook|date=2009|publisher=Focus|isbn=978-1-58510-031-6|location=Newburyport, MA|oclc=422753768}}</ref> | ||
Most ancient Greeks recognized the [[Twelve Olympians|twelve major Olympian gods and goddesses]]—[[Zeus]], [[Hera]], [[Poseidon]], [[Demeter]], [[Athena]], [[Ares]], [[Aphrodite]], [[Apollo]], [[Artemis]], [[Hephaestus]], [[Hermes]], and either [[Hestia]] or [[Dionysus]]—although philosophies such as [[Stoicism]] and some forms of [[Platonism]] used language that seems to assume a single [[Transcendence (religion)|transcendent deity]]. The worship of these deities, and several others, was found across the Greek world, though they often have different [[epithet]]s that distinguished aspects of the deity, and often reflect the absorption of other local deities into the pan-Hellenic scheme. | Most ancient Greeks recognized the [[Twelve Olympians|twelve major Olympian gods and goddesses]]—[[Zeus]], [[Hera]], [[Poseidon]], [[Demeter]], [[Athena]], [[Ares]], [[Aphrodite]], [[Apollo]], [[Artemis]], [[Hephaestus]], [[Hermes]], and either [[Hestia]] or [[Dionysus]]—although philosophies such as [[Stoicism]] and some forms of [[Platonism]] used language that seems to assume a single [[Transcendence (religion)|transcendent deity]]. The worship of these deities, and several others, was found across the Greek world, though they often have different [[epithet]]s that distinguished aspects of the deity, and often reflect the absorption of other local deities into the pan-Hellenic scheme. | ||
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==Beliefs== | ==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 | "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 name="Barbette Stanley Spaeth 2013"/> | ||
===Theology=== | ===Theology=== | ||
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The role of women in sacrifices is discussed above. In addition, 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. | The role of women in sacrifices is discussed above. In addition, 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>{{cite web |last1=Dillon |first1=Matthew |title=Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290875541|website=Researchgate}}</ref> | 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 | 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== | ==Mystery religions== | ||
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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 number 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 number 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>Gregory, T. (1986). The Survival of Paganism in Christian Greece: A Critical Essay. ''The American Journal of Philology'', '''107'''(2), 229-242. doi:10.2307/294605</ref>{{page number needed|date=January 2021}} | 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 number 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 number 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>Gregory, T. (1986). The Survival of Paganism in Christian Greece: A Critical Essay. ''The American Journal of Philology'', '''107'''(2), 229-242. doi:10.2307/294605</ref>{{page number 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>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 | 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; Photius, Epitome of the Ecclesiastical History of [[Philostorgius]], 8.5</ref> [[Valentinian I]], and [[Valens]] continued Julian's policy of [[religious toleration]] within the Empire, garnering them both praise from pagan writers.<ref>Ammianus Res Gestae 20.9; Themistius Oration 12.</ref> Official persecution of paganism in the Eastern Empire began [[Christian persecution of paganism under Theodosius I|under Theodosius I]] in 381 CE.<ref name="Grindle1892pp29-30">Grindle, Gilbert (1892) ''The Destruction of Paganism in the Roman Empire'', pp.29-30.</ref> Theodosius strictly enforced anti-pagan laws, had priesthoods disbanded, temples destroyed, and actively participated in Christian actions against pagan holy sites.<ref name="Ramsay1984p90">Ramsay McMullan (1984) ''Christianizing the Roman Empire A.D. 100–400'', Yale University Press, p.90.</ref> He enacted laws that prohibited worship of pagan gods not only in public, but also within private homes.<ref name="hughes"/> The last Olympic Games were held in 393 CE, and Theodosius likely suppressed any further attempts to hold the games.<ref name="Burkert 1985, Introduction:3"/> Western Empire Emperor [[Gratian]], under the influence of his adviser [[Ambrose]], ended the widespread, unofficial tolerance that had existed in the Western Roman Empire since the reign of Julian. In 382 CE, Gratian appropriated the income and property of the remaining orders of pagan priests, disbanded the Vestal Virgins, removed altars, and confiscated temples.<ref>Theodosian Code 16.10.20; Symmachus Relationes 1-3; Ambrose Epistles 17-18.</ref> | Julian's successors [[Jovian (Emperor)|Jovian]],<ref>Themistius Oration 5; Photius, Epitome of the Ecclesiastical History of [[Philostorgius]], 8.5</ref> [[Valentinian I]], and [[Valens]] continued Julian's policy of [[religious toleration]] within the Empire, garnering them both praise from pagan writers.<ref>Ammianus Res Gestae 20.9; Themistius Oration 12.</ref> Official persecution of paganism in the Eastern Empire began [[Christian persecution of paganism under Theodosius I|under Theodosius I]] in 381 CE.<ref name="Grindle1892pp29-30">Grindle, Gilbert (1892) ''The Destruction of Paganism in the Roman Empire'', pp.29-30.</ref> Theodosius strictly enforced anti-pagan laws, had priesthoods disbanded, temples destroyed, and actively participated in Christian actions against pagan holy sites.<ref name="Ramsay1984p90">Ramsay McMullan (1984) ''Christianizing the Roman Empire A.D. 100–400'', Yale University Press, p.90.</ref> He enacted laws that prohibited worship of pagan gods not only in public, but also within private homes.<ref name="hughes"/> The last Olympic Games were held in 393 CE, and Theodosius likely suppressed any further attempts to hold the games.<ref name="Burkert 1985, Introduction:3"/> Western Empire Emperor [[Gratian]], under the influence of his adviser [[Ambrose]], ended the widespread, unofficial tolerance that had existed in the Western Roman Empire since the reign of Julian. In 382 CE, Gratian appropriated the income and property of the remaining orders of pagan priests, disbanded the Vestal Virgins, removed altars, and confiscated temples.<ref>Theodosian Code 16.10.20; Symmachus Relationes 1-3; Ambrose Epistles 17-18.</ref> | ||