The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Greek religion S 187

mon Greek ritual act was libation. It consisted of pouring liquid out for the gods. Households made offerings and libations to the gods daily. Larger communities generally did so on special occasions known as festivals. Most festivals were held every year according to a cal endar that varied from community to community. Some festivals were observed by all Greek speak ers. A well-known example of these “pan-Hellenic” festivals was the festival of Zeus at Olympia. It was the precursor of the modern Olympic games. In addition to sacrifices, festivals often involved pro cessions, games, and in some cases theatrical per formances or other special ritual acts. Although the Greeks are famous for building resplendent temples, they did not worship inside them. Greek temples were basically storage facili ties. The Greeks performed sacrifices at an outdoor ALTAR . Altars for sacrifices to the Olympians were mounded high; those for holocausts were low, sometimes even holes dug in the ground. The altar and temple were the central features of a sacred area known as the temenos. ORGANIZATION The Greeks did not require special intermediar ies or priests to worship the gods. All individu als could worship the gods themselves. But larger communities generally delegated religious tasks to specific persons. Many of these communities—vil lages and poleis or city-states—were political as well as religious. In that case religious function aries were basically officers of the state. But the Greeks also knew other religious communities that were not political units. These included groups banded together to maintain certain sanctuaries, to worship a particular god, such as Dionysos, or to ensure each other’s mutual welfare. SIGNIFICANCE Greek religion is a relatively loose collection of practices rather than a carefully defined set of beliefs. It includes all practices by which the Greeks tried to make a better life for themselves through pleasing and placating a number of divine and spiritual beings. It is no longer practiced, but

A statement by the philosopher Thales gives a good idea of the Greek religious attitude: “all things are full of gods.” Homer conceived of the gods in human form. But his gods differed from human beings in several important ways. They did not die. They had their own food and drink. Instead of blood, a special liquid known as ichor flowed through their veins. They were also more powerful and deserved more honor than the stron gest of human beings. The most important gods were celestial divini ties known as Olympians. Myths treated these gods as an extended family, headed by Zeus, “father of gods and men.” Other prominent Olym pians included Hera, A POLLO , A RTEMIS , A PHRODITE , and H ERMES . The Greeks venerated other gods, too. Some of them, like A DONIS , were considered for eign imports. They also worshipped daimones and heroes. Although the English word “demon” comes from the Greek word daimon, daimones (plural of daimon ) were not demons in our sense. They were vague spiritual forces. Heroes were great human beings from the past, like Theseus and Herakles. The Greeks believed that certain important events in life were “portioned out.” They did not often say by whom. It was clearly the responsibil ity of Zeus to ensure that “fate” was accomplished. The most important event that fate determined was death. In general, the Greeks were not optimistic about life after death. In the Odyssey the shade of the hero Achilles tells Odysseus that he would rather live as a slave on Earth than rule over the realm of the dead. PRACTICES The most important Greek RITUAL act was SACRIFICE . At home Greeks generally offered plant products to the gods. Larger communities sacrificed animals— usually domesticated animals but not always. The sacrifices offered to the Olympians were feasts that the Greeks and the gods shared. The gods received the blood, thighbones, fat, and smoke; the Greeks received the internal organs and the muscles. Heroes generally received a different kind of sacri fice, known as the holocaust. In this sacrifice, the victim was completely burned up. Another com