词条 | Greek religion |
释义 | Greek religion ancient religion Introduction ![]() Although its origins may be traced to the remotest eras, Greek religion in its developed form lasted more than a thousand years, from the time of Homer (probably 9th or 8th century BC) to the reign of the emperor Julian (4th century AD). During that period its influence spread as far west as Spain, east to the Indus River, and throughout the Mediterranean world. Its effect was most marked on the Romans, who identified their deities with those of the Greeks. Under Christianity, Greek heroes and even deities survived as saints, while the rival madonnas of southern European communities reflected the independence of local cults. The rediscovery of Greek literature during the Renaissance and, above all, the novel perfection of Classical sculpture produced a revolution in taste that had far-reaching effects on Christian religious art. The most striking characteristic of Greek religion was the belief in a multiplicity of anthropomorphic deities under one supreme god. Priests simply looked after cults; they did not constitute a clergy, and there were no sacred books. The sole requirements for the Greeks were to believe that the gods existed and to perform ritual and sacrifice, through which the gods received their due. To deny the existence of a deity was to risk reprisals, from the deity or from other mortals. The list of avowed atheists is brief. But if a Greek went through the motions of piety, he risked little, since no attempt was made to enforce orthodoxy, a religious concept almost incomprehensible to the Greeks. The large corpus of myths concerned with gods, heroes, and rituals embodied the worldview of Greek religion and remains its legacy. (See Greek mythology.) It should be noted that the myths varied over time and that, within limits, a writer—e.g., a Greek tragedian—could alter a myth by changing not only the role played by the gods in it but also the evaluation of the gods' actions. From the later 6th century BC onward, myths and gods were subject to rational criticism on ethical or other grounds. In these circumstances it is easy to overlook the fact that most Greeks “believed” in their gods in roughly the modern sense of the term and that they prayed in a time of crisis not merely to the “relevant” deity but to any deity on whose aid they had established a claim by sacrifice. To this end, each Greek polis had a series of public festivals throughout the year that were intended to ensure the aid of all the gods who were thus honoured. They reminded the gods of services rendered and asked for a quid pro quo. Particularly during times of crises, the Greeks, like the Romans, were often willing to petition deities borrowed from other cultures. History The roots of Greek religion ![]() ![]() The Archaic period ![]() ![]() The Classical period During the 6th century BC the rationalist thinking of Ionian (Ionian school) philosophers had offered a serious challenge to traditional religion. At the beginning of the 5th century, Heracleitus of Ephesus and Xenophanes of Colophon heaped scorn on cult and gods alike. ![]() ![]() Popular religion flourished alongside the civic cults. Peasants worshipped the omnipresent deities of the countryside, such as the Arcadian goat-god pan, who prospered the flocks, and the nymphs (who, like Eileithyia, aided women in childbirth) who inhabited caves, springs (Naiads), trees (dryads and hamadryads), and the sea (Nereids). They also believed in nature spirits such as satyrs and sileni and equine Centaurs. Among the more popular festivals were the rural Dionysia (Bacchanalia), which included a phallus pole; the Anthesteria, when new wine was broached and offerings were made to the dead; the Thalysia, a harvest celebration; the Thargelia, when a scapegoat (pharmakos) assumed the communal guilt; and the Pyanepsia (Pyanopsia), a bean feast in which boys collected offerings to hang on the eiresiōne (“wool pole”). Women celebrated the Thesmophoria in honour of Demeter and commemorated the passing of Adonis with laments and miniature gardens, while images were swung from trees at the Aiora. magic was widespread. Spells were inscribed on lead tablets. Statues of Hecate, goddess of witchcraft, stood outside dwellings, while Pan's image was beaten with herbs in times of meat shortage. The Hellenistic period ![]() After Alexander the Great had created a political world in which the poleis were engulfed by large kingdoms, those deities who were not too closely linked with a particular place became more prominent. Mystery (mystery religion) cults, which offered a personal value to the individual in a large and indifferent world, also flourished. The Cabeiri of Samothrace, deities that had come in from Asia, were patronized by both the Greeks and the Romans, while the Egyptian cults of Isis and Serapis, in a Hellenized form, spread widely. Rulers sometimes officially invited new gods to settle in times of crisis, in the hope that they would strive on their new worshippers' behalf against their mortal foes; this mode of religious thought flourished at least until the days of the Roman emperor Constantine. Those novel cults that seemed likely to pose a threat to public order, on the other hand, were suppressed by the Romans. The Senate destroyed the Bacchic cult in Italy in 186 BC, perhaps for the same reasons that the emperor Trajan gave to the writer and statesman Pliny the Younger for his treatment of the Christians: any cult in which men and women, bond and free, could participate and meet together—a most unusual circumstance in the ancient world—had dangerous political implications. Beliefs, practices, and institutions The gods ![]() In Homer the gods constitute essentially a super-aristocracy. The worshippers of these gods do not believe in reward or punishment after death; one's due must come in this life. Every success shows that the gods are well disposed, for the time being at least; every failure shows that some god is angry, usually as a result of a slight, intended or unintended, rather than from the just or unjust behaviour of one mortal to another. The Greeks knew what angered their mortal aristocracy and extrapolated from there. Prayer and sacrifice, however abundant, could not guarantee that the gods would grant success. 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. Greeks and Trojans sacrificed to their gods to ensure divine support in war and at other times of crisis. It was believed that Zeus, the strongest of the gods, had favoured the Trojans, while Hera had favoured the Greeks. Yet Troy fell, like many another city. The Homeric poems here offer an explanation for something that the Greek audience might at any time experience themselves. There is no universal determinism in Homer or in other early writers. Moira (Fate) (“share”) denotes one's earthly portion, all the attributes, possessions, goods, or ills that together define one's position in society. Homeric society is stratified, from Zeus to the meanest beggar. To behave in accordance with one's share is to behave in accordance with one's status; even a beggar may go beyond his share, though he is likely to be punished for it. Zeus, the most powerful entity in Homer's universe, certainly has the power to go beyond his share; but if he does so, the other gods will not approve. And Zeus may be restrained, unless he feels that his “excellence,” his ability to perform the action, is being called into question. Then he may insist on displaying his excellence, as do Achilles and Agamemnon, whose values coincide with those of Zeus in such matters. ![]() Cosmogony Of several competing cosmogonies in Archaic Greece, Hesiod's Theogony is the only one that has survived in more than fragments. It records the generations of the gods from Chaos (literally, “Yawning Gap”) through Zeus and his contemporaries to the gods who had two divine parents (e.g., Apollo and Artemis, born of Zeus and Leto) and the mortals who had one divine parent (e.g., Heracles, born of Zeus and Alcmene). 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, and good counsel on his side. (Whether Hesiod or some earlier thinker produced this complex nexus of relationships, with which Hesiod could account for virtually anything that had occurred or might occur in the future, the grandeur of this intellectual achievement should not be overlooked.) Mortals ![]() ![]() eschatology In Homer only the gods were by nature immortal, but Elysium was reserved for their favoured sons-in-law, whom they exempted from death. Heracles alone gained a place on Olympus by his own efforts. The ordinary hero hated death, for the dead were regarded as strengthless doubles who had to be revived with drafts of blood, mead, wine, and water in order to enable them to speak. They were conducted, it was believed, to the realm of Hades by Hermes; but the way was barred, according to popular accounts, by the marshy river Styx. Across this, Charon ferried all who had received at least token burial, and coins were placed in the mouths of corpses to pay the fare. ![]() Sacred writings Greek religion was not based on a written creed or body of dogma. Nevertheless, certain sacred writings survive in the form of hymns, oracles, inscriptions, and instructions to the dead. Most elaborate are the Homeric Hymns, some of which may have been composed for religious festivals, though their subject matter is almost entirely mythological. Delphic inscriptions include hymns to Apollo but, like the Epidaurian hymn by Isyllus to Asclepius, they are not concerned with liturgy. Delphic oracles are quoted from literary sources but appear, on the whole, to be retrospective concoctions, like the Hebraic-Hellenistic collection of Sibylline prophecies. Questions scratched on folded lead tablets have been found at Dodona, and detailed instructions to the dead, inscribed on gold leaf and possibly of Orphic inspiration, have been found in Greek graves in southern Italy. Papyrus fragments of similar character have been recovered from graves in Macedonia and Thessaly. Shrines and temples ![]() Most oracular shrines included a subterranean chamber, but no trace of such has been found at Delphi, though the Pythia was always said to “descend.” At the oracle of Trophonius, discovered in 1967 at Levádhia, incubation (ritual sleep to induce a dream) was practiced in a hole. The most famous centre of incubation was that of Asclepius at Epidaurus. His temple was furnished with a hall where the sick were advised by the demigod in dreams. divination was also widely practiced in Greece. Augurs (augury) interpreted the flight of birds, while dreams and even sneezes were regarded as ominous. Seers also divined from the shape of altar smoke and the conformation of sacrificial animals' entrails. priesthood Even in the state cults, priesthoods were frequently ancestral prerogatives. Eteobutads organized the cult of the hero-king Erechtheus at Athens; Praxiergids superintended the washing of Athena's robes at the Plynteria; and Clytiads and Iamids officiated at the altar of Zeus at Olympia. Although there was no official clergy, since the religious and secular spheres were not sharply divided, professional assistance was available at sacrifices. There was no necessary correspondence between the sex of deities and that of priests. Hera and Athena favoured priestesses, but Isis and Cybele favoured priests. Apollo inspired the Pythia (priestess) at Delphi but a priest at Ptoon. The mysteries at Eleusis were administered by the Eumolpids and Kerykes. The latter assembled the initiates (mystae), while the former provided the Hierophant, who revealed the mysteries in the torch-lit Anaktoron (king's shrine) within the great Telesterion, or entrance hall. Festivals (feast) ![]() ![]() Rites ![]() ![]() The procession to Eleusis to restore the sacred objects, brought by the ephēboi to the Eleusinium sometime previously, followed the wooden image of Iacchus (a personification of the ritual cry), which was escorted by its own priest, the iacchagogos, and officials. The mystae wore myrtle crowns and carried sheaves of grain. Whatever the nature of the mysteries, those initiated returned in a mood of exaltation. Adepts (epoptai) were later admitted to more solemn rites (to see an ear of wheat, scoffers said). Religious art and iconography Art often portrays incidents relevant to the study of Greek religion, but frequently essential information is missing. On a well-known sarcophagus from Ayías Triádhos in Crete, for example, a priestess dressed in a skin skirt assists at a sacrifice, flanked by wreathed axes on which squat birds. The significance of the scene has been much discussed. The birds have been regarded as epiphanies of deities, giving sacral meaning to the transformations in Homer. Again, since goddesses appear to preponderate in Minoan-Mycenaean art, while male deities are represented on an inferior scale, this has been thought to reflect the general superiority of goddesses in many parts of Greece. ![]() ![]() If “Greek religion” is understood to denote the beliefs about the Greek gods and their relationships with humanity as recorded in surviving writings from the Homeric poems onward, then Greek religion was always evolving. Cultic activity, however, was conservative, as it is in most cultures. Practices continued to be observed that were no longer understood by the worshippers. High claims have been made, and continue to be made, for the quality of Greek religion as a religion, with ethical deities and strong tendencies toward monotheism. Indeed, this is probably the orthodox view. Those who contest it hold that it is incautious to extrapolate from a few scattered passages in a Greek author to produce a systematic theology that can then be used to interpret the rest of the work under discussion. The debate shows no sign of coming to an end, but the heterodox are wont to observe that Xenophanes, Pindar, and Plato evidently read Greek literature in the same way as the heterodox propose that it should be read. Plato's strictures in Books II and III of The Republic and elsewhere on Greek religion as he knew it bear eloquent testimony to this. Additional Reading General works include Martin P. Nilsson, Greek Popular Religion (1940, reissued as Greek Folk Religion, 1972, reprinted 1998), a sound and detailed survey, and The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and Its Survival in Greek Religion, 2nd rev. ed. (1950, reprinted 1971), the best account of origins; Jon D. Mikalson, Ancient Greek Religion (2005); W.K.C. Guthrie, The Greeks and Their Gods (1950, reprinted 2001); and Robert Parker, Athenian Religion: A History (1996).Walter Burkert, Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth (1983; originally published in German, 1972), and Greek Religion (1985; originally published in German, 1977), have broken much new ground in discussing the origins of Greek religion. Hugh Lloyd-Jones, The Justice of Zeus, 2nd ed. (1983); and Bernard Williams, Shame and Necessity (1993), bring out the value of the ethics of Greek religion. Robert Parker, Miasma: Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion (1983, reissued 1996), addresses an important aspect of Greek belief.In the late 20th century scholars began paying attention to the roles of women in ancient religion. Female objects of cults are the focus of Sue Blundell and Margaret Williamson (eds.), The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece (1998). Women and the practice of religion are treated in Ross Shepard Kraemer, Women's Religions in the Greco-Roman World: A Sourcebook (2004; rev. ed. of Maenads, Martyrs, Matrons, Monastics, 1998); and Matthew Dillon, Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion (2002).Works on oracles and divination include the authoritative W.R. Halliday, Greek Divination: A Study of Its Methods and Principles (1913, reissued 1967); Hugh Bowden, Classical Athens and the Delphic Oracle: Divination and Democracy (2005); Robert Flacelière, Greek Oracles, 2nd ed. (1976; originally published in French, 1961); and Esther Eidinow, Oracles, Curses, and Risk Among the Ancient Greeks (2007).Mysteries and eschatology are treated in Michael B. Cosmopoulos (ed.), Greek Mysteries: The Archaeology of Ancient Greek Secret Cults (2003); Wendy Cotter, Miracles in Greco-Roman Antiquity: A Sourcebook (1999); W.K.C. Guthrie, Orpheus and Greek Religion: A Study of the Orphic Movement, 2nd rev. ed. (1952, reissued 1993); E.R. Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational (1951, reissued 2004), one of the best accounts; and George E. Mylonas, Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries (1961, reissued 1974), a good general survey.Works on cults and festivals include Lewis Richard Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States, 5 vol. (1896–1909, reprinted 2004), the best critical survey in English, and Greek Hero Cults and Ideas of Immortality (1921, reprinted 1970), a formal and critical account; Arthur Bernard Cook, Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, 3 vol. (1914–40, vol. 1–2 reprinted in 3 vol., 1964–65), a monumental compendium of all the evidence; and Emma J. Edelstein and Ludwig Edelstein, Asclepius: A Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies, 2 vol. (1945–46, reissued in 1 vol., 1998), the best account in English.The art and architecture of Greek religion are treated in Vincent Scully, The Earth, the Temple, and the Gods: Greek Sacred Architecture, rev. ed. (1979), a full if somewhat fanciful account of temple siting; Helmut Berve and Gottfried Gruben, Greek Temples, Theatres, and Shrines (1963), a detailed survey of the chief buildings; John Pedley, Sanctuaries and the Sacred in the Ancient Greek World (2005), a survey of places and rituals and their changes through time; and Rachel Rosenzweig, Worshipping Aphrodite: Art and Cult in Classical Athens (2004), which focuses on art and archaeology and how they shed light on social and political meaning. |
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