Ancient Greek Religion

Sunday 11 December 2011

The role of Divine Goddess

The Divine Goddess

The Structuralist approach is a structure that sees each god functioning together that works cohesively and well as one group. There are parallel through the main pantheon that centrally stabilises the group of gods. It important to notes that in simple terms for every male job there seems to be a female equivalent to the same role or a male and female god share a realm in which is set as an example for the Greek to follow. For example there is

Zeus and Hera- The prototype marriage couple, which many Greek would have used to establish the importance of the institute of marriage. Athena and Hephaestus- Both are associated with war; Hephaestus makes the weapon for wars, whereas Athena acts as the brains and strategy in war. Ares and Aphrodite- Love and war simply they are married after Aphrodite leaves Hephaestus, they balance and complement each other well. Dionysos (I have decided to include Dionysus as one of the 12 in the pantheon instead of Hestia as he sometimes takes her place and I will be discussing him later on in this blog) and Demeter- the Eleusian cult was dedicated to both these gods, particularly Demeter but both deal with crops and replenishing the earth with food. Apollo and Artemis are brother and sister sun and moon both had cults which initiated children into adulthood. To round up Poseidon was the god of the sea and Hermes was the god of travel and outside the home. There is also who I Hestia the goddess of inside the home but I excluded her at this time to make space for Dionysus was also important.

The structuralist approach enables us to see the pantheon working cohesively as one, but unfortunately lack any overlapping which is how problems are caused when

But what is a goddess’s role?

In an article written by Nicola Loraux, she proposes two hypotheses: ‘Either “goddess” is nothing other than the grammatical feminine of the word “god” and in the goddess the feminine is an essential characteristic. Or a goddess is something other than a god…her femininity is essential, but it may be either a femininity of the same kind found in mortal women or of a different, more intense kind.

Athena and Dionysos

Both these gods are worshipped in Athens. Even though Athena is patron of Athens the cult of Dionysos was very prominent in the city. Characteristically speaking Dionysos is seen as very feminine whereas Athena seen often seen as very masculine, however both have men and women in their cults, although it must be said more women followed Dionysos as he started his cult with followers known as the maenads. I have decided to look at these two gods together as they were both born from Zeus, lacking in a maternal figure in their lives. They both have ‘mothers’ they are just not born from them.

In this passage from Hesiod it gives a portrayal of the birth of Athena. It highlights the powers that she will inherit from her mother and the extreme measure that Zeus would go to, to stop the prophecy of a more powerful child than him be born.

‘Zeus, the king of gods and men, made Metis, she who knows most things amongst gods and men, his wife first, but when she was about to give birth to the goddess Glaukopis Athena, he craftily deceived her with cunning words and put her down in his belly, on the advice of Gaia and starry Ouranos, who advised him thus in order that no other should hold royal honour over the eternal gods in place of Zeus, for it was decreed that resourceful children were to be born from her, first the daughter Glaukopis Tritogeneia who had equal fierceness and shrewdness to her father, but next she was to bring forth a son, the king of gods and men who possessed an overbearing (huperbios) heart.

But Zeus beforehand put her down in his belly, so that the goddess might warn him about both good and evil’ (Hesiod, Theogony 886-900)

Zeus had to stop Metis giving not only could a more powerful child than him be born but the so-called child was female.

Dionysos

Zeus

Zeus the capable King of the Gods

In all honesty the subject of Zeus has a major topic when I have been studying. The first time I studied him properly when I was studying Prometheus and the chain of reaction that happened when he tried to trick Zeus. This will be the second time that I study a chance to get to know him not just as the kings of the gods, who had many affairs and had a close connection with his children. Instead I have tried to look at how important he is to the gods and what he brings to the pantheon as the king of the gods, what strikes me is that once Zeus gives a command or makes a final decision the god have to listen to him, although they delay certain things they cannot change what he has says. In some way he has the power to make sure no one gets out of control, even his ‘favourite’ Athena has to abide by his rules although he gives her allowances, in this blog I want to address how Zeus gives order on the gods and humans, trying to find the good qualities of Zeus possesses, with a focus on order and justice he brings to the earth and consider if this makes him a sufficient ruler of gods and mankind.

Zeus Kings of the gods

Homeric Hymn to the Son of Cronos, most high- [1] I will sing of Zeus, chiefest among the gods and greatest, all-seeing, the lord of all, the fulfiller who whispers words of wisdom to Themis as she sits leaning towards him. Be gracious, all-seeing Son of Cronos, most excellent and great! [1]

This is an example of what Zeus provides to the all who worship him. He too like the other gods has a limit to his power; however the Homeric Hymn shows he is all-seeing and full of wisdom. His wisdom is central to his power and he has foresight and sees what other gods may not see. The power of wisdom gives him strength to make just decisions even when he may not want to. Men and the gods respect him as the king of the gods. He brings order and justice through the world which is vital to running a civilized society. Even though the Homeric Hymns to the gods are praise them all, Homer emphasizes how great Zeus is compared to the other gods as he has qualities of an monotheistic god as he is ’all seeing’ a quality ascribed to the Christian God Jehovah. Zeus is also called, and is to a degree omnipotent; but he did not create the universe, he is not eternal[2]

In Homers Iliad it is suggested that not everyone is in harmony with having Zeus as the kings of gods- ‘I have often heard you declaring in my father’s halls that you, alone among the immortals, averted unseemly destruction from the son of Kronos of the dark clouds at the time when the other Olympians – Hera and Poseidon and Pallas Athena – wanted to put him in bonds. But you went, goddess, and freed him from his bonds...^{^[3]}

In this extract we can see two things; one Zeus is under threat by other gods in the pantheon. The gods who try to bind him up are some of the closest to him (Hera, Poseidon and Athena), this act of betrayal was made by his wife and sister, brother and daughter. Under these circumstances and having been a usurper himself, it is no wonder Zeus can be considered paranoid and suspicious of people. We have to wonder why these gods decided that that would overthrow Zeus, but also for consideration would be whether or not they worked together afterwards or if they would turn on each other, for they seems like an unlikely trinity. Secondly, Zeus was helped by Thetis a lesser goddess who without her help the other gods would have succeeded in overthrowing him. Although Zeus is the gods of justice and ruling sometimes he cannot please everyone and this is an example of what happens when other gods do not get their way. On the other hand, Walter Burkett argues that ‘The other gods may protest against Zeus, they may attempt to disobey him or even plot against him, but nothing can seriously threaten him- he remains far superior.’[4] This claim may be considered true as Thetis decides to help Zeus and he remains King of the gods. This may be because even if not everyone is happy with Zeus, it causes unrest and can cause civil war and causes unbalance in the pantheon.

In conclusion Zeus appears to be kings of the gods because the other gods allow him to be so. As a usurper himself he has to be carefully of what he does. However he enforces and balances out the gods as a ‘father’ a role that needs to be filled, giving him more reason to last as the kings of the gods. However Zeus has is his insecurity that someone else will come along and take his place for as Zeus was a usurper ‘the fear of someone else coming to overthrow him is always there’ thus Zeus remain the only problem in having a golden reign of ruling. On the other hand, as one of 12 gods even though kings of gods, he can be considered brutal tyrant as he is desperate to keep his throne and have no successor. With that in mind it would be hard for Zeus not to be insecure as King of the gods as

[1] http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0138%3ahymn%3d23

[2] Zeus Prometheus and Greek Ethics, Hugh Llyod Jones pg 23

[3] Homers Iliad,

[4] Greek religion: archaic and classical walter Burkett and John Rffan

Religion and Politics

Religion and Politics

How religion was experienced in Athens

The religion in Athens was uniquely different from other parts of Greece because ’Athens was a centrally administered “monocentric” city, the main urban sanctuary of which was the home of the principal cult of the whole polis, a situation neatly expressed by Pausanias: “Both the city and the whole of the land are alike sacred to Athena, for even those who in their parishes (demes) have an established worship of other gods nevertheless hold Athena in honour” ‘’[1]

When mentioning Dionysos and his Bacchants or followers we often refer to female followers, but we have to remember that he also had male followers. These men were called satyrs. It is easy to think of the cult of Dionysos as wild and free, with no constraint be that as it may it is also full of communality. It is a time for the citizens of Athens to fill relief and relax and enjoy the ecstasy of wine.

Communality

Jennifer Larson argues that Dionysos 'is not a major civic or federalgod but through his festivals can become essential to civic identity’ and that ‘in practise the worship of Dionysos was not truly subversive; instead,it offered outlets of physical and emotional self-expression within socially acceptable conditions. Furthemore, Dionysiac cult was smoothly integrated into civic relams of worship, with ecstatic and private companents balanced by state- sponsored festivals and conventional sacrifices.’

City Dionysia – image of the god wasbrought towards the theatre

[1] Daniel ogden A companion to greek religion, pg 224

Anthropomorphism and Dionysos

Anthropomorphism

Ø Attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behaviour to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena.

Anthropomorphism to the ancient Greeks was another way that the Greek gods could interact with humans. The Greek gods themselves had many different forms, usually associated with their attributes for example one of Zeus’s main attributes is the lightening bold, but Zeus is the lightening bold as well,. Another example is Dionysos who attributes are wine and his thyrsus. The wine is an extension to who he is as a god of agriculture particularly wine. But during his cult religion associated with women the Bacchanalia, women drank wine to get into a frenzied sate which they believed would draw them closer to Dionysos. The Cult of Dionysos

According to Jean Pierre Vernant 'The body is the agent and instrument of actions, powers and forces that can only deploy themselves at the price of a loss of energy.'[1] The energy here that he is referring to could be there inability to stop Dionysos from entering them after becoming intoxicated with wine. For ‘in order to manifest his presence, the divinity chooses to make himself visible in the form of a body, rather than his or her body.’[2] This is the closest that a god and human can be, althoughthe humans are not present in a way because they are intoxicated.

There were many cults of Dionysos throughout out Greece, as a new god he had to make his name known and as he grew more popular, it is believed that Hestia gave up her position of the 12^th Pantheon god and gave it to Dionysus.

The cult of Dionysos in Athens celebrated as part of the Great Dionysia was a communal opportunity for everyone to get together in a civilized manner and enjoy the play that would be part of the festival. The Dionysiac mysteries and his cult before that became more mainstream was more barbaric and had more to do with frenzy, wine and madness, attributes that were closely linked to Dionysos. More importantly when his maenads otherise known as bacchants became part of this frenzied state there were able to draw closer ot Dionysos. It is argued that the use of a mask was used to reveal the presence of Dionysos as they practised these rites.

In ‘Dionysos: Myth and Cult’ by W.F Otto he writes, ‘Dionysos was present in the form if a mask at the ceremony of the mixing of the wine…. Dionysus was presented in the mask because he was known as the god of confrontation…the mask serves as his symbol and his incarnation in cult[1].’ This reveals to us that the mask was an anthomorphic symbol of Dionysos, and extension so it could appear he was present in the bacchic rites.

For example in the vase painting below, it shows the followers of Dionysos during the bacchic rites, where music is present, drums, wine calling upon Dionysos through a statue image of him; although it is not a mask with can imagine that they would use a mask as the mask itself was considered a sacred object. Dionysos is one of the few gods who interacts with his followers and rarely at a far distance from them.

This image shows Bacchants dancing around an image of Dionysus as part of the Bacchic rites.

Figure 1Attic kylix panited by Makron

This vase shows that even though Dionysos the god himself is not there, in a way he is because his Bacchants have taken on characteristics of the god. The presences of the wooden statue of Dionysos would create an anthropomorphic version of him being them. Although you cannot see him, within the frenzy of the wine and music that is taking place, it is clear that the Bacchants thought that Dionysos was present. Emphasizing that Dionysos is present amongst the people who worship him and help provide them with temporary freedom.

Dionysus is Euripides Bacchae

Dionysos also take on different animal form as the gods can do, for example Zeus often comes down to see women in many different animals forms a key form being the eagle and Athena is associated with the owl. Dionysos sin the Euripides Bacchae take the form of a Bull and when according to Helen P. Foley ‘When Pentheus is finally costumed and maddened by Dionysus he comes on stage with a new and double vision. He sees two Thebes, two suns as the god says what ought to see[3]’- (Pentheus) - “You appear to lead on ahead of me as a bull// and on you horns seems to grow![4]”

In this extract taken from the play, Pentheus is able to see more than one form of the god and in this state Pentheus is able to look at Dionysus, in comparison to the anthropomorphic state that Zeus reveals himself to Semele, Dionysus is himself the god but also the form of bull. He attribute to the bull again shows the savagery that is capable in Dionysus as they are danger and it also premeditates the savagery butchery of his mother and aunts tearing him to pieces in their frenzied state. Although I haven’t delved deep into the cult of Dionysos I hope I have showed the impact of his cult and the closeness and power that his followers share in his rites and the different forms he can take in revealing himself in the rites as well.

To sum up a quote from Jennifer Larson- his followers ‘…this element enthousiamos having the god within is anomalous in Olympian worship’[5] only with Dionysos

[1] Mortals and immortals: collected essays By Jean Pierre Vernant, Froma I. Zeitlin pg 33

[2] Mortals and immortals: collected essays By Jean Pierre Vernant, Froma I. Zeitlin pg 43

[3] The Masque of Dionysos,Helen Foley 207-133 publsihed by John Hopkins university press

[4] Euripides BACCAHE

[5] Ancient Greek cults: a guide, Jennifer Larson, Routeledge 2007

[1] DionysoS: Myth and Cult, W.F Otto, chp 6 1965 Indianan University Press

Polytheistic Religion

Polytheistic religion vs. monotheistic

Do you gain more by worshipping one god or is there more to gain if you worship more than one god. Obviously the Greeks had more than one god and neither was particularly greater than the other. it would seem as they all had limits to their power. Even the ‘supreme god’ Zeus had limits as he was destined to give birth to a child more powerful than him (some may argue the child is Athena others suggest it could be Dionysos a subject I will return too.

Each god in the Greek world had be worshipped and even though you may have had a ‘favourite’ god as they did humans, it was important to worship each god as the consequences were dire; take Hippolytos for example. He refused to worship the goddess Aphrodite and incurred a particularly gruesome death. For Hippolytus openly dismissed Aphrodite and everything that she stood for so had to be punished. In the opening of the play Aphrodite devises her plan; as a pawn in her plan she makes Phaedra, Hippolytus, fall madly in love with him. Phaedra commits suicide to stop feeling the way she does but before so writes a letter to Theseus saying that Hippolytus raped her. In anger Theseus uses a wish granted by his father Poseidon to kill his son, only then is the truth revealed. Ultimately this play is a reminder to all men who refuse to worship the gods equally. Late we shall see Dionysos enact his own revenge on his family too.

What may strike a person from a monotheistic religion is how the polytheistic religion worked, I mean people worshipped the gods seriously and would do so for each god and it worked for the Greeks. Surely it would be more easy and simple to worship one god, why not just worship Zeus if he was supposed to be the most powerful god, known as the ‘father of the gods.’ So, how did the Greek polytheistic religion work?

This calls into question the importance of major and minor gods. They were worshipped too, even heroes, and with all these gods hanging around it were hard to imagine the gods did not get jealous. To emphasize the importance of worshipping there were the Homeric Hyms, which celebrates the gods in an over the top way. Even in Christianity Jehovah God is called ‘a jealous God.’ Hence, it was up to the particular person who chose whom to worship. Obviously if you were in Athens you were to celebrate and worship Athena, but you could also worship other gods being the other 11 major gods as well as other daemons. However the 12 major gods changed depending on where you lived, so it suggests that religion was a community affair and depended on what you can gain from the gods of a particular region.

An even more interesting case is Dionysos as he established himself as a major god even though his mother was a human and he also made it into the Pantheon at Athens which was would have fully established as a major god amongst the other well-known 11 gods. For Dionysus wasn’t his only child made out of an affair that Zeus had, he had numerous children from many women, lesser gods. Daimones, nymphs, the fates, human heroes etc, however none made a claim to being a major god. Dionysos according to Euripides play the Bacchae had to establish his rightly place as one of the Olympians and travelled through Greece so people would know who he was. This also reminds us of the myth that tells us that Dionysus was twice born. This comes from the fact that Hera having tricked Semele into making Zeus reveals his true form was incinerated and dies. But Zeus retrieved the foetus of Dionysus and sowed his into his thigh, thus Dionysus is twice born.

Dionysus introduction to the Olympian gods was not very welcome at first, if we return to the play of Euripides people did not believe he was the child of Zeus and so he went to Thebes to teach the people a lesson.

This extract is taken from the beginning of the play of Euripides Bacchae which states how Dionysus will get his revenge on those who did not believe he was a god. Later on in the play we realise how much important it is too worship a god that Cadmus? Or Tiresias say that even if they were not sure if he really was a god, it is better to worship him is case he was, rather than be punished for the hubris:

DIONYSUS

‘Lo! I am come to this land of Thebes, Dionysus' the son of Zeus, of whom on a day Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, was delivered by a flash of lightning. I have put off the god and taken human shape, and so present myself at Dirce's springs and the waters of Ismenus. Yonder I see my mother's monument where the bolt slew her nigh her house, and there are the ruins of her home smouldering with the heavenly flame that blazeth still-Hera's deathless outrage on my mother. To Cadmus all praise I offer, because he keeps this spot hallowed, his daughter's precinct, which my own hands have shaded round about with the vine's clustering foliage…. this is the first city in Hellas I have reached. There too have I ordained dances and established my rites, that I might manifest my godhead to men; but Thebes … For this city must learn, however loth, seeing that it is not initiated in my Bacchic rites, and I must take up my mother's defence, by showing to mortals that the child she bore to Zeus is a deity. Now Cadmus gave his sceptre and its privileges to Pentheus, his daughter's child, who wages war 'gainst my divinity, thrusting me away from his drink-offerings, and making no mention of me in his prayers. Therefore will I prove to him and all the race of Cadmus that I am a god.‘[1]

This extract shows that Dionysus is angry that is has not received that worship that other gods have received, showing that although he is relatively a new god, he has earned his way to be worship like the other gods having gone into different cities and teaching them his Bacchic rites. Euripides play, links into that fact that Hera had tricked Semele is making Zeus reveal his true form. Similarly like Aphrodite he intends to get his revenge on the people who have denied his worship. The status of his being as god has to be shown to the world, and by Dionysus making an example of his mother’s family, will surely make others think twice about not worshipping him.

DIONYSUS

Modern day polytheism

To try to understand Polytheism I have also looked at Hinduism; although they do not call their religion polytheistic but hedonistic, meaning they believe centrally on one god but accept the existence of other gods. If we look at Hinduism the religion like the Greek polytheistic religion has one main god Vishnu who is called the preserver and protector of the universe who is the counter part of what Zeus would be. As Zeus divided up the earth between his two brothers, the gods of the Hindu world also divided up the world, with Brahma who is the creator of the world and Shiva the destroyer. However because Vishnu protects the earth he is seen as the greatest of the god, there even being sub religion which the Greeks may have called there ‘cult religion’ for the god Vishnu called Vashnavism. Also compared to the number of lesser gods that the Greeks have, in Hinduism it is said that there are 33 million gods and goddesses. Obviously not all receive worship that many lesser gods of the Greeks did but there appears to be no jealously between the Hindu gods and they all live peacefully among each other.

In comparison to the Greek polytheistic religion Hindus do have a Holy Scripture called the Vedas which are scripture that reveal the truth for Hindus.

[1] http://classics.mit.edu/Euripides/bacchan.html

[2] Richard Seaford, Dionysos, pg 33

[1] http://classics.mit.edu/Euripides/bacchan.html

[2] Richard Seaford, Dionysos, pg 33

Tackling Greek Religion

Tackling Greek Religion

As a student studying Greek religion I have had to rethink about how I have been brought up with religion around me which has been essentially monotheistic. Greek religion on the other hand is the complete opposite mainly because it is a polytheistic religion. For this reason I have always asked the question how could the Greeks worship so many gods but then being open minded I have to remember religions like Buddhism and Hinduism that too worship many gods.

In order to fully take in how the Greek religions worked it is important to establish what the most important features of their religion were. For example for the Christian faith the church and the Bible are vital parts of the religion. For Muslims it the five pillars of Islam that are most important to them including the journey to Hajj in Mecca. For the Greeks there were many ways they could practise their religion; within cults, at sanctuaries, home altars, at a temple and through festivals in the cities which were celebrated by everyone whether you were rich or poor, citizens or slave, man or child. Robert Garland argues that the Greek world is a 'negative catecism' in comparison to a modern montheistic religion and there is nobody to instruct citizens how worship the gods. Compared to Christianityin which you are able to attend church weekly and they have the Holy Bible to help them learn more about their religion.

There are many features of Greek religion sanctuaries were important as it was within these places that usually hosed a temple with an altar where sacrifices to the gods could take place. There were numerous sanctuaries dedicated to the gods for example Zeus’s sanctuary at Olympia, Apollo sanctuary at Delphi and the most well sanctuary the Acropolis dedicated to Athena. This sanctuary was Panhellenic which meant anyone could come and worship there, but not all santuaries were panhellenic.The term haigon is applied to temples or sanctuaries etc. It denoted a degree of ritual purity.[1] However our term of purity is different from the Greeks who would put a person in exile if they were believed to be polluted eg Oedipus was banished from Thebes after the prophecy of that he would kill his father and marry his mother came true.

Another vital aspect of how the Greeks worshipped is through cult and ritual; according to Zaidman and Pantel, the ritual aspect could represent a ‘performance’ that many Greek people could participate in. Thus the cults give a clearer example of how these performances could take place which I will look at in a later blog. Cult religions too were important as there were many just within Athens where we know the biggest cult religion there was the Athena Polias and even Dionysus a later god of the Greeks had a cult. This was a secret cult and not a lot is known about what happened within the cult but we do know there were initiations and they it was primarily women who joined this cult.

The Greeks compared to Christianity had no sacred text, but the origins of the gods and how they came to rule the universe predominantly comes from a few sources one central writers was Hesiod who wrote the ‘Theogony’ a key source introduces the important of sacrifice tot he gods It can be argued that Greek religion is based on worship and giving sacrifice to the gods by the Greeks for protection from pollution and disease they could threaten the city defences while the gods protect them as thanks for giving worship unto them. This two way dependency is what keeps the Greek worshipping the gods and heroes who help keep safe the place in which they live.

Overall as I develop my blog I will look at how important religion was to the Greeks and the look at the ways they interact with the gods through their religious practises, with at times a particular focus on the god Dionysus who according to Richard Seaford ‘tends to manifest himself among humankind and so in various forms[2].’

[1] Zaidman,L.B and S. Pantel, (1992) Religion in the Ancient Greek City, Cambridge Cambridge University Press

[2] Richard Seaford, Dionysos, God and heroes of the ancient world, Routeledge 2006