This week really got me thinking about the term 'Religion' and how its meaning differs not only in place and time but also for each individual. When we talk about Religion a few key words spring to mind; faith, prayer and worship are the predominant ones for me that stand out, however looking at the ancient Greek world can these terms also be applied to the concept?
There is an ongoing debate as to whether we can define the Ancient Greek world as being religious. I personally feel that the Greeks had all the key elements of a religion however lets discuss this in more detail, starting with the gods and the ways in which they were worshiped. Unlike many modern practices we know the Greeks were mainly polytheists, although when looking at the ways in which they carried out acts of worship in my opinion is where we see a lack of religious meaning. I make this deduction from the evidence we have on their religious practices, as to me these seem to hold more of a traditional value such as those of performing customs which have been passed down through their ancestors.The way in which an animal would be sacrificed is a good example, as the method of slitting the animals throat, draining the blood, cooking the meat, and finally the distributing the of portions, with the bones and fat being given to the gods is one we traditionally see being described. As well as having traditional sentiment I claim that events such as festivals, sacrifice and offerings are also carried out for personal gain or gratification. J.Larson gives the interesting simile of watering a garden to encourage growth as a good way of describing why the classical world worshiped,as in the same way we water our plants to benefit us the Greeks would sacrifice and honor their gods in order to achieve a desired outcome. In relation to this I would like to talk about my favorite goddess Athena. Athena is the daughter of Zeus and a goddess of many traits such as that of warfare and protector of cities, there are also many examples in which Athena has been supplicated to as a means to an end. Lets take the example of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. Throughout this Greek Epic we see the goddess Athena help and protect Odysseus in his quest to reach his homeland of Ithaca. Athena act as a prominent figure in The Odyssey, she enables Odysseus to escape off of calypso's island and most importantly helps him destroy the suitors and reclaim his palace, as even when the suitors would throw their spears she 'made the whole volley miss.'. These tales would have acted as motivation for worship as people of the ancient world were always looking for help and guidance such as the sort Athena offers to Odysseus.
However when looking at modern day Christianity is there much difference? If we think about the reasons why people today pray to our monotheistic God self-gain does seem to play a part. For example some Christians will say they pray because it makes them feel happy or calm, others may worship God out of fear of purgatory after death, or commonly if a loved one for example is sick one would pray to God and hope for him to restore them to health. So when comparing Ancient Greek religion to our modern day one we can see some similarities. An area of further discussion is how The ancient Greeks had no specific word or term meaning ‘religion’. We can gather no direct translation and the closest we come to one is the Greek word ‘ta theia’ meaning 'things to do with the gods’. It seems ‘religion’ is a more modern day undertaking where it was considered a category and defined in its own right, this is interesting as we can develop the argument that just because the Ancient Greeks had no defining word for ‘religion’ does this mean that it failed to exist?
L.B Zaidman along with R.Garland says that Greek religion didn't exist. Garland makes this conclusion by creating a list of everything Greek religion lacked in comparison to our modern day interpretation. In this list there are such points as the fact that the Greek concept of religion had no set of written beliefs to which everyone had to follow, that there was no fear of damnation which we discussed earlier as a reason for modern day prayer, as well as this he interestingly states that there was ‘no barrier between religion and ordinary life’. This last point is one also raised by Zaidman as he describes Greek Religion to be embedded in every aspect of everyday life. This claim relates to our initial topic of discussion that religion was seemingly more from tradition; it was a way of life for those living in Classical Greece and was performed out of regularity.
There are some good arguments and counter arguments for the existence of religion in ancient Greece, I would like to end on a few thoughts of my own which presents my side of the discussion. I believe that when we look at the ways in which the Greeks would practice religion it is evidently different from the ways we do today, however just because they developed a different take on worship or the fact that they didn’t have a specific term for religion isn’t sufficient evidence to conclude religion failed to exist. Today we have many different religions, each worship and interpret their religion differently; because of this we cannot say they are not religious. It is evident that the Greeks had gods which they believed in and worshiped, they had a sense of faith in the gods to which they would pray to and for me this is satisfactory proof
Bibliography:
Larson, J. (2007) Ancient Greek Cults: A Guide, chapter 1, New York and London: Routledge.
Zaidman, L.B. and Schmitt Pantel, P. (1992) Religion in the Ancient Greek City, chapter 1 'The necessity of cultural estrangement' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Homer,The Odyssey (22.258). Translated by E.V Rieu, Penguin Books Ltd 2003.
There is an ongoing debate as to whether we can define the Ancient Greek world as being religious. I personally feel that the Greeks had all the key elements of a religion however lets discuss this in more detail, starting with the gods and the ways in which they were worshiped. Unlike many modern practices we know the Greeks were mainly polytheists, although when looking at the ways in which they carried out acts of worship in my opinion is where we see a lack of religious meaning. I make this deduction from the evidence we have on their religious practices, as to me these seem to hold more of a traditional value such as those of performing customs which have been passed down through their ancestors.The way in which an animal would be sacrificed is a good example, as the method of slitting the animals throat, draining the blood, cooking the meat, and finally the distributing the of portions, with the bones and fat being given to the gods is one we traditionally see being described. As well as having traditional sentiment I claim that events such as festivals, sacrifice and offerings are also carried out for personal gain or gratification. J.Larson gives the interesting simile of watering a garden to encourage growth as a good way of describing why the classical world worshiped,as in the same way we water our plants to benefit us the Greeks would sacrifice and honor their gods in order to achieve a desired outcome. In relation to this I would like to talk about my favorite goddess Athena. Athena is the daughter of Zeus and a goddess of many traits such as that of warfare and protector of cities, there are also many examples in which Athena has been supplicated to as a means to an end. Lets take the example of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. Throughout this Greek Epic we see the goddess Athena help and protect Odysseus in his quest to reach his homeland of Ithaca. Athena act as a prominent figure in The Odyssey, she enables Odysseus to escape off of calypso's island and most importantly helps him destroy the suitors and reclaim his palace, as even when the suitors would throw their spears she 'made the whole volley miss.'. These tales would have acted as motivation for worship as people of the ancient world were always looking for help and guidance such as the sort Athena offers to Odysseus.
However when looking at modern day Christianity is there much difference? If we think about the reasons why people today pray to our monotheistic God self-gain does seem to play a part. For example some Christians will say they pray because it makes them feel happy or calm, others may worship God out of fear of purgatory after death, or commonly if a loved one for example is sick one would pray to God and hope for him to restore them to health. So when comparing Ancient Greek religion to our modern day one we can see some similarities. An area of further discussion is how The ancient Greeks had no specific word or term meaning ‘religion’. We can gather no direct translation and the closest we come to one is the Greek word ‘ta theia’ meaning 'things to do with the gods’. It seems ‘religion’ is a more modern day undertaking where it was considered a category and defined in its own right, this is interesting as we can develop the argument that just because the Ancient Greeks had no defining word for ‘religion’ does this mean that it failed to exist?
L.B Zaidman along with R.Garland says that Greek religion didn't exist. Garland makes this conclusion by creating a list of everything Greek religion lacked in comparison to our modern day interpretation. In this list there are such points as the fact that the Greek concept of religion had no set of written beliefs to which everyone had to follow, that there was no fear of damnation which we discussed earlier as a reason for modern day prayer, as well as this he interestingly states that there was ‘no barrier between religion and ordinary life’. This last point is one also raised by Zaidman as he describes Greek Religion to be embedded in every aspect of everyday life. This claim relates to our initial topic of discussion that religion was seemingly more from tradition; it was a way of life for those living in Classical Greece and was performed out of regularity.
There are some good arguments and counter arguments for the existence of religion in ancient Greece, I would like to end on a few thoughts of my own which presents my side of the discussion. I believe that when we look at the ways in which the Greeks would practice religion it is evidently different from the ways we do today, however just because they developed a different take on worship or the fact that they didn’t have a specific term for religion isn’t sufficient evidence to conclude religion failed to exist. Today we have many different religions, each worship and interpret their religion differently; because of this we cannot say they are not religious. It is evident that the Greeks had gods which they believed in and worshiped, they had a sense of faith in the gods to which they would pray to and for me this is satisfactory proof
Bibliography:
Larson, J. (2007) Ancient Greek Cults: A Guide, chapter 1, New York and London: Routledge.
Zaidman, L.B. and Schmitt Pantel, P. (1992) Religion in the Ancient Greek City, chapter 1 'The necessity of cultural estrangement' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Homer,The Odyssey (22.258). Translated by E.V Rieu, Penguin Books Ltd 2003.
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