A handbook of Greek religion

Front matter

NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES

3 3433 07954539 2

V'i^f m hi m i fi

Preface

Although the mythology of Greece is a familiar subject, and Greek religious antiquities have long been studied, Greek religion, as such, is a comparatively unknown field. In the present volume, religious antiquities, forms of revelation, and worship and belief are discussed in Part I. from the standpoint of their religious significance. It may be that readers who are more interested in the content than in the form of Greek religion will pass from the Introduction directly to Parts II and III, but Part I has been left in its logical place. Greek mythology, on the other hand, finds no place in the discussion. If too much emphasis has been laid on the difference between mythology and religion, it may be regarded as a natural reaction from the usual identification of two quite different interests of the Greek mind.

For various reasons Greek religion is not, like Greek mythology, an easy subject to handle. There is one mythology, or at least a tendency to one mythology, as over against many almost unrelated forms of worship. Moreover, mythology lent itself to literary treatment, while many of the data for Greek religion come in fragmentary form from late authors. As to other sources, inscriptions are very important, but they deal only with detail ; while archaeological remains are often difficult to interpret. Although no complete picture is possible, it is hoped that this presentation of the subject will give a point of view which will be helpful in understanding Greek authors as well as in determining the contribution of Greece to the religious conceptions and forces of the later world.

ARTHUR FAIRBANKS.

April, 1 910.

Contents

PAGE

Was there a Greek religion? Mythology and religion. The local shrine. What did religion mean to the Greeks?

Part I Forms Of Religious Belief And Practice In Ancient Greece

CHAPTER

I. Revelation and Inspiration 39

The Greek conception of revelation. Theophany in the Homeric poems. Signs in the ordinary course of nature. Signs in nature : birds. Minor signs in nature : chance words, etc. Divination by means of sacrificial victims. Inspiration : (a) dreams ; (b) prophets. Oracles.

II. The Worship of the Gods 65

Sacred places. Sacred times. Sacred persons; priests and attendants. Forms of worship : {a) prayers, hymns, curses, oaths ; {l>) votive offerings, processions, athletic contests ; (r) the sacrificial meal ; (</) propitiatory sacrifice, purification. Worship from the standpoint of the state ; panhellenic worship. Worship of the individual and the home. The Eleusinian mysteries.

III. The Greek Gods 138

The gods in their relation to the world. The nature of the gods as individuals. Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Artemis. Gods associated with the earth, the waters, and the heavens. Gods of human activities and emotions. Heroes.

IV. The Soul and the Future Life 168

The epic conception of the souL Traces of an early worship of the dead. Funeral rites. The worship of souls. The gods of the underworld. Transfiguration of the future life in the worship of Dionysus and of Demeter.

8 CONTENTS

Part II Historical Sketch Of Religion In Greece Chapter Page

I. The Beginnings of Greek Religion 189

Periods ; methods of investigation. The type of early religion in Greece. Early religion in the light of archaeological remains. Early religion as inferred from the following period. II. Religion in the Greek "Middle Ages" .... 215 Changes in the period 1100-700 B.C. Religion in the Homeric poems. The theogony of Hesiod.

III. Religion in the Seventh and Sixth Centuries b.c. . . 230

Social and political changes ; literature. Changes in belief and worship. The rise of Dionysus worship. The Orphic movement.

IV. Religion in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries b.c. ; Hel-

lenism AT ITS Height 249

The Persian wars and the exaltation of the Athenian state. The tirst Athenian empire. The Peloponnesian war. The fourth century.

V. The Outcome of Greek Religion 273

Religion in the Hellenistic age. The influence of Greek religion on Roman religion. Greek religion and Christianity.

Part III Religion And Other Phases Of Life In Greece

I. Religion in Relation to Art and Literature . . . 294 The general connection of art and religion. The influence of religion on art and literature. The influence of art and literature on religion.

II. Religion and the Or(^.anization of Society .... 306 Religion and ethics. Religion and the social group. Religion and the state.

HI. Religion and P.iilosophy 322

Early Greek philosophy ; criticism of religion. Plato and his successors ; the philosophic statement of religion, IV. The Distinctive Nature of Greek Religion . . = 334

" Monotheism " in Greece. The nature of a god in Greece. Sin and the remedy for sin. The conception of the religious hfe. Appendix I. The Historical Development of a Greek God . 350 Appendix II. Table of Religious Festivals at Athens . . 364 Appendix HI. Bibliography ..,♦,... 366

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE PAGE

1. Zeus from Mylasa (Boston) ic

Photograph.

2. Late Greek Relief 20

Baumeister, Denkm'dler, i. 97, fig. 103.

3. Section of the Frieze of the Parthenon (Athens) .... 24

Photograph.

4. Aphrodite from Melos (Louvre) ....... 31

Photograph.

5. Athenian Red-figured Vase Painting 4^

Millin, Feint ures des vases antiques, I, pi. 35.

6. Athenian Red-figured Vase Painting (Gotha) .... 48

]\Ioii. Inst. 9, pi. 53.

7. View of the Cliffs at Delphi .....,,, co

Photograph.

8. Plan of the Precinct of Apollo at Delphi 61

Luckenbach, Olympia und Delphi, p. 45.

9. View of the Ruins of the Shrine of Apollo at Delphi ... 62

Photograph.

10. Early Black-figured Vase Painting (British Museum) ... 68

/our. Hell. Stud, i, pi. 7.

11. Athenian Black-figured Vase Painting (Lekythos, Athens) . . 69

12. The Great Altar at Pergamon (restoration) 70

Ergebnisse der Atisgrahungen zu Pergamon, III, pi. 19.

13. Ground Plan of the Parthenon 72

Baumeister, Denkm'dler, 2. ii"]!, fig. 1362.

14. Section of the Frieze of the Parthenon . . . . . .73

Photograph.

15. Coin of Megalopolis (Reign of Caracalla) 73

Imhoof-Blumer and Gardner, Numismatic Commentary on Pausanias, pi. V. vi.

16. Gem by Aspasius . .74

17. Athenian Red-figured Vase Painting (Stamnos in the British

Gerhard, Auserlesene Vasenbilder, pi. 155.

18. Marble Seat for the Priest of Dionysus in the Theatre at Athens . 80

Photograph.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGL'l 19.

Relief from the Asclepieum at Athens

Relief from Thessaly (Thebes)

Daremberg-Saglio, p. 376, fig. 2543.

Clay Tablet from Corinth

Ant. Denk. I, Taf. 8, fig. 20.

Marble Relief (Athens) .

Votive Frog from the Peloponnese .

Daremberg-Saglio, p. 375, fig. 2538.

Athenian Red-figured Vase Painting (Stamnos in Munich) Gerhard, Aus. Vas Taf. 81.

Athenian Red-figured Vase Painting (Krater in Boston)

From a drawing.

Athenian Red-figured Vase Painting (Kylix in Athens) .

Jour. Hell. Stud. 10 (1889), pi. i.

Relief in Thebes

Stengel, Griech. Cultusalt. Taf. I, fig. 2. Scene on a Greek Gem

Baumeister, Denkmlilet; 2. 914, fig. 988.

Athenian Red-figured Vase Painting (Amphora in Munich)

Benndorf, Gf'iech. Sic. Vas. Taf. 9.

Scene from Panathenaic Amphora (British Museum)

Baumeister, Denkmiiler, 2. 1152, fig. 1346.

Plan of the Ruins at Olympia

Hachtman, Olympia, 20.

Athenian Red-figured Vase Paintinsj ....

Panofka, Griechen und Griechiiuieu, fig. 14.

Relief in Athens

Plan of the Ruins of the Asclepius Precinct at Epidaurus

Frazer, Pausatiias.

Ground Plan of the Telesterion at Eleusis

Borrmann, Geschichte der Baukunst, I, fig. I20.

View of the Ruins at Eleusis

Photograph.

Vase with Figures in Relief (St. Petersburg) .

Baumeister, Denkmiiler, i, 4-4, fig. 520.

Marble Funerary Urn (Terme Museum, Rome)

Fragment of a Small Votive Figure (Eleusis) .

Marble Relief from Eleusis

Photograph.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ii

PAGE

FIGURE

41. Coin of Elis (Hadrian) 149

Gardner, Types of Greek Coins, pi. 15. 19.

42. Hera Ludovisi (Terme Museum, Rome) 150

Photograph.

43. Bronze Statuette of " Athena Promachos " (Boston) . . .151

Photograph.

44. Coin of Croton 15^

Friedlander-Sallet, Das kgl. Munzkab. in Berlin, pi. 8. 761.

45. Coin of Gela (about 485 B.C.) 153

Hill, Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins, pi. 3. 7.

46. Coin of Selinus (about 460 B.C.) i'4

Hill, Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins, pi. 6. 2.

47. Athenian Red-figured Vase Painting (St. Petersburg) . . .157

Baumeister, Denkm'dler, I. 104, fig. 110.

48. Athenian White Lekythos (Jena) 158

49. Handle of a Greek Bronze Mirror (fourth century B.C., Boston) , 160

Photograph.

50. Athenian Red-figured Vase Painting 162

Photograph.

51. Athenian Red-figured Vase Painting (Krater, Paris) . . -171

Furtwangler-Reichhold, pi. 60.

52. Athenian White Lekythos (Vienna) 173

Benndorf, Griech. Sic. Fas. Taf. ;^^.

53. Street of Tombs at Athens (Cerameicus) 175

Photograph.

54. Terra Cotta Figurines from Tombs at Tanagra (Boston). . • ^77

Photograph.

55. Athenian White Lekythoi (Athens) 181

Photograph.

56. Apulian Red-figured Vase Painting 183

Baumeister, Denkm'dler, 3. 1 928, fig. 2042 B.

57. Section and Plan of Domed Tomb (Tholos) at Mycenae . . 198

Tsountas-Manatt, The Mycenaean Age, figs. 42 and 43.

58. Attic Black-figured Vase Painting 199

59. Plan of the Dictaean Cave 200

Brit. School Ann. 6 (1899) 94, pi. 8.

60. The " Shrine of the Double Axes " at Cnossos 201

Brit. School Ann. 8 (1901) 97, fig. 55.

61. Libation Tables and Dishes 203

Brit. School Ann. 6 (1899), pl- ^l'

62. Steatite Vase from Hagia Triada 204

Monumenti Antichi, 13, Tav. i and 3.

12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE PAGE

63. Steatite Offertory Scene 205

64. Gem from Vaphio o . • . . 206

65. Tfiin Gold Placque from Mycenae 207

Photograph.

66. Faience Figure from Cnossos ....••.. 208

Brit. School Ann. 9 (1902) 75, fig. 54.

67. Gold Ring from Mycenae 209

68. Marble Relief from the Peiraeu3 (Berlin) ..... 212

Harrison, Prolegomena to the ^Judy of Greek Religion, 19, fig. 2.

69. Athenian Red-figured Vase Painting (Kylix by Hieron, Berlin) . 235

Boetticher, Baumkultus, Taf. 42.

70. Terra Cotta Relief from Campania ....... 246

Baumeister, Denkm'dcer, i. 449, fig. 496.

71. Figure of Isis with Sistron 276

Baumeister, Denkmdler, i. 761, fig. 812.

72. Athenian Black- figured Vase Painting (Loutrophoros from Cape

Colias) 287

Mon. Inst. Tav. 8. 5.

Hill, Greek and Roman Coins, pi. 6. I.

74. Marble Statue of Dionysus from Tivoli (Terme Museum, Rome) 302

Photograph.

75. Athenian Red-figured Vase Painting 308

76. Marble Relief in Athens 3^8

Photograph.

Introduction

1. Was there a Greek Religion? — The rich and varied mythology of Greece is studied by the historian, by the poet, by every reader of the ancient classics, and it has been studied with more or less interest ever since the Homeric poems were composed ; but the question whether these gods were worshipped is rarely asked. Such a strange condition of affairs is due partly to the nature of these gods, partly to a narrow conception of what religion is, partly to the fact that the Greeks had no rehgious dogma and left no sacred writings. The picture of the Greek gods in myth certainly does not inspire religious sentiments or suggest worship. And it is not difficult to see that myths have become so familiar as quite to overshadow any religious side which the gods may have had for their worshippers. Not only Greek poetry, but the poetry of Rome and of every later European literature as well, has constantly drawn its inspiration from these myths. The question remains whether worship and the religious sentiment expressed in worship were really an important factor in ancient Greek life.

The answer to this question depends on our definition of religion. Religion to-day lays emphasis on one God, ever present in the world, but something more than the world itself, a god whose wisdom and love are manifested with increasing clearness. Moreover religion rests on the revelation of this god to man, and the revelation is stated, however imperfectly, in creeds and dogmas. A god of absolute hohness, the human soul with eternal possibilities of blessedness or woe, a conscience stamping every act as right or wrong, divine love as a constant ally of the good, — such, perhaps, we understand to be the ultimate factors of religion.

They were not present in Greece. The gods were not holy, nor did rehgion judge human Hfe from the ethical standpoint. That a god should care for men as men is a thought which belongs only to later periods of Greek religion. There was no religious dogma, no revelation of the divine will except in particular cases. But if religion is the belief in a personal being or beings, higher than man and interested in his welfare, if it is the yearning of the human heart for the protection and sympathy of its gods, if prayer and sacrifice and the effort to please the gods are religion, we find it in Greece. A Greek city was dotted with shrines where men worshipped, as few cities are supplied with churches to-day. The calendar was primarily a device for locating festivals to the gods, sacred days which numbered quite as many in the year as our Sundays. When St. Paul found at Athens not only temples for many gods, but also an altar " to the Unknown God," erected to correct any possible omission, he might well call the Athenians a " very religious " people.^ From the earliest effort to win aid from vaguely conceived spirits up to the ideal of Zeus the father-god and of Apollo who reveals his will, we may trace a development continuous if irregular. And in rites of feasting and dance and sacred drama, to us strange indeed, were formed conceptions religious enough to affect our Christianity profoundly.

A superficial investigation is sufficient to establish the fact that rehgious practices were as numerous and as far-reaching in Greece as among any known people. That religion rested somewhat lightly on men's shoulders, that religious rites were for the most part occasions of joy and gladness, is no reason for refusing to recognize their genuine meaning. It only remains to ask whether the meaning they did have is suffixient to justify an investigation of the facts. And to this question also the answer is not difficult. The greater thinkers of Greece, as well as the greater artists, found deep and important meaning in the religion of the people. No reader of Sophocles and of Plato fails to be impressed with their insight into religious truth; and our

INTRODUCTION copies of great temple statues, imperfectly as they reproduce the originals, yet are sufficient to show how the artist found and interpreted a real religious sentiment. As Aristotle remarks,^ the name oi father applied to Zeus is equivalent to "paternal ruler" and includes the idea of his loving care for men. The inherent likeness of man and god, the human-ness of god and the divine-ness of man, has rarely been grasped more clearly than by the Greeks.

It was recognized that the idea of communion underlies worship, and that in the service of a god man grows like him. We may frankly acknowledge that such conceptions were not explicitly recognized by the people, and still claim that there is a Greek religion deserving of study.

Nor was this rehgion without its continuing potency in later Europe.

It will appear later in the discussion that Greek life was so shot through with these religious threads that no phase of it would have been the same, if its religious side had been neglected. The Greek conceptions and ideals which reappear in modern life are not free from this stamp. Further, it will also appear in the later discussion that Christianity itself was modified and its forms at least were enriched by much material from Greek religious rites. Indeed one might claim that

1 Aristotle, Polit i. 12.

Fig. I. — Zeus from Myi.asa (Boston

The head is perhaps closer than any other marble copy to the statue of Zeus at Olympia by Pheidias.

Greek religion has exercised about as much influence, though indirectly, on various phases of modern life, as Greek mythology has exercised on modern literature.

And if Greek religion is to be studied for the influence it has had on modern life, as well as for its immediate influence on other phases of Greek life, the interest of the study wiU be much increased by its connection with "comparative religion" so-caUed {i.e. the history of other worships and beliefs as compared with Christianity). It is strange indeed that the religions of India and China, and even of savage races, should have been studied diligently to the neglect of religion in Greece and Rome. This latter branch of study, however, may profit by one tenet which has been established by the study of rehgion in other fields, viz., that in considering the Greek gods and their worship the student is not to search for Christian conceptions in another field, but rather to investigate the facts and interpret them in the hght of the highest religious experience he knows.

In the brief presentation of the subject here attempted, yf/'i-/, the attention of the reader is asked to the phenomena of religion at Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. ; secondly, the main periods in the history of Greek religion are sketched ; and thirdly^ questions as to the influence and significance of Greek religion receive further consideration. So varied are the details of religious worship that ordinarily the usages of Athens alone have been presented ; it is only in the eff"ort to reconstruct the religious history of earlier ages that a broader outlook is imperatively necessary. In order to secure the proper standpoint for such a study as is here proposed, a few general topics are treated in the following pages of the introduction.

2. Mythology and Religion. — It has been assumed in the preceding section that Greek religion is something quite different from Greek mythology, yet the fact remains that they are often confused. And inasmuch as every reader first becomes acquainted with the Greek gods through myth, it is essential for the student of religion to seek a clear-cut conception of the relation between religion and mythology. Myths I have defined elsewhere^ as " stories of the acts of superhuman beings, often improbable to us, but believed to be true by those who related them." The beings which appear in myths are inevitably personal, for the myth tells of their actions ; and the myth as inevitably assumes the story form. Some of the tales appear to us weird, immoral, hardly " true to life " ; yet they were believed as distinctly as the child believes in his Santa Claus. Nor was it till they had really become an element of literature that any one could think of taking license with them. Myths, thus conceived, stand close to philosophy and to poetry : to philosophy, for problems of nature and of human life are treated in these stories ; to poetry, for it is the naive poetic imagination which conceives the forces of the world as personal beings. Their existence depended on their power to satisfy the intelligence and gratify the aesthetic sense of those who repeated them. But while myths often expressed deep truths and were ordinarily accepted as true statements of facts, the myth proper was never an article of dogma. Among other races the so-called myths were sometimes codified, sometimes created, by the priests. In Egypt, for instance, and in India, the stories of the gods bore this hieratic stamp. The nature of the priesthood in Greece,^ however, was such that myths were kept comparatively free fi-om the artificial influence of any organized theology.

In contrast with mythology, religion is primarily a matter of practice (worship) and of emotions expressed in worship (such as reverence and the sense of dependence). It certainly includes belief also, but in Greece the intellectual element remained rather in the background, for belief was not definitely formulated from the religious standpoint. It is a most natural error, and an error involving some measure of truth, to hold that Greek beHef about the gods was expressed in the form of myth. The differences between the gods of mythology and the gods of worship may be discussed under three headings :

(i) Religion and mythology represent the gods from vitally dif-

1 The Mythology of Greece and Rome (1907), p. I. 2 Cp. infra, p. 76 f.

ferent standpoints. Most of the superhuman beings in myths are fundamentally the same as the gods to whom men look for help in worship ; in myth, however, the imagination is absolutely untrammelled by any considerations of religion or morality. The Athena springing full-armed from the brain of Zeus, or (in the Iliad) seeking to block her father's plans, is far enough from the goddess whom Pheidias represented in gold and ivory, that spirit of wisdom who stood for all that was best in the Athenian people. In. the Homeric poems the Apollo worshipped by Chryses {Iliad, 2) and the Apollo wounding Patroclus from behind on the battlefield {Iliad, 16) have little in common; nor does Apollo slaying the Python while a babe in arms suggest the sage spirit of Delphi to whom the Greek world looked for guidance. Mythology is not a peculiar form of theology in poetic guise ; myths were originally believed to be true, but they were never a rehgious creed ; they were often incorporated in hymns of worship, but in themselves they had litUe enough to do with worship.

(2) It appears, further, that the supernatural beings of religion by no means coincide with the supernatural beings of myth. The greater gods appear in both lists ; in addition mythology includes all manner of inferior beings, such as nymphs, satyrs, centaurs, which rarely or never are worshipped, and a long list of heroes very few of whom are worshipped. On the other hand the lesser spirits who receive worship in some one locality, are rarely heeded by myth ; or if the name appears in myth it may mean a person radically different from the one worshipped. At Athens such divine beings as Adrasteia, Alcon, Ariste, Dexion, Eirene, Eucleia, Hesychos, Nemesis, Tritopatreis, received worship but had no direct place in myth. It has often been assumed that the origin of religion is to be explained by means of mythology. So far as Greece is concerned the indebtedness seems on the whole to be reversed. Mythology really derived much of its content from religious ritual, while beings which originated in myth did not ordinarily come to be worshipped. The gods of myth and rehgion form two groups which overlap but are not identical, a fact which seems simple enough when the difference of standpoint is once fully grasped. If there were no other proof that myth is not the rehgious doctrine of the Greek gods, it would be sufficient to point out that these two groups of gods do not coincide.

(3) And where the same names appear in both lists their significance is by no means the same. For worship the gods are located at definite shrines, where they bear specific names (epithet) ; in myth they are as universal as the known world, and their local relations are no more than favorite haunts. In myth the functions of each god are sharply defined and his personal character corresponds to his specific functions ; the god of worship has widespread power to bless, a power by no means limited to his function in myth. The process by which myths arose has left the gods, some in a non-moral form, some in a form distinctly at variance with human standards of morality. Worship did not always make of them moral beings, but inasmuch as the relation between god and worshippers is of a moral nature, and further, inasmuch as the Greek gods (like men) were members of the moral universe, the tendency in Greece is toward an ultimate union of religion and morality. Finally, mythology exists by making its gods very human, and as it develops into a system the gods acquire definite personal characters. For the worshipper a god never loses that vague mysterious side which stirs the emotion of awe, for there is no limiting influence in worship to define the divine nature. Even the sense that gods are akin to man is often blunted in religious ritual. That the gods handled by myth should remain gods at all, that real worship should be possible when children were brought up on these stories of Aphrodite and Poseidon and Ares, is a lasting tribute to the religious spirit of the Greeks.

While the differences between religion and mythology are such that the two must be studied separately and with very different aims, the fact remains that the more important gods do appear both in myth and in worship. More than this, there can be no question that myths were passed on from mouth to mouth at the only international gatherings in Greece, the greater religious festivals. The influence of these gatherings would be most marked on that class of myths which recite the story of a particular shrine. Much of the Homeric hymn to Demeter (cp. Part I, Chap, ii, p. 135) describes in mythical form the origin of her worship at Eleusis, and the practices of worship were the influence shaping the myth as to the origin of the cult. So the marvellous birth of Athena and

Fig. 2, — Late Greek Relief Apollo is represented as a victorious musician at Delphi, receiving a libation

from Nike.

the contest of Athena with Poseidon are connected with the worship of the goddess on the Acropolis. There is no evidence that priests ever had much to do with these myths. The popular demand created an explanation for the existence of the shrine, its importance, and the character of its worship. As the shrine grew in influence its myths would be carried far and wide by pilgrim visitors from diff'erent parts of the country, till they found a place in the generally accepted Greek mythology. The practice of holding musical contests at religious festivals increased the opportunity for the development of these myths, for the poet's theme was almost inevitably chosen from the legend of the shrine where he sang. At Delphi it was Apollo's birth, or his coming to Delphi, or his victory over the dragon — perhaps all three themes at once — which was celebrated in these contests. In this way a myth might find its way into actual hymns of worship, though here there would be occasion only for the bare outline of the story.

The mythical account of Hera's marriage to Zeus is apparently derived from religious practices in the worship of the goddess of marriage, though in this instance the rites were somewhat widely prevalent instead of belonging to one great festival. So the story of the second birth of Dionysus from the thigh of Zeus seems to be a poetic statement of the fact that Dionysus worship was introduced into Greece under the protecting aegis of Zeus. Interpreted thus, it states in poetic form an important fact in the history of Greek religion. Although myths did not in Greece receive a hieratic stamp to mark them as sacred legend, the two classes of myths just noted — myths which give facts of religious history, and myths which arise in the effort to explain religious practice — are not to be neglected by the student of religion itself.

Again, it appears that after myths have been taken up into literature they are employed by the poets to teach deep religious lessons. Pindar and Simonides feel quite free to modify tales of the gods to accord with their own religious ideas ; while tragedy consistently handles the great problems of life under the form of myth. On the other hand, we have no indication that officials of religion, priests or prophets, recognized sacred story as within their province. Where myth becomes a vehicle of religious teaching, its real nature as myth is essentially modified before it can serve a dogmatic purpose.

It is unreasonable, however, to suppose that the beliefs connected with worship were not modified, often radically modified, under the influence of myths. The characteristics of the greater gods in myth as enumerated above (pp. 18-19) affected the conceptions of the worshipper both directly and through the medium of worship. When the Athenians worshipped Athena as Itonia, or Hippia, or Skiras, or Hygieia, — and every cult had some such distinctive epithet — the picture of Homer's Athena, one Athena ii GREEK RELIGION

who embodied all these forms and who was honored in all the Greek world cannot have been wholly absent from their minds. And it is inconceivable that the idea of gods human enough to sympathize with the needs and desires of men, as they appear in the literary handling of myth, should not often have lent new meaning to ritual. This human side of the gods of myth found its noblest expression in art ; certainly art as well as literature was a medium through which myth affected ritual.

So far, then, as the present discussion of Greek religion is concerned, myth as such is definitely excluded ; it is, however, apparent to the reader that myths will come into consideration at many points because of the light they throw on ritual itself and on the religious ideas associated with ritual.

3. The Local Shrine. — The contrast between religion and myth appears most sharply in connection with a conception which is fundamental to the whole structure of Greek religion, the conception of the local shrine. All Greek worship centres about these various shrines ; each shrine (temple or altar) is independent of any other religious authority, and the god of each shrine is ordinarily treated as if he were independent of gods worshipped elsewhere. The local nature of Greek religion meant that there were as many religions as there were cities, or rather as many as there were individual shrines all over Greece. The first task of the student is to grasp the meaning of that multiform centre of Greek religion, the local shrine.