Chapter 21
In This Chapter
● Dying and travelling to the underworld
● Participating in ceremonies and sacrifices
● Using divination and seeking signs
● Frolicking in festivals and joining cults
Chapter 19 introduces the many varied ancient Greek gods, and illustrates the roles specific gods were believed to have in the mythical past. In this chapter I look at how the ancient Greeks worshipped their gods and other mythical heroes in their daily lives. Get ready to uncover some strange and unusual rituals - at least for modern eyes.
Greek religion was actually very formal and full of big public rituals in the same way that modern religions make requirements on people to be in places at certain times of day and week. Public religion is the major focus of this chapter - understanding the private, spiritual beliefs of the ancient Greeks is very difficult because historians don’t really have any record of them. The closest that we get to it is in understanding their cults, which were a slight departure from everyday religious practice.
Everything that I talk about in this chapter is what most Greeks accepted and did in their daily lives. Just like today, each ancient Greek man or woman had different, individual ideas about the gods, but by and large they carried out similar religious practices and ceremonies.
Dying - In Theory and Practice
Death and dying may sound like a gloomy subject, but the ancient Greeks had some intriguing - and perhaps inspiring - notions about what happened to humans after they passed away. Modern anthropologists often say that you can tell a lot about a society by the way that it deals with death because it proves what people thought was valuable. I think that idea is probably true of ancient Greece.
Venturing into the underworld: The mythological take
The Greeks believed that when people died, their bodies decayed, their souls (or ‘shades’ - like a kind of ghost version of the person) travelled to Hades (the name of both the god of the dead and the underworld) to exist for eternity.
When ‘shades’ entered the underworld, they first had to cross the river Styx (or Lethe) on a ferry piloted by the famous ferryman Charon. When people died, their friends or family placed a coin in their mouths so that they were able to pay Charon his fee. If a person died and didn’t have the proper funeral rites, he or she would spend eternity unable to cross the river.
While crossing the Styx, the hand of the ‘shade’ fell into the water and the magical power of the river drained all memories from the body, allowing the deceased individual to be content to exist in the underworld without continually mourning for those they left behind.
Despite the gloomy subject matter, the Greeks were able to poke fun at the dying process. Aristophanes’s play Frogs is set in the underworld, and Charon appears as a rather comical character.
Any more for Lethe, Blazes, Perdition, or the Dogs? Come along now, any more for a nice restful trip to Eternity? No more worries, no more cares, makes a lovely break!
Other theories about the underworld and the experiences of the dead existed. For example, in The Odyssey (see Chapter 20), Odysseus has to travel to the underworld to speak with the prophet Tiresias. The souls that Odysseus meets are deeply unhappy and remember everything about their previous lives. Indeed, they spend eternity drifting around in grief and must consume sacrificial blood before they can speak to Odysseus. Yuck!
The ancient Greeks appear to have placed no value judgement on people’s lives, and had no equivalents of heaven or hell. Everyone went to Hades regardless of the lives they’d led and stayed there for eternity. The only exceptions were the mythological heroes who were fortunate to have ended up in Elyisum (refer to Chapter 20).
Dealing with the dead: Practicalities
Mythology aside, the ancient Greeks had very specific ways of dealing with death. Indeed, the Greeks were obsessed with receiving proper burials because they believed that if bodies didn’t receive proper funeral rites from relatives, then the souls of the dead were prevented from travelling to the underworld (see the preceding section ‘Venturing into the underworld: The mythological take’).
Funerals could be expensive affairs with all kinds of musicians and performers required and many people attending the formal meal, which all the family attended before the burial. As I examine in Chapter 14, the ancient Greeks were really obsessed with the idea of familial and friendship ties, so funerals were big events.
Poorer people had to make do with what was available. They’d still strive to ensure a proper burial, even if they weren’t able to afford the attendant functions. After all, a family meal could just involve some wine, cheese, and olives.
Ancient Greece was mainly an inhumation culture, which means that bodies are buried, rather than a cremation culture in which they’re burnt. Most families had a family tomb that they filled with generations of corpses.
Every year the surviving family members gathered at their tomb or grave to honour those who had died, a bit like an annual memorial service. Normally these rites would involve saying prayers and making offerings to the gods.
Often, the tombs included gravestones featuring epitaphs carved in the stone. These words were sometimes in verse form, produced by a poet for hire. One such poet was Simonides (circa 500 BC). Following are two of his best efforts!
Drinker, glutton supreme, supreme defamer of men. I, Timokreon of Rhodes, now lie down here.
Someone is glad that I, Theodorus, am dead. Another will be glad when that someone is dead. We are all in arrears to death.
Worshipping the Gods
Throughout their whole lives, ancient Greeks were continually involved in some kind of religious ceremony or ritual. Social life, business deals, marriage, war, and cultural entertainment all involved ritual practices focused on one or several gods in the pantheon (see Chapter 19).
Rituals were important because they allowed the ancient Greeks to ask the gods for help, approval, or a guarantee. All rituals involved a kind of bargaining: The humans provided the gods with something in exchange for their help. See the later section ‘Sacrificing: Giving the gods gifts’ for the fascinating details.
Seeing the gods in person: Idols
Many aspects of Greek religion took place inside temples (see Chapter 18). Within each temple was a statue that depicted a specific god. The ancient Greeks believed that the god was actually present inside the temple - or if many temples to a specific deity existed, they believed that the god always visited their temple at some point during the year or at least that they could see what was going on in many temples at once.
The belief that gods were present within the temples meant that the Greeks actually worshipped the statue within the temple - a practice that modern folks would call idolatry. (See Chapter 17 for more on the process of creating metal and marble statues.) In contrast, worshippers in a Catholic church for example, aren’t honouring a statue but the figure that the statue represents.
As worship, the Greeks made small offerings and prayed to the gods. They sometimes dressed the statue with ribbons known as stemmata. The statues must have ended up being quite pretty and well-covered because a large number of people visited the temple on a daily basis.
When to worship
The ancient Greek calendar was full of official religious days and festivals (refer to Chapter 15). The Greeks didn’t have a specific holy day but engaged in religious rituals during the many festivals.
This meant that normal worship at the temple took place whenever a person wanted. Individuals could worship alone or as groups and families and a temple priest would always supervise whatever activities they were carrying out. Men, women, and children were all allowed to attend temples but would probably do most of their personal worship in their home.
Having gods in your home
The Greek household (oikos) was itself a sacred place with its own rituals and requirements (see Chapter 14). The main protector of the household was Zeus, known in this instance as Zeus Herkeios, or the Guardian. Zeus was also responsible for the concept of xenia, the proper treatment of guests (see Chapter 21).
The household itself was sacred to Hestia, goddess of the hearth (see Chapter 19). Every house kept a fire constantly burning in honour of the goddess, and this hearth was the centrepiece of the home. This was the spot where the oikos ate all meals and received guests.
The ancient Greeks also chose their own deities who they looked on to protect their houses. People placed images of the selected gods on the gates or doors of houses or somewhere within the home. Gods such as Apollo and Hermes were popular choices.
Sacrificing: Giving the gods gifts
Sacrifices and offerings were the main ways of honouring the gods. A sacrifice was the killing of an animal, whereas an offering was a gift of wine, food, money, or other item. These practices weren’t Greek inventions; the tradition went back a long way into the past. The idea behind them was that you gave the gods some of your food - that which kept you alive - and in return the gods would either just continue to look after you or perhaps aid you in some way such as blessing a married couple with children or ensuring a good harvest for a farm.
Sometimes offerings were quite simple - fruits, grain, or special cakes. The more famous sort of sacrifice was livestock or farm animals, such as oxen, bulls, cows, sheep, pigs, goats, or other animals.
Littte, everyday sacrifices
Although formal sacrifices and offerings (see the following section ‘Big sacrifices’) were part of religious life, the ancient Greeks believed that the gods could see everything and would pick up on any slight acknowledgement. Consequently people would make small, almost superstitious offerings throughout the day.
Additionally, the Greeks thought rivers, forests, and other natural phenomena were touched by the gods. By dropping pebbles or very small offerings of food in the river or wherever, people believed they were acknowledging the power and pervasiveness of the gods.
The belief that the gods were everywhere went even further. The Greeks believed that occasionally the gods walked the earth in human form to check on mankind. They also explained the fact that they occasionally blurted out something stupid with the expression, Some god put it in my heart to say’. Try using that explanation next time you say something embarrassing!
Purity is everything
Ritual purification was an essential part of any ancient Greek religious ceremony. This process literally meant washing, and in most cases just washing your hands was enough. The idea of purification probably comes from the fact that most Greeks were farmers (or had originally been farmers), and by washing you were removing the dirt from yourself and putting work aside before worshipping the gods.
Sometimes the purification rituals were extreme (see the sidebar 'The Delphic oracle') and involved a person cleansing themselves of an awful act - like a murderer 'washing the blood from their hands'.
Big sacrifices
At the temple, ancient Greeks cut the throats of the sacrificial animals. (The resulting blood was often presented as an additional offering.) These activities wouldn’t take place inside the temple itself but in the grounds around it. The Greeks had two ways of making sacrifices:
● Sacrificing some part of the animal, and serving the rest. Sometimes people roasted the animal, and offered a portion to the gods. They used the remaining meat to make a formal meal for those attending the ceremony. This kind of barbeque-like sacrifice was the most common.
In Greek poetry, the gods are often described as enjoying the smell of roasting meat as it drifts up to Olympus.
● Completely burning the entire animal. The total burning of an animal was usually reserved for a specific purpose. Most often people were trying to appease the gods. For example, in a case of murder, ancient Greeks considered the burned animal to count as a ‘one-for-one’ offering to replace the victim.
So what was the point of sacrifice? The most literal way of understanding the concept is that you were giving a gift to the gods. Animals were expensive, so killing a cow or goat was a significant financial offering. Of course, this also meant a good feed for everybody else involved too!
Pondering and Predicting the Future
Despite the mystically tinged scenes in lots of Greek plays and even more modern-day movies, the Greeks did not use prophecies to predict the future. Instead, they turned to the gods and asked for help in the future or advice on what to do in the present.
Divination, or what the Greeks called mantike, involved asking the gods questions to try and ensure a happy and prosperous future. The following sections look at these aspects of Greek religion.
Consulting oracles
The ancient Greeks believed that the gods were involved in a person’s fate, and ensured that what was meant to happen to them did happen. The gods didn’t create a person’s fate but it was their responsibility to make sure that what was fated to happen actually took place.
One of the most popular ways for an ancient Greek to figure out what to do to follow their fate was to visit an oracle, a place where the Greeks believed they could ask someone questions and receive answers from the gods. An oracle was a place, not a person, and could be anywhere where the gods ‘touched the world’ such as a stream, a bush, or the inner sanctum of a temple.
Talk to the man
Usually, the person at the oracle was a priest, or hiereus, who was employed by the shrine or temple. The Greeks didn’t think that the priest had any kind of magical powers, just the knowledge and skills required to do the job.
In addition to a priest, the temple or shrine sometimes used the services of a seer, or mantis, to understand the answers of an oracle. A seer wasn’t tied to any religious institution and worked for private hire.
Many Greeks were cynical about the service that seers provided because it was pretty much in the interests of the seer to give a client the answers that they were looking for! In mythology, seers are often presented as figures who can actually see into the future, and who are beloved by the gods and in possession of magical abilities. In everyday Greece, it’s unlikely that most people regarded seers in this way.
Yes, no, er... maybe!
Consulting an oracle wasn’t quite as straightforward as it may sound. Oracles didn’t predict the future. Instead, they gave advice on what to do in the present. The Greeks believed that the future was already set out, or predetermined. Therefore, they didn’t ask to change it, but rather how to interpret what they saw around them to help predict how things may be.
So, for example, a man didn’t visit an oracle and ask how many children his prospective wife would have. Instead, he asked for advice on whether he should marry her. If the oracle suggested he should marry, and he did and they subsequently had children, then the oracle developed a reputation for being able to predict the future. Of course, if the same man married the woman and the couple didn’t have children, then the ancient Greeks thought the man had misinterpreted the answer!
In general, oracles provided answers that were supportive - telling people what to do to ensure a happy future rather than explaining what that future would be.
Because an oracle’s response was sometimes quite problematic, the special skills of a seer were often required to interpret it.
Looking to signs
The Greeks were very superstitious and saw signs and portents in all kinds of everyday activities. The flight of birds (known as bird lore), the movement of leaves, and the flow of running water were all used as methods of interpreting the will of the gods. Just as with the pronouncements of oracles, a priest or seer was required to interpret these signs.
Interpreting bird lore was particularly complicated. This inscription from Ephesus in Asia Minor (dated at about 550 BC) is one of the only surviving examples of what certain flight patterns meant - and it isn’t exactly straightforward!
. . . if the bird flying from left to right disappears from view the omen is favourable; if it raises its left wing, flies away, and disappears the omen is unfavourable; if flying from left to right it disappears on a straight course the omen is unfavourable; but if after raising its right wing, it flies away and disappears the omen is favourable.
One of the most popular sources of signs was examining the entrails (inner organs) of recently sacrificed animals. The condition of these organs, especially the liver, was a method of testing whether the gods supported a course of action. People often made major decisions about war and diplomatic negotiations after examining a sacrifice’s entrails.
Taking Oaths: 'I Promise!'
Just as the Greeks used divination and oracles to seek advice about what to do in life, religion was also a big part of any decisions or deals that they made. Decisions often took the form of oaths that the Greeks swore, using the gods as their witnesses.
The Delphic oracle
The most famous ancient Greek oracle of all was the one at Delphi in central Greece (see the Cheat Sheet map). The oracle at Delphi was extremely old and dated back to around the ninth century BC. The oracle was dedicated to Apollo and the centrepiece of the sanctuary was a large temple devoted to him. Both cities and individuals - including virtually every famous figure from ancient Greek history - asked for the Delphic oracle's advice.
Conferring with the Delphic oracle required a complicated process of purification and sacrifice (see the earlier section 'Sacrificing: Giving the gods gifts'). The whole thing was supervised by the pythia, or priestess of the temple. When asked a question, the priestess went into a trance and then babbled incoherent sentences, which arose from her communication with the god Apollo. The answers were famously ambiguous, but the Greeks believed that the gods spoke clearly; any misinterpretations came down to human stupidity!
You can still visit Delphi; it's a beautiful little town and a fabulous site which I describe in Chapter 26.
Swearing of an oath (horkos) meant that you were promising to do something, such as paying for goods or marrying somebody. Characters in Greek tragedy often swear oaths, particularly oaths of vengeance where they promise to avenge a wronged or slain relative and this was fairly common practice in ancient Greece too. Additionally, if you didn’t do what you promised, you accepted the punishment of the gods.
Given that the Greeks only really started using writing in around 750 BC (see Chapter 1), oaths were also used as a form of verbal contract in business deals. Merchants entered into trade deals and called upon the gods Hermes or Poseidon to be the arbiter.
Having Fun with the Gods:
Festivals and Cults
Most Greek cities had highly defined religious calendars based around big public festivals. (See Chapter 15 for the intricacies of the ancient Greek calendar.) Some celebrations were massive and went on for days, and others were held only by a particular town region (deme).
Private healthcare: The sanctuary at Epidauros
Asclepius, the god of healing, had one of the most famous places of worship dedicated to him at Epidauros. Greeks visited the shrine and asked for advice on curing their illnesses. Asclepius didn't have any real connection with Epidauros, but the priests there invented one; the site became second only to Delphi (see the sidebar 'The Delphic oracle') in visitor numbers.
Despite its popularity, people didn't expect instant cures from the sanctuary at Epidauros. As at Delphi, all answers from the gods had to be interpreted by the priests, who weren't doctors. What the priests advised usually went against what Hippocratic doctors of the time would have prescribed. Nevertheless, a huge amount of money was spent in asking the priests' advice!
Additionally, smaller religious groups gathered together in the form of religious cults that worshipped particular individual divinities. The rules and regulations around these cults were as strict as they were bizarre. See the later section ‘Getting cultic: Swimming with pigs and other oddities’ for more.
Observing the religious year
I discuss the complex Athenian calendar in Chapter 15, but the typical religious calendar of a city was even more complicated. For example, Athenians gave over 130 days of the year to specific festivals, although many more small festivals and celebrations also took place. Roughly speaking, something related to a festival or celebration probably occurred every other day.
Athenians celebrated about 30 large festivals during the religious year. The month of Pyanopsion (September/October) featured an impressive six festivals in honour of Apollo, Theseus, Demeter (twice), and Athene (twice).
Some of these festivals were massive; for example, the big drama festivals like the Country and City Dionysia both went on for several days and took the form of a major public holiday. Visitors came from far and wide to take part in these celebrations.
As I mention in Chapter 16, festivals included all types of activities: dramatic performances, athletic games, singing and dancing competitions, and large amounts of feasting and drinking. The public purse and donations from wealthier citizen paid for these events.
Although religious celebration was the main point of festivals, they weren’t sober and restrained events - quite the reverse! All sorts of ribaldry took place with much drinking and carousing. If you want a modern equivalent, try New Year’s Eve crossed with the Glastonbury Festival!
Two notable festivals: The Panathenaia and the Thesmophoria
One of the biggest festivals in ancient Athens was the Panathenaia, which celebrated the city and its patron goddess Athena (see Chapter 19). The festival was held every year in the month of Hekatombaion (June/July) and was effectively a new year celebration. The Athenians made huge processions, and the main one involved the transporting of a robe (peplos) for the goddess Athene. The procession is depicted in the frieze of the Parthenon, parts of which are on display in the British Museum.
The Panathenaia was a very nationalistic festival and was rooted in the idea of celebrating Athenian supremacy over other Greeks. The Athenians made the celebration even bigger once every four years and called it the Great Panathenaia.
One of the more notorious festivals was the women-only Thesmophoria, which was held throughout Greece in the autumn. Men were banned from the festival, which was held in honour of Demeter. Only married women of cities were allowed to attend and they left town and held secret rites away in the countryside. These activities were usually very mysterious and are mocked by Aristophanes in his play Thesmophoriazousai, in which the women spend a lot of time drinking. (Okay, there's probably some truth in this!)
The Olympian gods (refer to Chapter 19) each had a sacred day every month as well. Often these holidays included ceremonies that were specific to a particular deme.
On lesser religious holidays, things were often simpler. Just one relatively small sacrifice to a specific god may be required.
Getting cultic: Swimming with pigs and other oddities
These days the idea of a religious cult has slightly sinister overtones. The word is currently used to describe unusual groups that shut themselves away from the world. In ancient Greece, however, the idea of a religious cult was very aspirational. Joining a cult was a sign of social status because membership was very closely guarded.
All the other festivals and ceremonies that I mention in this chapter were public experiences; everyone could join in, and participation occurred in the gathering areas of town and cities such as the agora (see Chapter 18). Cults were different. Although cults may involve a large number of people in a ceremony, the experience of the individual was intended to be quite personal. This was the nearest that ancient Greek religion got to the notion of a spiritual experience.
The Eleusinian Mysteries
By far the most famous cult was the Eleusinian Mysteries. Even now, historians don't know precisely what went on during the cult's festivals. At the time, the secrets of their ritual were closely guarded, with dire penalties for those who broke the rules. Scholars do know that the cult was based around the myth of Persephone and Demeter (see Chapter 13) and involved a process that recreated the journey into Hades. The final ceremony apparently revealed a glimpse of the afterlife to the initiates.
The ritual took place during late summer (probably during Boedromion) in the deme of Eleusis in Athens. The ritual was open to anybody Greekspeaking, although they had to pay hefty fees to take part. The purification and initiation rituals were very complicated. Every participant had to wash a young pig in the sea and then sacrifice it, and they also had to wear special clothes and fast from certain foods. The whole experience took several days and was regarded by the ancient Greeks as a life-changing one.
The following excerpt comes from one of the so-called 'Homeric Hymns', religious songs in the style of Homer (see Chapter 20). The song deals with Demeter, Persephone, and the mysteries.
To all Demeter revealed the conduct of her rites and mysteries . . . dread mysteries which one may not in any way transgress or learn of or utter... Happy is he of mortal men who has seen these things. ...
Because the spiritual experience of cults was considered to be so extraordinary, the various cults were incredibly closely organised with very strict rules. This inscription from the site of the Spring of the Nymphs at Delos gives a good idea of how respectful people had to be of cult places - in this case a spring.
Do not wash anything in the spring, or swim in the spring, or throw into the spring manure or anything else. Penalty: two sacred drachmas.
Major cults like the Eleusinian Mysteries were open to all but others might be restricted to people in a certain trade or guild (for example, a group of tradesmen like potters or ironmongers). Equally, the nature of the rites might prove prohibitive to some people because of the costs involved. It seems certain that more exclusive and bizarre cults took place amongst the mega-rich but unfortunately historians don’t really know anything about them.