Greek religion

aetiology

reason for something deriving from a mythical or historical explanation

anthropomorphism

has human characteristics and emotions

votive offering

dedication to a god as part of the mortal-god reciprocal relationship

epithet

adjective that accompanies someone’s name

agora

market place in Greek cities

phratry

a ‘brotherhood’ and a subdivision of the four Athenian tribes

oracle

a person or agency that provides guidance through prophetic powers from the gods

heroisation

process by which a living person becomes a hero

Panhellenic

all of Greece

deme

a village which was the smallest political constituency of the Athenian democratic system

initiation

individual admission into a cult bound to specific rules and regulations

epopteia

revelation of the secret at the end of the Eleusinian Mysteries

Elysian Fields

place in the afterlife which was reserved for gods, heroes and mortals related to them

mystagogue

initiated person who helps other to be initiated

myst

a person wishing to be initiated

dadouchos

torch bearer for Eleusinian Mysteries

archon basileus

King Archon responsible for all sacred things in Athens

hierophant

leading priest at the Eleusinian Mysteries, drawn from the Eumolpidae family

kykeon

barley and pennyroyal brew which has psychotropic effects

incubation

sleeping in the shrines of Asclepius

held on trial for revealing secrets of Eleusinian Mysteries

Andocides

Telesterion

at sanctuary to Demeter in Eleusis, 50×50 m, could hold 3000 people, columns inside, dark

Sanctuary to Demeter in Eleusis distance from Athens

15 miles NW

at Eleusis

Where Ninnion tablet was found

400-300 BCE

When Ninnion tablet was made

Inclusive, inside, epiphany

What Ninnion tablet tells us about Eleusinian Mysteries

everywhere, inclusive, personal (individual thanks given), expensive (must be believed to have worked)

What the votive leg relief from the shrine of Asclepius at Melos tells us about healing cults

dedicated the votive leg relief from the shrine of Asclepius at Melos

Tyche

1st century AD

when the votive leg relief from the shrine of Asclepius at Melos was dedicated

sparagmos

tearing apart an animal

omophagia (omophagos?)

eating an animal raw

chresmologos

oracle-seller (lower than manteis)

mantis

seer

mantike techne

art of divination

hiera

sacrifice a while before battle

sphegia

sacrifice right before battle

333/332 BC

Date of the Panathenaic Amphora

Emerson on treasuries

2 fold purpose - contain offerings, are offerings themselves

amphidromia

ritual around the fire for new household members

Jon Mikalson on deme-worship

most significant worship was deme-level

4th century BC

Date for Ninnion Tablet

Zeus Ktesios

Protector of household wealth - filled jar

Zeus Herkeios

Protector of the enclosure of the house - fence statue with snake

Apollo Agyeios

Protector of the house from the outside - statuette/small pillar/Heracles

Epops

hero on the deme calendar of Erkia - specific to the region

Eumolpidae

Family where priests for Eleusis came from

abyton

Where was incubation?

Delphi (Apollo), Olympia (Zeus), Nemea (Zeus), Isthmus (Poseidon)

4 Panhellenic sanctuaries

Euandrion

‘Manly’ competition

Eteoboutadae

Family where priestesses of Athena Polias came from

Adyton

Where the Pythia was

Louise Bruit Zaidman arguement about religion

‘religion impregnated each and every sacred activity’ - importance of festivals for civic importance

promanteia

the right to consult the oracle first

altis

sacred space

temenos

border wall around a sanctuary

William Allen on Olympian gods

gods are not portrayed as amoral, but instead offer divine justice

Jasper Griffin on Olympian gods

‘Really impressive gods deserve worship’

Reinhardt on Olympian gods

‘sublime frivolity’

Henrichs on Olympian gods

the implicit tangible physicality of human form allowed the Greeks to see and recognise the gods

James Redfield on Olympian gods

family dynamic is the ‘chief source of comedy’ in the Iliad

Dorothea Wender on Olympian gods

gods of Homer are civilised but not ethical, Hesiod does not whitewash Oedipal struggles between generations

John Gould on Olympian gods

Greek religion is ‘a way of representing and interpreting … the external world and man’s experience of himself’, ‘divinity … speaks to man but in a language he cannot understand’, ‘divinity may be a sense of disorder rather than order’, ‘Homer deeply influenced the whole history of Greek religious imagery’

Walter Burkhert on Personal experience of the Divine

‘raving becomes divine revelation, a centre of meaning in the midst of a world that is increasingly profane and rational’

Eidinow on on Religion and Society

oracles are very important for a person’s everyday life

Zaidman and Pantel on Religion and Society

deme worship offered a ‘broad spectrum of cultic activities’

Mikalson on Religion and Society

deme level participation was consistent and formed around polis worship, it would have created a sense of community

Jenkins on Religion and Society

approaches to the Parthenon frieze - Panathenaia, Mythological, Symbolic, Historical

Pritchard on Religion and Society

women were better than men ‘to worship the goddesses who controlled the fertility of crops and households’

Emerson on Places of Worship

‘inter-city conflict does not seem to have embarrassed the Greeks’…‘neutral territory under the influence of the god’

Cartledge on Places of Worship

‘politics and sport were inseparably intertwined in Ancient Greece’

Price on Places of Worship

modern audiences should not write off what they can not understand, recipient of oracle had to do part of the work (deciphering)

Eidinow on Places of Worship

part of the experience was getting to the far away oracles

Cleomedes of Astypalea

killed someone while boxing at the Olympics, killed 60 children with a collapsing roof, a hero

Taraxippos

horse disturber hero with a grave at Olympia

Erechtheus and Cecrops

early kings of Athens

Asclepius

god and hero with graves and sanctuaries on the Acropolis

Pelops’ temple

Pelopeion at Olympia

Keleos in the HhDem

ruler of Eleusis

Kallidike, Demo, Kallithoe

daughters of Keleos, son of Eleusis

Doso

disguise of Demeter in Eleusis

Metaneira in the HhDem

wife of Keleos, queen of Eleusis

Demophoon in the HhDem

son of Metaneira, looked after by Demeter

Athena Promachos

Athena the Acropolis statue was dedicated

Propylaia

entrance onto the Athenian acropolis

Siphnian Treasury

treasury at Delphi with two marble caryatid columns

Athenian treasury

treasury at Delphi made from parian marble

Amphictyonic law

law that allowed people to travel to Delphi unharmed

Chios

dedicated the altar at Delphi

776 BC

date for Olympic Games

472-456 BC

date for Temple of Zeus at Olympia

447-432 BC

date for the Parthenon

421 BC

date for the Erechtheion

Heraion (temple of Hera)

oldest permanent temple

Libon

architect of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia

440-430 BC

date for Pythia kylix

C10th BC

when Delphi was an active site

C8th BC

when Delphi had an oracle

C6th BC

when Delphi had games

C1st AD

date for Tyche’s leg

inheritance, by lot, purchase it

ways to obtain priesthood