Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/184

 144 Outlines of European History Early reii- Homer was the religious teacher of the Greeks, for the Greeks ^ Homeric songs brought vividly before them the world of the gods. In this Homeric world the gods have become human, Influence of and act like men. Of course they possess more power than songs ^"^^'^'^ mortals, and at the same time they enjoy the gift of immortality which raises them high above the world of men. Each god has The gods and a kingdom and a function of his own. Zeus rules the sky ; omains £)JQj^ygyg bnngs forth the vine, and the goddess Demeter the wheat, from the earth which both control ; Poseidon rules the sea ; Athena with shining weapons glories in war ; Apollo with his golden arrows is the deadly archer of the gods, and Hermes of the winged feet is their messenger ; Hera is protectress Their human of marriage, and Aphrodite the goddess of love. They show defects decidedly human defects of character ; they practice all sorts of deceit and display many other human frailties. The hereafter Nor do the gods demand anything better in the character of men, for at death all men go to a gloomy world of spirits be- neath the earth (Hades), where no distinction is made between good and bad. As a special favor of the gods, the heroes are at last endowed with immortality and permitted to enjoy a life of endless bliss in the beautiful Elysian Fields or the Islands of the Blest somewhere in the Far West, toward the unexplored Altars and occan. The altars of the gods were at first always set up under emp es ^j^^ Open sky ^ without any sheltering roofs, as we should expect among tribes of wandering shepherds. But the settled life had brought permanent shrines in the royal castle, and, when the castle was vacated by the king (p. 136), these shrines became temples, dwelling houses of the gods, made like the dwellings of men. The citadel mount was thus transformed into the sacred inclosure of the gods, like the Acropolis of Athens (Fig. 91). 1 See the altar in the forecourt of the prehistoric castle of TirTis (Fig. 67). The place of the altar is marked by a little rectangle in the front part of the forecourt H, behind the entrance G.