Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/272

* GREEK RELIGION. 238 GREEK RELIGIOBT. pendent of morality, and it must be admitted that many of tlie stories of tlie gods present tliem in a most unfavorable liglit. It may also be fjranted that the morality of the Greeks was not derived from their religion; but wliatevcr the source of the ideas, they were early brought under the protection of the gods, who were deemed the special guardians of the unwritten laws by which human conduct was to be guided. The literature shows plainly that the eflfect of this was to lead the loftier minds to a higher conception of the gods themselves, and to a rejection of the earlier legends which attributed to them acts offensive to a more developed moral sense. At the same time the absence of anj- belief in a revelation intrusted to a chosen few' prevented the formation of any canonical system, and thus it is that, while the general attitude toward the gods remained much the same, there was a great diversity in many details. It is. therefore, very difficult to formu- late briefly the Greek religious belief, as state- ments that are true for one time or place or social condition may be quite misleading if applied to another. The following characteristics may, how- ever, be fairly said to belong to that religion during the greater part of the independent na- tional life. To the Greek, then, the gods were everywhere, all nature being full of divine life. They were innuniei-able, and naturally they differed much in rank. In later times we find a distinction between the gods iSeoi), and the daimones ( 5o(- iwves). inferior spirits, usually malevolent, though the name is also applied to a host of lesser powers occupj'ing a place between the greater gods and men. and including the heroes and spirits of the dead. These gods have full control over the world and the forces of nature, but the world is not their creation ; they are im- mortal, but they have a beginning. The various cosmogonies and legends of successive dynasties of gods are scarcely parts of the religious system, still less are they reminiscences of the supplant- ing of earlier religions by the cult of Zeus and his kindred. The gods were generally considered to have the form of men, though possibly of somewhat greater size. The huge dimensions as- signed to Ares in the Iliad are quite exceptional. Though regarded as possessing unlimited powers of transformation, they are quite removed from the monstrous or grotesque. The Greek love of moderation is as influential in religion as in art or literature. In geneTal, the gods were divided into those of the heaven, the earth, and the sea, though often the latter are omitted. The heaven- ly gods dwell in the sky, or on some lofty moun- tain, usually IMount Olympus in Thessaly. The earth or chthonie deities are conceived of as on or under the earth, and naturally often include the heroes and the dead. It should be noted that the line between these classes is very indefinite, and the same divinity is sometimes found in one and sometimes in the other. Space will permit only a brief outline of the grouping of the gods in the popular mythology. At the head was Zeus, 'father of gods and men,' and the supreme ruler of the universe, though bound in some mysterious way by the decrees of fate. His wife was Hera, queen of heaven, and the special guardian of the sanetitv of marriage. Associated with them as the chief divinities of heaven were Heph.nestus, god of fire and the patron of the workers in metal ; Athena the virgin daugliter of Zeus ; -Vpollo and his sister Artemis; Ares, the god of war; Aphrodite, goddess of love; Hermes, the divine messenger; and Hestia, guardian of the hearth. Around these greater gods are grouped a host of lesser deities, some of whom enjoyed high honor in certain localities. Such are Helios, the sun, Selene, the moon, and other heavenly bodies; the attendants on the Olympians, as the Horse or seasons, the Charites or Graces, the JIuses, Iris, Hebe, and Ganymede. The sea was ruled by Poseidon, tJic lirother of Zeus, and second in power to him alone. With him was often worshiped his wife Amphitrite, while about them were grouped the Nereids, Tritons, and other less important sea-gods. The chief chthonie di- vinities were Hades, the ruler of the lower world, and his wife. Persephone, the daughter of Demeter. Demeter herself was usually reckoned among the Olympians, but her sphere of activity was more closely connected with the earth, as the giver of grain and the knowledge of agriculture to men. On earth also belonged Dionysus, god of wine, with his bands of M.njnads, Satyrs, and Sileni, though he, too, is frequently found with hia father, Zetis, in heaven. Ga?a, the earth-mother, plays a larger part in legend than in cult, but Asclepius, the god of healing. Pan, the great god of the Arcadian herdsmen, and some others, seem to have been more frequently objects of worship than of narrative. Characteristic of the Greek religion is the specialized conception of each god, who is, on the whole, limited to a specific, though often wide, field of activity'. Henotheism, so prominent in the Vedas, by which the special ob- ject of worship seems for the time being to possess all the powers of all the deities, is scarcely found in Greece, and it may well be doubted whether there is any real approach to monotheism outside of some of the philosophical schools. The general conception of divinity does not lead to a conception of one Divine Being. If we turn from the literature to the evidence afforded by inscriptions, or such works as the guide-book of Patisanias, it is at once clear that there, were an immense number of local cults, sometimes attached to the names of the great gods, but more often connected with the name of some local hero, who was doubtless often an old divinity fallen from his high estate. Certainly the country population was far removed from any thought of one god. It is a striking fact that at its first appearance in literature the (!ieek religious system had al- ready received its definitive form. Some new divinities were introduced later, but the Homeric poems show us the hierarchy of the gods in sub- stantially (he organization which it retained till it was extinguished by the new faith. The origin of this religion was a mystery to the Greeks themselves, though they speculated not a little on the subject, and in a somewhat crude form anticipated many later theories. Herodotus thought that many of the names of the gods had been learned from the Egyptians; Prodictis, the sophist, seems to have taught that the gods were mere personifications of the objects that brought blessings to men, such as the sun, air, light, agriculture, etc. ; while Euhemerus gave elab- orate expression to ideas long prevalent when he interpreted the myths as distorted history and the gods as idealized men of the past. It is not possible in this article to give a detailed sur'ey of the many theories of Greek religion which have