Beliefs and Cults of the Ancient Greeks. Religion in Greece

There were many gods in the pantheon, among which 12 main ones stood out. Each of them performed its own functions. For example, Zeus (pictured below) was the main god, he was a thunderer, ruler of the sky, personified power and strength in such a state as Ancient Greece.

The religion of the Hellenes prescribed the worship of Hera, his wife. This is the patroness of the family, the goddess of marriage. Poseidon was the brother of Zeus. This is an ancient sea deity, the patron of the sea and horses. Athena personifies just war and wisdom. Religion Dr. Greece, in addition, is her patroness of urban fortifications and cities in general. Another name for this goddess is Pallas, which means "shaker of the spear." Athena, according to classical mythology, is a warrior goddess. She was usually depicted in full armor.

Cult of Heroes

The ancient Greek gods lived on Mount Olympus, a snow-covered mountain. In addition to worshiping them, there was also a cult of heroes. They were presented as demigods who were born from the unions of mortals and gods. Heroes of many myths and poems Ancient Greece are Orpheus (pictured above), Jason, Theseus, Hermes, etc.

Anthropomorphism

Revealing the features of the religion of Ancient Greece, it should be noted that anthropomorphism is one of the main among them. The deity was understood as the Absolute. The ancient Greeks believed that the Cosmos is the absolute deity. Anthropomorphism was expressed in endowing higher beings with human qualities. The gods, as the ancient Greeks believed, are ideas embodied in the Cosmos. It is nothing but the laws of nature that govern it. Their gods reflect all the flaws and virtues human life and nature. The higher beings have a human form. Not only in appearance they look like people, but also in their behavior. The gods have husbands and wives, they enter into relationships with each other, similar to human ones. They can take revenge, be jealous, fall in love, have children. Thus, the gods have all the advantages and disadvantages that are characteristic of mortals. This feature determined the nature of the civilization of Ancient Greece. Religion contributed to the fact that humanism became its main feature.

sacrifices

All the gods were offered sacrifices. The Greeks believed that, like humans, higher beings need food. In addition, they believed that food was also necessary for the shadows of the dead. Therefore, the ancient Greeks tried to feed them. For example, the heroine of the tragedy Aeschylus Electra waters the earth with wine so that her father can receive it. Sacrifices to the gods were gifts that were offered in order to fulfill the requests of the worshiper. Popular gifts were fruits, vegetables, various breads and cakes dedicated to individual gods. There were also blood sacrifices. They boiled down mainly to the killing of animals. However, very rarely people were also sacrificed. This is what religion was in Greece at an early stage of its development.

temples

Temples in ancient Greece were usually built on hills. They were separated by a fence from other buildings. Inside was an image of the god in whose honor the temple was built. There was also an altar for making bloodless sacrifices. Separate rooms existed for sacred relics and donations. Blood sacrifices were performed on a special platform located in front of the temple building, but inside the fence.

Priests

Each Greek temple had its own priest. Even in ancient times, some tribes did not play a significant role in society. Every free person could perform the duties of priests. This position remained unchanged even after the emergence of separate states. The oracle was in the main temples. Its functions included predicting the future, as well as reporting what was said by the Olympian gods.

For the Greeks, religion was a matter of state. The priests were in fact civil servants who had to obey the laws, like other citizens. If necessary, priestly duties could be performed by heads of clans or kings. At the same time, they did not teach religion, did not create theological works, that is, religious thought did not develop in any way. The duties of the priests were limited to the performance of certain rites in the temple to which they belonged.

Rise of Christianity

The emergence of Christianity chronologically refers to the middle of the 2nd century. n. e. Nowadays there is an opinion that it appeared as the religion of all the "offended" and "humiliated". However, it is not. In fact, on the ashes of the pantheon of Greco-Roman gods, a more mature idea of ​​faith in one higher being, as well as the idea of ​​a god-man who accepted death for the sake of saving people, appeared. Cultural and in Greco-Roman society was very tense. It was necessary to obtain protection and support from temptations and external instability. Other Ancient Greece failed to provide them. And the Hellenes turned to Christianity. We will now talk about the history of its formation in this country.

early christian church

The early Christian church, in addition to internal contradictions, was sometimes subjected to external persecution. Christianity in the early period of its existence was not officially recognized. Therefore, his adherents had to gather in secret. The first Christians of Greece tried not to irritate the authorities, therefore they did not actively spread their faith in the "masses" and did not seek to approve the new teaching. This religion for 1000 years has gone from underground disparate societies to a teaching of world significance that has influenced the development of many civilizations.

A Brief History of Christianity in Ancient Greece

Today, the main religion in Greece is Orthodox Christianity. Almost 98% of believers adhere to it. The inhabitants of Greece adopted Christianity very early. After Constantine, the Roman emperor, adopted this religion, in 330 AD. e. he moved his capital to Constantinople. The new center became a kind of religious capital of the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire. After some time, tense relations arose between the patriarchs of Rome and Constantinople. As a result, in 1054 there was a split in religion. It was divided into Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The Orthodox Church supported and represented Christian Eastern Europe after its conquest by the Ottomans. After the revolution that took place in 1833, she became one of the first Orthodox in the region to recognize and support the spiritual leadership of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Until now, the inhabitants of Greece are faithful to their chosen religion.

Modern Orthodox Church

Interestingly, the church in Greece today is not separated from the state, as in many other countries. It is autocephalous. The archbishop is its head. His residence is in Athens. Catholicism is practiced by a few inhabitants of individual islands of the Aegean Sea, which once belonged to the Venetian Republic. On the island of Rhodes and in Thrace live, in addition to the Greeks, and Muslim Turks.

Religion is an integral part of many aspects of Greek society. The Orthodox Church influences, for example, the education system. In Greece, children attend religious courses, which are compulsory. In addition, every morning they pray together before class. The church also influences decision-making on certain political issues.

Pagan organizations

A court in Greece not so long ago allowed the activities of an association uniting worshipers of the ancient gods. Pagan organizations thus became legal in this country. Today the religion of ancient Greece is being revived. About 100 thousand Greeks adhere to paganism. They worship Hera, Zeus, Aphrodite, Poseidon, Hermes, Athena and other gods.

In the Orthodox world, the Greek, or, as it is commonly called, the Greek Church is the third in terms of the number of its followers and one of the most influential. At the same time, the Hellenic Republic became the only country to constitutionally enshrine Orthodoxy as the state religion. In the life of her society, the church plays a crucial role, and faith has historically become an integral part of culture.

Faith established by law

In religious and cultural terms, modern Greece is rightfully considered the heir of Byzantium. Of its 11 million inhabitants, 9.4 million belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, headed by the Archbishop of Athens. In addition, a significant number of citizens (according to some sources, about 800 thousand people) are followers of the so-called old calendar Orthodox churches that use the Julian calendar in their worship.

The main religion of Greece ─ Orthodoxy ─ relies not only on centuries-old traditions, but also on whole line legislative acts adopted in recent decades. For example, marriage is not recognized as legal without a wedding ceremony. Most church holidays have the status of nationwide, and professional holidays are usually celebrated on the days of memory of the saints, who are the heavenly patrons of this type of occupation. In view of the authority that the Orthodox Church has in Greece, baptism is considered obligatory, and name days are a more compelling occasion for celebration than birthdays. Belonging to a particular religion is indicated in a special column of the passport.

The beginning of the Christianization of Hellas

From the New Testament it is known that the light of the Christian faith in the 1st century was brought to the Greek land by the supreme apostle Paul. Before his appearance in these parts, the state religion of Greece was paganism, and the inhabitants of the country, which had a rich cultural heritage, defiled themselves with idolatry. The holy evangelist spent many years among them, preaching the doctrine of Christ.

The Greeks very vividly perceived the new teaching for them, and in many areas where the Apostle Paul preached, after his departure, the Christian communities he created remained. It was they who subsequently gave impetus to the spread of Christ's teaching throughout the European pagan world.

Followers of the Chief Apostle

The holy evangelist John the Theologian, who worked there together with his student Procopius, also later canonized, also contributed to the Christianization of Hellas. Orthodox Church. The main places of their preaching activity were the city of Ephesus and the island of Patmos in the southeast of the Aegean Sea, where the famous "Revelation of John the Theologian", also known as the "Apocalypse", was written. In addition, Saints Barnabas and Mark were worthy successors of the work begun by the Apostle Paul.

However, despite all the apostolic labors, Greece remained pagan for another three centuries, and Christians were subjected to severe persecution, only occasionally replaced by periods of relative calm. Orthodoxy triumphed in it only in the 4th century, after the rise of the Byzantine Empire.

The Faith That Saved the Nation

Since that time, the Orthodox religion of Greece has received a nationwide status, which resulted in the emergence of numerous temples and the foundation of a whole network of monastic cloisters. The same historical period was marked by a stormy surge in theological thought and the establishment of the organizational structure of the church.

It is generally recognized that it was thanks to religion that Greece managed to preserve its national identity during the years of Turkish rule in the 15th-19th centuries. Despite all the attempts of forced Islamization, the inhabitants of Hellas preserved their faith, which helped them carry through the years of the Ottoman yoke the cultural heritage of past centuries, their language and traditions. Moreover, many researchers are inclined to believe that at that time, only thanks to the church, the Greeks did not disappear from the face of the earth as a nation.

The earthly destiny of the Most Holy Theotokos

Greece has become the birthplace of many saints revered throughout the Christian world. It suffices to name only famous names like the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica, Saints Gregory Palamas and Nectarios of Aegina, Saint Paraskeva the Martyr and a number of other saints of God who left a noticeable mark on the history of Orthodoxy. Many of them chose the holy Mount Athos as the place of their service to God, recognized as the earthly lot of the Most Holy Theotokos.

It is to her that Holy Tradition ascribes the commandment forbidding women to visit the monasteries located there. It is curious that the preservation of this rule, observed for 2 thousand years, was one of the conditions put forward by the Hellenic Republic when joining the European Union.

Features of the religion of the Greeks

Despite the fact that the Russian and Greek churches have one common faith, there are some differences between them of a purely ritual nature. For example, divine services in Greek churches are shorter than in Russian ones, and they are distinguished by deliberate simplicity. Not all priests can confess to parishioners, but only hieromonks, and the confession itself is not performed during the liturgy. Only men sing in the church choir. The temples are open around the clock, and women are allowed to enter them without hats. There are also differences in the vestments of the priests.

Today, the religion of Greece is not limited to Orthodoxy. According to statistics, there are 58,000 Catholics in the country today. In addition, 40 thousand people profess Protestantism in Greece. There are also about 5,000 Jews in the country, mostly living in Thessaloniki. There are also representatives of the ethnic Greek religion (polytheism) ─ about 2 thousand people.

Pentecostals - who are they, why are they dangerous and what are their features?

At present, in Greece, as well as throughout the world, various mystical teachings are quite popular. The most common among them is Pentecostalism. This movement cannot be called a religion, since according to a number of characteristic features it is a sect. Breaking away at the beginning of the 20th century from Protestant Church America, Pentecostals have since professed their own teaching, which on a number of issues is at odds with Christian dogma, and have practiced rites that are completely alien to church canons.

Members of the sect place special emphasis on the so-called Baptism with the Holy Spirit ─ a rite based on the Christian dogma about the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, but having a form that is deeply alien to church tradition. It consists in the fact that during prayer meetings all those present are brought into a state of trance, in which they lose their sense of reality and begin to make incoherent sounds (glossolalia), close in their phonetic structure to human speech, but devoid of any meaning.

"Unknown languages"

With this rite, the Pentecostals reproduce the episode given in the first chapter of the book "Acts of the Holy Apostles", the author of which is considered to be the Evangelist Luke. It describes how, on the fiftieth day after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of fiery tongues on His disciples who gathered in the Zion Upper Room in Jerusalem, after which they gained the gift, preaching the Word of God, to speak in languages ​​unknown to them before.

Members of the sect believe that in the process of the rite they perform, they receive a gift similar to that which was sent down to the apostles when the Holy Spirit descended on them. The proof, in their opinion, is the glossolalia mentioned above, which the sectarians pass off as involuntary speech in languages ​​unknown to anyone.

Rites leading to insanity

We note right away that experts have repeatedly studied this phenomenon and have come to the conclusion that not only are glossolalia not speech in any of the modern languages, but they do not even have any resemblance to any of the dead. In turn, doctors find in them many features that correspond to the symptoms of a number of mental illnesses, which Pentecostals are trying with all their might to refute.

Who they are, why they are dangerous and why their sect is considered destructive ─ questions that have been repeatedly covered in the media. Sharp criticism of the rituals performed during prayer meetings sounded both from the side of doctors, emphasizing their negative impact on the human psyche, and from representatives of the official Church, attributing glossolalia to the influence of satanic forces.

Piety and non-resistance to evil

In everyday life, Pentecostals adhere to the "doctrine of godliness", preaching the rejection of drugs, alcohol, smoking and gambling. They are zealous champions of family principles and a conscientious attitude to work.

Traditions adopted among Pentecostals require them to follow the doctrine of "not resisting evil with violence." In this regard, many of them refuse to serve in the army and generally refuse to take up arms. This attitude resonates with residents. different countries world, and thanks to this, the number of followers of the Pentecostal sect is increasing every year.

Tolerance, which has become a national trait

In the previous sections of the article, the period of Ottoman domination in Greece was mentioned, as a result of which, starting from the 15th century, it became the border separating the Christian and Muslim worlds. Despite the fact that the events of those distant times have become the property of history, their echoes are heard to this day. Today, about 250 thousand Muslims live in the country (mainly in Western Thrace), and although they make up an insignificant percentage of the total number of inhabitants, the Islamic factor in Greece continues to play a very significant role.

In their daily lives, the Greeks, like all other people, are busy solving ordinary everyday problems. But with the system of religious holidays, fasts and regular services, the Church helps them to rise above the everyday bustle and does not allow them to forget about the eternity that awaits each of the people beyond the threshold of death.

Brought up in the Orthodox faith, they also show sympathy for representatives of other religions, so the population of Greece has always been distinguished by religious tolerance. Among them, from time immemorial, it was customary to respect someone else's choice and not limit civil rights Gentiles.

Pre-Homeric religion is based on the cult of the Earth, from which everything flows and to which everything returns. The sky is also a product of the Earth. The religious worldview of the ancient Greek of this period, to some extent, is reproduced in Hesiod's Theogony (VI century BC). In the beginning, there was only eternal, boundless, dark Chaos. In it was the source of the life of the world. Everything arose from the boundless Chaos - the whole world and the immortal gods From the chaos came the goddess of the Earth - Gaia She spread wide, mighty, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it. Far under the Earth, how far from us is the vast bright sky, in the immeasurable depths, the gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss full of eternal darkness From Chaos, the source of life, a mighty force was born, all revitalizing love - Eros The world began to be created Boundless Chaos gave birth to eternal darkness - Erebus and dark night - Nyuktu. And from Night and Darkness came eternal light - Ether and joyful bright Day - Hemera. The light spread over the world and began to replace each other night and day The mighty, noble earth gave birth to the boundless blue sky - Uranus and the Sky spread over the earth High Mountains born of the Earth proudly rose to it and the ever-noisy Sea spread widely The Mother Earth gave birth to Sky, Mountains and The sea and they have no father.

Hesiod's "Theogony" was written in the 6th century BC, when the Greeks already lived in Hellas and largely assimilated the more developed Crete-Mycenaean culture widespread there. On the basis of this culture, the ancient Greek pantheon of gods is created, headed by the god Zeus. The ancient Greek gods are humanoid creatures living on the ridge of Mount Olympus Their relationship with each other is a kind of reflection of the relationship of the heads of tribal associations - the tribal aristocracy of the early class ancient Greek society. Zeus acted as the personification of the Basileus king. Zeus rules the world, relying on the aristocracy of the gods: Poseidon, Hades, etc. Those, in turn, rule the spheres of the universe subject to them, relying on their aristocracy in the form of gods and spirits. Poseidon rules the Ocean, that is, the entire body of water. Hades is in charge of the underworld.

The ancient Greeks did not separate their gods from themselves and did not sharply oppose them to people. The gods often acted like humans. They quarreled, fought with each other, competed, often fell in love with people, entered into marriage with them and offspring of the type of the hero Achilles or Hercules were born from them. Their difference from people is that they were immortal, powerful, which means that they were able to do what a mortal person could not do - to work miracles. And since people are proportionate to the gods, they were even able to fight with them. And sometimes this fight ended in the victory of people, although, as a rule, they were helped by other Gods.

The worldview of the Greeks of this period found its figurative reflection in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, as well as in the works of the ancient Greek sages - philosophers. As noted earlier, the worldview of the Greek of the pre-Cretan period was characterized by a predominant sense of disorder, disproportion, disharmony, and chaos. The attitude of the Greek of the classical period is associated with the ideas of order, harmony, space. The term "Cosmos" means an ordered harmonized world. Zeus directly controls this world. In his hands are the fate of gods and people. And people should strive not to anger Zeus and other gods, take measures to appease them. Therefore, in the ancient Greek religion, the main form of cult actions are sacrifices. To this end, temples and altars dedicated to various gods were built in the cities. Along with the common Hellenic gods, their local gods were very popular with the people. In addition, the ancient Greek religion recognized a certain specialization of the gods and, in accordance with certain needs of people, specialized cult rites were held in the temples of these gods.

In the ancient Greek cult, the prediction of fate was widely used - divination. It was carried out in famous temple Apollo at Delphi. Whoever wanted to know something important about the past or about the future applied to this temple with a request, and the servant of this temple - Pythia - informed him in an allegorical form of the will of the gods. A significant place in the ancient Greek cult was also occupied by divination by the entrails of a sacrificial animal - the haruspicy. This divination was conducted by a temple servant - a priest. And how behavior depended on his predictions common man, and the military commander, the ruler. Before committing some major deed: going on a campaign, starting a battle, they always turned to soothsayers and performed haruspices.

The conduct of these cult actions was due to one of the most important characteristics of the religious worldview of the ancient Greeks - faith in the omnipotence of Rock. Rock rules over gods and people. The fate of Zeus himself is in the hands of Rok. There is no such force, such power, which could change at least something in what is destined for the gods and people. Some Moiras know the decrees of Doom. “Moiras rule the world” is one of the fundamental ideas of the ancient Greek worldview. Moira Klotho spins the life thread of each person, determines the duration of his life. The thread will break and life will end. Moira Laches takes out, without looking, the lot that falls to a person in life. Moira Anthropos puts on the scroll everything that her sister assigned to a person, and what is written on the scroll is inevitable.

The idea of ​​Fate, in the form as it is presented by us above, is characteristic of the Greek worldview of the early classical period, and its material basis in the mind of man was the dominance of natural necessity. In the late classical period, this idea was modified. At this point, ideas about the free will of man begin to take hold. From now on, Rock acts through the free will of man. Man himself is responsible for his actions.

The ancient Greek religious and cult system was not monolithic, since Ancient Greece never knew a state religion. Various cults coexisted in this system. Historians of culture note the presence in the ancient Greek religious and cult system of two opposite cults, such as the cult of Apollo and the cult of Dionysus. Apollo - the god of sunlight, wisdom, patron of the arts - symbolized reason, law, social harmony. His followers professed calmness and poise. Dionysus - the god of viticulture and winemaking - symbolized the elemental, destructive, violent, orgaistic beginning. His followers staged noisy orgies, during which drunken people committed all sorts of atrocities. At this point, they did not recognize any moral brakes.

The cults of Dionysus and Apollo are the traditional cults of the ancient Greeks. But already in the VI century. BC e. appear in Greece religious movements in which mystical moods predominate. One of these currents is Orphism, whose followers proceeded from the teachings of the mythical character - the singer Orpheus.

In the cult of the Orphics, the image of the dying and resurrecting god played a significant role. Another variety of ancient Greek mysticism was Pythagoreanism. The Pythagoreans are followers of the Greek thinker, the philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras. Pythagoras considered himself a descendant of Hercules, a demigod. And his disciples firmly believed in this. The Pythagoreans developed a religious and cult system in which a significant place was occupied by the procedure of religious meditation. They also, like Hindus and other representatives of ancient Eastern religions, believed in the transmigration of souls.

These religious currents had a noticeable influence on the formation of such a form of religious and cult activities as the famous Eleusinian mysteries. The Eleusinian mysteries are directly connected with the cult of the goddess of fertility and agriculture, Demeter. This cult reproduced the annual cycle of death and resurrection of nature. And the peasants in their worries and labors, and women, thirsting for offspring, turned to Demeter for help and made numerous sacrifices to her. The Eleusinian mysteries were held in the spring, when all nature was awakening. In addition to sacrifices, they were accompanied by dances and performances.

The religion of Ancient Rome went through the same stages of evolution as other religions of the Ancient East and Ancient Greece. The legend of the founders of Rome, the brothers Romulus and Remus, who were fed by a she-wolf, testifies to the remnants of totemic beliefs. The Roman conquest of ancient Greece, whose culture was much more high level development, had an impact on all spheres of life of Roman society, including religion. The Romans borrowed from the ancient Greeks, in fact, the entire pantheon of gods, as well as rituals associated with them. The Greek gods in Rome received new names and a new registration. Zeus - Jupiter, his wife Hera - Juno, Demeter - Ceres, moira - Parks, etc. The dominant form of religion of the Roman state in the classical period was the cult of the polis gods, in which the central role was assigned to the cult of the patron of Rome - Jupiter . To perform various rituals in the center of the city on the Capitoline Hill, the emperor Tarquinius the Proud built a majestic temple to Jupiter.

The myths and legends of early Greece were one of the most delightful phenomena in the culture and life of the peoples of the Mediterranean. But these myths and this religion with the gods of ancient Greece were not so homogeneous and underwent a most complex evolution. Scientists distinguish three periods in mythology:

The first period in the development of ancient cults with the ancient Greek gods is chthonic, otherwise it is called pre-Olympic, classical Olympian, late heroic. The main trends that characterize the chthonic period appeared in ancient Greek society much earlier than the Dorian conquest of the 12th century. BC e. and even before the appearance of the very first Achaean states. No sources have been preserved where these views were set out in full and in order. Because of this, there was a need to use individual archaic images in the religion of the gods of ancient Greece or mythological episodes that were randomly reflected in the texts, late period development of Greece.

The term "chthonic" itself came from the ancient Greek word "chthon" - earth. In the perception of the Greeks, the earth was a living and omnipotent being that creates and nourishes everything. The essence of the earth was manifested in everything that could surround a person and in himself, this explains the worship with which the ancient Greeks surrounded the symbols of deities: unusual stones, trees and even ordinary boards.

But the usual ancient fetishism was mixed with animism among the ancient Greeks, this led to the fact that in ancient Greece a complex and unusual system of beliefs appeared with the gods. Also, in addition to the gods, the ancient Greeks also had demons. These are unknown and terrible forces that did not have their own appearance, but possessed great power, such as:

Harpies, who, according to legend, were the daughters of the sea deity Thaumant and the oceanid Electra, the number of which ranges from two to five. Usually they are depicted as disgusting half-birds, half-women. Even in their names there is a storm: Aella - "wind", Aellope - "whirlwind", Podarga - "fast-footed", Okipeta - "fast", Kelaino - "gloomy". The myths speak of harpies as vicious kidnappers of children and human souls.

From the harpy Podarga and the god of the western wind Zephyr, the divine fleet-footed horses of Achilles were born. According to legend, the harpies once lived in the caves of Crete, and later in the realm of the dead;

• - Gorgons, daughters of the sea deities Forky and Keto, granddaughters of the goddess-earth Gaia and the sea of ​​Pontus. Their three sisters are Stheno, Euryale and Medusa; the latter, unlike the older ones, is a mortal being. The sisters lived in the far west, along the banks of the world ocean river, near the garden of the Hesperides. Their appearance inspired horror: winged creatures covered with scales, with snakes instead of hair, fanged mouths, with a gaze that turns all living things to stone. Perseus, the liberator of the beautiful Andromeda, beheaded the sleeping Medusa, looking at her reflection in a shiny copper shield given to him by Athena. From the blood of Medusa, the winged horse Pegasus appeared, the fruit of her connection with the lord of the sea Poseidon, who knocked out a source that gives inspiration to poets with a hoof strike on Mount Helikon;
• - Gargoyles, the embodiment of a generalized idea of ​​an indefinite formless divine power, evil or benevolent, which determines the fate of a person. Performing suddenly, without any reason, a certain action, it disappears without a trace. Gargoyles are also called lower demonic winged deities, mediators between God and people. In Christian beliefs, gargoyles are associated exclusively with evil forces.

Gargoyles are known as the monsters that adorn medieval temples. They symbolized the forces of the demonic and dragon-inhabited underworld. It was believed that they were tamed by higher spirituality, the center of which is the temple. This is evidenced by their location in the hierarchy of ornamentalism: they are always subordinate to angelic, heavenly images and do not occupy a central position. The gargoyle is an image of the forces of chaos located on the periphery of the world, the embodiment of the demonic principle, subordinate to the highest divine will. They are an integral part of the idea of ​​an ordered universe as having overcome the stage of chaos; placed in the service of angels or other divine characters. In the mythologies of other nations, gargoyles are called supernatural characters inferior to the gods, evil spirits;

Lamia, who, according to legend, was the beloved of Zeus and gave birth to children from him. Hera, out of jealousy, killed them and deprived the beloved of the supreme god Zeus of sleep.

Lamia, hiding in a gloomy dungeon, turned into a monster that ate people. Not being able to sleep, this creature wandered at night and sucked the blood from the people he met; young men became its victims most often. To fall asleep, Lamia took out her eyes, becoming at this time the most vulnerable;

Minotaur, a monster with a human body and a bull's head, who lived in a labyrinth on the island of Crete. The Minotaur, whose real name was Asterius, was born from Pasiphae, the wife of Minos. His father was a bull that came out of the sea, and according to another version - Poseidon himself. Minos hid his son in an underground labyrinth built by Daedalus. The labyrinth was so complex that not a single person who entered it could find a way out.

Minos suspected the Athenian king Aegeus of killing one of his sons and, in order to take revenge, he asked Jupiter to send a plague to Athens. The Athenians turned to an oracle for advice, who told them that the epidemic would only end if they sent seven boys and seven girls to Crete every year to be devoured by the Minotaur.

Prince Theseus decided to save the Athenians from a terrible sacrifice and destroy the Minotaur. He replaced one of the young men who went to Crete. There, the hero was helped by Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, who was in love with him. She gave Theseus a thread that was supposed to help him get out of the labyrinth. Theseus entered the labyrinth and defeated the Minotaur;

Chimera, a monster that had three heads: one was a lion, the second - a goat, grew on its back, and the third - a snake - the tail of the creature ended.

The front part of the body of the Chimera was lion, and the back was goat. From the mouth of the monster, fire escaped, with which it destroyed the houses and crops of the inhabitants of Lycia. It was believed that the Chimera lived in the remote mountains of the Lycian province. Not a single person dared to come close to her dwelling, surrounded by the decaying carcasses of decapitated animals. The king of Lycia sent his troops several times to destroy the Chimera, but not a single warrior returned alive from the campaign.

The son of the king of Corinth, Bellerophon, riding the beautiful Pegasus, flew up to the monster's lair and saw on the ground a creature the size of a horse, which spewed out flames and roared menacingly so that the air shook around.

Having removed the bow from his shoulder, Bellerophon fired all the arrows at the Chimera and was able to destroy the formidable enemy. After that, he went down to the valley, cut off the heads of the Chimera and delivered one of them to the king of Lycia.

Demons appeared out of nowhere, intervened in people's lives, in the most terrible and catastrophic ways, and then disappeared. With demons, usually in the religion of ancient Greece, ideas about monsters were associated, which at this stage in the formation of Greek culture were also perceived as a divine power.

In these ideas about the ancient Greek gods and in a distinctive attitude towards the Earth, as to the Great Mother, echoes of the ideas of various stages of the formation of Greek culture are visible - and a very early time, when a person did not separate himself from nature and created images of humanoid animals, and a period when female dominance in society were reinforced by stories about the tremendous power of the Earth. But only one thing connected all the views - the idea that the ancient Greek gods are indifferent.

The second period in the development of religious cults with ancient Greek gods is the classical Olympian. The gods in ancient Greece were perceived as very powerful beings, but also dangerous, from whom you need to constantly pay off in order to get good deeds from the gods. This is how one of the gods of ancient Greece sticks - the god Pan, who, unlike some other ancient Greek gods, did not become a monster, but remained a god in ancient Greece, he was the patron of fields and forests. It was associated with wildlife, not human society, and despite its penchant for entertainment, can instill fear in people. With goat's legs and horns, he appeared when the sun was at its zenith and everything was dying from the heat, this time was considered as dangerous as the night. The god of ancient Greece - Pan, could be both fair and kind, but still, it’s better not to meet this god, he retained the bestial appearance that Mother Earth herself gave him;

The collapse of matriarchy and the beginning of the transition to patriarchy, the formation of the initial states of the Achaeans - all these factors became an impulse for a complete modification of all mythology, for a departure from the obsolete gods of ancient Greece and the emergence of new ones. As with other people, the gods, who were the soulless forces of nature, are replaced in the religion of ancient Greece by other gods, who in turn were the patrons of individual human groups. The groups were united according to various criteria: estate, class, professional, but they all had something that united them - all these people were not friendly with nature, they sought to take it into their power, to make something new out of it, force a person to obey. It's no coincidence, ancient myths The Olympic cycle starts with the expulsion of beings who in early times were obeyed as gods. The deity of ancient Greece - Apollo kills giants and a dragon, people - demigods, kill other creatures: Chimera, Medusa, Hydra. Just during this period, Zeus celebrates the victory over the gods of the ancient world, he becomes the king of the gods of space in the religion of ancient Greece. The image of Zeus turned out to be very complex and did not form in one day. Full image Zeus was formed only after the Dorian victory, people who came from the north elevated him to absolute gods. In a balanced world, Zeus had children from ordinary earthly women who completed the work of their famous father, destroying the monsters that remained.

The children of the gods in the religion and mythology of ancient Greece are heroes, symbolizing the unity of the world of ordinary people and the gods, the connection with them and the attention with which the gods watch over the people. The gods assist the heroes, and negligent citizens fall under their wrath. Demons in this period also take on a different face, now they become spirits, I live. From such an anthropomorphic idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe deity, the concepts of a cult statue of a god that could be worshiped, and of the temple where this statue stood and where the priests served day after day, developed god or goddess, listening to their instructions and doing their will.

The third period of the formation of the religion of the gods of ancient Greece is the late heroic. The development and formation of the state, society becomes more complex, and with it relations in society, gradually, as the Greeks get an idea of ​​the world around them, they get a sense of tragedy, they are sure that evil is happening in the world. In the period when the heroes received the greatest development, the opinion reappears that there is a force that obeys all living and non-living things, including the gods themselves of the mythology of ancient Greece. The great Zeus also falls before this force, at this time Zeus also has a hard time, he has to knock out information about his fate from the titan Prometheus, he has to watch how his son Hercules is subjected to all sorts of trials.

The gods in the religion of ancient Greece were not very merciful towards people. For violation of their will, the punishments were terrible. Tantalum, for example, was forever tormented by thirst and hunger, Ixion was chained to a fiery wheel that rotated.

In late Greek societies, religion in the world of ancient Greece gradually declined, expressed in simple performances of traditional rites, and mythology became the usual treasury of plots and images.

Religion of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

The ancient Greeks were an active, energetic people who were not afraid to explore the real world, although it was inhabited by creatures hostile to man, instilling fear in him.

In their search for protection from terrible elemental forces, the Greeks, like all ancient peoples, went through fetishism - a belief in the spirituality of dead nature (stones, wood, metal), which was then preserved in the worship of beautiful statues depicting their many gods. But the Greeks quite early switched to anthropomorphism, creating their gods in the image and likeness of people, while endowing them with indispensable and enduring qualities - beauty, the ability to take on any image and, most importantly, immortality. The ancient Greek gods were like people in everything: kind, generous and merciful, but at the same time vengeful and insidious. Human life inevitably ended in death, while the gods were immortal and knew no boundaries in fulfilling their desires, but all the same, fate was higher than the gods - Moira - a predestination that none of them could change. Thus, the Greeks, even in the fate of the immortal gods, saw their similarity with the fate of mortal people.

The gods and heroes of Greek myth-making were living and full-blooded beings who directly communicated with mere mortals who entered into love unions who helped their favorites and chosen ones. And the ancient Greeks saw in the gods creatures in whom everything characteristic of man manifested itself in a more grandiose and sublime form.

Of course, this helped the Greeks through the gods to better understand themselves, to comprehend their own intentions and actions, in a dignified manner evaluate your strengths. Thus, the hero of the Odyssey, pursued by the fury of the mighty god of the seas Poseidon, clings with his last strength to the saving rocks, showing courage and will, which he is able to oppose to the elements raging at the will of the gods in order to emerge victorious.

The ancient Greeks directly perceived all the vicissitudes of life, and therefore the heroes of their legends show the same immediacy in disappointments and joys. They are simple-minded, noble and at the same time cruel to enemies. This is a reflection real life and real human characters of ancient times. The life of gods and heroes is full of deeds, victories and suffering. Aphrodite is grieving, having lost her beloved beautiful Adonis; Demeter is tormented, from whom the gloomy Hades stole her beloved daughter Persephone. Endless and unbearable are the sufferings of Prometheus, chained to the top of a rock and tormented by an eagle, Zeus because he stole the divine fire from Olympus for people. Niobe is petrified by grief, in which all her children died, slain by the arrows of Apollo and Artemis.

A sense of responsibility to oneself for one's actions, a sense of duty towards relatives and to the homeland, characteristic of Greek myths, received further development in ancient Roman legends. But if the mythology of the Greeks is striking in its colorfulness, diversity, richness of fiction, then the Roman religion is poor in legends. The religious ideas of the Romans, which, in essence, were a mixture of various Italic tribes that had developed through conquest and allied treaties, contained at their core the same initial data as those of the Greeks - fear of an incomprehensible natural phenomenon, natural disasters and admiration for the productive forces land (Italian farmers revered the sky as a source of light and heat, and the earth as the giver of all blessings and a symbol of fertility). For the ancient Roman, there was another deity - the family and state hearth, the center of home and public life. The Romans did not even bother to make up any interesting stories about their gods - each of them had only a certain field of activity, but in essence, these all deities were faceless. The praying one made sacrifices to them, the gods had to give him the mercy that he counted on. For a mere mortal, there could be no question of communicating with a deity. Usually, the Italic gods showed their will by the flight of birds, lightning strikes, mysterious voices coming from the depths of a sacred grove, from the darkness of a temple or cave. And the praying Roman, unlike the Greek, who freely contemplated the statue of the deity, stood with part of his cloak covering his head. He did this not only in order to concentrate on prayer, but also in order not to inadvertently see the god he invoked. Begging God according to all the rules for mercy, asking him for indulgence and wishing that God would heed his prayers, the Roman would be horrified if he suddenly met this deity with his eyes.

ancient greek religion

Religion was an organic part of Greek culture and had a great influence on it. Just like other peoples of antiquity, the Greek religion determined the foundations of the worldview, morality, the form and direction of artistic creativity, its various manifestations in literature, architecture, sculpture, painting, even philosophy and science. The rich Greek mythology that developed back in the archaic period, numerous legends about the relationship of gods, heroes between themselves and people created a rich arsenal of images that became the starting point for the development of artistic types of strong people who opposed the blind forces of nature, against the powerful gods themselves, served as the basis to create remarkable Greek literature of the 5th-4th centuries. BC e.

In ancient times, mother earth enjoyed special reverence for the Greeks. This reflected both the influence of the matriarchy left in the past, and the importance of agriculture as the main branch of the economy of the people. The earth goddess Gaia was considered the mother of all living things. Later, the cult of the earth also included the veneration of Rhea, Demeter, Perse backgrounds and many others. smaller deities associated with tillage, sowing and harvesting. The gods seemed to the Greeks busy with this or that work: Hermes and Pan - watching the herds, Athena - growing an olive tree, etc. Therefore, in order for a person to successfully perform k.-l. business, it was considered necessary to appease this or that deity by sacrificing fruits, young animals, etc. to him. In ancient times, the Greeks did not have a hierarchy among the gods, which testified to the fragmentation of the Greek. tribes.

Temple of Athena at Paestum. Photo: Greenshed

In the religion the beliefs of the Greeks preserved the remnants of primitive religions - the remnants of fetishism (for example, the veneration of stones, especially the so-called Delphic omphalos), totemism (the eagle, owl, cow, etc. animals were constant attributes of the gods, and the gods themselves were often depicted as taking the form of animals) , of magic. Great importance in D.-g. R. had a cult of ancestors and the dead in general (see Ancestral cult), in connection with the Crimea, there was also a cult of heroes - half-humans, half-gods. In a later, "classical" era, the cult of the dead developed an idea of ​​the life of the souls of the righteous on the Champs Elysees (see Elysium).

With the establishment of the dominance of the tribal nobility in Greece, small local deities were pushed aside in the minds of the people by the "Olympic gods", the seat of which was considered to be the city of Olympus. These gods - Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, Hestia, Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Ares, Hermes and others - have already been considered as a kind of family that has both "elder" and its supreme head - "father people and gods "Zeus, embodied in religion. the form of the features of a patriarchal ruler. That. a hierarchy of gods arose, reflecting the strengthened hierarchy of the emerging class society. The Olympic gods acted in the minds of the ancient Greeks as patrons of the nobility and defenders of its power. This idea left a clear imprint on the Homeric poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey", where a broad picture of life, customs and religions is given. beliefs of that era. The palace of Zeus on Olympus depicted in the poems, sparkling with walls and floors of gold, the luxurious robes of the goddesses, as well as the constant strife and intrigue among the gods, were of their own kind. reflection of the life and ideals of the Greek. tribal aristocracy. The lower strata of the people, opposed to the aristocracy, often preferred to worship not the Olympic, but their old agricultural gods.

The Greeks represented gods and heroes in images beautiful people, this became the starting point for the development of a sculptural image of a heroized citizen, a full member of the polis collective. According to the Greeks, a beautiful divine being lives in a beautiful dwelling, and Greek architects directed their efforts to develop the temple building as the most perfect architectural structure and made it one of the initial foundations for the development of all Greek architecture.

To create a system of spiritual values ​​of the ancient Greeks, a peculiar understanding of the nature of the deity was of paramount importance. The Greeks perceived their gods, even the highest ones, as powerful, but not omnipotent, obeying the power of higher necessity, which prevails over the gods as well as over people.

ancient greek religion

The well-known limitation of the omnipotence of the deity, some proximity of the world of the gods to man through a kind of mediation of demigods - heroes, through the relationship of gods with people, in principle, exalted a person, developed his abilities and opened up great prospects for creating artistic images of heroized, strong people, and for philosophical reflection on the essence man, the power of his forces and mind.

An indispensable part of the religious cult in the V-IV centuries. BC e. began to worship the main deity of this policy in the form of solemn processions of citizens with a statue of a deity and holiday events after offering a sacrifice in his honor in front of the main temple.

Among the festive events, a feast was obligatory (only the entrails of animals were usually sacrificed, most of the carcass was used as a treat), competitions of young athletes, playing scenes from the life of gods or townspeople. Participation in the solemn procession, sacrifice, competitions and theatrical scenes of the bulk of the citizens gave the festival a national character, made it an important social event.

In the 5th century BC e. in most Greek policies (this was especially pronounced in Athens), the celebration in honor of the main deity - the patron of the policy began to be seen as a demonstration of the strength and wealth of the policy, a review of its achievements and successes, as a manifestation of the unity of the entire policy team. The religious beginnings of such festivities are somewhat obscured, and the socio-political and ideological aspects are manifested more clearly and fully. Increasing attention is paid to gymnastic competitions and theatrical performances, the preparation for them, which is carried out by the whole city, becomes a strong creative impulse. Such festivities as the Panathenaic in Athens in honor of the patron goddess of the city of Athens, Dionysia in honor of the god of vegetation, viticulture, wine and fun Dionysus, the Olympic festivities in honor of the supreme god of the sky, thunder and lightning Zeus, the Pythian in Delphi in honor of the god Apollo, the Isthmian in honor of the god of the seas and sea moisture Poseidon in Corinth, turn into major public events not only of local, but also of all-Greek significance.

The most famous of these were the Olympic festivities, or the Olympic Games, held every four years. The Olympic Games were originally a traditional part of the cult in honor of Zeus, in which, as in other similar religious ceremonies, athletic competitions and theatrical entertainment only complemented the cult activities. However, already in the VI century. BC e. religious ceremonies began to be perceived as a kind of introductory part to sports competitions, acquired the character of pan-Greek ones, and even theatrical performances were relegated to the background. In other festivities, for example, at the Pythian Games, it was not sports, but musical competitions of kyfareds and avlets (that is, performers playing citharas and flutes) that came to the fore. In Athens, during the celebration of Panathenaia and Dionysius in the 5th century. BC e. the role of theatrical performances gradually increases (tragedies and comedies were staged), from which the wonderful Greek theater grew, which played a huge role in public life, education and the entire culture of the ancient Greeks.

The formation of city-states (polises) in Greece and the further development of the slave-owning society changed the character of the Greek. religion. Cults of patron gods of crafts and trade arose and spread. So, Hephaestus became the god of blacksmiths, Hermes became the god of trade. There was a shift in ideas about the functions of the gods: the patrons of crafts in each city were usually declared the gods, who were also considered the guardians of the city itself: for example, in Athens - Athena, in Corinth - Poseidon, in Delphi - Apollo. In the VIII-VII centuries. Don. e. in honor of the gods, the first temples began to be erected. The heyday of temple construction in Athens dates back to the 5th-4th centuries. BC e. Worship as a whole was under the control of the state. Priest corporations in Greek state wah as a rule did not exist. Officials chosen by lot also performed the duties of priests.

In recognition of the common Greek the gods and the shrines associated with them partly found a manifestation of the consciousness of the unity of the Greek. people not united in one state. So, great fame throughout the Greek. world received a sanctuary in Olympia and the Delphic oracle. All Greeks could participate in games and competitions, which were held periodically at such sanctuaries. The Olympic Games (Olympiads) became the basis of other Greek. chronology.

Along with cults intended for the entire population, secret religions arose early in Greece. societies and cults, in which only initiates (mysts) were allowed to participate. The best known are the sacraments in honor of Demeter (Eleusinian mysteries) and in honor of Dionysus (Dionysia). Initiate into the mysteries of the Elevin mysteries, on certain conditions, was promised salvation and bliss after death. A member of the Dionysius, as they believed, was attached to the deity - by eating the raw meat of an animal torn to pieces. Mystery cults in the Late Antiquity period were, to a certain extent, an expression of dissatisfaction with the conditions of life and captured, therefore, part of the lower strata of other Greek. society.

Religion in Ancient Greece

The Greek religion was based on various traditions and traditions, often rooted in the deep past. Some deities (Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Hermes) were known in the Mycenaean era, others (Apollo, Ares, Dionysus) were borrowed from neighbors. In addition to the Olympian deities, revered by all Greeks, there were a huge number of gods and heroes who were worshiped only in a certain area. Peasant gods are also known, who were once idols of fertility or patrons of the boundaries of land. There were many different legends about the origin of various gods. At the turn of the VIII-VII centuries. BC e. the poet Hesiod collected these myths together in his poem Theogony. Around the same time, the main forms of worship and rituals that were practiced later developed.

Olympian religion

Dionysus and his retinue. Marble relief, 4th c. BC e. Louvre, Paris

The world of the gods in the representation of the Greeks is a reflection of the world of people. Zeus and other gods live in luxurious halls on Olympus and gather for a common feast, during which they consult and argue with each other. The gods are completely anthropomorphic, they are able to experience human passions, including the ability to love, suffer and hate. They are immortal, their power exceeds human; often intervene in the fate of people and endow them with happiness or misfortune, not so much by justice, but by personal whim. The gods are fickle, they can turn away from the one they just helped, but generous donations can win their hearts over to their side.

However, even the gods are not omnipotent. Their lives, just like the lives of people, are ruled by an impersonal destiny. (Ananka). In humans, it determines birth, lifespan and death, and even the gods cannot change it. It is in their power only to postpone for some time the fulfillment of what was destined. Due to political fragmentation and the absence of an influential priestly class, the Greeks did not have a unified system of religious dogmas. Instead, a large number of very close but not identical religious systems existed in parallel. All Greeks recognized the same gods, had general principles faiths that concerned ideas about fate, the power of the gods over the world, the position of a person, his posthumous fate, etc.

Beliefs and Cults of the Ancient Greeks

At the same time, there was no canon that would define the forms and content of the main traditions, as well as cult practices, which differed significantly in different areas.

The temple was considered the house of the god, and the statue installed in it was the body of the god. Access inside the temple was open only to priests and ministers. The main cult activities took place outside. Altars on which sacrifices were made were also erected outside the temple, often in front of its facade. Both the building itself and the site surrounding it (temenos) were considered sacred and enjoyed the right of inviolability.

Rituals and sacrifices did not require special training; anyone could conduct them. Each independently determined the nature and principles of his faith, provided that he did not deny the gods in general.

This freedom was the most important prerequisite for the emergence of secular knowledge of the world, which Greek philosophers could develop without fear of incurring the wrath of political or religious authorities.

Ancient religion (Ancient Greece, Rome, Scythia)……………………3

List of used literature……………………………………15

Ancient religion (Ancient Greece, Rome, Scythia)

Ancient Greece

Greece is a country of peasants who adhere to ancient customs; the way of life of the Greek, the importance of agriculture for the holidays; natural calendar; Demeter, the Grain-Mother, and her feasts; the festival of autumn sowing - Thesmophoria; harvest festivals - Falisia and Kalamaia; a holiday before the start of the harvest - Fargelia and Farmak; first fruits and their meaning; bucoliasts; panspermia and kernos; cultivation of olive trees; fruit picking festival - Galoi; flower festival; Aifesteria - the blessing of new wine and the Athenian Day of All the Dead; grape harvest holidays; Dionysus and wine; phallus; May branch - Iresion; boys carrying swallows; other varieties of the May branch are thyrsus and crown; sustainability of rural customs.

The religion and mythology of ancient Greece had a huge impact on the development of culture and art around the world and laid the foundation for countless everyday ideas about man, gods and heroes.

Religious ideas and the religious life of the ancient Greeks were in close connection with their entire historical life.

Already in the most ancient monuments of Greek creativity, the anthropomorphic character of Greek polytheism is clearly expressed, which is explained by national characteristics Total cultural development in this domain; concrete representations, generally speaking, predominate over abstract ones, just as, quantitatively, humanoid gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, predominate over deities of abstract significance (who, in turn, receive anthropomorphic features).

The religion of ancient Greece has two main characteristics: Polytheism (polytheism). With all the many Greek gods, 12 main ones can be distinguished. The pantheon of common Greek gods developed in the era of the classics. Each deity in the Greek pantheon performed strictly defined functions: Zeus - chief god, the ruler of the sky, the thunderer, personified strength and power. Hera is the wife of Zeus, the goddess of marriage, the patroness of the family. Poseidon is the god of the sea, brother of Zeus. Athena is the goddess of wisdom, just war. Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty, born from sea foam. Ares is the god of war. Artemis is the goddess of the hunt. Apollo is the god of sunlight, a bright beginning, the patron of the arts. Hermes is the god of eloquence, trade and theft, the messenger of the gods, the guide of the souls of the dead to the kingdom of Hades, the god of the underworld. Hephaestus is the god of fire, the patron of artisans and especially blacksmiths. Demeter is the goddess of fertility, the patroness of agriculture. Hestia is the goddess of the hearth. The ancient Greek gods lived on the snowy Mount Olympus. In addition to the gods, there was a cult of heroes - semi-deities born from the marriage of gods and mortals. Hermes, Theseus, Jason, Orpheus are the heroes of many ancient Greek poems and myths.

The second feature of the ancient Greek religion is anthropomorphism - the human likeness of the gods. What did the ancient Greeks understand by deity? Absolute. Space is an absolute deity, and ancient gods are those ideas that are embodied in space, these are the laws of nature that govern it. Therefore, all the virtues and all the shortcomings of nature and human life are reflected in the gods. The ancient Greek gods have the appearance of a person, they are similar to him not only in appearance, but in behavior: they have wives and husbands, enter into relationships similar to human ones, have children, fall in love, are jealous, take revenge, that is, they have the same advantages and disadvantages, as mortals It can be said that the gods are absolutized people. This feature greatly influenced the whole character of ancient Greek civilization, determined its main feature - humanism. Ancient culture grows on the basis of the pantheism of the ancient Greek religion, which arises as a result of a sensual understanding of the cosmos: ideal gods are only a generalization of the corresponding areas of nature, both rational and unreasonable. This is destiny, realized as a necessity, and it is impossible to go beyond it. From this we can conclude that ancient culture develops under the sign of fatalism, which the ancient man overcomes with ease, fighting fate like a hero. This is the meaning of life. Therefore, the cult of the hero is especially characteristic of ancient Greek culture. In antiquity there is an amazing synthesis of fatalism and heroism, arising from a special understanding of freedom. Freedom of action breeds heroism. Pantheism and the cult of heroes are most pronounced in ancient times. Greek mythology.

In one or another cult, in one or another writer or artist, one or another general or mythological (and mythographic) ideas are connected with this or that deity. Such combinations are explained not only from the creative moment, but also from the conditions of the historical life of the Hellenes; in Greek polytheism, later stratifications can also be traced (oriental elements; deification - even during life). In the general religious consciousness of the Hellenes, apparently, there was no definite generally recognized dogmatics. The diversity of religious ideas found expression in the diversity of cults, the external situation of which is now more and more clear thanks to archaeological excavations and finds. We find out which gods or heroes were revered where, and which where or where which was revered predominantly (for example, Zeus - in Dodona and Olympia, Apollo - in Delphi and Delos, Athena - in Athens, Hera on Samos, Asclepius - in Epidaurus) ; we know shrines revered by all (or many) Hellenes, such as the Delphic or Dodonian oracle or the Delian shrine; we know large and small amfiktyony (cult communities).

In the ancient religion of ancient Greece, public and private cults are different. The all-absorbing significance of the state also affected the religious sphere. The ancient world, generally speaking, did not know either the internal church as a kingdom not of this world, nor the church as a state within a state: “church” and “state” were concepts in it that absorb or condition each other, and, for example, the priest was that the state magistrate.

This rule is not everywhere, however, could be carried out with an unconditional sequence; practice caused particular deviations, created certain combinations. Further, if a certain deity was considered the main deity of a certain state, then the state sometimes recognized (as in Athens) at the same time some other cults; Along with these nationwide cults, there were separate cults of state divisions (for example, the Athenian demes), and cults of private legal significance (for example, domestic or family), as well as cults of private societies or individuals.

Since the state principle prevailed (which did not triumph everywhere simultaneously and evenly), every citizen was obliged, in addition to his private law deities, to honor the gods of his “civil community” (the changes were brought by the Hellenistic era, which generally contributed to the process of leveling). This reverence was expressed purely outwardly- participation in certain rituals and festivities performed on behalf of the state (or state division), - participation, to which the non-civilian population of the community was invited in other cases; then, both citizens and non-citizens were given, as they could, wanted and knew how, to seek satisfaction of their religious needs.

2.5. Religion of ancient Greece

One must think that in general the veneration of the gods was external; the inner religious consciousness was, from our point of view, naive, and among the mass of the people superstition did not decrease, but grew (especially at a later time, when it found food that came from the East); on the other hand, in an educated society, an enlightenment movement began early, at first timid, then more and more energetic, with one end of its (negative) touching the masses; religiosity did not weaken much in general (and sometimes even - albeit painfully - rose), but religion, that is, old ideas and cults, gradually - especially as Christianity spread - lost both its meaning and its content

Ancient Rome played a key role in the history of European and world culture. The complex of countries and peoples, which to this day we designate with the words " Western Europe", in its original form was created by Ancient Rome and really exists within the former Roman Empire.

Many fundamental spiritual ideas and norms of public life, traditional values, socio-psychological stereotypes, transmitted by Rome to Europe, for more than one and a half thousand years, up to the 19th century, formed the basis and arsenal, language and form European culture. Not only the foundations of law and state organization, not only a stable set of plots and artistic images were assimilated by Europe from antiquity through Ancient Rome, but the very beginnings of its social existence - the idea of ​​democracy, civic responsibility, separation of powers, etc. - came from the same source.

Ancient Roman culture was originally formed within the Roman community, later it assimilated the Etruscan, Greek, Hellenistic culture.

Its initial stage covers the XIII-III centuries. BC e., a cultural space early Roman society - Etruscan cities, Greek colonies in southern Italy, Sicily and Latium, on the territory of which in 754-753. BC e. Rome founded. By the end of the VI century. BC e. Rome developed as a city-state of the Greek type. The first circus for gladiator fights was built here, handicraft and construction equipment, writing, numbers, toga clothes, etc. were inherited from the Etruscans.

Roman culture, like Greek culture, is closely related to religious beliefs.

A significant place in the culture of the early era was occupied by a religion that was animistic (recognizing the existence of spirits), and also contained elements of totemism - the veneration of the Capitoline she-wolf, who, according to legend, brought up the brothers Romulus and Remus - the founders of the city. The deities were impersonal, sexless. Over time, from the obscure, mythical content of the deities, more vivid images of Janus, the god of the beginning and end, Mars, the deity of the sun, Saturn, the god of sowing, etc., took shape, i.e. the Romans switched to anthropomorphism (from the Greek anthropos - man, morphe - view). The Roman pantheon was never closed; foreign deities were accepted into its composition, since it was believed that the new gods strengthened the power of the Romans.

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….….3

Section I. The evolution of the ancient Greek religion……………………………………….4

Section II. The religious life of Ancient Greece………………………………………….8

1. Pantheon of the Gods………………………………………………………….……8
2. Myths and legends of Ancient Greece…………………………………………12
3. Ancient Greek burial rite……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Section III. Sacrifices and processions - forms of worship of the Gods in Ancient Greece ...... 19

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………22

List of used literature……………………………………………..…23

Introduction

The religion of ancient Greece is one of the earliest and most important religions in the world.

The relevance of this topic in our time is very high, because every person on Earth knows that it was Ancient Greece that served as the beginning of our beautiful world. And many are concerned about questions: how exactly did the process of formation of ancient Greek culture take place, how did the religion of the ancient Greeks originate, and in general, what is the religion of ancient Greece.

The purpose of the study is to show the essence of the ancient Greek religion, to consider the most basic and influential Gods of Ancient Greece.

The set goal requires the following tasks: to consider the evolution of the ancient Greek religion, to determine the pantheon of the Gods of Ancient Hellas, to get acquainted with the mythology of Ancient Greece, to consider the burial rite and forms of worship of the Gods.

The subject of the research is the religious life of Ancient Greece, the pantheon of the Gods, the cults and rituals of the Greeks.

The study consists of 3 sections. The first deals with the evolution of ancient Greek religion. In the second and third - the religious life of the ancient Greeks: Gods, legends and myths, burial cults, sacrifices and other forms of worship of the Gods.

Section I. The Evolution of Ancient Greek Religion

An important place in the development of world civilization is occupied by ancient culture, which, with its origins, is connected with the religious ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Like all other religious systems, the religion of the ancient Greeks went its own way of development and underwent certain evolutionary changes along the way. Historians studying the culture and life of the peoples who inhabited Ancient Greece note that in the pre-Homeric period, the most common were totemic, fetishistic and animistic beliefs. Surrounding man the world was perceived by the ancient Greek as inhabited by various demonic forces - spirits that were embodied in sacred objects, creatures and phenomena that lived in caves, mountains, springs, trees, etc.

The mythology of the ancient Greeks was one of the most remarkable phenomena in the culture of the Mediterranean peoples. But neither this mythology nor religion were homogeneous and underwent a complex evolution. Researchers distinguish three main periods in the development of ancient Greek mythology: chthonic, or pre-Olympic, classical Olympian and late heroic.

First period. The term "chthonic" comes from the Greek word "chthon" - "earth". The earth was perceived by the ancient Greeks as a living and omnipotent being that gives birth to everything and nourishes everyone. The essence of the earth was embodied in everything that surrounded man and in himself, which explains the worship with which the Greeks surrounded the symbols of deities: unusual stones, trees, and even just boards. But the usual primitive fetishism was mixed with animism among the Greeks, leading to a complex and unusual system of beliefs. In addition to the gods, there were also demons. These are indefinite and terrible forces, having no form, but possessing terrible power. Demons appear from nowhere, interfere in people's lives, usually in the most catastrophic and cruel way, and disappear. The images of demons were also associated with ideas about monsters, which, at this stage in the development of Greek religion, were probably also perceived as beings with divine power.

In such ideas about the gods and in the special veneration of the Earth as the Great Mother, echoes of the ideas of different stages of development of Greek society are visible - both from a very early time, when a person who did not separate himself from nature created images of human animals, and the period of matriarchy, when the dominance of women in society was reinforced by stories about the omnipotence of the Mother Earth. But one thing united all these views - the idea of ​​the indifference of the gods, of their deep alienation. They were perceived as powerful beings, but more dangerous than beneficent, from whom it is necessary to pay off rather than try to win their favor. This is how, for example, the god Pan appears, who, unlike Typhon or the Hectanocheirs, in later mythology did not turn into the ultimate monster, but remained a god, the patron of forests and fields.

Religion in Ancient Greece

He is associated with wildlife rather than human society, and despite his penchant for fun, can instill fear in people for no reason. Goat-legged, bearded and horned, he appears to people at noon, when everything freezes from the heat, at an hour that was considered no less dangerous than midnight. He can be both kind and fair, but still it is better not to meet with the god Pan, who has retained the half-animal appearance and disposition of the original creatures of Mother Earth.

Second period. The collapse of matriarchy, the transition to patriarchy, the emergence of the first states of the Achaeans - all this gave impetus to a complete change in the entire system of mythology, to the rejection of old gods and the emergence of new ones. Like other peoples, the gods-personifications of the soulless forces of nature are replaced by the patron gods of individual groups in human society, groups united according to various criteria: class, estate, professional, but they all had one thing in common - they were people who did not try to get along with nature, and those who sought to subjugate it, transform it into something new, force it to serve man.

It is no coincidence that the most ancient myths of the Olympian cycle begin with the extermination of creatures that were probably worshiped as gods in the previous period. The god Apollo kills the Pythian dragon and giants, the demigod people, the sons of the gods destroy other monsters: Medusa, Chimera, the Lernean Hydra. And the final victory over the ancient gods triumphs Zeus, the king of the gods of the Cosmos. The image of Zeus is very complex and was not formed immediately in the mythology of the Greeks. Ideas about Zeus developed only after the Dorian conquest, when the newcomers from the north gave him the features of an absolute sovereign god.

In the happy and orderly world of Zeus, his sons, born of mortal women, complete their father's work, exterminating the last monsters.

Demigods, heroes symbolize the unity of the worlds of the divine and human, the inextricable connection between them and the beneficial attention with which the gods watch over people. The gods help the heroes (for example, Hermes - Perseus, and Athena - Hercules), and punish only the wicked and villains. Ideas about terrible demons are also changing - they now look more like just powerful spirits, inhabitants of all four elements: fire, water, earth and air.

Third period. The formation and development of the state, the complication of society and social relations, the enrichment of ideas about the world around Greece inevitably increased the feeling of the tragedy of life, the conviction that evil, cruelty, meaninglessness and absurdity dominate in the world. In the late heroic period of the development of Greek mythology, ideas about the power that everything that exists, both people and gods, are reborn. Rock, inexorable fate reigns over everything. Even Zeus himself bows before her, forced to force predictions from the titan Prometheus own destiny, then come to terms with the trials and torments through which his beloved son Hercules must go through so that he can join the host of the gods. For people, fate is even more merciless than for the gods - its cruel and often senseless commands are executed with inevitable accuracy - Oedipus is cursed, despite all his efforts to escape from the predicted fate, Anchises, the grandfather of Perseus, who is also hiding from the will of fate, dies, even the whole the Atrid family cannot escape the blind verdict of fate, being involved in an endless series of murders and fratricides.

And the gods are no longer so mercifully disposed towards people. The punishments of those who violated their will are terrible and unjustifiably cruel: Tantalus is forever tormented by hunger and thirst, Sisyphus must constantly lift a heavy stone to the infernal mountain, Ixion is chained to a rotating wheel of fire.

In late Greek society, religion gradually declined, degenerating into a simple performance of rituals, and mythology became a mere treasure trove of images and plots for the authors of poems and tragedies. Some philosophers even denied the main role of the gods in the creation of the world, presenting this cosmic act as a fusion of primary elements or elements. In this form, the Greek religion existed until the beginning of the campaigns of Alexander the Great, when in the Hellenistic empires it entered into a multifaceted and mutually enriching interaction with the religions of Ancient Asia.

Thus, the religion of the ancient Greeks was one of the most remarkable phenomena in the culture of the Mediterranean peoples. But it was not homogeneous and went through a complex evolution. In the religion of the ancient Greeks, three main periods are distinguished: chthonic, classical Olympian and late heroic.

Section II. Religious life of Ancient Greece

2.1. Pantheon of Gods

The ancient Greek divine pantheon was the basis for the development of society not only in Ancient Greece and Rome, but also reflected the history and development of one of the first ancient civilizations in the world. Having considered the gods, deities and heroes of ancient Greek mythology, one can see the development modern society how it changed its perception of the universe and the world, how it related to community and individualism. Thanks to the mythological stories of Ancient Greece, it is possible to see how the theology and cosmology of mankind was formed, how the attitude of man to those elements and manifestations of nature that he (mankind) could not explain with the help of logic and science changed. The mythology of Ancient Greece is important in that it pushed mankind to mental development, to the emergence of many sciences (mathematics, logic, rhetoric, and many others).
Of course, there were quite a few gods and goddesses in Ancient Greece, and it is not possible to count and consider all of them, but you can get to know some of them.

Zeus was the king of the gods, the god of the sky and weather, law, order and fate. He was depicted as a king, mature with a strong figure and a dark beard. His usual attributes were a bolt of lightning, a royal scepter, and an eagle.
Zeus - the greatest of the gods of the Olympians, and the father of gods and men, was the son of Kronos and Rhea, the brother of Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, Hera, and at the same time he married his sister Hera. When Zeus and his brothers distributed the rule of parts of the world among themselves, Poseidon received the sea, Hades the underworld, and Zeus got heaven and earth, but the earth was distributed among all other gods.
Hera

Hera was the queen of the Olympian gods and the goddess of women and marriage. She was also the goddess of the sky and starry skies. Hera was usually depicted as a beauty wearing a crown and holding a royal lotus. Sometimes she held a royal lion or cuckoo or hawk.
The origin of her name can be traced in many ways, from Greek and Eastern roots, although there is no reason to seek help from the latter, as Hera is simply a Greek goddess, and one of the few who, according to Herodotus, was not introduced into Greece from Egypt. Hera was, according to some sources, the eldest daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and the sister of Zeus. However, according to many other sources, Hestia was the eldest daughter of Cronus; and Lactantius calls her sister - the twin of Zeus. According to Homer's verses, she was raised by Oceanus and Tethys as Zeus usurped the throne of Cronus; and later she became the wife of Zeus.

At birth, Hades was thrown into Tartarus.

After the division of the world between him and his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, after the victory over the titans, he inherited power over the shadows of the dead and over the entire underworld. Hades is the deity of underground riches, who gives the harvest to the earth.

In Greek mythology, Hades is a minor deity. At the same time, Hades is considered generous and hospitable, because not a single living soul is able to escape from the clutches of death.

Demeter was the great Olympian goddess Agriculture, grain, and daily bread for mankind. She also presided over the foremost of the region's arcane cults, whose initiates were promised her patronage on their way to a happy afterlife. Demeter was depicted as a mature woman, often wearing a crown and holding a sheaf of wheat and a torch.

Poseidon

Poseidon was the great Olympian god of the sea, rivers, floods and droughts, earthquakes, and horses. He was depicted as a mature, robust man with a dark beard and a trident. His name seems to be related to pothos, pontos and potamos, according to which he is the god of the liquid element.

Hestia was the virgin goddess of the hearth and home. As goddess of the hearth, she also presided over the baking of bread and the preparation of family meals. Hestia was also the goddess of the sacrificial flame. The cooking of a communal feast of sacrificial meat was naturally part of her cult.

Artemis

Artemis was the great Olympian goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, and wild animals. She was also the goddess of fertility, and the protector of girls until the age of marriage. Her twin brother Apollo was also the protector of the boys. Together these two gods were also gods of sudden death and sickness. Artemis was usually depicted as a girl with a hunting bow and arrows.
Ares

Ares was the great Olympian god of war, battles, and manly courage. He was depicted either as a mature, boldly marching warrior, wearing a weapon in battle, or as a naked, beardless youth with a rudder and a spear. Because of his lack hallmarks, it is often difficult to identify in classical art.