Religions 3: Gods & Sanctuaries Jean-Pierre Vernant or Walter Burkert?

Gods Theos = god, hence our words monotheism (monos + theos) etc. Anthropomorphic (see Homer) > often place family before justice (e.g. story of Cyclops) Amoral, supermen/women Rise of city-state: questioning of role of gods (ca. 500 Xenophanes); Hippolytos by Euripides (428) Heroes: Heracles, Prometheus, Theseus What distinguished gods from heroes? Distinctions fluid, but heroes usually covered smaller area of life (local), limited to tombs Cult = ‘worship’, i.e. religious rituals and practices employed in worship (see Rives, p. 23)

Twelve Olympian gods = pantheon Zeus Hera Athena Apollo Artemis Poseidon Demeter Dionysos Ares Aphrodite Hermes Hephaistos Hades and Hestia? > fluid system

Is there a system in the pantheon? Pantheon = system of all the gods (in polytheistic religions) Jean Pierre Vernant: structuralist approach: relations between gods as forces (do they oppose each other or not?). E.g. Athena vs. Poseidon = intelligence vs. brute force Walter Burkert: gods are persons, e.g. relationship between Artemis and Apollo (brother and sister)

1. Zeus weather god: mountain tops Protects moral and social order, god of justice General, so not much worshipped

2. Hera Wife of Zeus Goddess of marriage Ancient goddess

3. Athena/Pallas Athena Daughter of Zeus (from Metis) Polis goddess Many temples and festivals (Panathenaeic festival in Athens) Goddess of women’s crafts Goddess of protection, hence war Goddess of wisdom cleverness and civilization against brute force and nature

4. Apollo With Artemis children of Zeus and Leto God of Delphi The other polis god: very popular Initiation god god of seers and oracles god of the Muses

5. Artemis Sister of Apollo goddess of hunting (old goddess) also connected with initiation rites but Artemis is also out in the wild, and therefore explains her role in festivals as disorder goddess

Dogs attack Aktaion

6. Poseidon Brother of Zeus ‘off centre’ god god of sea, horses, earthquakes: god of chaos in nature and brute force of men and animals against Athena battle over Athens

Bronze of Artemision

7. Demeter Connection with Poseidon goddess of fertility/agriculture (story of Persephone and Hades; Eleusinian Mysteries) outside goddess abnormal sacrificial animal: pig goddess of Thesmophoria: exclusion of women from sex; reversal festival Goddess of Eleusinian mystery cult

8. Dionysos most eccentric god initiation from boy to man god of reversal: Anthesteria festival slaves become masters god of ecstasy and wine dangerous god followed by maenads and satyrs Opposition with Apollo. Connected with Aphrodite (love) and Artemis (order/disorder).

9. Ares god of war also in margins armed (connection with Athena)

10. Aphrodite goddess of love outside goddess fertility goddess by origin

11. Hermes god of thieves (more in the sense of cleverness in robbing than to overstep laws), but also of merchants he was messenger of gods depicted with head cap and staff (caduceus); wings to his shoes

12. Hephaistos god of fire not important; even jokes were made about him (crippled) husband of Aphrodite hard worker (connection with Athena)

Connections between gods (Vernant’s School), so relationship to social order important But these relations not always there: much variation, local and temporal ‘power’ and ‘person’ two sides of same coin: better see them as in tension

Sanctuaries Compare Greek temple with holy places in monotheistic religions: house of the god (naos), not place of congregation From ca. 8th century on Temenos: sacred land with altar (bomos) Sanctuary: needed altar, not necessarily temple

Location Location of temples not only dependent on landscape but also reflected the position of the god within social order/pantheon: Temple of Zeus on agora and Athena on akropolis; also Apollo Outside of polis: Poseidon (cape Sounion) Ambivalent: Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, Dionysos

The Cult statue Earliest statues could be made of formless material, e.g. wood (e.g. Hera at Samos); in later times, statues were usually anthropomorphic Could be made of wood or chryselephantine (gold + ivory) Could be more than one statue in temple (e.g. Erechtheion in Athens) but usually there was at least one statue visible along the central axis of the temple

Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the World

Nashville Parthenon

Statue worship (idolatry) Not simply perceived as art object, statue worship was an interactive way of devotion: Individual prayer (not quiet personal prayer, but standard prayers spoken out loud) accompanied from gestures, kneeling or kissing statue Oath taking (e.g. for bussiness, marriage) Gods could come alive (cry, make noises, cf. Mary statues) Statues adorned with ribbons and replacing its clothes (Athena at Athens); they could be bathed or fed Daily rituals by priests During festivals portable statue often taken out in procession - Statue usually visible through open door while making sacrifice outside Staging of divine appearances (epiphanies); sound and light show Compare with Hinduism and Ancient Egyptian religion: which points are also practised in these polytheistic religions?

Rest of temple by no means ‘empty’/lifeless! - In general, there was free access to the temple (if door was open) Worshippers left votive offerings (to thank god and/or ask for favour): temples must have been full of them; these materials were often collected in a treasury (thesauros) Sacrifice in front of temple Other rituals on the temple platform

Other functions of temple Economical function: Bank Political function: laws in temples Social function: dining Temples as museums of art: picture gallery (pinakotheke), statues