First posting on Ancient Greek Religion and polytheism.

The image I have chosen for my first blog posting on Ancient Greek Religion is of the Acropolis at Athens. (A larger version of this image can be found at http://plato-dialogues.org/tools/acropol.htm). I selected this image to help me set up the theme for the rest of my blog postings - polytheism. The Acropolis at Athens is one of the key religious sites in Ancient Greek worship and it clearly demonstrates the polytheistic nature of the Greek religion. Although the Acropolis is largely dedicated to worship of the goddess Athena - the patron deity of the city the Acropolis was based in - there are also several sites of worship to some of the other Greek gods (as well as some famous Greek citizens). Some such examples of this are the ‘Eleusinion’ site (located on the West side of the Acropolis), which was the ‘probable location of the sanctuary of Demeter’ (Bernard, S. 1998) and the Sanctuary of Asclepius, ‘the son of Apollo and god of medicine’ (Bernard, S. 1998). Although it is surprising to one who has experienced Westernised Christian views on religion, that more than one god was worshipped in Ancient Greece (particularly the fact that they shared a religious area), it may come as more of a surprise that more than one god was even worshipped in the same temple. The Erechtheion was a site of worship for Athena, but also for Poseidon, who challenged the goddess for the title of patron deity to the Athenians and left a mark upon the Acropolis in the form of a salt spring, which he formed by throwing down his trident, (more information about this myth can be found at http://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/poseidon/stories/poseidon-athena-contest/) and was subsequently revered as a religious site thereafter. This was normal practice for the Greeks and was not regarded as disrespectful to the Ancient Greeks, in the way in which the worship of another god in a Christian church would be seen today. As well as these deities being worshipped on the Acropolis, there are also sites of worship to Zeus, Athena Promachos, Artemis and Dionysus. The site of Zeus Polias upon the Acropolis is extremely useful in this introductory post, as it sets up a later blog in which I will go on to talk about the ‘King of the Gods’ and the ways in which he is received as this sovereign deity. This is also true of the Temple of Athena Nike, which will almost certainly be discussed in my forthcoming posting on Anthropomorphism in Greek Religion.

More information about polytheism can be found at:

http://www.polytheism.net/ which gives a basic overview of polytheism in both the ancient and modern world.

Burkert, W. ‘Polis and Polytheism’. Greek religion. Harvard: Harvard University Press. 1987.

More information on the Acropolis can be found at:

http://www.acropolisofathens.gr/ which provides a history of the Acropolis, as well as information on the restoration project.

A very basic break down of the different sites of worship upon the Acropolis can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acropolis_of_Athens to support the information seen at http://plato-dialogues.org/tools/acropol.htm.