Dionysus

The image to the left is of Nicolas Poussin’s ‘Bacchus, Dionysus’. I have chosen to discuss Dionysus for several reasons. The first reason is that one of his attributes is ’dimorphos Dionysus’, which means ‘dual formed’ and subsequently links in nicely with the idea of the gods being constantly split into separate entities due to their epithets and attributes. The second reason is that he could also be regarded as a ‘challenge’ to Zeus in the same way that we can view Gaia (of the previous posting). Dionysus is often viewed as the ‘Thirteenth Olympian’, subsequently upsetting the balance in the pantheon and is described as the ‘arriving god’ by Detienne. Athough there is no rivalry between the father and son deities, Dionysus challenges his father by being the god who is ‘closest’ to mortals. Dionysus interacts with and appears to mortals arguably most often of all of the deities, making him a very popular god to worship (this image of Dionysus as the peoples god carries on right into 1960’s America, as his image was often evoked as a symbol of liberty in college campuses). Dionysus possessed a great communality to him - as the god of wine and revelry, he was often revered at special occasions when wine was drunk. Another communal affair involving Dionysus was the Great Dionysian Festival (more information can be found out about this festival at http://www.religionfacts.com/greco-roman/festivals/dionysia.htm), which was a hugely important event in the Ancient Greek social calendar. This great love of Dionysus from the Greek people again reiterates the polytheistic element of Ancient Greek religion. Every time that it can be argued that Zeus is the true ‘main’ god of Ancient Greek religion, polytheism is pushed back into the forefront by the likes of Dionysus and Gaia. One topic of discussion in the Ancient Greek religion module was ‘is Ancient Greek religion a series of monotheisms?’. By undertaking the process of writing this blog I have been able to come to the conclusion that no, it is not - it is a truly polytheistic religion. The gods interrelate throughout myth and although there is an apparent hierarchy, this hierarchy is constantly challenged.

To further support the idea of Dionysus being a popular god (arguably even more popular than his father, Zeus), it is a lot easier to find information about him. There is a wealth of scholarship and information on Dionysus, I have selected a view which may be of interest:

http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Dionysos.html is a very good overview on Dionysus, covering his epithets, myths, cults and genealogy.

http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/grecoromanmyth1/p/Dionysus.htm is a more basic overview for lighter reading.

http://www.men-myths-minds.com/Dionysus-greek-god.html

Gaia.

This is just a short entry in relation to the one posted previously about Zeus. The picture I have chosen to support this blog entry is Oberon Zell’s interpretation of the ‘Mother Nature’ goddess to the Ancient Greeks - ‘Gaia’ (the image has the same name). It may not seem obvious to the contemporary reader why I am giving Gaia (a relatively unknown Ancient Greek deity in today’s society) a blog posting of her own. I have purposely placed this blog entry following my posting regarding Zeus as the sovereign deity. Gaia is described by Homer (in his Homeric Hymns) as ‘the eldest of all beings’ - she is the very first deity, preceding even Zeus and she has no parentage, she is born out of 'chaos' (more information can be found on this creation myth in Hesiod's Theogony, which can be found at http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130). These technicalities set Gaia aside from all deities and she can be envisaged as operating on a level beyond polytheism as the sustainer of all creation. Gaia is technically the Ancient Greek equivalent to the Christian God - she is the creator of existence in the same way that Christians believe their God to be. Although it appears that Gaia could claim a right to sovereignty or at least a more esteemed position than she seems to hold in the pantheon, she does not challenge Zeus’ rule. However, it is still interesting to note that the ‘first’ Greek deity is not Zeus, and also that it is a female.

For some more information about Gaia, http://www.kheper.net/topics/Gaia/goddess.htm has some basic, introductory comments on the goddess.

Zeus.

This postings’ image is of the ‘King of the Gods’, Zeus and is a Red-figured Amphora of Panatheneas, 480-470 BC, Staatmuseum, Berlin. I have selected this particular image of Zeus as it depicts him with his symbol of power - his thunderbolt. Zeus is as close as we can get to the Ancient Greek religious version of the Christian ‘God’ - he controls both deities and mortals alike and is at the top of the hierarchy amongst the Olympians. Zeus is the most powerful god and is the implementer of justice in his guise as Zeus Dike. However, while Zeus is always regarded as the sovereign deity, throughout the study of the Ancient Greek Literature module there have been several instances in which we have been sharply reminded that Ancient Greek religion was polytheistic and not a monotheistic one. One example of this comes from The Homeric Hymns - the ‘Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite’ (which can be found in full at http://www.uh.edu/~cldue/texts/aphrodite.html). The hymn describes that there is ‘nothing among the blessed gods or among mortal men that has escaped Aphrodite. Even the heart of Zeus .. Is led astray by her’. Such instances remind us that although Zeus is the ‘King of the Gods’, the mortals are invited to respect and be in awe of all of the deities and their powers, not just the sovereign deities. However, in the instance referred to, Zeus turns Aphrodite’s wiles against her and ultimately restores himself to his former power. Deacy suggests that ‘polytheism worked as a system because each god had a particular place in the hierarchy presided over by Zeus’. This assertion is clearly supported by the ‘Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite’ and demonstrates that although the Ancient Greek world is clearly polytheistic , the polytheism is drawn together under the power of the sovereign ruler, King of the Gods, Zeus the almighty and the worship of this god could arguably be viewed as a monotheistic worship in some cases as not all of the gods in the religion are given equal respect.

The key, easy to read text for more information on Zeus is Ken Dowden’s Zeus, which can be found on googlebooks at http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vRXaY0MZgqEC&dq=Dowden+Zeus&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=2zmYF9SnLJ&sig=nCG04S98rIQKwI8mgCf9WT_-IDc&hl=en&ei=U_PySqD1C4OUjAfx1aWhDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false.

Polytheism and Anthropomorphism

The focus for this posting is on anthropomorphism in Ancient Greek Religion and how this links with the polytheistic practices of religion in Ancient Greece. The image I have chosen to support this post is Sandra M. Stanton’s ‘Athena with her owl-byform at the Olive Tree’ (http://www.mythinglinks.org/Olive~Athena~Owl~mellowed04.JPG). I have chosen this painting to support my discussion on anthropomorphism as it encompasses several elements of the topic. The first topic for discussion is that in the painting, the representation of Athena is shown with an owl. The owl was often linked to Athena (it can also be seen upon the Athenian coin at http://www.ancientgreece.com/media/public/gallery/files/a5___.jpg ) as a symbol of wisdom. This relationship between Athena and the image of the owl has given rise to the question ‘Is the owl a theriomorphic form of Athena?’ .. that is to say, does the owl actually contain the essence and being of the goddess or is it a separate entity that is simply linked to the goddess? Of course, there is no definitive answer to such questions. The selected image also links to anthropomorphism because of the olive tree in the background of the painting. The Greeks also liked to link aniconic objects with religion in the Ancient world. The most sacred and holy object to the Athenians was the image of the Athena Polias or the ‘wooden Athena’ - a formless piece of olive wood, which the Athenians believed to contain the essence of/be the goddess. Such importance was placed upon this object, that when the Persians invaded the city, the ‘wooden Athena’ was removed from the city to protect it from damage. The Athena Polias was also adorned with a new robe and jewellery each year, demonstrating the importance of the piece to the Athenians.
The Greeks also anthropomorphised their deities by attributing many epithets to each god or goddess. Athena is also an excellent example of this as she was Athena Polias (of the city), Ergane (woolworker), Glaukopis (gleaming eyed), Athena Nike (victory) and many, many others (which can be found in Robert. E. Bell’s text Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary, 1991). This concept of attributing epithets to the deities almost completely separate entities entirely and subsequently inextricably links anthropomorphism and polytheism, as not only is there a huge collection of Greek gods, but these deities are broken down even further into what could be regarded as many more ‘sub-gods’ by each being attributed different epithets, allowing them to be regarded (and also worshipped) as separate beings.

http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/ancientolympians.html is a very useful site for follow up information on epithets and associated items and beings of the Olympian Twelve.

More indepth information on Athena’s relationship with the owl can be found at http://socyberty.com/history/the-owl-of-athena-statue-and-coin/ .

Kroll’s article on ‘The Ancient Image of Athena Polias’, which can be found in Vol. 20, Studies in Athenian Architecture, Sculpture and Topography. 1982. Is a very useful source of information on the aniconic form of Athena - the ‘Wooden Athena’.

Polytheism: A closer look.

The image selected to accompany this blog posting - which is a more in depth look at polytheism - is Cornelis Van Poelenburgh’s painting ‘The Feast of the Olympians’. This painting complements my posting as it shows the twelve key Greek gods. The fact that there are twelve ‘key’ Greek gods depicts the sheer multitude of gods or god-like beings in the Ancient world. The image also clearly shows Zeus at the head of the table, which introduces us to the work of Detienne and Vernant, who pioneered work on the structuralism approach to the polytheistic nature of Ancient Greek Religion (which can be seen in their work Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society. Hassocks. 1978) and attributed the success of the pantheon to the structure within it. However, there are some issues with this approach to the pantheon and one of those is the goddess Aphrodite, as she does not sit comfortably in either of the two ‘generations’ of deities. Although Aphrodite is almost an anomaly in the structuralism approach she is still a very typical Greek goddess in the fact that she is split into many different epithets (a topic which will be further explored in my posting on anthropomorphism). The use of epithets gave the deities many different personas and some were even regarded as deities in their own right - this splitting up of the gods increased the number of worshipped beings into the hundreds, showing the truly polytheistic nature of the Ancient Greeks. Rosenzweig’s text Worshipping Aphrodite: Art and Cult in Classical Athens (Michigan: University of Michigan Press. 2004) is a good piece of research into the attributes and epithets of Aphrodite.
Alongside the gods, heroes and heroines were often worshipped by cults after their death, with the likes of Herakles embodying both categories as he became a god after his heroic life. Minor figures important to particular localities were also worshipped, as well as other divine creatures, such as nymphs.

Rosenzweig’s text, mentioned above, can be found on googlebooks at: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gOemLnGyylUC&dq=Rosenzweig+aphrodite&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=z8dLS_G_C5Wu4Qbr_LmHAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBEQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false

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.