modern scholarship - Greek religion

Question 1

nature of the gods

Answer 1

William Allan- the gods are not portrayed as being amoral, but instead offer divine justice

Geoffrey Kirk- all sorts of not very heroic qualities are allowed to enter the lives of the gods.”

Zaidman- the gods looked like humans but were far more powerful

Question 2

hero cults

Answer 2

Gunnel Ekroth- heroes were worshipped on official level and were believed to have lived and died

Question 3

religious participation / festivals

Answer 3

Zaidman- “religion…It impregnated each and every civic activity.”

Question 4

healing cults

Answer 4

Matthew Dillon- the inscriptions at Epidauros come from many different places “all over the Greek world”, indicating the popularity of the cult of Asklepios

Question 5

Eleusinian mysteries

Answer 5

Robert Parker- “the Mysteries were, and are, the most famous Greek festival

Question 6

individual religious participation

Answer 6

Julia Kindt- individuals participated in festivals as an expression of their personal belief

Question 7

panathenia

Answer 7

Kindt - cosmopolitan melting pot

Question 8

religious authority / purity

Answer 8

Zaidman- “religious authority belonged essentially to the people or citizen body as a whole (demos)

Question 9

delphi

Answer 9

John Hale- the Pythia was “(on occasion) a noble of aristocratic family, sometimes a peasant, sometimes rich, sometimes poor”

Question 10

olympia

Answer 10

Mary Emerson- “served no one community but the whole of the Greek world.

Question 11

sacrifice

Answer 11

Bukert - shared aggression in sacrificial killing = founding of community and civilisation

Fred Naiden- sacrifice served to maintain the relationship between mortals and the gods

Question 12

Philosophy

Answer 12

Hermann- “wider trend which had called traditional beliefs into question.”