greek religion

Asclepius and Medicine

oglesby@uoregon.edu

The healing god Asclepius’ sanctuary is surrounded on all sides by boundary markers and within these markers no birth and no death is to take place. Inside the sanctuary are people devoting themselves to the god in hopes of being cured of their health problems. They eat sleep and live at the sanctuary giving dedications to the god and hoping for a vision telling them what to do to be cured. (Warrior 6.26-27) All around the sanctuary are inscriptions detailing past cures given by the God such as mutes given speech, the blind given sight, and women getting pregnant when they could not before. Athens and rome would be interested in having Asclepius in their cities for two reasons. First their citizens would want Asclepius in their city for their own individual sake. Getting sick in the ancient world was a scary thing and a big deal, so the closer they could be to a healing god, the better. The second reason that they would want Asclepius in their cities is for the health of the sate. Livy records in Periocha, “When the state was troubled by a plague, envoys were sent to bring the image of Asclepius from Epidaurus to Rome.”(Warrior, 14.27)

The relationship that Asclepius has with Aristides is one of dreams and visions. Aristides at the beginning of the sacred tales says about the God, “he revealed somethings openly in his own presence, and others by the sending of dreams, as far as it was possible to obtain sleep…Therefore in view of this I decided to submit truly to the God, as as to a doctor and to do in silence whatever he wishes.” (Sacred Tales, 1.3-4) Asclepius appeared to Aristides as he did to many who sought his help and guidance, in his dreams. When Aristides was ill it was Asclepius’ council that was the most valuable and he would do what ever the god would tell him to. Another characteristic of the relationship is that it is personal. When Aristides has a problem he seeks out Asclepius on his own and expects to get a direct and individual answer. This relationship is different from those of the Classical age in this aspect. He does not go to a festival, or worship at an altar in a great crowd. Aristides’ ailments are his own and so is his relationship with Asclepius.

The impression of the state of medical knowledge at the time of Aelius Aristides was certainly not advanced. Medical knowledge was not very deep at the time and seeing a doctor seems like it would have been almost as much of a gamble as praying to Asclepius and going to his sanctuary for healing. In this quote from the The Sacred Tales, Aelius Aristides has a tumor on his groin and he is trying to heal himself. The doctors, give many and varied consultations as to what he should do, “At this point, the doctors cried out all sorts of things, some said surgery, some said cauterization by drug, or that an infection would arise and I must surely die. But the God gave a contrary opinion and told me to endure and foster the growth. And clearly there was no choice between listening to the doctors or to the God.”(The Sacred Tales, 62-63) This quote also does a good job of establishing the relationship between medicine and religion at the time. While Aelius seeks the opinions of doctors about his malady the thought of not doing what his vision guided him to do is unthinkable to him. The guidance his vision of Asclepius gave him has the final say. 

Linear A: Cracking the Code

dreis@uoregon.edu

phaistos-disk

Linguists appear to be closer to cracking the code of the Phaistos Disk, a clay disk discovered on Crete over a century ago. The script, known to scholars as Linear A, was used by the Minoan Civilization. Researchers have discovered the word “mother,” leading them to hypothesize that the text could be a prayer to a Mother Goddess figure. Click the image of the disk for more details.

 

The Cult of Isis

thatcher@uoregon.edu

The cult of Isis has a large complex history spanning thousands of years continuing at least until the early 1st century and maybe after. Isis gained support due to the large trading network created by Alexander and the Roman Empire allowing for Egyptian merchants to spread their beliefs. Isis was a powerful deity and certainty had the resume to back it up. Interestingly though because the gods she is most commonly associated with are not very similar. It seems as if as Isis spread changing names throughout the ancient world her cults and beliefs we’re divided up into many different names like Demeter, Gaia, Hera, or any number. Leading up to the Common Era Isis cults claimed her to be a mother like goddess where she would be the “daughter of Kronos” and “mother of Horus” who is associated with Apollo (Isis Aretalogy). This shows how integratable, flexible, and malleable the Greek religion was and how many of these cultures had very similar religious beliefs. Because not only was Isis worshipped so was many other Asia Minor deities such as Hadad, Ba’al, and even Judaism had places of worship in some places.

Isis is interesting because the two examples of praise for Isis are a little different because one is for a specific reason and the other seems to be a more broad statement as if to say in front of an assembly. The hymn there is a straight forward to provide a sailor or merchant safe passage over waters. It is interesting though because in the praising not only is Isis associated with Greek deities but also Syrian, Lycian, and Assyrian ones. I think that aspect speaks most to the similarity and reaching influence of Greek and Roman identity. The aretalogy is a different story because it is integrated by Greek and Egyptian mythos but speaks to the resume of Isis. One thing that comes through is the powerful identity associated with her and her ever-reaching kingdom even being called the “mightiest” of gods in the hymn. Isis can influence many different things and she is normally given praise in the name of other deities it seems and being called “many named” in the hymn is reasoning to believe this. Isis can be in charge of justice, the moon, sun, underworld, the cosmos, and many more. I’m not sure what it means but it would seem that Isis’ influence must have been very powerful in cultic circles if they truly thought of her as mother of Apollo and things like that.

I can see how Isis was a powerful rival with Jesus just because both have much to offer but it is almost a polytheistic attempt of matching monotheism. Isis could provide all the things Jesus could theoretically but she represented a polytheistic worldview. Jesus really changed the religious system of the Asia Minor and Mediterranean into monotheism creating a negative view of polytheistic rituals. Isis provided a way for polytheism to still preform cultic rituals.

The Healer and Savior Asclepius.

jeromej

In the temple of Asclepius there is an ivory and gold statue that is half the size of the statue of Zeus in Athens. This statue of Asclepius depicts him sitting on a throne; in one hand he wields a staff, and the other he holds above the head of a serpent. Across from the temple is where the god’s suppliants sleep. Within the Tholos (Round House) there stood several slabs inscribed with the names of people Asclepius had healed and what he had healed them from. After entering the sanctuary, the suppliant would fall asleep and await a vision from the god. The general pattern of the healing was that the god would approach the infirmed in dream and then promise to heal the wound.  When day came, the suppliant would awake and find himself healed exactly as it had been seen in the vision. Sometimes snakes would carry out the healings for Asclepius, as seen in the selection from Aristophanes’ Wealth (Warrior 112). Disease and sickness were daily realities for everyone in the Hellenistic era, and even more so for those living in highly populated cities such as Athens and Rome. The Roman historian Livy observes that a plague running through Rome was a serious threat (Warrior 260). To have a god of healing present in the city would be of great benefit.

Aristides seems to have a very personal and direct relationship with Asclepius. He writes as though Asclepius speaks in an audible voice concerning his ailments and healings. In the story of how his tumor on his leg is healed, the doctors and other people have no communication with the god. Aristides is the only one who can hear the god’s divine guidance towards healing. Most often he refers to Asclepius as the God, but other times he uses the term “Savior” (Pg. 224 line 7) or even “Lord” (228 line 24).  This highly personal relationship operates very differently from the divine-human relationships of the Classical Age.  The first major difference is that in the case of Asclepius it is the god who initiates the interaction. Instead of Aristides going to a temple or festival, he is met by the god in his dreams wherever he may be. Additionally, Aristides is healed before any form of sacrifice is made, if one is even made at all. This contrasts to the Classical Age cults, where an offering had to be made on the human’s side if there was any hope of the gods acting benevolently.

Based on the readings, it seems to me that ancient medicine and religion were at odds with one another and didn’t mix well. This sentiment is best captured when Aristides tumor has been healed, and the doctors insist that the only way for the remaining skin to finish healing was by surgery.  Aristides states that the doctors “thought it right that I grant this, for now the God’s part had been done. He did not even allow them this… And he brought everything back together, so that after a few days had passed, no one was able to find on which thigh the tumor had been, but they were both unscarred in every respect” (Aristides 220 line 67-68). While some of his ailments would be cured by use of drugs or remedies, the cure was always attributed to the work of the god and never a result of ancient medicine.

Cult Worship of Isis

hackney@uoregon.edu

In the reading from Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice Isis is the supreme god in a way. She has control over the cosmos, life and death, and most importantly faith. She was worshipped outside of Egypt long before she became a prominent goddess of the Greeks and Romans. In the reading it says that Isis is Demeter in Greek, and that the mysteries of Demeter were an extension of the mysteries of Isis. Isis has three deities she is commonly associated with, Anubis Horus and Sarapis.  She is known as the goddess of a thousand names, each culture has a different name for the goddess, sometimes more than one. We know very little about her mysteries, we do know though that anyone could worship her in daily rituals. They did not have to be initiated into the mysteries.

The writers praise Isis as basically the goddess who has some sort of rule over everything. They praise her as a goddess of all the people and one who hold justice in very high esteem. She is known to calm or agitate the sea, as well as being the rays of the sun. In Egypt, she was responsible for searching for, putting back together, embalming, and reincarnating Osiris, then magically conceiving and giving birth to Horus. Horus would then be reborn and embodied by each new pharaoh.

Isis is worshipped for setting up sanctuaries for the gods and putting an end to tyrants. Her interactions with humanity are that she makes seafaring possible, she watches over people and to her “everything is possible”. I think she was so popular because Isis could claim having a hand in every aspect of someone’s daily life. She was credited for drawing man an women together, making sure children loved their parents, and taught people to honor the gods. So technically she could be praised for all the religious notions that all the Greek people have, and thus should be worshipped. Also since she had control over the seas and safety of seafarers she was the perfect goddess to pray to for safe passage in travels.

Cult worship of Isis

lgc@uoregon.edu

In the secondary readings from Gail Corrington Streete, the incredibly popular goddess Isis and her mystery cult were discussed. Obviously, there are several different versions of the story of Isis depending on which surviving materials are examined. Some of the common themes present Isis as the sister and wife of King Osiris, the mother of Horus, and Isis would eventually be considered the ultimate ruler of the cosmos. Most importantly Isis was considered a divine being who conquered death and fate. There are a few elements of the goddess Isis and her cult that are markedly different from that of the Greek religious traditions we have examined thus far. Foremost, the priests and devotees that worshipped her actively sought to proselytize and spread the cult. Secondly, this proselytizing was often aimed at the poor and powerless in societies. Lastly, and most importantly, unlike the many Greek gods with specific tasks and areas of control, Isis was responsible for any and all happenings in the cosmos. Writers in the Isis Aretalogy and the Isis Hymn reflect this notion, giving a long list of responsibilities that otherwise would have been diffused amongst dozens of individual Greek gods.  In the Aretalogy, for example, Isis controls warfare (Athena), thunderbolts (Zeus), calming and agitating the sea (Poseidon), and discovered fruit for mortals (Demeter). Isis is also responsible for inventing written language, seafaring, civilization, agriculture, marriage, ending murder, and creating justice systems that oversee human interaction. Unlike the divine-human interactions that have been observed in the Classical Age that are characterized by charis, Isis often gave commandments to her devotees in dreams and promised a better life and afterlife. Mikalson has an insight regarding the popularity of Isis that states, “Unlike a Greek god or goddess, Isis alone now could, for her devotees, fulfill virtually of their religious needs.” (pg. 189) In this way, the all-encompassing cult worship of Isis in the Mediterranean world helped paved the way for the concepts of monotheism that would take shape in the Christian community.

The Amphipolis Tomb

dreis@uoregon.edu

amphipolis-tomb
Archaeologists have recently discovered a Macedonian tomb in Amphipolis, a city in northern Greece, dating to the time of Alexander the Great. Inside the tomb is a mosaic of Hermes leading a charioteer into the underworld.

Gods and Heroes

oglesby@uoregon.edu

The greeks categorized the divine world by god, epithet and location. By this I mean each individual god had many sides to them which are described by their epithet. The example that Mikalson gives in his book on page 33 is that of Poseidon Soter of Sunium and Poseidon Hippios. The former would deal with matters of the sea while to latter is responsible for horses, “One would pray in vain to Poseidon Soter to save his horse or to Poseidon Hippios to save his life at sea.” (Mikalson 33). The epithet describes something about that particular god’s function and characteristics. The locale of a god is where that god holds influence over. It would be foolish for people in one city or area to pray to the god of a different place as that is not their patron deity.

Homer and Hesiod are given the credit for formalizing the basic features of gods and heroes. Herodotus in his Histories says, “For I believe that Hesiod and Homer, who were 400 years before my time, and no more than that, made for the Greeks the genealogies of the gods, giving them their appropriate titles, assigning them their honors and skills, and describing their appearance.” (Warrior 2.1)

The picture of the Gods that I get from Warrior’s book is that they have a distinctly human element to them. That is not to say that they aren’t supernatural or otherworldly, but rather in Hesiod and Homer they seem to have human concerns. In Hesiod, for example, Rhea has to plot with her parents so she can have her child (Warrior 2.6, 470). In Homer’s The Iliad the gods plot against each other and seemingly admit mistakes, “How naive and senseless we are to set our hearts against Zeus!” (Warrior 2.18, 105) The gods are definitely not man, but they have an element of humanity in their interactions with each other and with humans.

The relationship that these myths have with practiced greek religion is that they myths explain things about the world and explain why certain gods have power over certain places or things. Mikalson says on page 54 that the truth of the myth is not the important part, but rather the message that is contained in the myth. He quotes G.S. Kirk as saying that they are “on the one hand good stories, on the other hand bearers of important messages about life in general and life-within-society in particular.” (Mikalson 54)

The myth that I am explaining is that of Athena, Poseidon, and Athens. In the myth all the gods decide to go down to Earth and claim the cities that they would become the patron god of. Athena and Poseidon get into a race to see who can claim Athens the fastest. Ultimately the story ends with Cecrops, the Athenian king at the time, deciding that Athena was the victor. After the race Athena planted and olive tree and Poseidon hit the Acropolis with his trident. This myth seems to serve several purposes in Greek and Athenian religious practice and thought. First it provides the Athenian citizen with a physical connection to the divine. As Mikalson states on page 56, “The Athenian would have before him a most impressive and beautiful representation of the story he had learned from childhood of how Athena became the eponymous patron of his city.” Secondly I think that it grounds Athens as being a city of great importance. Athens was a powerful and wealthy city but this story seems to show that it also was desirable to the gods themselves. The powerful Athena and Poseidon were involved enough with wanting the city as their own that they would race to claim it. In addition to this the judge of a race between immortals was just a man, the king of the city. The ancient Athenian king in that moment held some sort of power over two of the gods. 

Diversity in Divinity: Gods and Heroes

jeromej

                As has been made clear already in the few days of this class, the Greco-Roman concept of the divine world is fluid and complex.  However, Mikalson’s chapter on the categorization of the divine world was very enlightening for understanding how these countless deities could co-exist in the same general culture.  The first two major categories that the Greeks used to categorize the divine were Gods and Heroes.  Gods are generally defined as beings who were born immortal and remain as such. Heroes, on the other hand, are defined as people who lived on the earth as a human and did extraordinarily great or awful deeds. Heroes all die, but alters would be erected in their remembrance because some cultic followers believed the hero still influenced the community in some way.  Gods and heroes are further categorized by whether they are Ouranic (“of the sky”) or Chthonic (“of the earth”). Such a classification determined whether rituals took place during the day or night, and what type of sacrifice would be made.

                Mikalson further notes three categories used to identify each God: the name, the epithet, and the locale.  This three level system is what allows for such a great diversity to exist in the number of Greek deities. Gods with the same name and epithet but a different locale would have dissimilar myths surrounding their origins. The epithet defined the function that the god served.  Poseidon Soter and Poseidon Hippios are both Poseidon, yet they are both very different deities; one tends to sailors at sea, and the other horses on land. The use of epithets demonstrates how the Greeks primarily identified the Gods based on their function. This aspect is seen most clearly in Warrior’s selection from Hesiod’s Theogony.  As each god is born, he or she is described based on the activity or function they excel at.  Artemis is called an archeress, Hephaestus is excellent in the arts, and Athena is known for her battle expertise (Warrior 21).

                 In contrast to gods, whose influence and mythology could spread over large areas, heroes are generally confined to a specific locale. This location was typically based off of their real or imagined tomb, and thus confined the heroes influence to a single state or neighborhood. A good example of this practice is seen in the remarks of the geographer Pausanias.  He observes how the people of Marathon worship the dead from battle at their tombs, and that these dead have come to be known as heroes (Warrior 7).

While the Greek system of categorizing Gods and heroes allowed for an extremely wide diversity of myths and beliefs, there were some generally established basic features.  According to fifth century historian Herodotus, Hesiod and Homer were responsible for creating a “divine genealogy.” They gave the gods their names, epithets, offices, skills, and appearances and solidified it in their literature. They likely received much of their ideas from long standing oral traditions. Mikalson observes that these basic features developed in literature along very different lines from the local cult myths (Mikalson 35).

                Mikalson’s discussion on the myth of Dionysus, Icarus, and Erigone explains why certain sanctuaries and cultic practices were founded in ancient Greece.  The Athenians celebrated a “swinging” ritual known as the Aiora during a Dionysian festival each year, which likely originates from the myth of Erigone hanging herself.  The killing and burial of Icarus in the myth also explain the origins of his cult as the eponymous hero of the deme Icarion (Mikalson 58).

The myth of Dionysus, Icarus, and

The Role of Cult, Myth, and Art in Ancient Greek Religion

thatcher@uoregon.edu

Cult, myth, and art were religious tools used in Sunium to worship the god Poseidon. Ritualistic aspects of worship are prominent and can be seen by some of the standards set in Greek religion. Being “polluted” ritually is an example of the cult, ritualistic aspects of Greek religion (Mikalson, 8). If one had been in the house of someone giving birth they could not go inside the temenos . Little things like that show how Greeks were very ritualistic in the way they lived and worshiped. While ritual provides a vague rule system in which to worship the gods, myth and literature were the stories about the gods. Myths usually were very regional things for the most part with specific groups of people believing in the gods in a wide range of capacities. While myths are mostly thought of as poetic literature they could be any type of divine belief associated with reality. The gods of the Greeks did not have a set “code for human behavior” which allowed for many interpretations and diverse belief among the ancient Greek people. I would argue that ritual is more prominent just because there are more consistencies and less diverse beliefs when it comes to them. An example being that all altars faced east or that altar to gods in the sky had to be outside. Myths on the other hand are up for interpretation and had a more diverse range of beliefs associated with it.

The way art enhances cult worship is due to the wonderful nature of art and the meaning behind its creation. Just like the reading when there were statues built after the war with the Persians serving the purpose of thanking the gods but also reminding the people of them and their power. If everyone thanks the gods for a win in battle then future generations will follow in their belief. Art was a way for the gods presence to be felt in the reality of every day life. When most people had huts to live in, it becomes a big deal that there is a giant bronze statue of a god just down the road. Art allows for the gods to be more prominent and real so that their influence can always be felt.

So far I would say the “religiosity” of the Greeks is somewhat flawed but worked in the times that they lived in. Greeks couldn’t come up with one set of particular rules in which everyone believed because the systems to distribute those rules were not around then. Living in antiquity the Greeks focused more on daily life and what to do not to anger the gods. This comes from a completely different direction of normal religious life in which there is a “loving” God. Gods to the Greeks just needed the honor and respect of the people so that they did not have to punish them like they did Odysseus. This is partly why ritual and cult practices are so prominent because there is no set of religious beliefs with the belief system based around not offending the gods. This allows for the outward practice of faith and “religion” more so than the inner practice most people are familiar with today.

Relationships with the gods and cult practices

lgc@uoregon.edu

In his hypothetical construction of a temple at Sunium, Mikalson attempts to address the various dimensions of Greek religious life and how they combine and converge at temple sites. In his step-by-step approach, Mikalson successfully explains which components of religious sites were most important, and those that followed once a cult had become popular enough to sustain a large temple. In his introductory chapter James Rives talks at length about the four dimensions of religious worship: cult, art, myth, and philosophy. In many ways cult, art, and myth converge during the production of a religious worship site like the one Mikalson constructed in his chapter. In the Greek religious landscape, the most important step to becoming a pious individual was to worship in the correct fashion, hence the importance of cult. This same reverence for cult drove the Greeks to place their worship sites in locations that were suitable for each individual god. Mikalson points out, for example, that mountaintops were often sacred for Zeus and the Site of Sunium was fitting for the god of the sea.  After choosing a proper location, nearly every aspect of the temples construction had a cult purpose, most notably the altar on which offerings would be made. The altar was the crucial aspect of cult, as the practice of sacrificial offerings was a fundamental part of their religious lives and a crucial aspect of remaining in good favor with the god. While myths of the deeds of gods and heroes likely served to reinforce the cult practices, they were not what modern Westerners would classify as a sacred religious text or tradition. Myths were often oral traditions that were used as symbolic representations of philosophical truths, according to Rives.  As it pertains to the temple at Sunium, there would have likely been tales of men lost at sea or killed in naval battles as a result of not providing the proper offering to Poseidon. So while myths might not have served a central role in religious life, it probably reinforced the central ideas and practices of cult. Besides just performing an offering before embarking on the sea, many worshippers would have brought dedications to the temple at Sunium in thanks to the god for fulfilling their requests. These dedications were often works of art such as small statuette or sculpted or painted plaques that would decorate the temple. In many ways, these works of art would be physical and tangible evidence that Poseidon had in fact helped dozens of sea merchants or sailors.

As I previously stated, the presence of myths was far more important to literature and art than it was cult. As Rives states, “…myth remained a fluid tradition, reworked and adapted to new contexts by successive generations…”
Cult worship was clearly the more important aspect of Greek religious life and was merely reinforced by myth and literature.

What I found most interesting about the overall “religiosity” of the Greeks was that they seemed to rely on the gods to help them with things that were out of their control. For example, a sailor would make an offering to Poseidon before setting sail because once they were on the water they were at the mercy of the elements. Greeks made offerings to Zeus because they could not control the climate and weather. So while they were ritualistic when they needed to be, more often than not they were able to complete tasks without invoking the gods.