Essay: Religion of the ancient Greeks

The religion of the ancient Greeks was personal, direct and part everyday life. The theology was polytheistic with a myriad of gods and goddesses that often intervened directly in human affairs. In order to define ancient Greek religion, one must consider the rituals, mythology, cult and public practice of the Greeks — components that compensate for the lack of one sacred text of prophets. While these components contribute to our understanding of Greek religion, they also exemplify the difficulties we face in attempting to define it. For instance, the lack of a unified priestly class fostered varying local characters of worship, which in turn created inconsistent and at times incompatible accounts of the myths. Because of the differing mythological accounts as well as the differing nature of practice, I will start this essay by discussing whether or not we can speak of one unified ‘Greek religion’. I will then take a closer a look at Zeus, the king of the gods, examining the different aspects of his wide-ranging (and limited) authority and his relation to the mortals on earth.
While there was no one specific sacred text in ancient Greece, this does not mean that the oral tradition of the Greeks was not put in writing. Most notably are the Theogony by Hesiod and the works of Homer. As noted by Rice and Stambaugh in their Sources for the Study of Greek Religion, Homer’s work functioned in some ways for the Greeks like the Bible does for Christians, as “the source and starting point for man’s curiosity about the divine”. Hesiod’s Theogony, on the other hand, provides a more systematic account of the gods than Homer. The actual gods the Greeks worshipped and the creation myths they believed in varied from region to region. And while there is no one set of Greek cosmology or creation myth and different religious groups believed the universe had been made in various ways, Hesiod’s Theology provides the fullest account of Greek creation myths.
The religious practice of the ancient Greeks, often in the form of sacrificing for the gods, varied from place to place. For instance, Athens, as well as the other constituent demes of Attica, had its own sacrificial calendar. Furthermore, it was common for different regions and villages to have their own cults devoted to minor gods. Different cities could, however, worship the same gods, but with their own local rites and myths associated with them. Zeus, As observed by Rice and Stambaugh, is characterized in the fourth-century Cretan Hymn of the Kourretes as the ‘greatest Kouros’. This reflects a regional non-greek cult where the name of Zeus was attached to a former  local vegetation god.
The seemingly limited power of Zeus also serves as an example of the difficulties we come across in attempting to define Greek religion. While he was deemed the king of gods, he had to compete for this position and after winning the battle with the Titans, he shared his reign with his two brothers. While Zeus became the ruler of the sky and air, Poseidon and Hades ruled the waters and underworld respectively. Perhaps because the Greeks were aware of the competition among the gods, they also saw their vulnerability and thus led to their skepticism. For instance, Chorus in Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound, states at some point that “May he who governs all things, Zeus, never put his power in opposition to my intent.”
Chorus’s claim begs another vital question: to what extent did the Greeks really believe in their gods and what was their evidence for their existence? As aforementioned, the Greeks did not have, like the Christians, a one religious text to lay out the framework of their religion. On the other hand, ancient Greek religion leaned heavily on the myths of the gods. The mythology was very much part of the everyday life and the Greeks undoubtedly regarded the myths as part of their own history as many of the narratives involve gods interacting with humans on earth. Furthermore, the myths were used to explain different natural phenomena as they virtually had had a myriad of gods responsible for both natural and human aspects. For instance, orator Aelius Aristides’s hymn To Zeus serves as an example of corroboration of Zeus: “… he it is who when he grants victory in assemblies and lawsuits is called ‘of the marketplace’, when in battles ‘of trophies’, when he lends aid in diseases and all crises ‘saviour’”. It was believed that every rain shower came from Zeus and the Greeks would use the phrase ‘Zeus’ or ‘God’ ‘is raining’ interchangeably with the impersonal statement ‘it is raining’, testifying how the power of the gods was to them an everyday experience.
In brief, the lack of a unifying religious text and the differing religious practice within and outside of Greece make it challenging to define the ancient Greek religion. Furthermore, the existence of differing mythological accounts begs the question of whether or not we can talk about one ancient Greek religion. While the gods were many, most would agree that Zeus was the mightiest of the gods. However, his limited—or at least divided—power may have had the Greeks question his authority, as seen in Prometheus Bound. While at times skeptical, the Greeks believed in their gods as they were used to explain natural phenomena and the ancient Greek religion can be defined as one that was direct, personal and present in the Greeks’ everyday life.