Christian Cyclopedia

1. The origins of Gk. religion are largely still obscure. Three tendencies: personification of natural forces (e.g., Naiads, dryads), survival of primitive magic and taboo, and the continuity of a primitive cult of the dead (hero worship). Gk. religion throughout its hist. was concerned with sanctity of places and of human life and purification of men.2. By the time of Homer, if not earlier, Gk. religion was fairly well fixed in the form of the Olympic pantheon. Traditional gods: Zeus (god of the sky; supreme god), Poseidon (god of the sea), Hades (god of death and the underworld), Hera (sister and wife of Zeus), Athena (virgin goddess; patroness of cities; goddess of war). Ares (god of battle), Apollo (god of music and prophecy), Hephaestus (god of fire), Aphrodite (goddess of love and beauty), Demeter (goddess of vegetation), Hermes (god of flocks; messenger of gods), and Artemis (goddess of hunting and virginity). This “state religion” was a rationalizing of religious feeling, primarily ritualistic, not moral. ...