David R. Dewberry's Outline for Chapter 1 ATHENIAN RELIGION: A HISTORY

I. What is Religion?

Durkeim writes, "religion is something eminently social" (p.1).

To a Greek, this idea may seem unexciting (as we have seen form the many examples in Homer of groups of people making sacrifices together and Hesiod's advice)

Parker writes "even Philosophers see religion as a medium of association not between man and god but between man and man" (p.1). Religion to the Greeks is fellowship (koinonia) which Parker states is not news to any student who has been exposed to Greek religion (primarily through texts).

Religious acts are performed by a group of worshippers who approach a god through a series of traditional practices.

II. Greek Religion

A. The history of Greek Religion in general by authors of antiquity is broad and encompasses a multitude of cities throughout the Greek world. The results are a synopsis, which lacks detail.

A majority of the details relate to the festivals the Greeks.

Despite this, Athens has more of a history than Greece as a whole.

III Why focus on specific cities?

A. The common religious tradition, names of gods, and basic ritual procedures were ubiquitous; however, Athenians and non-Athenians practiced religious rituals somewhat differently. The city influenced the religious activity.

Demoteles is Greek for "paid for by the people." Parker presents this term as the most important Greek word that suggests public religion (i.e., sacrifices, festivals, and sacred precincts that people have the right to use. Although, some individuals convicted of adultery or "draft-dodging" were excluded from public shrines, but not private ones).

Plato argues that no one should possess shrines in private houses. Plato believes that when one wishes to make sacrifice, one should make use of public shrines.

TWO ANCIENT TEXTS INFLUENTIAL IN THE HISTORY OF ATHENIAN RELIGION: Aristotle's Constitution of the Athenians and Thucydides.

Dewberry. CLST 4003H Daniel B. Levine

Return to Main Page: CLST 4003H. Greek Religion. Spring, 2002