# How Ordinary Ancient Greeks Worshipped Their Gods

An episode of [Human History ASMR](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6793196842), 29 Sep 2026, 1 h 12 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75116752/how_ordinary_ancient_greeks_worshipped_their_gods_human_voiced_no_ads.mp3

Step into the everyday religious world of ancient Greece and discover how ordinary people worshipped the gods beyond the famous temples, myths, and legendary heroes. This episode explores the practical side of Greek religion and reveals how beliefs about Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, Dionysus, and countless local deities shaped ordinary life. Discover what worship actually looked like for farmers, craftsmen, merchants, sailors, soldiers, women, children, and families. Explore household shrines, offerings, prayers, sacrifices, festivals, processions, sacred meals, and small personal rituals that connected people with the divine. For many Greeks, religion was not simply something practiced in monumental temples—it was woven into everyday routines. Explore the importance of household religion and discover how families honored gods and ancestors within their own homes. Learn why offerings of food, wine, incense, flowers, and other objects were made, and how people sought divine protection for their families, crops, journeys, businesses, marriages, and health. The episode also explores the religious calendar of ancient Greek communities. Discover how festivals brought entire cities together through music, dancing, athletic competitions, theatrical performances, feasting, processions, and sacrifices. Examine the different traditions found across Athens, Sparta, Corinth, and smaller communities, and why Greek religion could vary considerably from one region to another. Beyond formal worship, discover how ordinary Greeks interacted with the supernatural through dreams, omens, divination, sacred springs, healing sanctuaries, and pilgrimage. Explore the relationship between religious belief and important moments in life, including birth, marriage, warfare, illness, and death. Drawing on archaeological discoveries, temple remains, inscriptions, votive offerings, ancient literature, household artifacts, religious calendars, and modern scholarship, this episode separates the lived reality of Greek religion from the simplified versions presented in modern mythology. Narrated with a calm, human voice, this immersive journey is perfect for history enthusiasts, ancient Greece lovers, mythology fans, archaeology listeners, relaxation, or listening before sleep. Step beyond the famous myths and temples and discover how ordinary people actually experienced the gods in everyday ancient Greek life.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: We're all familiar with Greek myth, the old stories of
[0:06] Speaker 1: those ancient gods, and how they interfered with the human world.
[0:12] Speaker 1: But there is a side of this that is less known,
[0:14] Speaker 1: and that is how the ancient Greek people worshipped on
[0:18] Speaker 1: a daily basis. Fortunately for us, we have those ruins
[0:23] Speaker 1: of the old world still there to observe. But what
[0:27] Speaker 1: exactly happened within those old temples? Well, that is our
[0:32] Speaker 1: discussion for today. It's not so much about the great
[0:36] Speaker 1: stories of the gods themselves, but rather the grassroots of
[0:40] Speaker 1: Greek worship. It's about the normal people and their day-to-day
[0:45] Speaker 1: lives with all their hopes, fears and dreams turned into
[0:49] Speaker 1: rituals in hope of divine aid. We go back to
[0:53] Speaker 1: that time when the now ruined temples were once full
[0:57] Speaker 1: of pious worshippers. And we will see from what we
[1:02] Speaker 1: know from ancient evidence and archaeology, how and why the
[1:07] Speaker 1: people of ancient Greek worshipped. And that goes from the
[1:10] Speaker 1: grandest festival, from the grandest temple, all the way to
[1:15] Speaker 1: the most humble of altars in the corner of the
[1:19] Speaker 1: family home. And before we begin, allow me to welcome
[1:23] Speaker 1: you to the channel. If you're new here, I invite
[1:26] Speaker 1: you to subscribe. And if you're coming back... Well, welcome
[1:30] Speaker 1: you back with open arms. Good to see you again.
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[1:38] Speaker 1: those on Patreon, YouTube memberships, the occasional donation, and those
[1:44] Speaker 1: who checked out the merch store with all of its
[1:48] Speaker 1: goodies on there. You might find some Greek-themed things over there.
[1:53] Speaker 1: So why don't you check it out? Anyway, let's get
[1:57] Speaker 1: on with the video now. nice and relaxed, we may begin.
[2:03] Speaker 1: And possibly the best place to begin with Greek religion
[2:08] Speaker 1: in the ancient times is probably the most quintessential practice.
[2:13] Speaker 1: Not unique to, but certainly, as I said, quintessential. That
[2:18] Speaker 1: is the practice of sacrifice, especially the blood sacrifice of animals,
[2:24] Speaker 1: accompanied by prayers and hymns. Now in Greek belief, gods
[2:28] Speaker 1: and humans were bound in a reciprocal relationship. This is
[2:33] Speaker 1: how it worked. The people offered gifts and honour, and
[2:38] Speaker 1: the gods in turn granted blessings like good harvests, health, victory,
[2:45] Speaker 1: that kind of thing. Sacrifice was the most concrete expression
[2:51] Speaker 1: of this relationship. In a typical animal sacrifice, Participants gathered
[2:57] Speaker 1: around an altar, usually a stone or earthen platform in
[3:00] Speaker 1: front of a temple under an open sky. The victim,
[3:05] Speaker 1: often a domestic goat, sheep, pig, or cow, was led forward,
[3:10] Speaker 1: crowned with garlands. All present washed their hands for ritual purity,
[3:16] Speaker 1: and a pinch of barley grain was taken from a basket.
[3:20] Speaker 1: The officiant, that is, the priest or the head of
[3:23] Speaker 1: the family, then sprinkled water on the animal's head, which
[3:27] Speaker 1: would make it reflexively nod or shake, interpreted as the
[3:32] Speaker 1: animal's consent to sacrifice. It was at that moment that
[3:37] Speaker 1: everyone threw their handful of barley onto the altar and
[3:40] Speaker 1: the animal. Next, the prayer was recited. The leader invoked
[3:46] Speaker 1: the name of the god and epithets, reminded the deity
[3:50] Speaker 1: of any past favors or worshippers' devotion, and then perhaps
[3:55] Speaker 1: made a request or expressed thanks on behalf of the group.
[4:00] Speaker 1: For example, you might hear him say something like, Apollo,
[4:04] Speaker 1: we offer a sacrifice for the health of the city,
[4:08] Speaker 1: or something about warding off the plague, good harvests, this
[4:13] Speaker 1: kind of thing. In any case, after the prayer, the
[4:17] Speaker 1: sacrifice was carried out. The animal's throat was cut swiftly.
[4:24] Speaker 1: and the blood collected, and poured onto the altar, or
[4:28] Speaker 1: perhaps into a fire, as an offering to the god.
[4:33] Speaker 1: The carcass was then butchered according to custom. Certain select pieces,
[4:38] Speaker 1: often the thigh bones wrapped in fat, were burned entirely
[4:42] Speaker 1: on the altar as the deity's share, rather sending up thick,
[4:47] Speaker 1: sweet-smelling smoke heavenward, a kind of gesture of giving the
[4:51] Speaker 1: gods a share of the meal. After all, it's all
[4:55] Speaker 1: about them, isn't it? A portion might also be set
[4:59] Speaker 1: aside for the priest or absent community members. But essentially,
[5:05] Speaker 1: the worshippers feasted on the meat in a sacred meal.
[5:09] Speaker 1: So in this way it was two birds with one stone.
[5:13] Speaker 1: Sacrifice was not only an act of reverence, but also
[5:16] Speaker 1: a communal bond. Mortals and the god shared the animal.
[5:23] Speaker 1: the god received honor, fragrance, and the life of the victim,
[5:28] Speaker 1: while humans received nourishment and reassurance of divine goodwill. There
[5:34] Speaker 1: was actually a myth in Hesiod's account that even explains
[5:38] Speaker 1: that Prometheus established how sacrifices work, tricking Zeus into accepting
[5:43] Speaker 1: bones and fat as the divine portion, so humans could
[5:48] Speaker 1: keep the best meat for themselves, showing that the god's
[5:52] Speaker 1: didn't literally eat the food, but, well, they rather appreciated
[5:57] Speaker 1: the honor that it represented. It's the thought that counts,
[6:02] Speaker 1: I suppose. Now, it has to be said that not
[6:06] Speaker 1: every act of worship involved an animal sacrifice. The Greeks
[6:11] Speaker 1: also practiced less bloody offerings on many occasions. A very
[6:17] Speaker 1: common one was the libation. That is a ritual pouring
[6:21] Speaker 1: of liquid, Before drinking wine at a banquet or symposium,
[6:25] Speaker 1: for instance, Greeks would pour out a bit of wine
[6:27] Speaker 1: onto the ground or into a libation bowl for the gods.
[6:34] Speaker 1: Libations of unmixed wine were offered to Zeus, Olympian gods,
[6:38] Speaker 1: or perhaps the heroes of older times. One mixtures of
[6:42] Speaker 1: wine and water, milk, honey, perhaps olive oil, could be
[6:47] Speaker 1: used for other gods or the spirits of the dead.
[6:50] Speaker 1: We'll get to them later. when along with the pouring
[6:54] Speaker 1: a short prayer or toast would be made, for example,
[6:58] Speaker 1: dedicating the first sip of wine to Zeus Xenios, that is,
[7:02] Speaker 1: the protector of guests, or perhaps to Agathos Daimon, the
[7:06] Speaker 1: good spirit of the household. Libations were performed at the
[7:11] Speaker 1: start and end of formal meals, doing every sacrifice to
[7:16] Speaker 1: sanctify the proceedings, and even on their own, when someone
[7:20] Speaker 1: sought a simple blessing. Let's take a little bit of
[7:25] Speaker 1: an example. Use your imagination, a traveller might pour one
[7:30] Speaker 1: out to Poseidon before a sea voyage, or a farmer
[7:34] Speaker 1: might do so to Demeter before ploughing the fields. There's
[7:39] Speaker 1: small things like this. But Greeks also gave offerings of food,
[7:44] Speaker 1: incense and objects. At altars they might place cakes or fruits,
[7:49] Speaker 1: perhaps some bread, or burn barley and incense. to please
[7:54] Speaker 1: the gods with sweet smells. Certain festivals actually featured rather
[8:00] Speaker 1: special cakes. We take the example of little honey cakes
[8:03] Speaker 1: shaped like animals for Artemis or round loaves for Demeter.
[8:10] Speaker 1: Worshippers often dedicated items to the gods as thanks offerings
[8:14] Speaker 1: or fulfillment of vows. Weapons taken from a defeated enemy
[8:18] Speaker 1: might be hung in Ares' temple. A gold votive figurine
[8:23] Speaker 1: of a healed body part might be left at a
[8:27] Speaker 1: slaper sanctuary by someone cured of illness, or even a
[8:32] Speaker 1: small terracotta statuette that could be offered by a farmer
[8:36] Speaker 1: grateful for his good harvest. Little things like that. Now
[8:43] Speaker 1: the temples, they became treasuries of such votive gifts, ranging
[8:48] Speaker 1: from simple pottery to elaborate works of art. These offerings
[8:53] Speaker 1: acknowledged the gods' help and kept good will between gods
[8:57] Speaker 1: and mortals. Underlying all these practices was the principle of
[9:03] Speaker 1: I give so that you may give, as mortals gave
[9:08] Speaker 1: to the gods and expected gifts in return. Quite openly
[9:12] Speaker 1: about that too. This was not seen as a crude bargain.
[9:16] Speaker 1: It's not like that. but rather it's about maintaining a
[9:21] Speaker 1: rightful balance. You see, we already explained how it worked.
[9:26] Speaker 1: Humans depended on divine favor, and the gods took delight
[9:31] Speaker 1: in humans honoring them. Of course, you're at the other
[9:35] Speaker 1: end of the spectrum, too. Gross impiety, failure to show
[9:40] Speaker 1: respect to the gods, and that was believed to provoke
[9:44] Speaker 1: divine anger. Public impiety. could even be a civic crime.
[9:50] Speaker 1: For instance, when some vandals mutilated the sacred Herm statues
[9:56] Speaker 1: of Hermes in Athens on the eve of a military
[9:58] Speaker 1: expedition in 415 BC, the city was terrified that such
[10:03] Speaker 1: an act of impiety would bring disaster. And guess what?
[10:08] Speaker 1: The expedition failed. Catastrophically so. Well, similarly, the philosopher Socrates,
[10:17] Speaker 1: I'm sure you've heard of, was prosecuted in Athens for impiety.
[10:22] Speaker 1: The actual charge in ancient Greek was asebia, accused of
[10:28] Speaker 1: not believing in the city's gods, and thus undermining morality
[10:32] Speaker 1: and corrupting the youth. Well, if you know what happened
[10:37] Speaker 1: to him, he did not get away scot-free with that.
[10:40] Speaker 1: He was forced to drink some hemlock. And, well, you
[10:45] Speaker 1: don't come back from drinking hemlock. These examples show how
[10:50] Speaker 1: seriously the Greeks viewed proper worship. It wasn't a joke.
[10:55] Speaker 1: It was a real part of daily life, and everybody
[10:59] Speaker 1: had to join in. Piety, that is the opposite of
[11:05] Speaker 1: asebia being eusebia, meant participating in the time-honoured rites and
[11:11] Speaker 1: treating the gods with their due honour. Impiety meant neglecting
[11:16] Speaker 1: the more violating sacred norms. And you don't win friends
[11:21] Speaker 1: by doing that. Well, Greek worship usually took place in
[11:27] Speaker 1: designated sacred spaces. The best known of these are the
[11:32] Speaker 1: temples that still dot the Greek landscape today. Columned buildings
[11:38] Speaker 1: like the Parthenon in Athens or the Temple of Apollo
[11:41] Speaker 1: in Delphi. A Greek temple, as naos mean dwellings. was
[11:48] Speaker 1: understood to be the house of a god, inside its
[11:51] Speaker 1: so-called statue or idol of the deity, often life-sized or larger,
[11:57] Speaker 1: typically made of wood, stone, or in grand cases, ivory
[12:02] Speaker 1: or gold. The temple's primary function was to shelter this
[12:07] Speaker 1: divine image and treasure the offerings and the treasures rather
[12:12] Speaker 1: offered to the god. However, Regular worshippers did not gather
[12:18] Speaker 1: inside the temples as a congregation. In fact, the interior
[12:23] Speaker 1: was usually only entered by priests or certain officials. Lay
[12:28] Speaker 1: people stayed outside the altar. The main action of worship
[12:32] Speaker 1: happened in the open air. Every temple had an altar
[12:35] Speaker 1: typically located in front of it, under the sky. because
[12:39] Speaker 1: you see, sacrifices to the Olympian gods were offered upward,
[12:43] Speaker 1: by burning smoke, so it could ascend up to heaven.
[12:48] Speaker 1: The temple and its surrounding area, known as the temenos,
[12:53] Speaker 1: were usually marked off by a boundary wall or stones.
[12:57] Speaker 1: The sacred precinct was distinct from ordinary space. One often
[13:02] Speaker 1: passed through a gate called a propylon to enter. Inside,
[13:07] Speaker 1: could be one or several temples, altars, and sometimes additional structures,
[13:14] Speaker 1: small chapels, treasure houses for storing the offerings, fountains for
[13:19] Speaker 1: ritual washing, and of course these stores, that is kind
[13:24] Speaker 1: of a colored colonnade for these pilgrims to take rest at.
[13:30] Speaker 1: Let's have an example. At Olympia, the Sanctuary of Zeus
[13:33] Speaker 1: eventually contained the Great Temple of Zeus. with its colossal statue,
[13:39] Speaker 1: a temple of Hera, dozens of altars, practice tracks for
[13:44] Speaker 1: athletes and treasuries built by various city-states to house their
[13:48] Speaker 1: dedicatory gifts. At Delphi, likewise, multiple temples to Apollo, Athena, etc.,
[13:57] Speaker 1: sacred springs and monuments filled the valley. Regardless of complexity,
[14:03] Speaker 1: the focal point's always the same, the altar. was where
[14:07] Speaker 1: offerings were made, and that was the center of all
[14:12] Speaker 1: of the temple worship. But then we have the priests
[14:18] Speaker 1: and priestesses, known as hereos and hereia. They were the
[14:23] Speaker 1: official custodians of sanctuaries and the leaders of ritual, professionals
[14:30] Speaker 1: who knew how to get things done in the best way.
[14:35] Speaker 1: In Greek religion, Priests were not a separate clergy class
[14:38] Speaker 1: divorced from society. They were typically just ordinary citizens who
[14:43] Speaker 1: took on the priesthood as an office or honour, often
[14:47] Speaker 1: for a fixed term or sometimes even for life. Pretty
[14:51] Speaker 1: stable career. Each temple or cult had its own priesthood.
[14:57] Speaker 1: For example, there was a priestess of Athena Puleas in Athens,
[15:02] Speaker 1: a priest of Zeus at Olympia. a priest of Apollo
[15:05] Speaker 1: at Delphi, and so on, you get the point. And
[15:09] Speaker 1: each of these served their particular deity in that locale.
[15:13] Speaker 1: Priestly positions could be filled by various means. Some were
[15:17] Speaker 1: elected or chosen by lot from the citizenry. Some were
[15:21] Speaker 1: hereditary in certain families. Especially old aristocratic clans might hold
[15:26] Speaker 1: traditional priesthoods. Well, and a few posts could be bought
[15:32] Speaker 1: or competed for. You see, in later periods, wealthy people
[15:36] Speaker 1: vied for the prestige of being, say, a chief priest
[15:40] Speaker 1: of a provincial imperial cult. But what did they do
[15:46] Speaker 1: all day? Short answer, they managed the rituals. A priest
[15:53] Speaker 1: or priestess led processions, recited or chanted the required prayers,
[15:58] Speaker 1: and made the initial offerings and sacrifices on behalf of
[16:02] Speaker 1: the community. Not every member of the public knew exactly
[16:06] Speaker 1: what they were doing, so they had to rely on
[16:09] Speaker 1: the priests to take the lead in the proceedings. They
[16:14] Speaker 1: were also responsible for the maintenance of the temple, keeping
[16:18] Speaker 1: things clean, guarding the treasures, tending any eternal flame or
[16:24] Speaker 1: daily sacrifice the cult required. They also oversaw the sanctuary's finances,
[16:30] Speaker 1: its donations. sale of sacrificial skins and so on, and
[16:35] Speaker 1: often served as administrators of associated property. Many temples also
[16:40] Speaker 1: owned land that contributed a little bit of income. Importantly,
[16:46] Speaker 1: priests did not act as intermediaries conveying doctrine or divine
[16:51] Speaker 1: forgiveness in some later religions. You see, it was kind
[16:56] Speaker 1: of different in the old times. Greek gods did not
[16:59] Speaker 1: mandate a priestly class to explain theology or go out
[17:03] Speaker 1: and preach moral codes, things like that. Rather, priests were
[17:08] Speaker 1: ritual specialists and caretakers. Their authority came from doing things
[17:14] Speaker 1: the right and old-fashioned way, so that the gods would
[17:18] Speaker 1: be pleased. During ceremonies, priests wore special attire, such as
[17:24] Speaker 1: a fillet, which is a headband, or wreath. and sometimes
[17:29] Speaker 1: distinctive robes. When thus in service, they were considered to
[17:35] Speaker 1: embody the dignity of the god. So harming a priest
[17:39] Speaker 1: was a serious sacrilege, a protected class, I suppose, and
[17:44] Speaker 1: in some cities priests and priestesses had reserved seats of
[17:48] Speaker 1: honour at public events, and that shows once again their
[17:51] Speaker 1: esteemed role, front row seats at games or the theatres.
[17:57] Speaker 1: Not a bad perk of the job. It's no wonder
[18:00] Speaker 1: people were lining up to get that. Now, as for women,
[18:06] Speaker 1: they could and often did become priestesses, especially for the
[18:12] Speaker 1: goddesses and even for male gods in certain cases. For example,
[18:18] Speaker 1: the Pythia at Delphi is the Oracle of Apollo. She
[18:23] Speaker 1: was a woman, wasn't she? And so was the priestess
[18:26] Speaker 1: of Athena in Athens, and the priestess of Demeter in Eleusis.
[18:32] Speaker 1: Women's participation in public life was limited in many ways,
[18:36] Speaker 1: but the priesthood was one of those notable exceptions where
[18:40] Speaker 1: a Greek woman could wield influence and public recognition. Typically,
[18:46] Speaker 1: a priestess would be either a virgin or beyond childbearing age.
[18:51] Speaker 1: That would depend on the individual cult's requirements. A famous
[18:56] Speaker 1: priestess was, of course, the Pythia at Delphi, as we've mentioned,
[19:00] Speaker 1: whose prophecies guided nations. I've done a full video on
[19:04] Speaker 1: her if you're interested. You'll find it in the Greek playlist.
[19:09] Speaker 1: Another was the priestess of Hera at Argos, who had
[19:13] Speaker 1: a state chariot ride in festivals. Their presence shows that
[19:18] Speaker 1: the Greeks did not find it odd for women to officiate.
[19:22] Speaker 1: What really mattered was the fulfilling of the traditional qualifications
[19:27] Speaker 1: set by myth or custom for serving a given deity.
[19:32] Speaker 1: But Greek priests did not form a centralized church hierarchy
[19:36] Speaker 1: like we see it in the modern era. Each sanctuary
[19:40] Speaker 1: and its officials were quite independent. A person could be
[19:45] Speaker 1: priest of Zeus in one city without any authority over
[19:49] Speaker 1: Zeus' cult in another. And there was also no Greek
[19:53] Speaker 1: pope or supreme council of priests. Religion was all local
[20:00] Speaker 1: and very pluralistic. Now this meant that there was often
[20:04] Speaker 1: flexibility and variation in practices between religions, regions rather, excuse me,
[20:10] Speaker 1: One city might sacrifice bulls to Poseidon, and another might
[20:14] Speaker 1: mainly sacrifice horses to him, and indeed they did so
[20:18] Speaker 1: in Thessaly. Some rituals in one place might seem peculiar elsewhere,
[20:25] Speaker 1: but priests from different areas generally recognized each other's role
[20:28] Speaker 1: in serving the same gods, even if the customs differed
[20:34] Speaker 1: a little bit. Of course, throughout the year, the Greeks
[20:39] Speaker 1: held festivals, essentially religious holidays when normal life paused for
[20:45] Speaker 1: a day, and the community joined in the worship and celebration.
[20:50] Speaker 1: On these days, sacrifices and prayers were performed on a
[20:53] Speaker 1: larger scale, often accompanied by feasting, music, athletics, and other
[20:58] Speaker 1: forms of communal enjoyment. A big party, everyone having a
[21:03] Speaker 1: good time. But festivals could be specific to one city,
[21:08] Speaker 1: or even pan-Hellenic, that meaning open to all of the Greeks.
[21:16] Speaker 1: But in all cases, they were central events in the
[21:18] Speaker 1: cultural calendar, and they reinforced both social unity, but also
[21:24] Speaker 1: religious devotion. So let's get to some of them now,
[21:27] Speaker 1: and understand what happened in the Greek festivals. Let's look
[21:33] Speaker 1: at a typical festival day. It combined multiple elements. First
[21:38] Speaker 1: was usually a procession, a solemn parade through the city
[21:42] Speaker 1: or sanctuary, with participants in special dress carrying sacred implements
[21:46] Speaker 1: or offerings. For example, during the Panathenaia in Athens, the
[21:53] Speaker 1: city's annual festival for Athena, citizens and metics, that is,
[21:57] Speaker 1: resident foreigners, formed a grand procession that wound its way
[22:01] Speaker 1: to the Acropolis. Young women carried baskets of barley and knives.
[22:08] Speaker 1: Old men bore olive branches. Warriors carried arms, and at
[22:13] Speaker 1: the head a new woven robe for Athena was carried
[22:17] Speaker 1: like a banner. They were going to present it at
[22:20] Speaker 1: her statue. A gift. Music. It had flutes and lyres.
[22:27] Speaker 1: They always accompanied the march, and such processions served to
[22:31] Speaker 1: display the city's reverence. collective pride and order. Next, at
[22:37] Speaker 1: the altar, came the sacrifices. We've already discussed them, but
[22:43] Speaker 1: in a festival these could be quite numerous. A hecatomb
[22:48] Speaker 1: of 100 oxen might be sacrificed at a major Panhellenic
[22:53] Speaker 1: festival like the Olympics, or a series of bulls and
[22:56] Speaker 1: rams at a city festival. In Athens, a Panathenaic sacrifice
[23:02] Speaker 1: For instance, many cows were slaughtered for Athena, the bones
[23:07] Speaker 1: and fat were burnt for the goddess, while the meat
[23:11] Speaker 1: was later distributed to the people. Every Greek festival had
[23:15] Speaker 1: at least one major sacrifice, and often more, because feeding
[23:20] Speaker 1: the god ritually and the community literally was at the
[23:24] Speaker 1: heart of these celebrations. Sacrificial smoke rising from the city
[23:29] Speaker 1: told everyone that the holy time had was well and
[23:33] Speaker 1: truly in effect. And then came the various forms of
[23:38] Speaker 1: entertainment and contests. Now, they were viewed as different kinds
[23:44] Speaker 1: of offerings to the gods. The Greeks believed that excelling
[23:49] Speaker 1: in sports, poetry, and drama could honor a deity just
[23:53] Speaker 1: as much as a sacrifice did, showing those above them
[23:58] Speaker 1: the glory of their creation, I suppose. at Panhellenic gatherings
[24:04] Speaker 1: like the Olympics or the Pythian Games for Apollo at Delphi.
[24:11] Speaker 1: Athletes from different cities competed in foot races, wrestling, javelin
[24:15] Speaker 1: and chariot racing. Victors received wreaths, Olive at Olympia, Laurel
[24:21] Speaker 1: at Delphi, and were often thought to have won thanks
[24:25] Speaker 1: to the gods' favour. Doing these games, sacrifices and hymns
[24:31] Speaker 1: to the patron god opened and closed the events. And
[24:34] Speaker 1: even during competition, the athlete's excellence was considered a tribute
[24:38] Speaker 1: to Zeus or Apollo. War, of course, was halted during
[24:43] Speaker 1: major games. It was called the Olympic Truce, and it
[24:47] Speaker 1: allowed everyone to travel safely. That just shows how sacred
[24:52] Speaker 1: and important the event really was. In city festivals, contests
[24:57] Speaker 1: could include music and literary competitions. At the city of
[25:02] Speaker 1: Dionysia in Athens, for example, playwrights presented tragedies and also
[25:07] Speaker 1: comedies in Dionysus Theatre, basically turning worship into a kind
[25:13] Speaker 1: of cultural showcase. The theatre would begin with procession and
[25:19] Speaker 1: sacrifices to Dionysus, and the sponsors of plays, of course,
[25:24] Speaker 1: the Koragoe, consider their funding of chorus as a religious duty.
[25:31] Speaker 1: The audience, too, saw themselves as participating in an act
[25:33] Speaker 1: of devotion by attending and judging the plays honoring the
[25:37] Speaker 1: god of drama. On a lighter note, many festivals included
[25:41] Speaker 1: dances and merrymaking. For instance, the winter festival of Anthesteria,
[25:46] Speaker 1: also for Dionysus, was basically a three-day drink-up, a big
[25:52] Speaker 1: wine party celebrating the new vintage. complete with drinking contests
[25:57] Speaker 1: and ritualized joking, all under the benevolent eye of the god.
[26:04] Speaker 1: And finally, most festivals ended with a great feast, or
[26:09] Speaker 1: distribution of meat to the populace, because you can't have
[26:12] Speaker 1: a party without food, right? Especially when there's alcohol involved. Athens,
[26:20] Speaker 1: after the Panathenaic sacrifice, Portions of beef were doled out
[26:24] Speaker 1: to citizens to take home and eat for themselves, literally
[26:29] Speaker 1: sharing in the Feast of Athena. At some festivals, communal
[26:33] Speaker 1: banquets were held. For example, at Sparta's Carneia in honor
[26:38] Speaker 1: of Apollo, groups of men dined together in public tents.
[26:43] Speaker 1: These feasts reinforced community bonds. Eating the sacred meat together
[26:48] Speaker 1: symbolized the gods' grace spreading throughout the city. But festivals
[26:53] Speaker 1: could also be exclusive or inclusive in terms of their participation.
[27:00] Speaker 1: Some of them were pan-Hellenic, like the Olympics or Delphic Games,
[27:04] Speaker 1: but others were strictly local. For example, we have one
[27:08] Speaker 1: that is women only. That is the Thesmophoria for Demeter,
[27:15] Speaker 1: celebrated in many cities by married citizen women, while the
[27:19] Speaker 1: men were not invited. Completely excluded, they had to stay
[27:25] Speaker 1: at home. Now during the Thesmophoria, women camped out on
[27:30] Speaker 1: the city's outskirts, offered sacrifices, including throwing piglets into pits
[27:35] Speaker 1: to rot a curious fertility charm, and retrieving the decomposed
[27:40] Speaker 1: remains later to mix with seeds. They also fasted and
[27:44] Speaker 1: told sacred stories, and prayed for agricultural abundance and healthy children. Now,
[27:51] Speaker 1: this festival was for women, by women, for the goddess
[27:55] Speaker 1: of grain, acknowledging women's role in family and fertility. Meanwhile,
[28:02] Speaker 1: many Greek cities had at least one festival where men
[28:06] Speaker 1: and women swapped typical roles and norms were relaxed. For example,
[28:12] Speaker 1: let's take the Halowa in Attica, also a Demeter Dionysus festival.
[28:19] Speaker 1: where women could openly tell dirty jokes and handle models
[28:24] Speaker 1: of genitalia as part of fertility magic, while behavior utterly
[28:30] Speaker 1: forbidden in daily life was kind of given a free
[28:34] Speaker 1: reign at these times. Such ritual reversals were temporary releases,
[28:40] Speaker 1: paradoxically reaffirming the normal order once the festival ended. But hey,
[28:47] Speaker 1: at least take a little bit of a break. It's something.
[28:52] Speaker 1: But it wasn't just that the Greeks spoke to their gods.
[28:57] Speaker 1: They also believed that the gods spoke back to them. Well,
[29:02] Speaker 1: this happened, of course, not through the gods directly, but
[29:05] Speaker 1: rather through oracles and other forms of divination. Systems by
[29:09] Speaker 1: which the gods' will or answers could be revealed to humans. And,
[29:15] Speaker 1: of course, the most famous is the Apollo oracle at Delphi.
[29:20] Speaker 1: often simply called the Oracle, because of the prestige and
[29:25] Speaker 1: pan-Hellenic authority. So, let's discuss her for a little bit. Now,
[29:30] Speaker 1: you see, Delphi, Apollo's prophetic priestess, the Pythia, gave answers
[29:35] Speaker 1: to questions posed by individuals or official city delegations. The
[29:41] Speaker 1: whole process was quite ritualized. The inquirer would purify themselves
[29:47] Speaker 1: with water from the sacred spring and offer a sacrifice,
[29:52] Speaker 1: typically a goat or a sheep, something like that, at
[29:55] Speaker 1: Apollo's altar. If the sacrifice showed good omens, that is,
[30:01] Speaker 1: the animal's entrails had no blemish, things like that, Apollo
[30:05] Speaker 1: was deemed willing to respond. Then the Pythia, an older
[30:11] Speaker 1: local woman specifically chosen for purity of life, entered Apollo's
[30:16] Speaker 1: temple and sat on a tripod seat above the fissure
[30:19] Speaker 1: in the earth. After burning laurel leaves and perhaps barley
[30:25] Speaker 1: meal on the altar and inhaling their smoke, and as
[30:28] Speaker 1: some think, earth gases in the additon, she fell into
[30:32] Speaker 1: a trance. In this ecstatic state, the Pythia would speak,
[30:37] Speaker 1: delivering Apollo's responses, often in ambiguous or riddling phrases. Temple
[30:45] Speaker 1: priests standing by would record or share her utterances into
[30:50] Speaker 1: coherent Greek, traditionally in hexameter verse, by the way. and
[30:56] Speaker 1: then present the oracle's words to the one who petitioned her.
[31:01] Speaker 1: Delphi's oracles were famously cryptic. A classic example is King
[31:07] Speaker 1: Croesus of Lydia asking if he should attack the Persian Empire,
[31:10] Speaker 1: and the oracle replied that if he did so, he would, quote,
[31:15] Speaker 1: destroy a great empire. Well, Croesus took that as encouragement,
[31:21] Speaker 1: only to find out the empire he was about to
[31:23] Speaker 1: destroy was his own. Despite such double-edged prophecies, or, I mean,
[31:30] Speaker 1: maybe because of them, I suppose, Delphi was deeply respected.
[31:36] Speaker 1: It was customary for Greek city-states to consult Delphi before
[31:40] Speaker 1: major undertakings, founding a colony, going to war, establishing new laws,
[31:46] Speaker 1: or dealing with plagues, things like that. The Oracle's fame
[31:50] Speaker 1: spread beyond Greece to foreign kings from Lydia, Phrygia, Even
[31:56] Speaker 1: as far as Egypt saw Delphi's council, laden with rich
[32:00] Speaker 1: gifts for Apollo, of course. You can't show up empty-handed.
[32:06] Speaker 1: Aside from Delphi, though, there were other local or regional
[32:11] Speaker 1: oracular shrines. Even Zeus had an ancient oracle at Dodona
[32:16] Speaker 1: in northwestern Greece. where priests and later priestesses interpreted the
[32:21] Speaker 1: rustling of leaves of a sacred oak tree and the
[32:24] Speaker 1: clanging of bronze cauldrons hung in its branches as Zeus' voice.
[32:29] Speaker 1: Pilgrims to Dodona would inscribe their questions on lead tablets,
[32:34] Speaker 1: hundreds of which survived, by the way. These questions are
[32:38] Speaker 1: often very simple and very personal. You have things like,
[32:43] Speaker 1: Will I get over this illness? Will my children be rich?
[32:49] Speaker 1: Should I go out to see where is my missing cow?
[32:53] Speaker 1: Things like that. Well, the answer is perhaps given in
[32:57] Speaker 1: one word form, like yes or no by the priests
[33:00] Speaker 1: are mostly lost. But their earnest questions show how even
[33:04] Speaker 1: ordinary people might seek God's guidance in the most practical
[33:08] Speaker 1: of affairs. It's not always about the wars and the
[33:12] Speaker 1: conquering and all the rest. Sometimes it's just those little
[33:16] Speaker 1: concerns of normal people's lives. But oracles existed for other
[33:22] Speaker 1: gods and heroes too. Apollo had additional oracle sites such
[33:26] Speaker 1: as Didyma in Ionia and Claros. These had their own
[33:31] Speaker 1: priesthoods and rites of consultation. At Didyma, for example, the
[33:37] Speaker 1: priestess drank from a sacred spring before prophesying. Some healing
[33:45] Speaker 1: gods or heroes gave oracles through incubation Now, Tabriot means
[33:51] Speaker 1: the sick would sleep in their temples and hope for
[33:55] Speaker 1: a revealing dream. The most notable were the sanctuaries of Aslapius,
[34:00] Speaker 1: the god of healing, for example at Epidaurus, where patients
[34:05] Speaker 1: reported visions of the god offering cures during their dreamful sleep,
[34:10] Speaker 1: and indeed doctors at the sanctuaries would interpret these dreams
[34:12] Speaker 1: and treat accordingly. There was even an oracular cave at
[34:16] Speaker 1: Trophonius in Boeotia, where seekers underwent a pretty terrifying underground
[34:22] Speaker 1: experience to receive cryptic advice. Those who descended came out
[34:27] Speaker 1: ghostly pale and quite distraught, and it even gave rise
[34:32] Speaker 1: to a Greek saying, more timid than one who has
[34:36] Speaker 1: seen Trophonius. Well, beyond formal oracles, the Greeks practiced constant
[34:43] Speaker 1: divination by observing natural signs of what we might call omens,
[34:49] Speaker 1: They believed the gods could send messages through the flight
[34:52] Speaker 1: of birds, the shape of clouds, a chance meeting, pretty
[34:56] Speaker 1: much any unusual or strange occurrence. Professional seers were retained
[35:03] Speaker 1: specially by armies. For example, before battles, Greek armies performed
[35:09] Speaker 1: sacrifices and examined the entrails, particularly the liver, by the way,
[35:13] Speaker 1: of victims for favourable indications. the presence of a smooth
[35:19] Speaker 1: and normal liver, that was a pretty good sign. An
[35:23] Speaker 1: anomaly was considered a bad sign, though. There are multiple
[35:27] Speaker 1: historical accounts of armies delaying battle for days because the
[35:31] Speaker 1: sacrificial omens were unfavorable, and then attacking only when a
[35:37] Speaker 1: positive sign finally appeared. Before the Battle of Plataea in
[35:42] Speaker 1: 479 BCE, Both the Greeks and Persian forces reportedly waited
[35:48] Speaker 1: many days, because every morning the sacrifices yielded negative omens.
[35:54] Speaker 1: But it was only when the Greeks got good entrails
[35:58] Speaker 1: that they started to charge, which, as pious Greeks later noted,
[36:04] Speaker 1: resulted in a stunning Greek victory. I mean, what more
[36:09] Speaker 1: proof do you need? But Greeks in everyday life also
[36:13] Speaker 1: consulted short-term divination. Think about things like casting lots, like
[36:19] Speaker 1: drawing marked pebbles from a jar, this kind of thing.
[36:24] Speaker 1: Interpreting the words of a casual conversation as a sign,
[36:28] Speaker 1: or the classic example, which is sneezing. You see, a
[36:33] Speaker 1: well-timed sneeze could be an affirmation from Zeus. In Homer's Odyssey,
[36:38] Speaker 1: Penelope prays for a sign and Telemachus sneezes loudly. She
[36:43] Speaker 1: laughs at that, convincing that means her prayer for Odysseus'
[36:48] Speaker 1: return and the suitor's death would actually be answered. Sudden thunder,
[36:54] Speaker 1: or lightning, of course. Well, that was Zeus' doing. It's
[36:58] Speaker 1: probably the best sign you could get. And a good
[37:01] Speaker 1: sanction or warn against an action. Superstitions and little omens
[37:06] Speaker 1: pervaded Greek life, too. Seeing certain birds or animals. An
[37:11] Speaker 1: eagle on the right was good. A crow on the left, eh,
[37:15] Speaker 1: not so good. Spilling wine, not good either. But you
[37:20] Speaker 1: don't need to be religious to get upset at that.
[37:24] Speaker 1: Or even a twitching eye. They could all be read
[37:27] Speaker 1: as divine hints. Nobody wants that, don't they? But the
[37:33] Speaker 1: purpose of all this divination was quite practical. It was
[37:37] Speaker 1: to align human action with divine will. Instead of flying blind,
[37:45] Speaker 1: I suppose, the Greeks tried to get the gods input
[37:48] Speaker 1: on major decisions. Well, it wasn't always clear or straightforward, though,
[37:54] Speaker 1: that's the catch. Hence the need for skilled interpreters. Yet
[37:59] Speaker 1: have someone around who could read all the signs. But
[38:02] Speaker 1: it did give a sense that the gods cared, at least,
[38:05] Speaker 1: and were involved in your daily affairs at some point.
[38:11] Speaker 1: It also introduced a notion of caution and humility. A
[38:15] Speaker 1: leader might have bold plans, but what if the gods
[38:19] Speaker 1: sent unfavourable omens? Pressing ahead was considered arrogant and dangerous.
[38:24] Speaker 1: Here's an example. The doomed Sicilian expedition in 413, where
[38:31] Speaker 1: the Athenian general Nicias a very devout man refused to
[38:35] Speaker 1: let his fleet sail home after a lunar eclipse occurred,
[38:39] Speaker 1: insisting they wait the ritual 27 days as advised by
[38:42] Speaker 1: his seers. But this delay trapped the Athenians and led
[38:47] Speaker 1: to their annihilation. To us, Nicias may seem overly superstitious,
[38:55] Speaker 1: but in Greek eyes, he was being properly respectful to
[38:58] Speaker 1: the gods' obvious signal. An eclipse was a cosmic sign
[39:05] Speaker 1: of divine displeasure. Such was the weight the Greeks gave
[39:10] Speaker 1: to omens. I mean, think about the gods being so
[39:15] Speaker 1: angry that they quite literally block the entire sun out.
[39:20] Speaker 1: You can't really interpret that as something good. Well, summed up,
[39:27] Speaker 1: seeking guidance from the gods was pretty integral. Through oracles, dreams,
[39:31] Speaker 1: and signs, the gods were believed to speak to those
[39:34] Speaker 1: who cared to listen. And that was pretty much everyone.
[39:39] Speaker 1: Most of the time, the messages were entwined with ambiguity,
[39:43] Speaker 1: so you had to use your imagination a bit. A
[39:45] Speaker 1: reminder that mortal understanding of the gods' words in their
[39:49] Speaker 1: realm is quite limited. Yet the Greeks valued that chance
[39:53] Speaker 1: to glimpse the perspective. They combined fatalistic acceptance with an
[40:00] Speaker 1: earnest effort to get hints about the fate so they
[40:02] Speaker 1: could act wisely. And just as a Greek farmer would
[40:06] Speaker 1: not neglect to sacrifice to Zeus for rain, a Greek
[40:10] Speaker 1: commander would be Quite stupid to ignore the counsel of
[40:14] Speaker 1: Apollo's oracle or the augury from Zeus' sacred eagle. To
[40:19] Speaker 1: do otherwise would be courting disaster. It would mean serving
[40:24] Speaker 1: the dialogue between human and divine that was meant to
[40:28] Speaker 1: guide the course of life. Severing rather, not serving. Now
[40:37] Speaker 1: alongside the public, civic religion that all Greeks participated in,
[40:41] Speaker 1: There also existed these things called mystery cults, secretive groups
[40:46] Speaker 1: offering a more personal and mystical religious experience. Now that
[40:54] Speaker 1: word is a little bit different. The word mystery, the
[40:58] Speaker 1: cults are called mysteries because the initiates, mistai, had to
[41:03] Speaker 1: keep their right secret. The Greek word mistais literally means
[41:08] Speaker 1: one who is closed, i.e. Closed lips, closed eyes, all
[41:13] Speaker 1: to outsiders. The most famous, of course, were the Eleusinian
[41:17] Speaker 1: Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone, celebrated at Eleusis, that is
[41:22] Speaker 1: a town near Athens. I have done a full video
[41:25] Speaker 1: on them, it goes for about an hour and a half,
[41:27] Speaker 1: I think. But we'll just do a quick ten minutes
[41:31] Speaker 1: or so on them today, I suppose. Now, for over
[41:34] Speaker 1: a thousand years, Greeks, and eventually Romans, by the way,
[41:39] Speaker 1: From all over were initiated at Eleusis, ranging from peasants
[41:44] Speaker 1: to emperors. The Eleusinian Mysteries promised a form of spiritual rebirth,
[41:51] Speaker 1: and ultimately a hope for a better life after death.
[41:55] Speaker 1: The initiation at Eleusis took place annually in the fall
[41:59] Speaker 1: and was a structured process. First, candidates assembled in Athens rather,
[42:06] Speaker 1: and underwent preliminary purification, that is, bathing in the sea
[42:09] Speaker 1: and sacrifices over several days. Then, on a set evening,
[42:13] Speaker 1: they marched to Eleusis in a grand torch-lit procession, hundreds
[42:18] Speaker 1: of initiates carrying torches along that sacred road, re-enacting Demeter's
[42:22] Speaker 1: search for her daughter Persephone at night. Now, at Eleusis,
[42:28] Speaker 1: various rituals were enacted, including fasting, drinking a special brew
[42:34] Speaker 1: called Kikeon, as Demeter did in the myth when she mourned,
[42:39] Speaker 1: and performing certain actions directed by the priests. Now the
[42:44] Speaker 1: climax of all this was inside the Telesterion, that is
[42:48] Speaker 1: the great initiation hall. There, in complete secrecy, initiates experienced
[42:55] Speaker 1: the holy revelation, that is the Epopteia, the Hierophant, that
[43:01] Speaker 1: is the head priest, and the Hierophantisa, the head priestess,
[43:05] Speaker 1: Likely presented sacred objects, perhaps ears of grain or a
[43:10] Speaker 1: sacred winnowing fan, and recited or enacted a powerful story
[43:14] Speaker 1: of loss and renewal. The whole may have been suddenly
[43:18] Speaker 1: filled with light. Some speculate flashing torches or fire to
[43:22] Speaker 1: symbolize Persephone's return from the dark underworld. What exactly happened, though,
[43:28] Speaker 1: was never written down. Initiates were so faithful to their
[43:32] Speaker 1: vows that even today we can only piece it together.
[43:35] Speaker 1: hints and allusions from the time. But everyone agrees that
[43:40] Speaker 1: the effect was quite profound. Initiates emerged feeling joyful and reassured.
[43:47] Speaker 1: A famous line quoted by Pindar and others says, Happy
[43:51] Speaker 1: is he who has seen the mysteries. He knows the
[43:54] Speaker 1: end of life, and its God-given beginning. Of course, they
[44:01] Speaker 1: believed that after death their souls would dwell in the
[44:03] Speaker 1: sunnier part of Hades, or enjoy special favour, unlike the
[44:07] Speaker 1: uninitiated who would flit as witless shades in the darkness.
[44:12] Speaker 1: Nobody wants that. So in short, the Eleusinian Mysteries offered
[44:18] Speaker 1: a kind of spiritual salvation of sorts, a blessed afterlife
[44:23] Speaker 1: through the grace of Demeter and Persephone. And of course, well,
[44:30] Speaker 1: a pretty interesting experience all around for people who are
[44:33] Speaker 1: going to join in on it. It would be quite
[44:36] Speaker 1: a good thing to brag to your friends that you
[44:38] Speaker 1: had taken part in it, that's for sure. But of
[44:42] Speaker 1: course it must be said there's other mystery cults around
[44:45] Speaker 1: as well, the Eleusinian mysteries being the most famous, but
[44:50] Speaker 1: we should mention a few others. The cult of Dionysus
[44:53] Speaker 1: had secret rites in various places. The most notorious depicted
[44:58] Speaker 1: in Euripides' Barcae. Groups of women called Maenads would go
[45:04] Speaker 1: into the mountains to celebrate the god in frenzied dances,
[45:08] Speaker 1: sometimes allegedly performing what is called sparagmos, that is, tearing
[45:14] Speaker 1: apart a live animal and consuming raw flesh as a
[45:17] Speaker 1: way of communing with Dionysus' vital force. In myth, these
[45:23] Speaker 1: Bacchic revels could also give women extraordinary strength and freedom
[45:28] Speaker 1: from normal constraints. As in the work Bacchae, where they
[45:32] Speaker 1: miraculously handle wild animals and defy the king. While state
[45:38] Speaker 1: festivals of Dionysus like the Dionysia were orderly, the mystic
[45:43] Speaker 1: Dionysian riots allowed a deeper ecstatic union with the god.
[45:50] Speaker 1: Participants aimed to lose their individual selves in the collective
[45:53] Speaker 1: intoxication of the divine, hence the term having the god inside.
[46:00] Speaker 1: And such experiences were highly personal and, of course, deeply emotional.
[46:06] Speaker 1: They offered a kind of catharsis and liberation that that
[46:12] Speaker 1: regular day-to-day worship, I suppose, could never really give. Now,
[46:20] Speaker 1: another widespread secret movement was called Orphism. set of mystical
[46:25] Speaker 1: beliefs and practices attributed to the legendary poet Orpheus. Orphic
[46:32] Speaker 1: initiates followed a strict purity ritual, often vegetarian, refraining from
[46:37] Speaker 1: eggs and beans too, while wearing white linen and reading
[46:42] Speaker 1: sacred hymns and poems that gave a unique account of
[46:45] Speaker 1: the cosmos. Orphic doctrine taught the soul was divine and
[46:49] Speaker 1: trapped in a cycle of rebirth as punishment for an
[46:52] Speaker 1: ancient crime. The Orphics thought that humans were born from
[46:56] Speaker 1: the Titans who murdered the infant god Dionysus. So, we
[47:03] Speaker 1: carry a Titan's guilt and, of course, a little spark
[47:06] Speaker 1: of divinity too from Dionysus. Through ascetic living and secret rituals,
[47:15] Speaker 1: Orphics sought to purge the titanic element and eventually break
[47:20] Speaker 1: free from the reincarnation cycle. Tiny gold tablets found in
[47:25] Speaker 1: graves of Orphic initiates bear instructions for the soul in
[47:28] Speaker 1: the underworld, which springs to drink from and passwords to
[47:34] Speaker 1: give to the guardians. They were all aimed at securing
[47:37] Speaker 1: a better fate among the blessed, and it shows the
[47:40] Speaker 1: explicit promise of personal salvation and escape from mortal fate,
[47:46] Speaker 1: clearly beyond anything in ordinary civic religion. Orphism was not
[47:51] Speaker 1: as publicly visible as Eleusis or Dionysiac cults. It didn't
[47:56] Speaker 1: have a big temple or a big festival, but its
[48:00] Speaker 1: ideas influenced philosophers and common folk alike, who yearned for
[48:07] Speaker 1: deeper answers and ultimately a closer communion with the divine essence.
[48:14] Speaker 1: In the Hellenistic and Roman periods, Mystery religions from the
[48:18] Speaker 1: eastern Mediterranean also gained popularity among Greeks. The cult of Isis,
[48:24] Speaker 1: the Egyptian mother goddess and serapis, became common in port cities.
[48:29] Speaker 1: Initiates of Isis underwent ritual purification, sacrifice, and learned sacred formulas.
[48:37] Speaker 1: And they got something back in return, too. Isis was
[48:40] Speaker 1: believed to offer help in daily troubles and ensure immortality
[48:44] Speaker 1: after death. The worship of the great Phrygian mother Cybele
[48:50] Speaker 1: and her consort Attis involves some intense emotional ceremonies with
[48:55] Speaker 1: music and the symbolic death and rebirth of Attis. Some
[48:59] Speaker 1: devotees of Cybele even practiced ritual self-mortification and castration to
[49:06] Speaker 1: devote themselves wholly to the goddess. Not sure there was
[49:11] Speaker 1: too many volunteers for that one. Meanwhile, soldiers across the
[49:15] Speaker 1: Greek-speaking world were drawn to the underground cult of Mithras.
[49:20] Speaker 1: It is a Persian-inspired saviour figure. Mithraic initiations took place
[49:28] Speaker 1: in cave-like sanctuaries where men progressed through grades like raven, lion, etc.,
[49:35] Speaker 1: and participated in a sacred meal, all sworn to secrecy
[49:39] Speaker 1: of God. but by the Roman imperial era, one could
[49:43] Speaker 1: be initiated into multiple mysteries. A person might be an
[49:47] Speaker 1: Eleusinian mystic, have been reborn in Isis' rites and also
[49:52] Speaker 1: attend Mithraic ceremonies, or while still sacrificing at the city's
[49:56] Speaker 1: public altars. This layering of religious identity was quite accepted
[50:03] Speaker 1: in the pluralistic pagan world. No one was going to
[50:07] Speaker 1: criticize you for attending as many rites as possible. In fact,
[50:12] Speaker 1: it's probably best that you do. The more gods on
[50:15] Speaker 1: your side, the better. Anyway, the existence of mystery cults
[50:21] Speaker 1: in general indicates that Greek religion, for all its public splendor,
[50:25] Speaker 1: also met private spiritual needs. But not everyone sought out mysteries.
[50:31] Speaker 1: Many Greeks felt that civic cults were enough for them.
[50:36] Speaker 1: But the option was always there for a more intimate
[50:40] Speaker 1: encounter with the divine. The mysteries cultivated strong feelings of
[50:45] Speaker 1: trust and hope. The trust that Demeter would guide them
[50:49] Speaker 1: to a happy eternity. Or perhaps Dionysus would fill them
[50:54] Speaker 1: with his joy. Or maybe Isis would hear the personal prayers,
[51:00] Speaker 1: even beyond the grave. In these cults, worship became not
[51:04] Speaker 1: just a social duty, but a kind of source of enlightenment.
[51:09] Speaker 1: And at the end of the day, probably a little
[51:11] Speaker 1: bit of personal solace, too. But it has to be
[51:16] Speaker 1: said that these secret cults did not conflict with the
[51:19] Speaker 1: public religion. They were just seen as complementary. A person
[51:22] Speaker 1: could be a faithful initiator at Eleusis, or a fervent Orphic,
[51:26] Speaker 1: and still take the public oath of office by Zeus,
[51:30] Speaker 1: and join the city's sacrifices. There was no either-or. It
[51:34] Speaker 1: was simply another aspect of honouring the gods. And it's
[51:38] Speaker 1: in this inclusivity that the Greeks were helped to accommodate
[51:43] Speaker 1: a remarkable variety of religious expressions, from the most orthodox
[51:47] Speaker 1: civic rituals to the most mystical personal quests. They all
[51:52] Speaker 1: coexisted under the broad umbrella of respecting the gods. But
[51:59] Speaker 1: while temples and festivals were periodic and often state-organized, the
[52:03] Speaker 1: daily worship in the household that was constant and a
[52:07] Speaker 1: quieter form of religiosity that involved every Greek family. The
[52:13] Speaker 1: household was itself a little sacred realm. It had its
[52:18] Speaker 1: own gods and rituals, passed down through generations, and these
[52:23] Speaker 1: domestic devotions ensured that the gods of hearth and home
[52:26] Speaker 1: were invoked at every meal, every event, every morning, every night.
[52:32] Speaker 1: A true integration of religion into the fabric of the
[52:35] Speaker 1: day-to-day goings-about. At the centre of each house was the hearth,
[52:42] Speaker 1: sacred to Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, fire and
[52:46] Speaker 1: domestic harmony. Hestia's flame was kept burning, or if extinguished,
[52:52] Speaker 1: relit with care, sometimes from the town's central hearth in
[52:56] Speaker 1: the Britanaeum. The saying, start with Hestia, meant that at
[53:03] Speaker 1: the start of every sacrifice or feast Hestia was acknowledged first,
[53:08] Speaker 1: and in practical terms every family meal began with a
[53:11] Speaker 1: small offering to her. A few drops of wine poured
[53:15] Speaker 1: into the fire, or a pinch of food cast into
[53:18] Speaker 1: the flames, with a brief prayer for the household's well-being.
[53:22] Speaker 1: The first loaf from a baking, or the first portion
[53:26] Speaker 1: of a pot of a stew, might likewise be dedicated
[53:29] Speaker 1: to Hestia. By honouring Hestia, the family ensured a share
[53:34] Speaker 1: of every nourishment went to the gods. The hearth was
[53:38] Speaker 1: also a symbolic centre of the family. When a new
[53:42] Speaker 1: child was born, after about a week, the parents would
[53:46] Speaker 1: carry the infant around the hearth in a ritual called
[53:49] Speaker 1: the Amphidromia, formally introducing the child to Hestia and the
[53:54] Speaker 1: household gods. This act marked the child's acceptance into the
[53:59] Speaker 1: family and under the gods' protection, and similarly a bride
[54:03] Speaker 1: entering her new home for the first time. would approach
[54:06] Speaker 1: the hearth and offer a prayer to Hestia, to signify
[54:10] Speaker 1: she was now part of this household under Hestia's gaze.
[54:16] Speaker 1: Every household had a shrine or sacred objects, for other
[54:19] Speaker 1: household deities too. Common were small ones called herms or
[54:24] Speaker 1: statues of Hermes. By the doorway, of course, in the
[54:29] Speaker 1: courtyard too. You see, Hermes is the god of luck,
[54:33] Speaker 1: boundaries and good fortune. His job was to guard the entrance.
[54:38] Speaker 1: A typical Athenian house might have a rectangular pillar with
[54:42] Speaker 1: Hermes' head near the door for fertility and protection. It
[54:48] Speaker 1: was actually a stylized phallus. Family members would casually nod
[54:54] Speaker 1: or say a few words to this Hermes on leaving
[54:57] Speaker 1: or entering, asking for success in the day's task, or
[55:00] Speaker 1: thanking him for a safe return. They might anoint the
[55:04] Speaker 1: Herm with oil or hang little garlands on it during
[55:07] Speaker 1: festival times, and it was believed that as long as
[55:10] Speaker 1: Hermes stood watch, the household would be safe from thieves
[55:14] Speaker 1: and mischief. This belief was so strong that, as noted,
[55:18] Speaker 1: the mutilation of Hermes' statues in Athens was seen as
[55:21] Speaker 1: an apocalyptic omen. Well, another important household deity, of course,
[55:27] Speaker 1: was Zeus, in specific domestic aspects. Zeus, Tessios, that is,
[55:35] Speaker 1: Zeus of the storeroom or wealth, was represented by a
[55:39] Speaker 1: handled jar kept in the pantry filled with a bit
[55:41] Speaker 1: of olive oil, wine, water and perhaps grains, sealed with
[55:45] Speaker 1: a cloth, essentially a symbolic repository of the household's prosperity
[55:49] Speaker 1: under Zeus' guardianship. This jar would be set in a
[55:53] Speaker 1: niche or on a shelf, and a few times a
[55:56] Speaker 1: year the father or mother would refresh its contents and
[56:00] Speaker 1: say prayers to Zeus Gesios to keep the pantry full,
[56:05] Speaker 1: There was also a Zeus Herceos, that is, Zeus of
[56:09] Speaker 1: the fence or enclosure, protector of the household property. Often
[56:14] Speaker 1: an altar to Zeus Herceos stood in the open courtyard
[56:18] Speaker 1: of a house, perhaps just as a flat stone or
[56:21] Speaker 1: a small stone altar. The head of the family might
[56:24] Speaker 1: sacrifice a chicken, or make a small burnt offering there
[56:28] Speaker 1: from time to time to ensure Zeus guarded the home
[56:31] Speaker 1: and all within it. These domestic Zeus rituals cast the
[56:36] Speaker 1: king of the gods in a kindly and more family-focused role.
[56:40] Speaker 1: Not hurling thunderbolts this time, but more blessing one's home
[56:45] Speaker 1: and boundaries. A little bit more of a man of
[56:48] Speaker 1: the people, I suppose. But the household also recognized spirits
[56:53] Speaker 1: of ancestors as the good spirit of the home. Many
[56:57] Speaker 1: Greeks imagined a snake as the embodiment of their family's
[57:00] Speaker 1: protective spirit. Snakes were often seen around storerooms, you see,
[57:05] Speaker 1: eating pests. Harmless snakes' mouths might be left undisturbed, or
[57:10] Speaker 1: even fed milk, regarded as a sign of a blessed home.
[57:16] Speaker 1: Families would pour out a libation to the Agathos Daimon,
[57:20] Speaker 1: the good spirit, at the end of each meal or
[57:22] Speaker 1: drinking party, literally tipping a few drops on the floor
[57:26] Speaker 1: in gratitude for the unseen benefactor who watched over the house.
[57:31] Speaker 1: They might also toast the good spirit in wine at
[57:34] Speaker 1: the symposia, a custom akin to saying, to our health,
[57:38] Speaker 1: I suppose. But major life events in the family had
[57:43] Speaker 1: their own religious components. Birth, as mentioned, had ceremonies like
[57:47] Speaker 1: the Amphidromia and a naming day sacrifice. That is, on
[57:52] Speaker 1: the tenth day, farmers often formally named the child in
[57:56] Speaker 1: the presence of friends and offered a sacrifice, praying to
[57:59] Speaker 1: the gods for the child's long life Coming of age
[58:03] Speaker 1: for boys often involved dedicating the locks of hair that
[58:08] Speaker 1: they had grown since childhood to a deity. Often Apollo
[58:12] Speaker 1: or a local river god would take these as a
[58:15] Speaker 1: rite of passage. But for girls approaching a marriageable age,
[58:20] Speaker 1: there were offerings to Artemis, patron of maidens. They might
[58:25] Speaker 1: serve Artemis in a festival, like the Arctea in Brauron,
[58:30] Speaker 1: where girls performed a bear dance for the goddess, and
[58:34] Speaker 1: then leave childhood toys or a lock of hair on
[58:37] Speaker 1: Artemis' altar. This would signify the end of their maidenhood.
[58:43] Speaker 1: Marriage itself was full of sacred ritual. On a wedding eve,
[58:47] Speaker 1: the bride offered her girdle that is a symbol of
[58:49] Speaker 1: virginity to Artemis or Athena. The groom perhaps dedicated a
[58:54] Speaker 1: lock of hair to his patron god. After the wedding procession,
[58:58] Speaker 1: as the bride entered the room's house, the couple was
[59:01] Speaker 1: welcomed with a sieve of barley for abundance, and the
[59:05] Speaker 1: torch lit on the bride's former hearth. They used it to...
[59:10] Speaker 1: ignite their new hearth's fire, a direct transfer of Hestia's
[59:14] Speaker 1: presence and the sign of the gods of his house
[59:16] Speaker 1: now received her. The bride's mother-in-law might conduct her to
[59:21] Speaker 1: the hearth where the bride would offer a small cake
[59:24] Speaker 1: or fruit to Hestia and Zeus Herceus, cementing her inclusion
[59:28] Speaker 1: in the family religions. So marriage wasn't just a social contract,
[59:33] Speaker 1: it was a kind of religious merger. Two families under
[59:37] Speaker 1: the gods. At the end of life, death and mourning
[59:45] Speaker 1: involved family rights appeasing the underworld powers. As soon as
[59:50] Speaker 1: a person died at home, the family would close the
[59:53] Speaker 1: eyes and mouth of the deceased. I'm saying a quick
[59:56] Speaker 1: prayer to Hermes. and place a coin on the mouth
[1:00:00] Speaker 1: or eyes to pay Charon the ferryman. They set a
[1:00:04] Speaker 1: bowl of water outside the front door, so visitors could
[1:00:07] Speaker 1: purify themselves upon leaving, as death was considered miasma, ritual pollution.
[1:00:14] Speaker 1: For one or two days the body lay in a
[1:00:16] Speaker 1: state within the house and relatives gathered around. singing laments
[1:00:26] Speaker 1: and praying to Hades and Persephone to receive the soul kindly.
[1:00:31] Speaker 1: On the day of the funeral called the Ekphora, the
[1:00:35] Speaker 1: family carried the body out in a procession, often just
[1:00:38] Speaker 1: before dawn to the gravesite. After burial or cremation, they
[1:00:46] Speaker 1: returned home for a funeral feast, which was both a
[1:00:50] Speaker 1: family meal and honor of the dead and a sacred
[1:00:53] Speaker 1: feast where a portion might be set aside for Hestia
[1:00:56] Speaker 1: and the household gods to mark the transition. In the
[1:01:00] Speaker 1: following days, they visited the grave for brief rites. Third
[1:01:04] Speaker 1: day and the ninth day, offerings of food, milk and honey.
[1:01:08] Speaker 1: And each year on the anniversary of the death or
[1:01:10] Speaker 1: doing citywide ancestor festivals like the Genesia in Athens or
[1:01:16] Speaker 1: the Anthesteria's final day, families went to the tomb to
[1:01:20] Speaker 1: pour out libations and present wreaths, ensuring the deceased was
[1:01:26] Speaker 1: remembered and content. And so from the sweeping public festival
[1:01:33] Speaker 1: to the quiet hearthside prayers, the ways in which the
[1:01:36] Speaker 1: Greeks worshipped were remarkably varied, yet also quite unified. You see,
[1:01:43] Speaker 1: every Greek community had its own twists. One town might
[1:01:46] Speaker 1: celebrate Dionysus with a wine-soaked comedy festival, another might honour
[1:01:51] Speaker 1: the same god with a solemn torch-lit vigil. Once region
[1:01:56] Speaker 1: springs rituals for Demeter might involve a piglet sacrifice buried
[1:02:01] Speaker 1: in the earth, such as at the Thesmophoria, whereas elsewhere
[1:02:06] Speaker 1: offerings of grain or cakes were good enough. Yet beneath
[1:02:10] Speaker 1: all the local flavours, any Greek would recognise the common
[1:02:14] Speaker 1: fundamentals to worship. A libation was poured in the same
[1:02:17] Speaker 1: way in Syracuse as it was in Sparta, A sacrifice
[1:02:22] Speaker 1: followed the same basic steps in a Boeotian village, as
[1:02:25] Speaker 1: right at the top of the Athenian Acropolis. The same
[1:02:29] Speaker 1: Olympian gods, Zeus, Apollo, Hera, Artemis, etc., were revered across
[1:02:35] Speaker 1: the Greek world, albeit with local flavours and particular preferences.
[1:02:42] Speaker 1: But this religious unity allowed the Greeks to feel kinship,
[1:02:45] Speaker 1: even if their political units were constantly at odds. At
[1:02:50] Speaker 1: Panhellenic sanctuaries like Olympia and Delphi, Greeks from distant colonies
[1:02:54] Speaker 1: and mother cities came together to sacrifice side by side.
[1:03:00] Speaker 1: The Amphictonic League that managed Delphi was essentially an interstate
[1:03:05] Speaker 1: religious association, showing how shared worship could foster cooperation. When
[1:03:12] Speaker 1: the Persian Wars threatened Greece, appeals were made to the
[1:03:16] Speaker 1: gods of Hellas collectively. and oracles, Delphi, Dodona, that were
[1:03:22] Speaker 1: respected by all, provided guidance. Herodotus, in reflecting what made
[1:03:28] Speaker 1: the Greeks a single people, famously cited the common blood,
[1:03:34] Speaker 1: common language, and common gods and sacrifices. And indeed a Spartan,
[1:03:39] Speaker 1: or any Athenian, might insult each other's politics or accents,
[1:03:45] Speaker 1: but they all agreed on one thing, Zeus was the
[1:03:49] Speaker 1: king of the gods, and that one should pray and
[1:03:51] Speaker 1: sacrifice to him and the other Olympians, and then neglecting them, well,
[1:03:56] Speaker 1: that would bring ruin to both of them. But at
[1:04:01] Speaker 1: the same time, the diversity of Greek worship is striking,
[1:04:04] Speaker 1: a source of cultural richness. Each city took pride in
[1:04:08] Speaker 1: doing something special for its patron god. Athens prided itself
[1:04:13] Speaker 1: on having the grandest theatrical festivals for Dionysus, and the
[1:04:18] Speaker 1: ancient Eleusinian mysteries for Demeter. As for Delphi, they were
[1:04:23] Speaker 1: proud of Apollo's Oracle and the Pythian Games. Over in Corinth,
[1:04:28] Speaker 1: they were proud of their temple to Aphrodite, with its
[1:04:31] Speaker 1: own unusual practices. Rhodes had a boast, too, being the
[1:04:36] Speaker 1: sacred island of Helios the Sun, celebrating him with chariot
[1:04:41] Speaker 1: races at dawn. Arcadian villagers, too, quietly maintained primitive rites
[1:04:47] Speaker 1: for Pan and Zeus on remote mountaintops, rituals that outsiders
[1:04:53] Speaker 1: like Pausanias found quaint, or even at some times a
[1:04:56] Speaker 1: little bit frightening, but which the locals believed kept the
[1:05:01] Speaker 1: old gods happy. And that's the important thing. But all
[1:05:06] Speaker 1: these variations were generally tolerated. There was no zeal to
[1:05:11] Speaker 1: standardize religion. No one really cared about that. As long
[1:05:15] Speaker 1: as the basic respect of the gods was present, the
[1:05:18] Speaker 1: gods themselves being universal presumably enjoyed the different honours each
[1:05:23] Speaker 1: community offered. Now this pluralism extended to adopting foreign gods
[1:05:28] Speaker 1: in the Greek fold. The Greeks identified some foreign deities
[1:05:32] Speaker 1: with their own. This is interpretatio greca. That's what it's called.
[1:05:43] Speaker 1: Third time lucky, right? Well, for example, they equated the
[1:05:47] Speaker 1: Egyptian Amon with its ram's horn to Zeus, and even
[1:05:52] Speaker 1: built a temple for Zeus Amon in Libya. When a
[1:05:55] Speaker 1: Greek traveller encountered the Syrian goddess Astarte, they might call
[1:05:59] Speaker 1: her Aphrodite Orania, that is, Heavenly Aphrodite, and feel that
[1:06:04] Speaker 1: they were worshipping Aphrodite, but just in a different form. Meanwhile,
[1:06:09] Speaker 1: as Greek culture spread with Alexander's conquests, the traditional Greek
[1:06:13] Speaker 1: pantheon absorbed new figures like Serapis, an Alexandrian god combining
[1:06:18] Speaker 1: aspects of Osiris and Zeus together. And, of course, Atagatis,
[1:06:24] Speaker 1: a Syrian fish-tailed goddess likened to Aphrodite. Now, this open,
[1:06:30] Speaker 1: story-based nature of Greek religion meant that it could expand
[1:06:33] Speaker 1: and syncretize without breaking. And by the later centuries of antiquity,
[1:06:40] Speaker 1: Greek religion had, of course, changed in a few superficial ways.
[1:06:45] Speaker 1: New gods had temples. Older gods, sometimes merged, etc., Apollo
[1:06:51] Speaker 1: with the sun god Helios. Philosophical ideas about a single
[1:06:55] Speaker 1: abstract divinity were floating around, but in practice, Greeks were
[1:07:00] Speaker 1: still worshipping through sacrifice, prayer and festival as they had
[1:07:03] Speaker 1: for all time. Only in the 4th, 5th century CE,
[1:07:09] Speaker 1: under the Christianized Roman Empire, did the old system finally
[1:07:13] Speaker 1: get suppressed. Temples closed. sacrifices banned by imperial edict, festivals
[1:07:20] Speaker 1: rededicated or discontinued. Some rural people, the so-called pagans or
[1:07:27] Speaker 1: country folk, quietly continued traditions for a while, but gradually
[1:07:33] Speaker 1: the direct worship of Zeus, Athena, and the rest faded away.
[1:07:38] Speaker 1: But who knows? There's still time. It might come back.
[1:07:43] Speaker 1: but it is a testimony of how ingrained these practices
[1:07:45] Speaker 1: were that many lived on in folk custom, or were
[1:07:49] Speaker 1: repurposed in Christian ritual. For instance, the lighting of candles,
[1:07:53] Speaker 1: the burning of incense, the procession of icons, it all
[1:07:59] Speaker 1: has pagan roots. The communal feasting on saints' days in
[1:08:03] Speaker 1: Eastern Orthodox regions show aspects of ancient worship too, and
[1:08:08] Speaker 1: even certain festival dates like late December for Years turned rebels,
[1:08:14] Speaker 1: formerly Dionysian or Cronian. Now I called Christmas a new year.
[1:08:19] Speaker 1: And if that doesn't show the endurance of the cycle
[1:08:23] Speaker 1: of celebration of Greek paganism, I don't know what does.
[1:08:31] Speaker 1: And there you have it. How the Greeks worshipped. I
[1:08:36] Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed it. I enjoyed making it for you.
[1:08:40] Speaker 1: And we'll have plenty more like this. You've just got
[1:08:43] Speaker 1: to stick around and see what I come up with next.
[1:08:47] Speaker 1: Or rather, what we come up with next. Well, I'm
[1:08:51] Speaker 1: going to thank the top tier patrons and supporters. Kimberly, Christine, Sally, Ember, Susan, Cameron, Gary, Charlene, Lynn, Doreen, HMSHH, Crystal, Dalbury, Anthony, Lucy, Brandon,
[1:09:22] Speaker 1: Gugu Bubonic, Nicholas, Craig, Neftis, Alexander, Gokhan, Dorsey, Venita, Claire, Courtesy, Carol, Robert, Mary, Bridget, Nefertari, Yvette,
[1:09:32] Speaker 1: Miss Mochi, Eleven, Allison, Free American, Jennifer, Brittany, David, and Cody.
[1:09:41] Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Well, that's it for me for today.
[1:09:46] Speaker 1: If you enjoyed the video, leave a like and tell
[1:09:51] Speaker 1: me in the comments what you think of it all.
[1:09:53] Speaker 1: I think it's pretty fascinating. Alright everybody, good night as always.
[1:10:00] Speaker 1: Lots of love to you all and I will see
[1:10:01] Speaker 1: you in the next exciting video. Farewell for now.

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