(Blackwell Sourcebooks in Ancient History 13) Emily Kearns - Ancient Greek Religion - A Sourcebook-Wiley (2010)

Ancient Greek Religion
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PublicationData:

ISBN: 978-1-405-14927-3 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-1-405-14928-0 (paperback)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Printed and bound in Malaysia by Vivar Printing Sdn Bhd
3 2013
To the memory of my parents
Contents
Illustrations ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction
1 Gods and Religion 5

1.1 About the Gods 7
1.2 Other Gods; Gods and Others 14
1.3 About Religion 26
2 Mythology 37
2.1 Quarrels of the Gods 38
2.2 Divine-Human Sex 49
2.3 Helping and Hindering Mortals 62
2.4 Aetiological and Foundation Myths 67
2.5 Mythology: Discussion and Treatment 71
3 Closeness and Distance 88

3.1 Prayers and Associated Offerings 89
3.2 Dreams and Epiphanies 94
3.3 Pollution, Death, and the Dead 101
3.4 Personal Choice 115
3.5 Impiety and Atheism 141
4 Ritual Contexts 151
4.1 The House and Neighbourhood 152

4.2 Religious Experts and Their Crafts 161
viii CONTENTS
4.3 Political ~ife, Oaths and Curses 174

4.4 War and Crisis 183
5 Sanctuaries I 192
5.1 Visiting a Sanctuary 195

5.2 Sacrifice 212
5.3 festivals and Calendars 223
5.4 Priests 244
5.5 Hymns 255
5.6 Dedications 264
6 Sanctuaries II 276
6.1 Common Sanctuaries 276

6.2 Oracular Sanctuaries 284
6.3 Healing Cults 302
6.4 Mysteries 311
6.5 Founding a New Sanctuary 328
Suggestions for Further Reading 340

Index of Passages 347
General Index 351
Illustrations
1 'Sacrifice and soothing offerings' 8

2 Gods fight against giants 39
3 Relief commemorating the construction work of Archedamos
at a cave sanctuary _ 124
4 Small doll inscribed with the name Mnesimachos, used in
binding-spell 137
5 Large perirrhanterionfrom the sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia 154
6 The liver of a sacrificial animal is inspected for signs of a
favourable outcome 162
7 A man addresses prayers to a statue of Athena 193
8 Reconstruction of the interior of the Hephaisteion at Athens,
with statues of Hephaistos and Athena 194
9 Sacrificial procession showing the goddess, perhaps Hekate 212
10 The inner parts of the sacrificial animal are roasted over a
fire lit on the altar 213
11 A priestess holding the large temple key against her
left shoulder 245
12 A terracotta pinax or tablet set up in a sanctuary as an offering 264
13 Terracotta figure showing a woman holding a piglet and
making a prayer gesture 266
14 Large sculpture of a Victory made by Paionios of Mende and
dedicated at Olympia 271
15 King Aigeus of Athens consults the oracle of Themis 297
16 Relief dedicated by Archinos at the sanctuary of Amphiaraos
at Oropos 303
17 Painted pinax dedicated by Ninnion at Eleusis, showing
scenes alluding to the Mysteries 316
18 Dedicatory relief from an Attic sanctuary of the river-god
Kephisos 332
X ILLUSTRATIONS
The author and publishers gratefully acknowledge permission to reproduce

illustrations from the following sources:
11 9, 11, 16, 17, 18 National Archaeological Museum, Athens; copyright,

Hellenic Ministry 'of Culture/ Archaeological Receipts Fund
2, 15 bpk/ Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
4 Photograph:. Deutsches Archaologisches Institut, neg. no D-DAI-
ATH-Kerameikos-5879. All rights reserved
5 Original drawing by Marion Cox, copyright John Boardman
6 Soprintendenza Archeologica per la Toscana - Firenze
7 Image copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
8 Reproduced courtesy of the Trustees of the American School of
Classical Studies at Athens
10 Copyright 1973 Musee du Louvre/Pierre et Maurice Chuzeville
13 Copyright The Trustees of the British Museum
14 Photograph: Deutsches Archaologisches Institut. Neg. no D-DAI-
ATH-Olympia 204. All rights reserved
Abbreviations
CEG P.A. Hansen, Cannina epigraphica graeca. 2 vols.

Berlin, 1983-9.
Derveni Pap. Th. Kouremenos, G.M. Parassoglou, K. Tsantanoglou,
The Derveni Papyrus, edited with introduction and com-
mentary (Accademia Toscana di Scienze e Lettere
'La Colombaria', Union Academique Internationale,
Unione Accademica Nazionale: Studi e testi per il
corpus <leipapiri fiJosofici greci e latini, 13). Florence,
2006.
DK H. Diels and W. Kranz. Die Fragmenteder Vorsokratiker,
Zurich, 1985.
DTAud A. Audollent, Defixionum tabellae quotquot innotuerunt
tam in Graecis orientis quam in totis occidentis partibus
praeter atticas in CorporeInscriptionum Graecarumeditas.
Paris, 1904.
Eidinow E. Eidinow, Oracles, Curses and Risk among the Ancient
Greeks. Oxford, 2007.
FGrH F. Jacoby, Die FragmentedergriechischenHistoriker.3 vols,
Berlin and Leiden, 1923-58.
Fouilles de Delphes Ecole franc;:aised'Athenes, Fouillesde Delphes, vol. 3 (in
9 fascicles). Paris, 1909-85.
Fowler R.L. Fowler, The Fragments of the Early Greek Mytho-
graphers. Vol. 1, text and translation. Oxford, 2001.
Furley-Bremer William D. Furley and Jan Maarten Bremer, Greek
Hymns: Selected Cult Songs from the Archaic to the
Hellenistic Period. 2 vols, T-Ubingen, 2001.
Graf-Johnston F. Graf and S. Iles Johnston, Ritual Texts for the
Afterlife. London, 2007.
JG Inscriptiones Graecae. Berlin, 1973-.
xii ABBREVIATIONS
Inschriften von Knidos W. Bli.imel, ed., Die Inschriften von Knidos. Inschriften
grieschischer Stadte aus Kleinasien, 41. Bonn, 1992.
Inschriften van Priene Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen et al., eds, Inschriften
van Priene. Berlin, 1906.
Inscr. Cret. M. Guarducci, after F. Halbherr, Inscriptiones Creticae,
Rome, 1935-50.
Inwood B. Inwood, The Poem of Empedocles: A Text and Trans-
lation with Introduction, revised edition. Toronto, 2001.
Kassel-Austin R. Kassel and C. Austin, eds, Poetae comici graeci, 8 vols,
Berlin, 1983-.
Lhote E. Lhote, Les lamelles oraculaires de Dodone. Geneva,
2006.
Lobel-Page E. Lobel and D. Page, eds, Poetarum Lesbiorum fragmenta.
Oxford, 1955.
LSAM F. Sokolowski, Lois sacrees de l'Asie mineure. Paris,
1955.
LSCG F. Sokolowski, Lois sacrees des cites grecques. Paris,
1969.
LSS F. Sokolowski, Lois sacrees: supplement. Paris, 1962.
ML R. Meiggs and D.M. Lewis, A Selection of Greek
Historical Inscriptions to the End of the Fifth Century BC.
Oxford, 1969; reprinted with corrections, 1975.
MW R. Merkelbach and M.L. West, eds, Fragmenta
Hesiodea. Oxford, 1967.
NGSL E. Lupu, Greek Sacred Law. A Collection of New Docu-
ments. Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 152.
Leiden, 2005.
Olympia-Bericht Bericht ilber die Ausgrabungen in Olympia, 12 vols,
Berlin, 1937-.
Potscher Theophrastus, Peri eusebeias, ed. W. Potscher, Leiden,
1964.
Rhodes-Osborne P.J. Rhodes and R.G. Osborne, Greek Historical Inscrip-
tions 404-323 BC. Oxford, 2003.
Sandbach Plutarch, Moralia. Vol 15 1 Loeb edn, ed. P.H. Sandbach
(Cambridge, Mass., 1969)
SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum
Snell-Maehler B. Snell, R Maehler, eds, Pindari carmina cum fragmentis.
8th edn, Leipzig, 1989.
Syll. 3 W. Dittenberger, Sylloge inscriptionum graecarum. 3rd edn,
Leipzig, 1915-24.
TrGF B. Snell, R. Kannicht, S.L. Radt, eds, Tragicorum grae-
corum fragmenta. 5 vols, Gottingen, 1971-2004.
Introduction
GODS GOOD FORTUNE

It is the aim of this volume to give a reasonably representative selection of
passages from both literary and documentary texts illustrating the religious
world of the Greeks, from the earliest surviving literature (of the eighth or
perhaps seventh century BCE) to roughly the end of the fourth century BCE.
To date there has been no comparable volume in English since the collection
of Rice and Stambaugh (1979). 1 Since then, not only have more inscribed
texts come to light, but many of the ways in which we are accustomed to
think about Greek religion have altered radically, and a new sourcebook has
begun to seem overdue. Sourcebooks of their nature cannot be comprehensive,
and I certainly cannot claim that virtue for the present work; in particular
the decision to exclude most - not quite all - passages from later than 300
may seem disappointingly restrictive. The hellenistic world (which arguably
in any case begins in the last quarter of the fourth century, in the age of
Alexander's first successors) is far from representing a complete break with
what went before, and much religious practice and thought continued as in
the earlier period or evolved gradually. For this reason, I have not applied
the cut-off point with complete rigidity; it would be unduly severe to omit
a work such as Herodas 4 (5.1.2), which gives a very vivid picture of a visit
to a sanctuary, simply because it was written perhaps three decades after our
period's end. Even phenomena which we think of as typically hellenistic -
ruler-cult, the worship of abstractions and of a wide range of non-Greek
deities - can be seen to a greater or lesser degree to be rooted in pre-hellenistic
times. But they are far more developed and conspicuous in the world after
Alexander, and because some limits had to be found for a book which has
in any case grown considerably larger than the original project, it seemed
best to exclude most of the later material, and even such examples of ruler-
cult, for instance, as we find between the death of Alexander and the end of
the fourth century.
2 INTRODUCTION
It is to be hoped that some day those with more expertise in the later period
will cover the hellenistic world in a similar volume.
This is not the place for a general sketch of Greek religion. There are already
many such works, both at book length and in shorter form, some of which
are given in the first section of the Suggestions for Further Reading. 2 The ration-
ale of a sourcebook is surely to permit some of the work of synthesis to be
done by the reader, who is free to trace whichever patterns he or she finds
most interesting. Nevertheless, it may be helpful to point out one thing abo\'e
all which distinguishes ancient Greek religion from its successors in the Western
world: though we may speak of a Greek religious system, it is a system which
is never consciously defined as such (at least until the end of pagan anti-
quity), and remains extraordinarily fluid and inclusive. There were no rival
orthodoxies, no gods fighting with other gods for popularity; new religious
phenomena, whether they were new to an individual or to a community. were
added almost organically to an already existing structure rather than replacing
anything. While some factors, such as the panhellenic diffusion of literature
and art, tended to favour the growth of more uniformity, they never erased
immense local variations and diversity. In short, Greek religion operates rather
differently from its successors, and therefore writing about it sometimes neces-
sitates a different use of vocabulary from that which we are accustomed to in
general modern English. In particular, the reader should note that, in accord
with academic usage in the field, I have used the word 'cult' to indicate not
a discrete quasi-religion, but the complex of worship surrounding a divinity or
group of divinities within the larger framework of the Greek religious system.
Probably the majority of the passages chosen here illustrate more than one
facet of Greek religion, and I have sometimes had to make difficult choices
in placing a particular extract. A great number of cross-references has been
the inevitable result, and awkward though this may look in the text, I hope
that the reader's task will have been made easier by the chapter and section
numbering system I have used, and of course the indices. The arrangement
of chapters and sections was no easier, and several other sequences would haYe
been possible. In particular there was a strong case for placing Chapter 3, the
first chapter on ritual, at the beginning, since it is usually ritual that is seen
as the core of the Greek religious complex, but in the end I decided to follow
Greek practice and 'begin with the gods' themselves. But it is not necessary
to read the chapters in sequence when using this book; sourcebooks in prac-
tice are more often browsed than read sequentially, and the reader is free to
choose his or her own order in using this one.
It is a rather obvious point, but sometimes apparently forgotten, that the
passages selected for a sourcebook were not written with such a destiny in
mind. We need therefore to be aware of the conditions which produced our
sources, and which shape and limit what we can expect to learn from them.
On a very general level, in all sorts of texts, points which would be ob,ious
to the original intended audience are frequently not spelled out, and t}.i.us
we can miss some of the absolute basics. Then, it is clear that literary texts
INTRODUCTION 3
will have certain biases and exclusions. Tragedy, for instance, evokes the world
of the mythical past, and a world in which few of the details of everyday life
are sketched in; comedy, on the other hand, dwells on the everyday, on human
appetites for food, drink and sex, and on the humorous; oratory seeks to
persuade, and so on. Each passage must be evaluated in these terms before
we can really see what it is telling us about religion. Even those authors who
write specifically about religion - especially, perhaps, those authors - must
be carefully scrutinised to ascertain their point of view and the purpose of
their work, for they seldom, if ever, set out to describe religious phenomena
objectively; there is always an agenda.
Other than literature, a great deal of our information comes from inscrip-
tions. But while epigraphical evidence may seem more straightforwardly
'factual' than that derived from literary sources, a moment's thought will show
that here too we must consider what each document is trying to do, and the
limits to what it can tell us. Some inscriptions, for instance, record legislation
passed by a city or a subgroup of the city, and record religious affairs as part
of general decision-making; others give instructions on proper behaviour at
the sanctuaries in which they were placed; while sacrifice calendars may have
various functions, including the strictly calendrical - which sacrifice happens
on which day of the year? - the financial - how much should the animal
victim and other expenses cost? - and the procedural - is there anything unusual
about the mode of sacrifice? Epigraphical evidence tends to relate to the details
of religious practice, not to theology or mythology (except occasionally in
an inscribed chronicle), but even so it is far from supplying a complete descrip-
tion of the forms of worship. It is the exceptions which are usually recorded,
and we may find ourselves having to use such exceptions to reconstruct nor-
mal practice.
Art and archaeology also of course supply us with 'sources', and yet with-
out a context supplied for us by words such material can remain very puz-
zling. We are fortunate that in many cases we do have such a context, and
can therefore use this visual evidence as a supplement to our understanding
derived from texts. A proper visual sourcebook, doing full justice to the iconog-
raphy of cult and myth, and to the plans and architecture of sanctuaries, would
have to be much larger and more expensive than the present volume, and
would have had to be a collaborative venture; on a much larger scale, such
works are available in the Lexicon iconographicummythologiaeclassicaeand the
Thesauruscultus et rituum antiquorum(listed in Suggestions for Further Reading).
A few illustrations are included here as a tiny indication of the kind of mater-
ial that is available.
All of the translations are my own. As for the level of commentary, I have
tried to make the texts available to those without a detailed knowledge of
ancient Greece as well as to students of ancient history and classics. My aims
have been to set each passage in context, pointing out comparisons between
passages, and to assist the reader by explaining obscurities. Thus each passage
is equipped with a general discussion, and where necessary more detailed notes
4 INTRODUCTION
dealing with individual points. At times, though not I hope too often, it has
been necessary to introduce more problems and controversies in interpreta-
tion than may seem welcome; conversely, where a disputed reading or sense
does not materially affect tqe use of a text for its purpose here, I have not
usually drawn attention to· it. In the passages themselves, I have used curved
brackets and italics to indicate explanatory material, normally words or phrases
required to complete the sense in translation. Square brackets indicate words
which are missing from a fragmentary text such as an inscription, and have
been conjecturally supplied by scholars, except that where there is no rea-
sonable doubt as to the original reading I have omitted the brackets. My prin-
ciple has been to try to avoid cluttering the text with distractions which are
relatively unimportant for the main purpose of this volume.
More people have taught me Greek religion and influenced my thinking
about it than I can possibly list here; they will all know who they are. Those
who have kindly helped me on specific points in the preparation of this
book include Joan Connelly, Gunnel Ekroth, Patrick Finglass, Sarah Hitch,
Theodora Jim, Barbara Kowalzig, Philomen Probert, Richard Rutherford, Scott
Scullion, Maria Stamatopoulou, Graham Zanker and the late Peter Dcrow. Nike
Makres provided a forum at the Hellenic Education and Research Center in
Athens where some of the material could be tried out, and she and the audi-
ence made valuable suggestions. Robert Parker was particularly generous
with his time and expertise, and Nicholas Purcell was responsible for many
helpful comments as well as making the work's long journey to completion
considerably more pleasant than it would otherwise have been. Naturally all
the errors and defects in the book are my own.
I must also thank my colleagues at St Hilda's College for creating a pleasant
and supportive working environment in Oxford, and Dimitris Koklanaris for
providing a delightful bolthole in Ikaria. I am very grateful to all those at
Wiley-Blackwell who have taken on the task of overseeing the production
of this book: Sophie Gibson, with whom I plotted its original conception,
Al Bertrand, Ben Thatcher, Haze Humbert and latterly Galen Smith, who bravely
helped me over the final hurdles. And I owe a great debt to the staff of all
the institutions who supplied photographs and gave permission for their
reproduction. Finally I thank Annie Jackson for undertaking the task of copy-
editing with great efficiency and cheerfulness.
Notes
1 D.G. Rice and J.E. Stambaugh, eds, Sources for the Study of Greek Religion. Missoula,
Mont., 1979.
2 In addition to the works cited there, I might mention my own attempts at such
a sketch in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd/4th editions, s.v. 'Religion, Greek';
in K.H. Kinzl, ed., A Companion to the Classical Greek World (Malden, Mass., 2006);
and in M.A. Sweeney, ed., The Cambridge History of Ancient Religions (forthcoming).
1
Gods and Religion
The gods of the Greeks are probably known to the modem world, if at all,
primarily through their myths. But mythology, although important (it is the
subject of Chapter 2) was not necessarily the first thing that occurred to
the Greeks when they thought about their own gods. The gods' presence as
the recipients of cult, their interaction with human lives, the puzzle of their
true nature - all of these contributed to the total picture. There was of course
no doctrinal orthodoxy on the subject, and indeed many Greeks were pre-
pared to concede that ultimately the divine is unknowable; the Greek texts
even down to the end of the fourth century indicate a great diversity of views,
interests and emphases present in the societies that produced them. None
the less, it is possible to establish a few preliminaries to bear in mind when
we consider passages where Greek writers talk about the gods - the subject
of the first section of this chapter.
The most usual Greek word which we translate as 'god', theos, is of uncer-
tain origin. It may be used to indicate a particular named deity (Zeus,
Athena, and so on) or more vaguely in Homer as theos tis, 'some god', when
the speaker feels that an event has suggested divine input. Prose writers often
use ho theos, 'the god', when speaking about the divine in general, and indeed
to theion, literally 'the divine', is also used in this last context. The plural form
'the gods' is of course another common phrase, often (but not exclusively)
used when the speaker or writer wishes to invoke the divine apparatus as a
guarantor of morality. The word daimon (probably meaning originally 'divider',
'disposer') is a common one, and sometimes it is hard to see it carrying a
meaning different from theos; but it can also suggest besides a named deity
a specific but uncertain divine power. In poetic texts, the gods are often des-
ignated as athanatoi, 'immortals', just as humans may be called 'mortals', and
this indicates perhaps the most consistently important characteristic of the
gods: they are not subject to death.
6 GODS AND RELIGION
The gods are then a collectivity, but they are also individuals, with dis-
tinctive characteristics which may be related to the particular motive for their
worship (healing gods, deities connected with marriage, and so on) and to
the way they appear visually as cult images. Passage 1.3.5 attempts to put a
historical perspective on the distinction between 'the gods' and the gods as
individuals. But the position is more complicated than this, for each god has
also many epithets, s~me unique to a particular location, others more common.
Zeus, for instance, is often Soter (the saviour), Eleutherios (of freedom), Horkios
(of oaths), Herkeios (of the enclosure - that is, the household plot), Olympios
(the Olympian), Ktesios (of possessions), Meilichios (the kindly one), and many
others; he seems to appear uniquely as Apomyios ('fly-repeller') at Olympia,
and Lecheates (apparently 'brought to bed', explained as referring to the birth
of Athena from his head) at Aliphera in Arcadia. While each epithet can sub-
stantially modify the god's character - Zeus Meilichios is usually depicted as a
snake, for instance - the forms of the god usually show consistency between
occurrences of that epithet. But there is another sense in which each sanctuary
can be said to house a 'different' god; the Zeus Meilichios in my village is dif-
ferent from the Zeus Meilichios in yours. None of these ways of reckoning
what an individual deity is excludes any other; the same person can use them
all at different times, just as one may use a word in different senses. There
are some parallels to this way of thinking in, for instance, Hindu contexts
and in the Orthodox and Catholic cults of the saints and the Virgin.
Dividing the gods into two main groups, Olympian and chthonian, is a
much more controversial procedure, but it is a model which ancient authors
may sometimes have followed. This schema is considered in section 1.2, along
with those not quite divine beings who round out the groups worshipped
by the Greeks, principally heroes and nymphs. The material here is mainly
of a less abstract kind than that of the preceding section, and is chosen to
exemplify things done and things accepted, rather than to indicate the range
of conscious speculation.
Abstract thought resurfaces when we look at what the Greeks had to say
about religion. It is difficult, of course, to make a clear division between pas-
sages which talk about the gods and those which have something to say about
religion, and some texts in section 1.3, while starting from human conven-
tions, move on to discuss the nature of the gods themselves. The Greeks had
no word that exactly corresponds to our 'religion', using instead descriptive
phrases, of which perhaps the closest to our own usage is ta theia, 'things to
do with the gods'; but even this could mean either almost 'theology', things
to do with the nature of the gods, or things to do with their worship. Faced
with what may seem rather imprecise terminology, the modern reader can
feel confused when confronting something like Herodotus' words at the open-
ing of his description of Egypt (Histories2.3): 'I am not keen to expound the
explanations I heard about divine matters (ta theia ton apegematon), except
just the names of the gods.' How does this make sense, when religious 1custc,m
is so conspicuous in the description of Egypt that follows? What Herodotus
GODS AND RELIGION 7
means, of course, is that he will not repeat what he has heard (or implies
that he has heard) from his Egyptian informants in the way of theological
explanation, and he will not use his treatment of Egyptian religion to lead
into a discussion of what the gods are really like, along the lines of some of
the passages in section 1.1, since 'I consider that all people know an equal
amount about (the gods)'. The divine is hard to know, and no one has any
advantage in this regard. This is a not uncommon thought, but a great num-
ber of writers none the less have recorded often widely divergent views on
religion and on the gods.
1.1 About the Gods
Not every aspect which strikes us today as interesting or distinctive about

the Greek gods was described or discussed explicitly in ancient writers. By
contrast, some of the things that they did have to say about the gods are
relevant also to theistic systems other than their own. The passages which
follow include various views of the gods which come up as it were in passing
(1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.6) as well as more focused treatments and discussions, in
which (to a greater or lesser degree, and for a longer or shorter time) the nature
of the divine is itself the central subject. Unsurprisingly, while some passages
present a positive view, praising divine power (1.1.6), or showing the gods
as reasonable (1.1.1), many engage with the gods' perceived harshness or injus-
tice to humanity (1.1.2, 1. 1.4), perhaps defending their fairness or benevolence
(1.1.3, 1.1.8), or on the other hand moving from anger towards the gods to
the equally angry assumption that they do not exist (1. 1.5). The conventional
anthropomorphic depiction of the gods (cf. 1.3.3) is rejected in a famous
passage of Xenophanes (1.1. 7), which, however, builds on well established
positions such as that expressed by Pindar in 1.1.6, and is in turn partly
followed by Xenophon's practical Socrates (1.1.8), who assumes that his inter-
locutor must agree that divine thought can encompass everything at once.
Diverse as these passages are, they demonstrate that discussion and specula-
tion about the gods was an integral feature of the Greek religious framework.
1.1.1 The gods can change their minds
Source: Iliad 9 .496
But master your great anger, Achillesi you ought not to have a pitiless heart.
Even the gods themselves can change their minds, c1nd they are stronger and
better and more honoured than we are. People pray to them, and with sacrifice
and soothing offerings, and libations and smoke from roasting meat they turn
them from wrath, whenever .someone oversteps the mark and does wrong.
8 GODS AND RELIGION
Figure 1 'Sacrifice and soothing offerings': a sacrificial procession. The female

figure at the front is carrying equipment for the sacrifice; she is followed by a smaller
figure leading a sheep to the altar and by musicians. The wooden tablet (pinax) was
dedicated by Euthydika and Eucholis to the Nymphs. From the village of Pitsa near
ancient Sikyon, dated c. 540-530. Athens, National Archaeological Museum (EAM)
16464.
From the famous speech where the old family retainer Phoinix tries unsuc-
cessfully to persuade Achilles to be reconciled with Agamemnon and return
to the war. The argument depends upon the normal Iliadic perception that
the more powerful you are and the more status you have, the more you can
insist on others deferring to you and pleasing you. No human can compete
in status with the gods, who therefore can be expected to come down
extremely harshly on those who offend them - as indeed they often do
(see 2.3). But they do not always insist on their prerogatives, and can often
be appeased by offerings; therefore, Achilles should do the same (Agamemnon
has sent him a handsome offer of reparation). For the argument, compare
the appeals to divine mythology at 2.5.6 and 2.5. 7.
The view that the gods can be propitiated is of great importance for nor-
mal cult relations between humans and the divine, and was surely a belief
generally held. Plato, however, objected strenuously to the opinion that the
gods could be swayed from perfect justice, once citing this passage, in a slightly
different form, as its most concise expression (3.4.7, where the citation is omit-
ted; cf. 3.5.4).
On libations, see 3.1.3; on sacrifice, 5.2. The gods are not generally pictured
as eating human-style food, but are frequently said to appreciate the sweet
savour of grilling or roasting meat (knise). ,
GODS AND RELIGION 9
1.1.2 The jars of Zeus
Source: Iliad 24.527-33
There are two jars on the floor of Zeus, full of what he gives, one of bad things,
one of good. When thunder-loving Zeus mixes the two and gives them to some-
one, that person has ill luck at times, and at,other times good. But when he
gives the bad, he makes that man despised, and evil famine drives him over the
bright earth, and he is honoured neither by gods nor by mortals.
Achilles himself gives this less cheerful perspective on the impact of the gods
on human life, in his meeting with Priam at the end of the Iliad. It shows,
perhaps, not so much a view of the gods in themselves, but rather how the
gods and especially Zeus are used to explain certain things about human life
- often of a pessimistic sort.
1.1.3 It's not the gods' fault
Source: Odyssey 1.28-43
The father of men and gods began to speak to them. He was mindful in his
heart of excellent Aigisthos, who was killed ·by Orestes of far-flung glory, son of ,
Agamemnon, and thinking of him he spoke to the Immortals: 1Alas, how mor-
tals lay blame on the gods! They say their misfortunes come from us, but it is
through their own folly that they suffer beyond their allotted fate. Just so now
Aigisthos, beyond his fate, united with the wedded wife of the son of Atreus,
and killed him on his return home, though he knew that he would perish
dreadfully; we told him beforehand, sending Hermes, the keen-sighted, slayer
- of Argos, to tell him not to kill Agamemnon nor to woo his wife. for vengeance
, would come for the son of Atreus from Orestes, when he grew up and felt desire
, for his own land. Thus Hermes told him, but he .did not convince Aigisthos,
good advice as it was. And now he has paid the full penalty for everything.'
The Odyssey, despite the reservations of some scholars, seems more eager to
associate the gods with justice than is the Iliad, and this passage has sometimes
been seen as, in a sense, a reply to the previous one. The story of Aigisthos'
seduction of Klytaimestra (Clytemnestra) and murder of Agamemnon (son of
Atreus) is given in the text; it is noticeable that, in contrast to later versions,
little prominence is given to Klytaimestra herself and it is Aigisthos who is the
prime mover. Zeus uses these events to exemplify the way in which people
blame the gods for their misfortune, when in fact it is their own misdeeds
10 GODS AND RELIGION
that bring trouble upon them; in this case, the gods have even given Aigisthos
explicit warning that he should not embark upon the course he is thinking
of. The passage shows a strong desire to vindicate the gods as acting justly.
Hermes frequently acts Lnthe Odyssey as go-between for the gods when
they wish to communicate with mortals.
1. 1 .4 ... or is.,it?
Source: Theognis 373-82
Dear Zeus; I am surprised at you. You rule over everything, and have honour
and vast strength. You are well acquainted with the mind and disposition of
every human individual, and yours, 0 king, is the supreme power over all. Then
how, son of Kronos, can your mind endure to keep wrongdoers in the same
position as the just man; the mind that turns to decent behaviour and those
who put their trust in deeds of injustice and turn to violence'!
A succinct statement of the problem of evil. 'Theognis' (the name covers a

miscellaneous collection of verse in elegiac metre) does not state that Zeus
is actually omnipotent, but the ruler of the gods is surely incomparably the
most powerful being in the universe. So why is injustice not punished? Some
of Theognis' gripe may be that, as he sees it, the traditionally agathoi ('good'),
the aristocracy, no longer necessarily receive their due; but however wrong-
doing is defined, the point is a potent one.
violence: hybris, unjustified and insulting behaviour usually involving phys-

ical violence.
1.1.5 There can be no gods
Source: Euripides, Bellerophon (TrGF 5.1 fr. 286)
Does anyone say that there are gods in heaven? No, there are not, certainly not,
if one is willing not to be foolish and to reject the ancient opinion. Think about
it yourselves; don't base your opinion on what I say. I maintain that tyranny
kills vast numbers, and deprives others of their property, and tyrants break their
oaths and attack cities; and as they do this, they are more forhmate than those
who live piously and quietly day by day. I know small cities which reverence
the gods which are subject to larger and more impious ones, having been over-
powered by an army greater in number. If a lazy person prayed to the gods and
didn't .gather his livelihood with his hands, I think that you would (the rest is
missing). ,
GODS AND RELIGION 11
The argument is a familiar one: the injustices of the human world disprove
the existence of just gods, perhaps of any gods. Not only injustice, but
specifically impiety (breaking of oaths, sworn by the gods) goes unpunished.
Euripides' play, which survives only in a few fragments, tells the story of the
misfortunes of the upright Bellerophon(tes) and his attempt to challenge the
gods for their treatment of him by riding the winged horse Pegasos up to
Olympos/heaven, but the loss of further context makes it unclear how the
situation was resolved. Bellerophon's initial exclamation is the opposite of
the Homeric 'you gods still exist!' (e.g. Odyssey 24.351-2), as a response to
the reassertion of justice in human affairs, and could in itself be a statement
of momentary rather than permanent conviction. Certainly we should not
identify it as Euripides' own view, however fond the dramatist is of giving
his characters provocative words about the gods. But this is a striking passage,
and the speaker seems to invite the audience to consider his words seriously,
and not just within the context of the play ('think about it yourselves ... ').
Such approaches towards extra-dramatic utterances are not uncommon in
Euripides. At the same time, we must remember that the speech is also, and at
least as much, that of a character within the play. Further fragments suggest
that other characters argued against Bellerophon. One line - 'If the gods do
anything shameful, they are not gods' (fr. 292) - suggests that someone had
a more positive theology to put forward, though not one that necessarily fully
answers Bellerophon's point.
I think that you would: probably 'not ·expect him to do very well' - that
is, we all know really that prayer is not efficacious, showing that the gods
don't exist. That would be logical, and in tune with the idea just expressed
tha-t the wicked are more fortunate than those who reverence the gods;
passage 4.2.7, also by Euripides, supplies a parallel. But another possibility
suggested is that seeing such a person prosper would show that the gods are
unjust. This is also possible, since accusations of injustice and non-existence
commonly though illogically go together ('you don't exist, you bastard').
1.1.6 The power of god
Source: Pindar, Pythians 2.50-3
God brings about the accomplishment of all his desires; god, who reaches the
winged eagle and passes the dolphin of the sea. He has bent down mortals whose
thoughts are too high, but to others he has given unaging glory.
Like many post-Homeric writers, Pindar uses the singular theos, 'god', in an
indefinite way to indicate 'some god' or 'gods in general'; an alternative used
by prose writers is to theion, 'the divine'. The power and sublimity of 'god'
includes here the, ability to dispose human affairs in ways and for reasons
which can perhaps be only partly understood.
1.1.7 One god greatest among gods and men
Source: Xenophanes, ·frr. 23-6 (PK 21 B 11, 23-6)
One god, greatest among gods and men, neither in form nor in thought like
at all to mortals ... all of him sees, all thinks, and all hears ... he remains
always in the same place, moving not at all, nor is it fitting for him to go from
place to place, but without exertion he shakes everything by the thought of
his mind.
How the fragments fit together is not quite certain, but that they all belong
in the same area is clear, forming part of an uncompromisingly unanthropo-
morphic portrayal of the divine which is the best known philosophical con-
tribution of Xenophanes of Kolophon, whose career straddled the sixth and fifth
centuries. Xenophanes rejected the traditional myths of the poets (see 2.5.1),
but this passage shows a corresponding positive proposal. It may seem a
radical view of the divine, but by the late fifth century it seems to have been
in common currency. Note that although the god is not 'like at all to mortals',
linguistically he remains masculine rather than becoming neuter.
1.1.8 The gods care about humans
Source: Xenophon,. Memorabilia 1.4.10-18
'No, Socrates,' said Aristodemos, 'I don't despise the divine, but I think it is too
great to need any attention from me.'
'Well/ he replied,. 'the greater it is, and still deigns to attend to you, the more
honour you should pay to it.'
'You can be sure that if I thought that the gods had any concern for humans
I would not neglect them,' replied Aristodemos.
'So you don.'t think they have any concern?' said Socrates. 'But firstly, it was
they who made humans stand upright, alone of all animals; and being upright
allows us to see further ahead, and to keep a better eye on things above, and
our sight, hearing and speech to suffer fewer injuries (exact text uncertain).
Then again, they gave other land animals feet, which only allow them to walk,
but to man they also gave hands,which produce most of those things that make
us happier than beasts. And all animals have a tongue, but only the human
tongue they made such that by touching different parts of the mouth at
different times it could organise the voice and indicate everything we wish to
communicate with each other. They have given the pleasures of sex to' other
animals, but limited them to a particular season of the year, whereas for us they
provided them continuously up until old age. And the god was not content with
taking care of the body, but also, most importantly, implanted in humans the soul
with the most capabilities. What other animal has a soul that can perceive the
existence of the gods, who have so disposed the greatest and the finest things?
What species other than the human attends to the gods? And what soul is more
capable than the human of taking steps against famine, thirst, cold or heat, .or
of palliating sickness, or of training to increase strength, or setting itself to learn-
' ing, or of remembering all that it hears, sees or learns? Don't you see quite clearly
that in comparison to other animals, humans live a life like that of the gods, as
they are supreme in nature, both in body and soul? A creature with the body of
an ox but a human mind would not be able to do what it wanted, and neither
would one with hands but no thought have any advantage. You have both of
these valuable things: do you really think that the gods have no concern for you?
What do they have to do, for you to suppose that they have thought for you?'
'They would have to send advisors, as you say they send, to say what one
ought and ought not to do.'
'Well then,' he said, 'when the Athenians wish to learn something through
divination, and the gods speak to them, do you not think they are speaking
to you as well? And the same when they send portents to the Greeks, or to all
[ mankind, to tell them something in advance - do they make an exception of
you alone, and have no care for you? Do you think that the gods would have
implanted in men the idea that they are capable of dealing out good or bad
treatment if they were not able to do so, and that people would never have
realised all this time that they had been deluded? Do you not see how the
oldest and wisest of human communities, whether cities or nations, are the most
godfearing, and how the most thoughtful stages of life are those which are most
concerned with the gods? My dear friend, he said, 'be aware also that your mind,
1
from within, disposes your body as it wishes. So one must suppose that the
thought within the universe also directs the universe as it pleases. You can't
think that while your eyesight can extend over several miles, the god's eyes are
unable to see everything at once, or that while your mind can conceive both
of things happening here and of affairs in Egypt,and Sicily, the god's thought
is not able to encompass everything at once. Now with people, when you do
things for tpem you discover which people do things in return for you, and
by showing favour yourself you find out which people return favours, and by
asking advice you learn which people have good ideas. So if in the same way
you try out the gods by doing things for them, and see if they are willing to give
advice to humans about things that are uncertain, you will find that the divine
is so vast and of such a kind that it can at once see everything and hear every-
thing and be present everywhere, and at once concern itself with everything.'
Xenophon is concerned both here and elsewhere in his Memories of Socrates

to refute the impiety charge on which Socrates was condemned and to show
that his old associate was actually the most pious of men. So we cannot be sure
that the real Socrates put forward such arguments as these, though it is not
inconceivable that he did. The important thing is that they were formed at all.
The first point is a· somewhat specialised form of the argument from design, a
version which reappears throughout antiquity: it is not so much that the exist-
ence and good order of the universe indicate a creator, as that the benefits given
to the human race (here,· particularly the form in which it has been created)
give evidence of divine concern for humans. The idea attributed here to Aristo-
demos, that the gods exist but have.no interest in human affairs, is mentioned
by Plato in the Laws as one of three objectionable beliefs about the gods (see
3.5.4), and was later adopted as canonical by Epicurus and his followers. How-
ever, it was probably one that relatively few people held consistently, rather
being more often sparked off temporarily by some disappointment or perceived
injustice suffered (compare above, 1.1.5, on the non-existence of the gods).
Aristodemos then refers to Socrates' claim to be the recipient of personal
communication from 'the divine' (to daimonion). For both Xenophon and Plato,
this was one of the things that marked Socrates out as special, but 'Socrates'
here tells Aristodemos that in fact the gods are in communication with all
humans regularly through the medium of oracles and other forms of divination
(compare 4.2, 6.2). There follows the argument from authority, another one
which Plato flirts with in the Laws, though partially acknowledging its
inadequacy. Finally Socrates presents us with an analogy which seems to
compare the gods or the divine both to humans as a whole and to the human
mind: the gods in this latter presentation are the mind within the universe.
This is a position which recalls both the system of the philosopher Anaxagoras,
making Mind the guiding principle of the universe, with which Plato's Socrates
was so disappointed (Phaedo 97b-98c) and that elaborated in detail by Plato
in the Timaeus. Despite this, Xenophon's Socrates is very traditional in his
view of human-divine relations, seeing them as articulated primarily by the return
of favours (charis). Plato might well have had some difficulty with this, espous-
ing as he does a view in which the gods are primarily motivated by justice
and reward upright behaviour rather than return favours (see 3.4.7, 3.5.4).
the most thoughtful stages of life: compare Plato's contention that no one
ever remained an atheist into old age (3.5.4).
the god's eyes: see above, 1.1.6, on 'god' or 'the god' in a rather vague sin-
gular form.
Egypt and Sicily: the Athenians had usually a lively interest in these some-
what distant parts of the Greek world.
1.2 Other Gods; Gods and Others
The gods who are the objects of the more abstract speculation seen in the
previous section are also - in a sense - the gods of mythology (the sul->ject
of the following chapter), the individual gods: Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Athena and
so on. But 'the gods' are also more than these 'Olympians', and the objects
of religious cult are also more than gods. Heroes, nymphs and the so-called
'chthonian' powers are an important part of Greek religion, and a glance at
a sacrificial calendar, such as 5.3.1, shows how many (to us) unfamiliar names
appear in the regulated worship of a community. Making sense of such con-
glomerations of deities can look difficult. One way of trying to produce some
order out of apparent chaos has been to divide the beings who receive cult
into 'Olympian' and 'chthonian' or 'chthonic', the former category containing
most of the 'major', mythological divinities, who are said from Homer onwards
to live on Olympos, and the latter, deities connected in some way with the
earth or the underworld, along with the heroes, who are generally conceived
of as the special dead. There is some support for the recognition of these cat-
egories in ancient authors, but most of the more schematic evidence is rather
later than our period; instead of assuming that the division is a necessary
part of the way the gods are viewed, it might be more accurate to say that
for the archaic and classical period it is available to be used and elaborated
on (thus 1.2.1 and especially Aeschylus' Eumenides, of which the conclusion
forms 1.2.2), but is by no means mandatory. The epithet chthonios, 'earthy',
is certainly used in particular cults (for instance, various local cults of Demeter
Chthonie) or to refer to particular deities (thus 'Zeus Chthonios' is a frequent
name for the underworld god), and olympios also appears as a divine epithet,
but this need only mean that in those contexts the epithets express some-
thing important about those divinities - not even that 'chthonian' is always
and necessarily defined by opposition to 'Olympian' or vice versa. On the issue
of chthonian and Olympian in sacrifice, see 5.2.
Heroes are a distinctive part of the Greek religious world, and range from
well-known characters in myth like Agamemnon or Herakles (though Herakles
could also be worshipped as a god) to anonymous local figures known only
as 'the hero' or distinguished by their place of worship. Normally they are
thought of as humans who have died (for an indication of a rare exception,
see 1.2.7), and this connexion with death sometimes links them with under-
world deities. Their shrines are often their tombs, and sacrifice to them may
take a different form from that offered to the gods (5.2); as contact with the
dead is polluting, so in some circumstances approaching or worshipping a
hero may also convey pollution (on pollution, see 3.3). But in the classical
period, a hero was not just any dead person; after death, he (or she) had
acquired special powers analogous, if perhaps inferior, to those of the gods,
and though this specialness was sometimes only revealed after death (as 1.2.6)
more often it was somehow connected with a special quality or event in the
person's life. This quality is easy to supply in the case of heroes from the
mythological age; the mere fact of having lived then guaranteed that a hero
or heroine was greater than people of the present day. But heroes continued
to be 'made' in historical times; they were typically victorious athletes, the
war dead, or founders of cities (1.2.7). The local connexion of heroes is very
strong, as their tombs limited the number of places where they could be
worshipped, and 'their mythical traditions stressed their links with a particular
city; thus heroes have often a not!<::eablepolitical aspect (1.2.5-7; see also 2.4.3).
As a group, they can also be unpredictable and malicious (1.2.3).
Another way of looking at heroes is to see them as a group of beings forming
a middle term between gods and humans. Nymphs can be seen as belonging
to this category as well; indeed, groups of heroines seem often to be closely allied
to groups of nymphs. Both heroes and nymphs are local (1.2.8). But unlike
heroes, nymphs have nothing to do with death, though according to one text
(1.2.10), they are not immortal like gods, but extremely long-lived. And where
heroes are often associated with political structures and therefore frequently
to be found in city centres (1.2.5, 1.2.7), nymphs are almost always worshipped
in country locations, most often caves (1.2.9, 3.4.3-4), and associated with
water or sometimes trees (1.2.10); in cult they are associated with Pan above
all, but in myth individual nymphs or groups of nymphs are linked with many
different gods, both as sexual partners and sometimes as mothers or nurses.
For nymphs, see also 3.4.3-4, inscriptions attesting individual devotion to
particular nymph cults.
1.2.1 Worshipping earth and Olympos
Source: Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1648-55
We turned round after a little while, and we could see the man nowhere at all
any more, but we saw the king holding his hand in front of his face, shading
his eyes, as though some awful fear had been manifested, something he could
not bear to look upon. But then, briefly and without a word, we saw him rev-
erence the earth and divine Olympos at the same moment.
A messenger reports the disappearance of the aged Oedipus who, realising

that the end of his life is approaching, has led his protector Theseus ('the king')
away to witness his passing. The play has implied that Oedipus will become
a hero, but exactly what happens at the crucial moment is left unspoken;
indeed, only Theseus and his successors are permitted to know the mystery
of Oedipus' end. The only clue we are given is the king's gesture of worship,
encompassing both heavenly and chthonic powers.
1.2.2 The Solemn Goddesses are established in Athens
Source: Aeschylus, Eumenides 1033-47
Make your way, o great and honoured children of Night, children whq are,no
children, in this glad procession and you, people of this place, keep holy silence.
In the earth's primeval hollows may you meet with reverence, and with hon-
ours and sacrifices. All people, keep holy silence.
Propitious and favourable to this land, come here, 0 Solemn Goddesses, rejoi-
cing in the blazing fire of torches about your way. Raise a joyful shout now over
our songs.
There is peace (a few words uncertain) with the townsmen of Pallas. This is the
agreement of all-seeing Zeus and Fate. Raise a joyful shout now over our songs.
This is the hymnic conclusion of Aeschylus' great Oresteia trilogy, probably sung
by a secondary chorus representing the cult personnel of Athena. The third play
in the trilogy has depicted Orestes' trial for matricide in Athens; the prose-
cutors were the Erinyes or Furies who, on being defeated by the single vote of
Athena (here called Pallas), threatened the Athenians with the full onslaught
of their sinister powers. But eventually Athena succeeds in persuading them
to abandon their anger by promising them cult honours in Athens; they thus
become the Semnai (Solemn Goddesses; despite the play's conventional title
the name Eumenides is never used) who will retain some of their fearful aspects
but also preside over the land's prosperity and fertility. Something of their
double aspect is seen in these final lines. The goddesses are 'children of Night',
as they have been throughout the play, identified as belonging to a female-
dominated race of gods which is older than that of Zeus and the Olympians
(compare 2.1 on ancient conflicts among the gods), and they will be established
'in the earth's primeval hollows', suitably for 'chthonic' deities. But they will
now be 'propitious and favourable' (literally, right-thinking), and part of an
order symbolised by Athena and Zeus; the final procession evokes the torch-
light procession of the Panathenaia, the greatest festival of Athens (see 5.3.3),
and the honours they will received seem to merge into the honours of Athena.
Groups of more-or-less frightening deities such as Scmnai, Eumenides ('Kindly
Ones'; cf. 5.1.8) and Maniai ('madnesses') arc found quite frequently in the
Greek world.
children who are no children: paides apaides means both this and '(Night's)
children without children.'
glad procession: the word for 'glad', euphron, echoes a commonly used
euphemistic word for night, euphrone, appropriate to the origin of the Senmai.
holy silence: as usual at the opening of religious ceremonies. It contrasts with
the shouts of joy (ololygmos) which arc then demanded, but both silence and
shouts (in this context) are auspicious, contrasting strongly with the use of
both motifs earlier in the trilogy.
there is peace: spondai, literally the libations (see 3.1.3) which establish a
peace treaty. There is perhaps a contrast with the choai (libations to the dead)
which form the central scene of the trilogy's second play, Choephoroi.
1.2.3 Watch out, heroes at work
Source: Aristophanes,.fragment from Heroes (fr. 322 Kassel-Austin)
So then, men, be on your guard, and reverence the heroes; for we are the guardians
of evil and good. We examine the unjust, the thieves and robbers, and to some
we send sickness: spleen trouble and· coughs, and dropsy, catarrh, itchy scabs
and gout, madness, and skin eruptions, lumps, chills and fevers.
The exact subject of Aristophanes' comedy is unknown, but it is clear that its
chorus was composed of heroes, and here, as is traditional in comedy, they
speak to the audience in character. Unlike many records of sacrifices and ded-
ications to individual heroes, the passage indicates that the functions of heroes
could be significantly different from those of gods and could include rather
unpleasant actions. One or two fragments of Menander suggest a similar view
of heroes. From the letters remaining in the following line, it seems that the
people who receive the sicknesses form one category of wrongdoers, and the
passage continued with a list of other nasty things sent to thieves.
1.2.4 Herakles and his sons
Source: Pindar, Isthmians 4.52-68
Once there came to the house of Antaios from Thebes, city of Kadmos, a
man short of stature but invincible in spirit; he went to wheat-bearing Libya,
to fight Antaios and stop him from roofing the temple of Poseidon with the
skulls of strangers, he the son of Alkmene; who went to Olympos, after he
had explored the surface of the whole earth and the hollows of the grey
sea with its deep cliffs, and tamed the straits for sailing. And now he dwells
beside the Holder of the Aigis, amidst lovely good fortune, and he is hon-
oured and loved by the Immortals, and has .Hebe to wife; he is the lord of golden
halls and son-in-law of Hera. For him beyond the Electran Gates we citizens
prepare a feast and new-built circles of altars, and we increase the burnt-
offerings for the eight bronze-cla_d dead men,· the sons born to him by Megara,
daughter of Kreon. For them at the setting of the sun's rays the flame rises up
and keeps festival all. night, leaping up to the sky in fragrant smoke. And on
the second day comes the end of the annual games, an accomplishment of
strength.
Although Herakles is something of a special case among heroes, being some-

times considered a god and worshipped as such, Pindar's lines still express
the two facets of the hero's existence: the events and achievements of their
lives and the cult they receive after death. Herakles adds a third facet; since
his narrative tradition states that he became a god, his glorious life on Olympos
can be described, including his acceptance by his old enemy Hera (compare
2.1.3, 2.3.1) and his marriage to her daughter Hebe ('youth'); generally the
hero's own experience after death is not imagined.
Unusually, Herakles is imagined as short of stature, no doubt to be like
the athlete celebrated in the victory ode, Melissos of Thebes. Comparatively
short as he was, Herakles still managed to defeat the Libyan giant Antaios,
son of Poseidon, who challenged all comers to a wrestling match, and hav-
ing defeated them killed them and stored their skulls in order to construct
a temple for his father. Herakles is thus typically presented not only as invin-
cibly strong, but as a benefactor of humanity who rid the earth of dangers
and made it safe.
Herakles was worshipped throughout the Greek world, but mythology
made him a Theban, like Melissos and Pindar himself. There is thus a par-
ticular aptness in the description of his cult at Thebes, which adds for us
some interesting details. Evidently he was worshipped in connexion with the
sons he had by the Theban Megara, whom, in the usual version, he himself
killed in a fit of madness while they were still children. For Pindar, however,
the sons were men and warriors, and this presumably reflects the general
Theban belief of the time; it is very likely that a pre-existing group of heroic
warriors, called the Alkaidai, had by this time become attached to Herakles,
and were joint honorands at his festival. Evidently the festival lasted for
two days and included sacrifices and an athletic contest, such as might be
held for either god or hero. The distinctive point is that the sacrifice (empyra
- fire-offerings) is made in the evening. The more usual practice was to sacrifice
early in the day, and night-time offerings are often associated by our more
schematic sources with heroic and 'chthonian' recipients, who might have
an almost sinister air. But another interpretation is suggested by Pindar him-
self: the sacrificial flame 'keeps festival all night' (syneches pannychizei), thus
connecting with the all-night celebration (pannychis) which was a feature of
some of the greatest and most splendid festivals (see 5.3.3). Further, the flame
rises when the sun sets, taking over its light-giving function; the motif of
light in darkness is an immensely positive one, exploited to the full in the
Mysteries of Eleusis (6.4.1-4), and in later times in the Easter Vigil. See also
5.3 on festivals.
Holder of the Aigis: Zeus, Herakles' father. On the aigis, see 2.1.4
new-built circles: or possibly 'altars with fresh garlands'.
fragrant smoke: the fragrance is that of the sacrificial meat, represented as
pleasing to its recipients (compare 1.1.1, and 5.2 on sacrifice). If this is
followed to its logical conclusion (but often such things are not), the implica-
tion should be that the sons of Herakles are located in the sky or on Olympos,
rather than in the earth.
1.2.5 Exchanging heroes
Source: Herodotus, Histories S.67
Kleisthenes had been at war with Argos, and he made an end to rhapsodic con-
tests in Sikyon because of the Homeric epics, which are constantly singing of
Argos and the Argfves. He also wanted to expel from the country Adrastos son
of Talaos, who had and still has a hero-shrine actually_in the agora of Sikyon,
because he was an Argive. So he went to Delphi, and asked if he could remove
Adrastos, but the Pythia replied that Adrastos was king of Sikyon, and Kleisthenes
just a thrower of stones. Since the god:would not give permission, he went back
home and tried to devise a way of ensuring that Adrastos would leave of his
own accord. When he thought he had found one, he sent to Thebes in Boeotia,
saying that he wanted to introduce Melanippos son of Astakos, and the Thebans
agreed. So Kleisthenes brought Melanippos in, and assigned him a precinct in
the prytaneion itself, establishing him right there in the most secure place
possible. I must now explain the reason that Kleisthenes introduced him: it was
because he was a mortal enemy of Adrastos, having killed his brother Mekisteus
and his son-in-law Tydeus. When Kleisthenes had assigned him the precinct,
he took away [}rom Adrastos his sacrifices and festivals and gave them to
Mel&tnippos.lt was the Sikyonian custom to pay very great honours to Adrastos;
the country had belonged to Polybos, and Adrastos was the grandson of Polybos,
who, dying without male issue, gave his kingdom to Adrastos. One of the hon-
ours that they gavewas to celebrate him with tragic choruses for his sufferings;
these were not in honour of Dionysos, but of Adrastos. Kleisthenes instead gave
the choruses to Dionysos, and. the rest of the cult to Melanippos.
A fine example of the complex mythological politics which heroes are often
caught up in. Klcisthenes, ruler of Sikyon in the first quarter of the sixth
century, was also known for his relabelling the 'tribes' into which the citizen
body was divided, giving prominence to his own, non-Dorian, tribe, and
ridiculing the others; he was thus, if Herodotus' account is correct, a master
of propaganda, which is one level on which his manipulation of the heroes
would work. But we should not discard the idea of a direct effect on Adrastos.
Heroes were often thought to be present at their tombs or shrines; Adrastos
was buried 'actually in the agora', the heart of the city (ordinary people's tombs
were outside the city, to avoid 'pollution; see 3.3). He might well be thought
to be made uncomfortable when his enemy arrived close by, and was given
a better position than himself, in the prytaneion - the 'scat of government',
where the greatest benefactors were honoured and which also contained the
city's own hearth. And the withdrawal of cult would mean that residence
would seem less attractive, quite apart from the insult caused by then giving
that cult to an enemy. However, Herodotus attests that the heroon of Adrastos
remained in the agora at Sikyon and many centuries later Pausanias- saw the
tomb of Melanippos not at Sikyon but on the road from Thebes to Chalkis
(Guide to Greece 9.18.1). Pindar mentions the games of Adrastos at Sikyon

(Isthmians 4.26); Kleisthenes' changes were eventually forgotten.
Moving heroic bones was something of a preoccupation in the archaic period
and the fifth century, with well-known examples including Orestes (Herodotus,
Histories 1.67-8) and Theseus (Plutarch, Theseus 36; Cimon 8). Sometimes the
bones had a talismanic effect, but the mythology was almost always import-
ant, as the hero could express old claims, friendships or enmities and might
be considered to continue his interests more powerfully from the grave. In
this case, Adrastos was best known for his command of the disastrous ex-
pedition of the Seven against Thebes, in which he was accompanied by his
brother Mekisteus and son-in-law Tydeus. Hence the choice of a Theban and
killer of his companions in order to oust him.
rhapsodic contests: rhapsodes competed at festivals in the recital of Homer

and other epic verse.
constantly singing of Argos: as well as Achaioi and Danaoi, the 'Greeks' in
the Iliad are called Argcioi, Argives.
a precinct: temenos. Sec introduction to Chapter 5.
Polybos: a king of Corinth, the supposed father of Oedipus.
1.2.6 An oracle decrees heroic cult
Source: Herodotus, Histories 5.114
Because he had laid siege to them, the Amathousians cut off the head of Onesilos
; and took it to Amathous, where they hung it up on top of the gates. As it hung
thcre it became hollow, and a swarm of bees entered it and filled it with honey-
1
comb. vVhen this happened, the Amathousians made an oracular consultation

about it, and the reply was that they should take the head down and give it
: burial, and sacrifice every year to Onesilos as a hero; if they did this, things
, would go better with them. And the Amathousians continued to do this down
to my owrt time.
These events, Herodotus tells us, took place in Cyprus during the wars caused
by the revolt of the Ionian cities against Persian rule in 510. Cities more
usually worshipped heroes who were thought to have belonged to their own
community in the past, but there is a small group of 'enemy heroes' like
Onesilos who can be linked with the hero's often paradoxical and unpredictable
nature. Bees and honey often carry an implication of something more than
human, and so although the event recorded is by no means implausible,
we can see how it might have seemed sufficiently portentous to warrant the
consultation of an oracle. A lot of the questions posed to oracles were of a
religious or semi-religious nature (see 6.2), and many hero-cults were traced
to oracular command. Which oracle was consulted, Herodotus does not say;
conceivably Delphi, but the oracle of Apollo at Patara in Lykia would have
been much more convenieµt for Cyprus. It may have been some more local
establishment. 'If they did this, things would go better with them' reflects
oracular language (see for instance 6.2.5).
1.2.7 Changing the city's founde_r hero
Source: Thucydides 5.11
Then all the allies followed in arms and gave a public burial to Brasidas, inside
the city just in front of what is now the agora. Afterwards the citizens of
1
Amphipolis fenced off his tomb and offer victims to him as a hero, and began
to celebrate games and annual sacrifices in his honour, attributing the colony
to him as founder. They took down the buildings of Hagnon and removed any
evidence of his foundation that happened to survive; they considered that Brasidas
has been their saviour, and as for the present they were trying to get an alliance
with the Spartans through fear of the Athenians, and because the Athenians were
their enemies they thought that it would be neither as useful nor as desirable
to pay honours to Hagnon.
During the Peloponnesian War, there was fierce fighting in Thrace to the north
of Greece and the nearby regions, especially round the city of Amphipolis, which
had been founded by Athenians and (rather more) others under the leadership
of the Athenian Hagnon in 437, on the site of a former failed settlement. In
424 the city was taken by the Spartans, and an Athenian attempt to recap-
ture it in 422 failed, but resulted in the death of the Spartan general Brasidas.
The worship of a city founder - mythical, historical or somewhere in between
- as a particularly important hero for the city was commonplace, and his real
or supposed tomb, and hence place of worship, was often in the agora (see
above, 1.2.5; compare also Battos at Cyrene, 3.3.1). Thus although Brasidas
was not actually the founder of Amphipolis, in the circumstances it was not
altogether surprising to find him repackaged as such; and Thucydides seldom
misses an opportunity to point out how political expediency can override both
sentimental feeling and an accurate record of the facts. Evidently Brasidas
was given honours very similar to those which first Adrastos, and then
Melanippos, had enjoyed in Sikyon. What is rather more surprising is the
suggestion that the real founder Hagnon had already received some cult hon-
ours - for that must surely be the meaning of the phrase 'to pay honours'
(tirnan), echoing what was said about Brasidas in the previous sentence. Hagnon
was still alive, and death was a usual prerequisite for heroisation. Given this
implication, it seems likely that the 'buildings of Hagnon' were not b11ildillgs
put up by the founder (it would be an impractical waste to demolish these,
in any case), but cult buildings designed for Hagnon's commemoration and
worship. Perhaps whatever cult was paid to a living founder was less emphatic
than that to a dead man; then the cult of the truly heroised, because dead,
Brasidas, would improve on what had been done before, as Kleisthenes tried
to do at Sikyon by placing his new hero Melanippos in the prytaneion.
offer victims: entemnein, a form of sacrifice emphasising the spilling of blood

when the victim's throat was cut; it was perhaps splashed over the hero's
grave. Like enagizein, we hear of it generally in the cult of heroes or 'chthon-
ian' beings, but it is by no means a universal word for sacrifice to a hero.
Thucydides uses the present tense here, suggesting that the cult continues.
1.2.8 A nymph's sons
Euryalos ... went after Aisepos and Pedasos, whom once the naiad nymph
Abarbaree bore to faultless Boukolion. Boukolion was the. son of glorious
Laomedon, his eldest, borne secretly by his mother. When he was herding
sheep he mingled with the nymph in love, and she conceived and bore twin
children.
Here is one of the main mythological functions of nymphs, to bear (locally)

notable children. There are several minor Trojan heroes in the Iliad who like
Aisepos and Pedasos are the children of nymphs, and similarly in Sophocles
the chorus speculate that Oedipus, found as an infant on the mountain, might
be the son of a nymph (Oedipus Tyrannus 1105-9) - by a god, because the nymphs
have sexual relations with both gods and men. In fact, their sexuality is clearly
important, as well as their motherhood: the meaning of nymphe is after all
'bride', 'nubile woman'.
naiad nymph: the word 'naiad' (nai"as, or in Homer nei'as) is very frequently
found paired with, or as a substitute for, 'nymph'. It derives from the verb
'to flow' and links the nymphs with springs, water being their commonest
association.
1.2.9 Odysseus greets the nymphs of Ithaca
Source: Odyssey 13.102-12, 357-60
At the head of the harbour is a long-leaved olive tree, and near it a lovely shady
cave, sacred to the nymphs who are called naiads. In it are stone mixing-bowls
24 CODS AND RELIGION
and storage jars; and there the bees keep their honey. And in it are immensely
long stone looms, where the nymphs weave cloth dyed ½ith sea-purple, won-
drous to see; and in it there is perennially flowing water. There are two doors
to the cave, one facing north which humans may enter by; the other, towards
the south, is for divine beings. No men enter that way, but it is the path of the
Immortals ...
Then much-enduring, godlike Odysseus wa~ overjoyed, and greeted his own
land, and kissed the life-giving earth. Straightway he raised his hands and prayed
to the nymphs: 'Naiad nymphs, daughters of Zeus, I thought I would never see
you. Now take pleasure in my fond prayers, and we will give gifts, as before, if
the daughter of Zeus, driver of spoil, willingly allows me to live and brings my
dear son to manhood.'
The cave of the nymphs, which Odysseus encounters very soon after his return
home to Ithaca, is described in a mixture of naturalistic and mythological
terms, corresponding perhaps to its two entrances, for humans and for its
divine inhabitants. In 'real life' nymphs were commonly worshipped in
caves (see 3.4.3, 3.4.4), and associated with water and springs, and in this
case too the cave is a cult-place. But the stone mixing-bowls and storage jars
(objects which would be made of pottery in normal life) and, obviously, the
looms are not dedications, but things which are actually used by the nymphs
who frequent the cave. The natural inspiration may have been particular rock
formations. The whole description is an intriguing one, which prompted much
allegorical exposition in later antiquity.
The nymphs are significant in this part of the Odyssey story because they
symbolise Odysseus' return to his native land, which at first he fails to recog-
nise because of mist deployed by Athena; at the moment of recognition,
it is they to whom he first prays. Nymphs are above all local beings, linked
inseparably to certain natural features of the landscape. There are many
accounts of their origin, or rather the origins of particular types and groups
of nymphs; they are not always daughters of Zeus as Odysseus addresses them.
The (singular) daughter of Zeus is Odysseus' patron Athena.
sea-purple: the red-purple dye obtained from a species of shellfish was the
most esteemed colouring agent throughout antiquity.
life-giving: alternatively, grain-giving.
we will give gifts: when prayer was not accompanied by an offering, the
promise of one was usually made. Compare 3.1 on prayer and 5.6 on dedica-
tions, including vows.
1.2.10 Nymphs of the mountain
Source: Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 256-73
When first he (the child Aineias) sees the light of the sun, the deep-breasted moun-
tain nymphs shall nurture him, those who live on this vast and holy mountain.
They follow neither mortals nor immortals, but they live long, eating deathless
food, and they join the beautiful dance with the immortals. With them the Silens ,
and the keen-sighted Slayer of Argos mingle in love, in the recesses of lovely
caves. When they are born, fir trees or high-topped oaks are born with .them
on the earth that feeds men, trees that are beautiful and flourishing, on the high
mountains. They stand tall, and they are called the sanctuaries of the immor-
tals, and mortals will not cut them with iron. But when the fate of death stands
close by, first the lovely trees wither upon the earth, the bark peels away all
around, the branches fall, and with these the life (of the nymph) leaves the light
of the sun. These are they who will keep my son beside them and bring him up.
This rather fanciful description has been influential in defining nymphs, but
it is by no means the only way that they are imagined. Most importantly,
they are not always subject to death and thus distinct from goddesses; for
Homer, Kalypso is both a nymph and a goddess, though certainly one of lesser
status than the Olympians. The connexion with trees is not exclusive to this
passage, but as we have seen in the previous passage, it is water above all to
which the nymphs most commonly relate. On the other hand, the links with
mountains and above all caves are quite standard, and so is their role as
sexual partners of the seilenoi (below) and Hermes ('the keen-sighted Slayer
of Argos', an epic appellation), whose own mother Maia was usually reckoned
to be a nymph. On a cult level, the nymphs were linked with many deities
including Hermes, but none so consistently as Hermes' son Pan, a rustic god
with some resemblance to seilenoi and satyrs (see 3.4.4).
Anchises, after being tricked into sleeping with Aphrodite, is here told by
her of the future of their child; to act as nurses of divine or special children
is another function discharged by certain groups of nymphs. Aphrodite also
warns her lover not to reveal the identity of the child's mother, but to claim
that she was one of the nymphs, drawing on a common mythological situ-
ation (above, 1.2.8). Again, this underlines the relatively inferior status of the
nymphs. The union of a mortal man with a nymph does not offend against the
proper order of things, whereas that of mortal with goddess does (see 2.2.4-5).
this vast and holy mountain: this mountain, because nymphs are local deities
who are particularly associated with one area, to which they keep.
Silens: seilenoi, like satyrs, are wild half-animal beings found accompanying
certain gods, particularly Dionysos. Sometimes, alternatively, there is one
Seilenos (Silenus), leader or father of a troupe of satyrs.
1.3 About Religion
While right from the beginning, in addition to depicting the gods, Greek texts
talk about what the gods are like, it is only somewhat later that they discuss
religion - that is, the relationship between gods and humans, both how humans
organise and articulate their relationship with the gods, and how their concep-
tion of the divine is structured. We have indeed seen Homeric preconceptions
about how the gods react to human cultivation (such as 1.1.1), but a full
discussion of the matter, and its implications for how we should practice
religion, must wait till at least the fifth century. The Hippocratic writer in
1.3.2 draws on a tradition of scepticism about individual religious practitioners
to make a more radical point about the assumptions lying behind the use of
purifications for healing purposes. With a different agenda, Plato uses the
dialogue form to discuss the whole question of 'piety', to hosion, in this extract
(1.3.1) concentrating on the way in which prayer and sacrifice arc concep-
tualised. The religious practices of non-Greek peoples give Herodotus the oppor-
tunity to reflect on their possible superiority (1.3.3) and their relationship to
Greek religion (1.3.5), while suggesting to Prodikos a possible origin for the
concept of the divine (1.3.4). Other writers seem to suggest that trying to
understand how the names and traditions about the gods grew up may help
us to understand what they are actually like (1.3.6, 1.3.7). That religion as a whole
might be a human phenomenon which needs an explanation is also a view
which is put forward, in 1.3.4 and, daringly - but in what context? - 1.3.8.
1.3.1 What is piety?
Source: Plato, Euthyphro 14b-15b
EUTHYPHRoN: But l say simply this to you, that if someone knows how to speak
to the gods and how to act towards them in a way that gratifies
them (kecharismena), by prayer and sacrifice, that is piety, and it
is this sort of thing which preserves both private families and the
common interest of cities. And the opposite of the things that
please them is impiety, which overturns and destroys everything.
SOCRATES: If you had wanted, you could have given a much shorter answer
to the main part of rny question ... So now what do you say that
the pious,. and piety is? Do you not say that it is a sort of know-
1
ledge about sacrifice and prayer?

EUTH: Yes, I do.
soc: And to sacrifice is to give gifts to the gods, while to pray is to ask
from them?
EUTH: Of course, Socrates.
soc: So from that it follows that piety would be a knowledge of ask-
ing and giving. '
EUTH: Yes, Socrates, you understand perfectly what I said.

soc: You see, my friend, I am desirous of your wisdom, and I am pay-
ing attention to it, so that what you say does not fall to the ground.
So tell me, what is this service to the gods? Are you saying that
it is asking from them and giving to them?
EU-rH: Yes, I am.
soc: And would not the right way of asking be to ask for those things
that we need from them? ··
EUTH: Obviously.
soc: And again, would the right way of giving be to give them in return
the things that they need from us? It would not be a properly
professional way of offering gifts to give someone things of
which he has no need.
EUTH: That's right, Socrates.
soc: So piety would be a sort of art of trading between gods and human
beings?
EUTH: Yes, trading, if that's what you like to call it.
soc: But I don't like to call it that, if it's not true. Now tell me, what
benefit do the gods derive from the gifts they get from us?
Everyone can see what it is that they give - we have no good
thing that was not given by them. But what is the benefit of the
things they get from us? Or do we do so much better than they
do in the trade-off that we get everything that is good from them
while they get nothing from us?
EUTH: But Socrates, do you think that the gods get any benefit out of
what they receive from us?
soc: Then what would they be, Euthyphron, the gifts we give to the gods?
EUTH: What do you think they could be, apart from honour, esteem and
- as I said just now - gratitude (charts)?
soc: So piety is gratifying to the gods, but not beneficial or dear to them?
EUTH: I think it is dear to them above all things.
soc: So again it seems that piety is what is dear to the gods.
EUTH: Certainly.
The dialogue concerns the nature of to hosion or hosiotes, rendered here as

piety. Euthyphron is led to offer several definitions of the word, most of which
are shown to be unsatisfactory by Socrates. In the previous section, a definition
was offered which Socrates does not seem to object to: that the part of what
is right (or justice, to dikaion), which is concerned with service to the gods
is reverent and pious (hosion), and the part concerned with human affairs is
the remainder of what is right. But Socrates then asks a new question - what
are the gods trying to achieve in which our service helps them? - which
Euthyphron gives up on, and suggests the definition with which our extract
begins, only for Socrates to bring him round once more to a definition which
has previously been rejected ('piety is what is dear to the gods').
Both this last definition and that which is given at the beginning of the
passage above are 'common-sense views of to hosion, which would have com-
manded broad assent. From a practical point of view, there is little difficulty
in agreeing that to act piou~ly is to act in a way pleasing to the gods. (This has
the strange consequence, hot considered in the dialogue, that hosiun can some-
times be opposed to hieron, 'holy', and mean almost 'secular', as it refers to any
activity which is leg~timate and approved by the gods.) Most people would also
have assumed that performing prayer and sacrifice in a proper way was the heart
of piety; such things established and maintained chatis, or mutual obligation
and good standing, which is central to the way the Greeks conceived the rela-
tionship between gods and humans (see 3.1 introduction). Give and take of this
sort can, of course, be reduced to 'trading', as Socrates suggests, but Euthyphron,
not unnaturally, seems somewhat uneasy with this way of putting it; it would
perhaps be fairer to his perception, and that of others, to think of the rela-
tionship of mutuality between friends or family members. But Socrates, who
is in fine ironic mode throughout the dialogue, obviously finds the whole
concept unsatisfactory, though he does not suggest anything to replace it.
The whole dialogue raises problems that are relevant to many religious
systems, not only the Greek. In our extract, we may notice particularly the
difficult issue of what it is that worship can actually offer to the divine. It is
worth noting that Euthyphron, who from Plato's perspective gets so much
so wrong, is quite clear that the gods do not receive any material benefit from
the material offers made to them. His suggestion of 'honour and esteem' (time,
gera) corresponds to the common use of the word 'honours' to express the
acts of formal worship. But he comes close to self-contradiction in rejecting
the idea that the gods get some benefit from what their worshippers give them,
when he has just agreed that it would not be 'properly professional' to offer
someone things of which they have no need.
1.3.2 Healers and purifiers are impious
Source: (HlppocratesJ, On the SacredDisease 1.27-32
With this sort of explanation and contrivance they pretend to have some extra
knowledge, and they lead people astray by prescribing for them holy abstinences
and special purities, and most of what they say is concerned with religious and
divine matters. And yet it seems to me that what they say is not consistent with
piety, as they think it is, but rather with impiety and the belief that there are
no gods, and that their 'pious' and 'divine' is really impious and unholy, as I
shall now demonstrate. If they claim to know how to bring down the moon,
and make the sun disappear, and cause storms and calm and rain and drought,
and make the sea impassable and the land barren (?) and everything else of this
sort, whether they say this power comes from special rites or from some other
knowledge or technique, then in my view those who practise these things co'lnmft
impiety, in thinking that the gods do not exist or have no power ... For if a human
being can use magic and sacrifice to drag down the moon and make the sun dis-
appear and cause storms and calm, then I would certainly suppose that none of
. these things is divine, but rather human, if the power of 'the divine' is con-
quered and enslaved by human intellect. But perhaps these things are not so, and
rather those in search of a livelihood invent and embroider all sorts of things ...
The author of this text is a late fifth-century medical writer in the Hippocratic
tradition, whose aim is to demonstrate that the 'sacred disease' (epilepsy) is
no more sacred than any other sickness, and to investigate its actual causes
in terms of contemporary medical theory. He must therefore try to discredit
those who attempt to cure the condition by magico-religious means. He criti-
cises their procedures as illogical (compare 3.3.4) and in the above passage
attempts to give the coup de graceby showing that they are in fact impious as
well as ineffective. There is some logic in his argument: can beings which are
relatively easily controlled by 'magic' really be divine and thus superior to
humanity? This point enables him to use a favoured strategy, employed by
authors as diverse as Pindar (1.1.6) and the author of the Derveni Papyrus
(cf. 1.3.6, 2.5.11), when challenging established views or traditions about the
gods, to claim superior piety. The view of the gods which healer-purifiers
necessarily espouse, he says, is an unfitting one. As for the insinuation that they
are charlatans, such accusations are commonly directed against certain types
of religious professionals (for instance seers and oracle-collectors, see 4.2.5) and
thus on one level they are easily acceptable: The argument in its entirety, entail-
ing that the gods ought not to be approached in this way, may have impressed
some, but will have had little effect on society as a whole, since healers and
purifiers continued to ply their trade. (See the further extract at 4.2.9.)
The passage continues by turning to the main subject of the treatise, the
'sacred disease', as the writer describes how practitioners attribute differing
symptoms of epilepsy to individual deities.
have no power: the text immediately following is uncertain, and the few
words omitted may perhaps represent an intrusive explanatory gloss. The
sequence of thought makes sense without them.
1.3.3 Persian religion
The following are the customs which I know are observed by the Persians. It is
not their custom to set up statues and temples and altars, and indeed they impute
foolishness to those who do so, I suppose because they do not think of the gods
in human form as the Greeks do. Their custom is to go up to the highest moun-
tain peaks and there sacrifice to Zeus, and what they call Zeus is the whole circle
of the sky. They also sacrifice to the sun, the moon, the earth, fire, water and
the winds. These were the only gods to whom they sacrificed originally, but
later they learned from the }\ssyrians and the Arabians to sacrifice also to Ourania.
(The Assyrians call Aphrodite Mylitta, the Arabians Alilat, and the Persians Mitra.)
Although Herodotus does not speculate about theology (what the divine is
really like) as do many of the authors represented in this chapter, a major part
of his anthropological investigations is the inquiry into the religious practices
and beliefs of different peoples. Sometimes, as here, his descriptions reveal
his own views and sympathies. Although, as he implies, 'statues and temples
and altars' are fundamental to the practice of Greek religion, he seems to have
some approval for what he represents as the Persian view with its rejection
of anthropomorphic deities. The focus on the 'natural' gods such as the heav-
enly bodies as the core of religion is typical of the late fifth century (com-
pare 1.3.4, 1.3.8), despite the fact that these entities received relatively little
worship in classical times from the Greeks themselves.
Herodotus gives away some of his agenda in the last sentence of the extract,
where he admits that the Persians do in fact worship at least one anthropo-
morphic deity - but in tune with his interest elsewhere in cultural transmission,
he identifies the phenomenon as something the Persians have learned from
their neighbours, a dilution then of earlier purer forms. Ourania, 'the heavenly
(female) one', was identified by the Greeks as a form of Aphrodite with eastern
connexions (cf. 6.5.9, 1.3.6 commentary); a number of West Asian goddesses
were thus syncretised. But Herodotus is quite wrong in identifying Aphrodite
with Mitra, who is actually a male god.
1.3.4 Usefulness makes a god
Source: Prodikos of Keos (DK 84 B30)
The ancients.consJdered the sun and moon and rivers and springs and in fact
everything to which we owe our livelihood to be gods, because of their useful-
ness, just as the Egyptians do the Nile.
Prodikos was a fifth-century thinker who was sometimes labelled an atheist

by later antiquity because of statements such as the one above. The passage,
quoted by the much later philosopher Sextus, continues in a paraphrased
form: 'because of this bread was considered to be Demeter, wine Dionysos,
water Poseidon, fire Hephaistos, and similarly with everything beneficial'. But
Prodikos is also attested as having claimed that 'gods' such as Demeter and
Dionysos were actually the inventors of a means of sustenance or some otl\er
helpful and civilising skill - the theory which has come to be called euhemer-
ism, after a hellenistic exponent of the idea, and a very influential view in
the ancient world. Frequently in its later forms the two versions go together,
as probably in Prodikos himself, with one group of gods being explained as
natural phenomena and another as the great human benefactors of remote
antiquity. The position is not in fact necessarily an atheistic one, though it
does tend to diminish the standing of the gods as traditionally conceived.
The adducing of another culture as a parallel for the theory is also rather
characteristic of fifth-century thought, and suggests comparisons with Hero-
dotus (passages 1.3.3, 1.3.5).
1.3.5 How we know the names of the gods
, Source: Herodotus, Histories2.50, 52-.3
The names of almost all the gods came to Greece from Egypt. Having made ·
inquiries, I find that it is the case that they came from foreign peoples, and my
, opinion is that above all they came from Egypt. Apart from Poseidon and the
Y Dioskouroi, as I said before, and apart from Hera, Hestia, Themis, the Graces
~ (Charites) and the Nereids, the names of all the other gods .have always existed
in the land of the Egyptians. In saying this, I am repeating what the Egyptians
themselves say. They deny knowing the names of these divinities, and I con-
sider that these were named by the Pelasgians, except for Poseidon, whom the
Greeks learned about from the Libyans. For they are the only people to have :
' known the name of Poseidon from the begi:q11Jng,and they have always paid;
honour to this god. In addition, the Egyptians have no cult of heroes. (There
follows a short section on Pelasgiancontributions to Greekreligion,most of which is
given as passage ?.4.5.) 1 know from what I heard in Dodona that originally the
_Pelasgians used to sacrifice and pray to the gods, but without giving any of them
name or epithet, since they had not yet come across these. But they named them
'gods' (theoi), because they 'placed' (thentes) everything in order and maintained :
all proper divisions. Then a long time afterwards they learned the names of most
of the gods, which had come from Egypt, but the name of Dionysos they learned
much later still. After some time they consulted the oracle at Dodona about these
names, Dodona being considered the oldest Greek oracle, and at that time the
only one. The Pelasgians then asked the oracle at Dodona whether they should
adopt the names that had come to them from foreigners, and the oracle replied
that they should. So from that time on they used the names of the gods in their
sacrifices, and later on the Greeks picked up the names from the Pelasgians.
But how each of the gods came into being, or whether all of them existed
always, and what their forms are like, was not known until 'yesterday and the
day before', so to speak - since I consider that Hesiod and Horner were born
not more than four hundred years before myself, and it is they who composed ,
a theogony for the Greeks, and gave the gods their epithets, divided up their
various honours and skills, and indicated their individual appearances. (The poets
who are said to be earlier than these I think were actually later.) Now the first:
part of this account is from the priestesses of Dodona, but the rest - the part
about Hesiod and Homer''" is my own. (The followingpassage deals with Dodona,
and is given as 6.2.2.)
Herodotus' views on early understandings of the gods in Greece are given in

the midst of his bo'ok-long treatment of the geography, history and customs
of Egypt. Although at times he presents Egypt as a strange, exotic place ('the
Egyptians do everything in tqe opposite way from the rest of mankind', 2.35.2),
part of his programme is to challenge easy preconceptions about Greeks and
barbarians, and to explore cultural transmissions between different peoples,
and it is in this context we should see his claim that the names of the gods
are mainly of Egyptian origin. -.:;
Like most of his Greek contemporaries, Herodotus 'assumes that different
ethnic groups worship the same gods under different names - a natural assump-
tion if the gods are 'real'. Since he is also fond of presenting changes as occur-
ring through groups 'learning' from other peoples, it is easy for him to suppose
that the Greeks could have acquired the names they use for the gods from
elsewhere, since very few of these names have an obvious meaning in the Greek
language. In fact the process he gives us is more complicated because (again
like many of his contemporaries) he assumes that the area which contem-
poraries called Hellas was once inhabited by a race who were not 'Hellenes',
whom he and others call Pelasgians, a name which was commonly associated
with foundations of great antiquity. It was this pre-Greek people, in his account,
who began the worship of gods in what is now Hellas, and from them comes
the Greek word theos, god. (It is interesting to note that in fact the etymology
of theos is a puzzle; it is not related to Latin deus, and it has been suggested
that Herodotus may in a sense be right in linking it with (the proto-Indo-
European equivalent of) the Greek root the/the (tithemi), although with a dif-
ferent meaning from the one he gives. From his own point of view, however,
Herodotus is perhaps somewhat illogical in making the connexion, unless he
assumes that this root too derives from the Pelasgian language.) The Pelas-
gians then adopted names for these theoi from the Egyptians and Libyans,
confirming through oracular consultation at Dodona (see 6.2.2) a usage that
was already creeping in and, one must assume, adding others of their own
invention. When the Greeks arrived, they simply took over these names from
the Pelasgians. Thus although elsewhere (Histories 8.144), Herodotus sees
religion, in the sense of the style of worshipping the gods, as one of the mark-
ers of Greek identity, he conceives of the Greek religious system as having
evolved and incorporated non-Greek elements.
One of the paradoxes of Greek religion is the gap between the world of the
mythological gods and the often rather different concepts implied in worship.
Convincingly, at least as regards the Greeks of later periods, Herodotus sees
the early hexameter poets, Homer and Hesiod, as crucial in the formation of
the more personal, mythological picture. What he sees as important here is
not so much actual mythical narrative as 'facts' about the individual deities:
for instance, Athena is the daughter of Zeus, born from his head, and par-
ticularly close to him; she is 'owl-eyed' or perhaps has blue-grey eyes, she is
virginal and endowed with great practical wisdom, which makes her an appw-
priate patron of crafts such as textiles and pottery, as well as of military
strategy. Not all Athena cults fit very well with this general picture, but it is
one that no doubt every Greek was familiar with, because of the great and
panhellenic influence of the poets mentioned by Herodotus. (For Homer and
Hesiod, see above, 1.1.1-3, and 2.1.1, 2.1.3-5.)
Modems consider that Herodotus, writing in the fifth century, places Hesiod
and Homer rather early at 400 years previous to that, however he arrived at
the figure; dates between the eighth and sixth centuries are generally thought
right for the various poems attributed to these authors. The other poets referred
to are no doubt 'Orpheus' and Mousaios', mythological figures to whom were
attributed poetry on religious subjects, of which very little survives lbut see
below, 1.3.6, 2.5.11 on Orphic theogonies, and compare 3.4.7), but Herodotus
is likely to be correct in supposing that these works are later than the bulk
of those attributed to Hesiod and Homer.
1.3.6 Earth, Mother, Rhea, Hera ...
Source: Dcrveni Pap., col. 22
Ge (Earth) and Meter (_Mather)and Rhea and Hera are the same. She was called Ge
by convention, and Meter because everything comes from her. Ge and Gaia are
in accordance with individual dialects. Demeter was named as if GeMeter,mak-
ing one name from both, since it was the same thing. It also says in the hymns
'Demeter, Rhea, Ge, Meter, Hestia, Deio.' She is called Dei6 as well because she
was ravaged (edeiothe) in intercourse. He (tfie poet) will reveal that according to
the poem she (gave birth excessively?). Rhea, because many different (?) kinds
of living thing (flowed out (ekrheusanta) and?) came into being from her. Rhea
and (Rheie) are in (accordance with individual dialects); She was called Hera
because (?) (the rest is missing).
The Derveni Papyrus is a fragmentary and enigmatic text found in a mid- to

late fourth-century burial in northern Greece; it takes the form of a commentary
on an Orphic poem about the gods (on Orphism, see 3.4.7-9 and section
introduction), purporting to give its true meaning, but there is no agreement
on the author's identity or even viewpoint. The work itself could be older
than the burial, but it will scarcely date from before the third quarter of the
fifth century and may be considerably later. The parts of the work we have
show an author who is interested in finding physical allegories behind the
rather outre myths of the gods - the Orphic myths being frequently even
more violent and bizarre than the Hesiodic (see also 2.1.1-2, 2.5.3).
Syncretism of the sort found here - the identification of several mythological
figures as the same - with or without physical allegory, is characteristic of
the fifth century. It is in this period, for instance, that we first meet with the
identification of Apollo with the Sun (see also 1.3.7 below). Such viewpoints
gain in prominence throughout antiquity, and are perhaps particularly favoured
as an approach to female deities. Already in the fifth century the 'Mother of

the Gods', whose ·cult was believed to be of Asian origin (see 5.5.3), was com-
monly identified with the mythological figure Rhea, mother of Zeus, and
Euripides in a choral ode (Helen 1300-68) identifies her with Demeter. Hera,
though mythologically the mother of several deities, is less often seen as a
mother by her worshippers, though Alcaeus may attest a concept of this sort
for archaic Lesbos (see 6.1.1). We .cannot know the age of the hymn which
lists these deities together with Hestia and Deio as if they are alternative names
for the same entity. Our author, however, is prepared to go considerably fur-
ther than this: in the column preceding this passage, he states that 'Heavenly
Aphrodite, Zeus, Sex (aphrodisiazein), Leaping, Persuasion and Harmony are
names for the same god' (col. 21).
The explanation of divine names or keywords as distortions of normal or
other words, which when recognised give a clue to the divinity's nature, is
another late fifth-century favourite: compare again 1.3.7, and 2.5.10. But not
all thinkers took this line, and Herodotus (above, 1.3.5) may have been closer
to what modems might consider the 'truth' about these names in proposing
a non-Greek origin for most of them.
Deio: this name is often used as a shortened alternative to Demeter, so not

unlike the dialectal alternatives (Ge/Gaia, Rhea/Rheie) which the author cor-
rectly identifies. But since he has explained Demeter as Gemeter,'Earth mother',
Deio clearly needs another explanation, which he finds in edeiothe, 'she was
ravaged, laid waste'. The word he uses for the occasion of this violence is
normally used to refer to sexual intercourse, and there is a mythological occa-
sion for this in the tradition of the rape of Demeter by Poseidon. But the
author's explanations are usually more natural than mythological, and since
the word is occasionally attested as 'childbirth' he may be referring to the
supposed origin of living creatures from the earth.
1.3.7 Gods dry and wet
Source: Euripides, Bacchae 274-85
TEIRESIAS: Listen, young man: there are two first principles in human life. There
is goddess Demeter - she is earth, and whatever name you want to
call her, and she. gives mortals their nourishment from dry materials.
Then there is the one who came later, the son of Semele who dis-
covered the rival to this, the liquid drink of the grape, and introduced
it to mankind - the drink which puts an end to poor mortals' sor-
row, when they are filled with the stream that flows from the vine,
which gives us sleep and forgetfulness of our daily hardships; there
is no other remedy for suffering. Himself a god, he is poured out in
libation to the gods, so it is through him that people get good tnings~
In a long and sententious speech, the old seer Teiresias attempts to convince
the young king Pentheus that he should give up his opposition to the newly
arrived worship of Dionysos, and explains his own views on the new deity.
Euripides here introduces some distinctly contemporary-sounding themes into
his mythological setting, perhaps with partly parodic intent. The identification
of Demeter with earth and the reference to her many names strongly recall
the preceding passage and its general approach. (The continuation of Teiresias'
speech, given in 2.5.10, uses word-play to 'explain' myth, in a manner akin
if not identical to the Derveni Papyrus passage above, 1.3.6.) The interest in
physical categories such as 'wet' and 'dry' is also a topical fifth-century concern,
echoing those we now call the Presocratics. Finally, Teiresias seems to have
been influenced by Prodikos (above, 1.3.4), and presents the gods both as
physical things (earth, wine), and as those who introduced benefits (corn, wine)
to humans; Dionysos, in his presentation, both invented wine and is wine.
he is poured out: on libations, see 3.1.3. Such offerings could of course be

made without wine, using milk or honey (substances which also, however,
seem to come under Dionysos' remit in Euripides' play), but wine was by far
the most usual medium employed. Since libations always accompanied
sacrifice and were frequently offered when prayers were made without a
sacrifice, they are seen here as the means of assuring the benefits that the
gods may confer on humans when they are asked in prayer. Compare 5.5.4
on the presence of Hestia (fire) and Apollo (music) at the worship of all deities.
1.3.8 A clever man invented gods
Source: Kritias (or Euripides?), Sisyphosfr. 1 (TrGF 1.43 fr. 19)
There was a time when human life was random, and bestial, and subservient
to violence, when there was no reward for the good and no punishment for the
bad. Then, I think, people established laws which made punishments, so that
justice might rule and have force as its slave, and any who transgressed would
pay a penalty. And then the laws kept them from open violence, but they did
violent acts in secret; so then, I think, some clever man of great intellect invented
the fear of gods for mortals, so that the wicked would have something to fear
even if they secretly did or said or thought anything. So then he introduced
the divine, saying that there is a god (daimon) who flourishes in everlasting 1ife,
who hears and sees with his mind, and who thinks and pays attention to these
matters, who has a divine nature and who will hear everything that is said among
mortals and be able to see everything that is done. Even if you plot some evil
in silence, it will not escape the gods, for they possess thought. In giving this
account, he introduced a most pleasant teaching and concealed the truth with
a false story. He said that the gods lived in the place thatwould most impress
people, the place he knew gave people fears and also benefits in their hard life
- in the wheeling vault above, where they saw the lightning flashes,.the fearsome
rumbles of thunder, and the starry light of heaven, the beautiful decoration of
the skilled craftsman Time, from whence proceeds the bright metal of the sun,
and the rainy moisture makes its way to earth. These were the awful fears with
which he surrounded mortals, and with his story nicely settled the god (daimon)
in a suitable place, and through fears extinguished lawlessness ... (some lines miss-
ing?) So that's how I think someone first convinced mortals to believe in a race
of gods (daimones).,
This very interesting account of religion as a human construct has puzzled

commentators because of its placing in a satyr play, the traditional bawdy
and non-serious conclusion to a dramatist's production of three tragedies. Given
what we know both of satyr play and of the story of Sisyphos, a notorious
god-challenger who was punished in Hades, it might seem likely that the
character who speaks these lines, probably Sisyphos himself, eventually gets
his comeuppance at the hands of the gods he does not believe exist. The lines
might then be some kind of parody of sophistic ideas such as Euripides gives
us with Teiresias' account of Dionysos in the Bacchae (see 1.3.7, 2.5.10). But
the passage itself gives no hint of a humorous or parodic intent, and in fact
forms a rather coherent and plausible theory, within the ancient convention
of the single 'first inventor' supposed to be responsible for cultural change
and technological advance. We can compare the view of the roughly con-
temporary atomist philosopher Demokritos (DK 68 B30) that the concept of
gods arose through fear of the natural phenomena of the heavens; these pas-
sages supply one of the few ancient theories of the development of religion
(but see above, 1.3.4), as well as giving a theoretical back-up for an atheistic
position (on atheism, see 3.5).
they have thought: a word is missing here. The sense must be that they
use mind to perceive what is in human minds.
the wheeling vault above: the language becomes notably more 'poetic' here,
perhaps to indicate the impressiveness of the innovator's new teaching. Hence
'the skilled craftsman, Time'; this is typical tragic language rather than a lapse
into theism.
bright metal of the sun: literally 'of the star/heavenly body', probably the
sun. A famous impiety trial in Athens was that of the philosopher Anaxagoras,
probably in the 430s, because of his view that the sun was 'a lump of metal'
- our sources use the same word, mydros, that is employed here.
2
Mythology
It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to find a definition of Greek mythology,

let alone mythology as a whole, on which everyone or even a majority can
agree; theories of what myths are and what they do, even specifically within
the Greek world, are as many as there are writers on the subject. Taken as a
whole, however, the corpus of stories that we usually call 'Greek myths' can
be seen to be concerned with beings who are at least potentially worshipped
- gods or heroes; to be set in a fairly remote past (though to be sure there
are 'mythlike' stories dealing with more recent times, in the pages of Herodotus,
for example); and also, very often, to have some indirect relation to the struc-
tures or conventions of ordinary human society. The stories themselves are
told in a variety of ways. For us, of course, they exist primarily in the versions
of the poets, in epic, lyric and tragedy, and secondarily in prose authors. The
poets were also central to the Greek ideas of myth, so that they are blamed
for tales which are not approved of (2.5.1, 2.5.3, 2.5.6-7), but Plato (2.5.3)
is evidence that children first encountered myths in a less formal setting, as
'nursery stories'. While many myths were panhellenic, others were more local,
and some were told essentially as narrative explanations of the traditions of
a particular sanctuary or festival (2.4.1-2). These myths would naturally reach
a more limited circle, at least until they were taken up in literature. The same
is true of myths told as 'sacred tales', hieroi logoi, in mysteries and initiations,
to which Plato alludes in 2.5.3. (See also 2.5.11, and on mysteries and similar
phenomena, 3.4.6-13 with section introduction and 6.4.)
As for its subject matter, mythology was primarily understood as a way of
talking about gods and heroes, and ought both to reflect and to pattern the
way they are thought of. This is indeed true up to a point, but it is important
to remember that the mythological perspective is only one angle on the divine.
The Greeks did not consider their mythology to be revealed truth, and although
myths may have been worthy of respect because of their antiquity and subject
matter (though even this is not universal) they did not necessarily direct all
38 MYTHOLOGY
ways of thinking .about the gods. Other ways, based on the practice of cult,
the assumptions made in prayer, or abstract speculation, may, depending
on context, seem more important; and may even be contradictory to a greater
or lesser degree. Potentially, .there was a great deal of tension in these different
viewpoints, but at the same time we can see the influence of mythical-poetic
traditions on the way the gods of cult are conceptualised. Though this influence
was never complete -;-many local traditions suggest deities quite different from
the more 'normal' picture - it was strong enough for Herodotus, at least, to
believe that Hesiod and Homer had fixed the separate personalities of the
gods for the Greeks (see passage 1.3.5)
In any society, there are certain themes which tend to recur in its myths
or traditional stories, which may reflect either concepts of the gods, or,
obliquely, concepts of human society, or both. The Greeks are no exception.
The first three sections of this chapter examine differing treatments of
three of these recurring themes in Greek mythology. 'Quarrels of the gods'
(2.1), though in part going back to pre-Greek and non-Greek models (in the
struggles between different groups of divinities, and the 'succession myth'
relating how the present ruler of the universe acquired his position), were
often at the top of the list when the Greeks thought about their myths. The
second and third sections are concerned with the relationships between gods
and humans, and are perhaps themes which can be considered more dis-
tinctively Greek. Sexual contact between gods and mortal women - less often,
between goddesses and mortal men - are a basic of heroic genealogy, but can
also be given more exploratory treatments (2.2). Just as these relationships
can be seen in either a positive or a problematic light, so it is with the more
general forms of divine-human contact myth: divine favour, or disfavour,
may appear to be based on what mortals perceive as good, or at least under-
standable, principles, or it may be portrayed as merely capricious (2.3).
While a particular, but very common, function of myth is presented in 2.4
(aetiological and foundation myths), other uses and discussions appear in the
longer section 2.5, a small selection of the many things that Greeks down to
the fourth century had to say about myths and the problems that they posed.
Some of this material is outright criticism, but many thinkers and writers also
proposed and followed different ways of reading myths, a very influential
approach.
2.1 Quarrels of the Gods
Gods quarrel and fight each other for several reasons. First, in terms of mytho-
logical time, there are the succession struggles: Kronos hates and overthrows
his father Ouranos (Sky), and is in turn overthrown by his son Zeus. Once
Zeus' rule is established, there are disagreements which occur when the
gods take side in human conflicts, notably the Trojan War. And there•are'the
personal squabbles of the gods, above all Hera's reactions to her husband Zeus'
many infidelities. The first group is described for us primarily in Hesiod, though
MYTHOLOGY 39
Figure 2 Gods fight against giants: Athena, wearing the aigis, is victorious against her
enemy. From a red-figure cup, c. 490-480. Staatliche Museen, Berlin F 2293.
some rival accounts of the origin of the gods and the world, such as the Orphic
thcogonies (see 2.5.11), also contained violent incidents. Hesiod narrates two
parallel stories in consecutive generations. First Ouranos (Sky) attempts to pre-
vent his children being born by confining them in the womb of Earth (Gaia),
and is castrated by the youngest, Kronos (2.1.1) who, later sources make clear,
succeeds to his rule. Kronos in turn tries to dispose of his children by swal-
lowing them, but like Ouranos is tricked by his wife, Rhea, who gives him a
stone wrapped in baby-clothes to swallow instead of his youngest son Zeus.
Zeus grows up and takes his revenge on Kronos (after rescuing his swallowed
brothers and sisters) by throwing him and his siblings, the Titans, into Tartaros,
thus fulfilling the prophecy or curse of Ouranos that punishment would
follow. The stories are dark and violent in tone, and also fantastic. Ouranos
and Gaia are only partly anthropomorphised, and the events described defy
normal biology.
Such stories are located in a very distant mythical time, before the gods
who are now worshipped ruled the world, or even came into being. Conflict
between the Olympian gods - Zeus, his family and associates - takes a dif-
ferent form, as we see in the Homeric epics. The Iliad accepts as a given that
the deities take sides and feel passionately about the war at Troy, which leads
them into conflict with each other. But although the gods sometimes recall
the savage violence used among them in the past, especially by Zeus (see 2.1.2),
their actual conflict in the narrative is on a much more human scale. They
40 MYTHOLOGY
plot behind each o.thers' backs, they insult each other, they grumble at Zeus'
authority but accept it. When they actually come to blows, the event is over
quickly; there is no hurling off· Olympos or prolonged imprisonment or
torture. The effect is hum\)rous rather than horrific, as the narrator plays on
human emotions and reactions transposed to the world of the gods. The more
personal disagreements of the gods receive less attention in the literature of
the early and classiGal period, though much ,pf the 'realistic' animosity be-
tween Zeus and Hera in the Iliad seems to suggest a ~ackground of straying
husband and suspicious wife, and Hera's hatred of Zeus' children by mortal
women is clear enough (see 2.3.1).
This whole mythical theme, like others, was soon picked out as problem-
atic; see 2.5.3 and 2.5. 7. In particular, the tradition that Zeus had overthrown
his father with violence had the potential for deep shock in societies which
regarded violence towards parents as the worst of crimes.
2.1.1 The castration of Sky
Source: Hesiod, Tlzeogony155-82
All the offspring of Earth and Sky, most fearsome of children, were hated by
their father right from the beginning. As soon as one of them came into being,
Sky would hide them, one and all, in a fold of Earth, and would not let them
up into the light; and he rejoiced in his evil deed. And vast Earth groaned, as
she was squeezed inside, and she devised a cunning and evil plan. Straightway
she created the substance of grey adamant metal, formed a huge sickle, and told
the plan to her children. Encouraging them and sore at heart, she said:
'Children of mine and of your evil father, if you wish to do as I say, let us
punish the dreadful injury your father has done, for he was the first to decide
upon unseemly deeds.' Thus she spoke, but they were all seized by fear, and
not one of them uttered a word. Then great Kronos, of crooked counsel, took
heart, and straightway spoke to his dear mother in these words: 'Mother, I would
undertake to perform this deed, since I have no care for our father of evil name;
for .he was. the first to decide upon unseemly deeds.' Thus he spoke, and huge
Earth rejoiced greatly in mind. She settled him in a hidden place of ambush,
and placed in his hands the jagged sickle, and she set in motion the whole decep-
tion. Great Sky came, bringing the night, and laid hold of Earth, desiring love,
and stretched out completely. Then his son stretched forth from the ambush
his left hand, and in his right he held the great sickle, long and with jagged
teeth, and rushing he severed his father's genitals, and threw them behind him.
There is argument about the date of the Theogony relative to the Homeric
epics, but it certainly belongs among the earliest Greek poetry and was
extremely influential in codifying and partly forming mythological traditions.
It set out what certainly became the 'standard' view of the creation of'the
world and the power struggles and succession among the gods. The story given
MYTHOLOGY 41
here, of the castration and overthrow of Ouranos (Sky) by his son Kronos, is
particularly bleak and violent. None of the participants seems to have the
poet's approval; negative words are applied to the persons or actions of all
of them. The poet's skill in narrating this horrific episode is apparent. The
norm in early epic is to use repetition in anticipating or recalling actions,
but here Hesiod refuses to tell his audience the exact nature of the 'cunning
and evil plan' until it is actually performed. Any reader or listener who does
not already know the story is left to guess the purpose of the sickle, which
becomes more threatening with each repetition.
There are very clear parallels with several Near Eastern myths, falling into
two groups: those narrating the separation of Earth and Sky, and those telling
of a succession of divine rulers, in some of which castration is a motif. M.L.
West, in his commentary on the poem,1 supposes with some plausibility that
in the original version of our story, the children were unable to leave the
Earth's womb because of the continuous sexual intercourse of Earth and Sky
- hence castration solves the problem.
In the lines immediately following this passage, the severed genitals give
birth to various other deities, including Aphrodite, who arises from the foam
(aphros) which springs up as they fall into the sea. Later Ouranos warns his
children that vengeance m punishment (tisis) will follow.
Earth and Sky: according to Hesiod, Earth (Gaia) was the second being to
come into existence, after Void (Chaos). As well as other children, she created
one 'equal to herself', Sky (Ouranos), with whom she then produced other
offspring - the Kyklopes, the 'Hundred-Handed' (who later helped Zeus), and
a group including Kronos, later known as Titans.
hated by their father: we have already been told at line 138 that Ouranos
was hated by Kronos.
hide them ... in a fold of Earth: presumably the children remain in Earth's
'womb', though since the participants appear both in human form and as
natural elements the scene is rather difficult to picture.
adamant metal: the element adamantos, literally 'not able to be subdued',
is an extremely hard metal, the property of the gods ..The name may origin-
ally have referred to iron.
2.1.2 Taking sides with Zeus
Source: Aeschylus (?), PrometheusBound 199-221
When first the gods began their anger, and dissension sprang up among them
- some wanting to dethrone Kronos so that Zeus might be king, others keen on
the opposite, that Zeus might never rule the gods - then I tried to persu;,ide the
42 MYTHOLOGY
Titans, children 'of Sky and Earth, of the best course, but I was not successful.
Spurning my clever plans, they .thought, with their notions of strength, that
they would easily be masters by force. But to me my mother Right (and Earth,
one form with many names) had more than once foretold which way the future
would go, that not through force or by virtue of strength would the victors
prevail, but through cunning. When I expounded \:his to them, they did not
bother even to think about it at all. Then of the.possibilities open to me, I thought
the best was to join with my mother and of my own will take my stand beside
a willing Zeus. It is through my counsel that the black hidden depths of
Tartaros now hide ancient Kronos and his allies.
In this mid-fifth-century drama of uncertain authorship, the punishment of

Prometheus for helping mankind (compare 5.2.2) and his continued defiance
of Zeus is presented; here, Prometheus begins to tell his story to the Chorus,
the daughters of Okeanos, and draws on the background of Hesiodic violence
well known to the audience to explain (something which is not in Hesiod)
that in fact Zeus owes his ultimate triumph to him, Prometheus. As in the
preceding passage, the male figure who acts is guided by his mother. The story
perhaps does not reflect too well on Prometheus, who changes his allegiance
when he discovers that the side he originally supported, the older gods, is
not going about things in the right way, but the main point is to emphasise
the ingratitude of Zeus, as the lines which follow make clear. The whole story
of the awful punishment of Prometheus actually continues the depiction of
a violent world of mutual hostility among the gods of which the succession
stories form the centre-piece.
my mother Right: Themis, an abstract difficult to supply with a unitary

translation. The basic meaning is 'what is laid down', hence 'what is customarily
considered right or obligatory'. For the use of the word in religious regula-
tions, see 5.1.1, 5.2.3. Mythologically, the usual version (Theogony 135) has
Themis a daughter of Earth and Sky, one of the original Titans, and an early
consort of Zeus (ibid. 901), this last tradition being no doubt the reason why
the author mentions her accompanying Prometheus in his change of sides;
while Prometheus himself is the son of Themis' brother Iapetos and the Oceanid
Klymene (ibid. 507-10). The identification of Earth with Themis, therefore,
is by no means normal mythology, but such identifications are quite usual
in more speculative literature: compare 1.3.6.
through my counsel: in Hesiod it is Earth herself who gives Zeus the advice
he needs to defeat Kronos and the Titans, which is done 'by craft and force'
(Theogony 493-6).
MYTHOLOGY 43
2.1.3 Zeus reminds Hera of the punishment

inflicted on her
Source: Iliad 15.4-8, 18-52
On the peaks of Ida Zeus awoke from beside golden-throned Hera. He rushed
to his feet and saw the Trojans and the Achaeans, the Trojans retreating and
the Argives pushing them back, and with them lord Poseidon ... Seeing (Hector
wounded), the father of gods and men felt pity, and glaring furiously at Hera he
spoke: 'So, Hera, impossible to deal with, your ill-contriving craftiness has made
great Hector cease from battle, and has put the army to flight. But I think you wiH
again be first to get the profit of your wretched ill contriving! Do you not remem-
ber being hung up from on high, and how I put two anvils on your feet, and round
~ your wrists I wound an unbreakable chain of gold? You were hanging among
the sky and the clouds, and the gods all over vast Olympos were angry, but they
could not approach and free you. \Vhichever of them I caught trying, I seized:·
and hurled from the threshold of Olympos till he reached the earth, scarce breath- :
ing. But even this did not ease my heart of its unending pain for godlike Herakles;
whom you and the North Wind, suborning the storm-winds, sent over the unhar-''
0
vested sea, plotting evil, an_dthen carried him off to well-peopled .Kos. I rescued ,
him from there and brought him back to horse-pasturing Argos, though after he ,
had struggled much. I will remind you again of this, so that you may abandon
your deceptions, and so you can see whether you are helped by love, and by the
sex you had with me when you came away _from the gods and deceived me.'
Thus he spoke. Ox-eyed lady Hera shuddered, and spoke:to him with winged "
words: 'I swear by Earth and broad Sky above and by the falling water of the
Styx, which is the greatest and most terrible oath for the blessed gods, and by
your holy head and by our own marriage bed, by which I would never swear
in vain: it 1s not through my will that Poseidon the Earth-shaker 'vexes Hector
and the Trojans and helps the Achaeans, but his own spirit must urge him on
and bid him act, when he saw them in difficulties by the ships and took pity[
on them. But even so I am ready to advise him to follow whatever way you
direct, Dark-clouded one.'
Thus she spoke. The father of gods and men smiled, and answering her spoke :.··
winged words: 'Ox-eyed lady Hera, if only in the future you were of one mind ¼ith
me as you sat among the immortals, then Poseidon would soon change his mind
in accordance with your will and mine, however much he wished otherwise.'
This passage nicely indicates several types of contention among the gods.
In the preceding episode, the so-called Dias apate, or 'deception of Zeus',
Hera has observed Poseidon, who like herself favours the Achaeans (Argives)
against the Trojans, helping the Achaeans against the will of Zeus, and decides
to distract Zeus by a seduction scene, elaborately described. After sex, with
the assistance of Sleep personified, Zeus falls asleep. Thus the Iliadic Zeus is
far from all-knowing: when he wakes, in this passage, his understanding of
the situation is entirely naturalistic and humanly intuited.
44 MYTHOLOGY
The hostility b~tween Hera and Zeus has different causes in the two cases
described here. In the main narrative, their differences are due to their interest
in mortal affairs: Hera is implacably opposed to Troy and favours the Achaeans,
while Zeus is rather fond. of Troy, but more importantly has promised Thetis
that the Achaeans will suffer while their best fighter, her son Achilles,
remains away from the battlefield. Throughout the Iliad, the gods take sides
in the human conflict and often attempt t~ influence the course of events.
But in the episode recalled by Zeus, the estrangement was caused by Hera's
hatred for Herakles, her husband's son by a mortal ~oman (compare 2.3.1).
This is a common motif in Hera's mythology, while the hatred of Hera is
perhaps the most constant factor in that of Herakles.
There is also a difference in the way the hostility is played out. Zeus' earlier
punishment of Hera - an episode notorious among Homer's ancient readers
- belongs in a context of divine violence (specifically Zeus' violence) which
is never actually portrayed in the epic, being either set in an earlier time, as
here, or threatened but not fulfilled (as at Iliad 8.10-17, where any gods who
flout Zeus' will are threatened with a severe beating or being hurled down
into Tartaros). This, we feel, is the Zeus who defeated and imprisoned the
Titans; the violence is apiece with that of the Theogony,except that here Zeus
practises it not on his elders but on his wife, his brothers and sisters, and his
children. But in the main narrative, despite the trouble he has in controlling
his Olympian family, Zeus never actually puts his threats into practice, and
his authority is maintained in an altogether more urbane and sophisticated
manner. Zeus smiles good-humouredly at Hera's frightened response, and in
the following scene Hera goes back to Olympos to tell the gods to put things
right: 'you know what he is like' she says in response to Themis. In the sequel,
Iris goes to the battlefield with Zeus' message to Poseidon to stop interfering,
and Poseidon threatens a defiant response but retracts it and gives in.
peaks of Ida: the mountain above Troy, where Zeus has gone to oversee
the battle when Hera visits him.
anvils: as heavy weights, to cause greater pain. The original meaning of the
word may have been 'stone'.
I seized and hurled: similarly in Iliad 1.590-4 Hephaistos narrates how he
tried to protect Hera, his mother, from Zeus and was hurled to earth by him.
Herakles: see above.
the North Wind: called Boreas, and himself a divinity (see below, 2.2.6).
ox-eyed lady Hera: a recurrent formula, presumably indicating that Hera's
eyes are large and beautiful.
the greatest and most terrible oath: since humans swear an oath by the
gods, something else is clearly needed for the gods to swear by. Earth' and Sky
are the primal pair (see 2.1.1), but also represent two parts of the tripartite
MYTHOLOGY 45
world; Styx, the underworld river, stands by metonymy for the third. It is
the whole group which is the greatest oath, not just the Styx. Hera adds 'your
holy head' as mortals swear 'by Zeus', but also by the heads of those dear to
them.
it is not through my will: Hera avoids perjury, but only just. Poseidon urged
on Agamemnon and the Achaeans of his own accord in hook 14, and though
this inspired Hera's distracting ploy, she did not directly collude with him.
Dark-clouded one: another formulaic epithet. Zeus is connected with moun-

tain peaks (round which clouds often hang), the sky, and stormy weather.
2.1.4 The Olympian gods fight each other
Source: Iliad 21.385-440, 458-513
Then harsh and heavy strife fell upon the other gods, and the spirit in their
breasts blew in different ways. They fell upon each other with a great crash, and
the broad earth clanged, and great heaven resounded. Zeus heard it, seated upon
/" Olympos, and his heart laughed with j.oy when he saw the gods coming :
together in strife. Then they no longer stood far apart from each other. Shield-
piercing Ares led them, and first attacked Athena with .his bronze spear, and
spoke taunting words: 'Dog-fly, why once again do you stir up the gods to strife?
Your audacity is insatiable, and your proud.spirit has led you on. Do you not
remember when you spurred on Diomedes son of Tydeus to wound me, while
you took up your sword in full view and directed it straight at me, wounding
my fair flesh? Now I think I will avenge myself on you for what you did to me.'
Speaking thus, he struck the fearful tasselled aigis, which not even Zeus' thun-
derbolt can overcome, but Ares, lord of horrible death, struck it with his long
spear. She gave ground, and picked up with her strong hand ·a huge dark and
rough rock which was lying on the ground, which the men of former times had
placed as a boundary stone in the fields. With it she hit reckless Ares in the
neck, and loosened his knees. He covered_seven roods as he fell, dust was in his
hair, and his armour clanged around him. Pallas Athena laughed, and boasting
over him she spoke winged words: 'Fool, did you not yet realise how much more
powerful J can claim to be than you, that you contest with me in strength? This
is the way you pay the penalty to your mother's Furies, since she is angry and
intends ill for you, because you have abandoned the Achaeans and fight for the
proud Trojans.'
Speaking thus, she turned her shining eyes from ·him. But Zeus' daughter
Aphrodite took him by the hand and led him away, as he groaned terribly and
could scarcely recover his mind. When the white-armed goddess Hera saw her,
straightway she spoke winged words to Athena: 'Alas, child of aigis-bearing Zeus,
unwearied one, once more the dog-fly takes Ares, bane of mortals, from the fierce
enemy amid the rush of battle; go ...,md pursue her.' Thus she spoke, and Athena
hurried off, rejoicing in her heart. Rushing at Aphrodite, she struck her on the
46 MYTHOLOGY
chest with her strong hand, and right there her knees and her heart collapsed.
So both of them (Ares and Aphrodite) lay upon the nurturing;earth, and she (Athena)
boasting over them spoke winged words: 'So may all now be who help the Trojans
as they fight the well-armed Achaeans, and may they be as brave and enduring
as Aphrodite when she came to help Ares, facing my might. Then we would
long since have ceased from war, after sacking the well-built city of Ilion.'
Thus she spoke; and white-arrried godde~ Hera smiled. But the mighty
Earth-shaker spoke to Apollo: 'Phoibos, why are we two standing apart? This is
not fitting when the others have begun. It would be shameful to go back to
Olympus, to the house of Zeus with its bronze threshold, without a fight. Begin,
you are younger in birth; it's not right for me, since I was born earlier and I
know more. Fool, you have a thoughtless heart; do you not remember what we
two, alone of the gods, suffered at Ilion ... It is his people for whom you now
do favours, and refuse to seek with us to make the proud Trojans perish shame-
fully and utterly, with their children and their chaste wives.'
But lord Apollo, Worker from Afar, spoke to him in turn: 'Earth-holder,
you would not say that I was temperate if I fought with you for the sake of
poor mortals, who are like leaves; one moment they are alive and flourishing,
eating the fruits of the land, and the next they are afflicted and die. Let us cease
from the fight straight away, and let them engage in hostilities by themselves.'
Thus he spoke, and turned away, for he felt shame to come to blows with his
father's brother. But his sister, lady of animals, Artemis of the wilds, rebuked
him soundly, and spoke words of reproach: 'So you are running away, Far-worker,
and you have handed the whole victory to Poseidon, and granted his miserable
wish. You fool, what is the point of keeping your bow thus unused, to no end?
Let me never hear you boasting again in our father's halls, as you did before
among the immortal gods, that you would wage war standing against Poseidon.'
Thus she spoke, and Apollo, Worker from Afar, did not answer her. But the
chaste consort of Zeus grew angry, and scolded the Arrow-maid with words of
reproach: 'How do you dare, shameless bitch, to stand against me? I am not
easy to match your strength with, even if you do carry a bow and Zeus has made
you a lion to women, granting you to kill whichever of them you want. Better
for you to kill beasts and wild deer on the mountains than to compete in strength
with your superiors. But if you wish to share in war, then know well how much
stronger lam than you, since you are matching your strength with mine.'
She spoke, and seized both of her wrists in her left hand, and with her right
she pulled the bow and quiver from her shoulders. Smiling, she struck her round
the ears with her own weapons, as Artemis turned her head away, and the swift
arrows fell from the quiver. The goddess fled in tears like a dove pursued by a
hawk, which reaches a. distant, hollow rock, for it is not fated that it should be
captured; like this she fled in tears, leaving the bow and arrows behind.
Then the messenger, slayer of Argos, said to Leto: 'Leto, I will not fight with
you, for it is a grievous thing to come to blows with the wives of Zeus who
gathers the clouds. You may vvi.llinglyboast among the immortal gods that you
defeated me with your power and might.' Thus he spoke, and Leto picked up
the curving bow and arrows, which had fallen in all directions in the whirling
dust. She took them up, and went to her daughter; but Artemis came to Olympos,
MYTHOLOGY 47
to the house of Zeus with its bronze threshold, and weeping, the maiden sat
on her father's knee, and the sweet-smelling robe quivered around her. Her father,
son of Kronos, took hold of her, and laughing softly, asked 'Which of the Heavenly
ones has done this to you, dear child?' And she of the lovely crown, goddess
of the sounding chase, replied 'It was your wife who hit me, white-armed Hera,
who has caused strife and conflict among the immortals.'
Some 700 lines previously, at Iliad 20.67-74, the gods had taken their stand
against each other as follows: Apollo vs Poseidon; Ares vs Athena; Artemis
vs Hera; Leto vs Hermes; the river Xanthos or Skamandros vs Hephaistos. Before
a blow is stuck, the poet turns to the conflict among mortals, and in the inter-
vening lines, after Achilles has fought the river-god, only the last pairing is
put to the test, with Skamandros conceding defeat in the face of Hephaistos'
fire. At this point the other gods begin to fight among themselves. The poet
seems well aware of the undignified nature of the proceedings, which echo
in some respects the events of book 5, where Ares and Aphrodite take part
in the human battle and are worsted by Diomedes. The gods begin by facing
each other like human champions in single combat, and the boasts and taunts
are in line with the behaviour of human warriors, who aim to humiliate as
well as to defeat their enemies. But already the first encounter sets the tone
of knockabout comedy: the war-god is defeated by a female, Athena, who
throughout the Iliad shows herself a far better fighter than Ares. Worse is to
come when Athena gratuitously attacks Aphrodite, as she helps the wounded
Ares out of the fray; but it is the scene between Artemis and Hera which has
dispensed entirely with the conventions of battle and degenerated into a mere
catfight. That there is some humorous incongruity in this sort of divine
behaviour is suggested by the refusal of Hermes, and more emphatically Apollo,
to join in the fighting. Though pro-Trojan, Apollo is often treated with more
dignity and restraint than the other gods in the Iliad. His reasoning here,
that it is unseemly for gods to fight over mortals, has been anticipated by
Hephaistos at 1.573-6, and yet throughout the poem the mutual hostility of
the gods is simmering just below the surface, threatening to break out into
open conflict. Nonetheless, the statement here makes a strong comment on
the surrounding proceedings.
Dog-fly: the word is feminine in gender, and applied to female persons -

Athena here, and a few lines further down to Aphrodite. lt is presumably an
insult compounded of two notoriously shameless and disgusting animals.
when you spurred on Diomedes: these events were related in book 5 when,
as here, both Ares and Aphrodite were discomfited.
aigis: literally a goat-skin, this divine appurtenance is associated with both
Athena, who typically wears it, and with Zeus. When shaken it causes panic
on the battlefield (Iliad 15.229-30).
48 MYTHOLOGY
seven roods: pelethra.It is uncertain how much a pelethronindicated, but Ares

clearly covers a vast extent of land. The gods are here conceived as literally
bigger humans. ·
your mother's Furies: · Erinyes, often the personified curses of a parent, or
their divinised form. Hera is shown as fanatically pro-Achaean, while her son
Ares favours the Trojans. Zeus made a similar point to Ares at the time of his
earlier defeat, 5.892-4.
Earth-shaker: very common epithet of Poseidon, who was credited with caus-
ing earthquakes.
Phoibos: another name for Apollo, of uncertain meaning.
It is shameful: Poseidon seems to think that refusing to join in the fight
suggests cowardice, while Apollo maintains that to fight shows a lack of
restraint.
you are younger: Poseidon is Zeus' brother, and Apollo his son. 'To be older
and know more' is an epic formula, perhaps more suitable for humans, among
whom it is assumed that age will bring wisdom, than among gods.
do you not remember: in the passage omitted, Poseidon recalls how Zeus
sent himself and Apollo to be wage-servants to Laomedon, king of Troy (Ilion),
for a year. When the year ended, Laomedon refused to pay their wages and
sent them away with abuse and threats. This accounted for Poseidon's hos-
tility to Troy; understandably, he wonders why Apollo does not feel the same
way. For a different view, see 2.3.3.
Worker from Afar: frequent epithet of Apollo, in his capacity as an archer.
like leaves: Apollo here recalls the well-known similar sentiment of a mortal,
the Lykian Glaukos, at 6.146-9.
Artemis of the wilds: Agrotera,a frequent cult title of Artemis, evoking both
wild, uncultivated land where her shrines are often found and where in myth
she loves to spend her time, and her particular interest in hunting. She is
'lady of (wild) animals' largely because she loves to hunt them, but some con-
texts outside the epic suggest that she could also protect them.
Let me never hear you boasting again: the Iliad has not recounted any such
boasts. ·
chaste: the word (aidoie) is typically used of wives, but applied to a goddess
could also mean 'venerable, fearsome'.
a lion to women: because it is Artemis whose arrows kill women in child-
birth. Here and in the following sentence Hera contrasts Artemis' killing activ-
ities with proper fighting.
seized both of her wrists: Hera is much larger and stronger thari Artemis.
However, her fighting methods, striking her adversary round the ears with
MYTHOLOGY 49
the bow, belong no more to 'proper', heroic warfare than those she criticises
in her rival.
messenger, slayer of Argos: Hermes, another pro-Achaean deity. The ori-
ginal meaning of the epithets is unclear; the versions given indicate how they
have traditionally been understood. Hermes was 'slayer of Argos' because he
killed Argos, the guardian of lo when transformed into a cow. His speech to
Leto is somewhat ironic.
Leto: mother of Apollo and Artemis by Zeus. She is more conspicuous in
the Iliad than elsewhere, her cults being important but relatively few, but she
is not among the most active of the Olympians in the story-line.
the maiden sat on her father's knee: unmarried daughters had traditionally
a close and affectionate relationship with their fathers, but in human society
an unmarried girl was a young teenager at most. The idea of a perpetual vir-
gin behaving in this way is somewhat incongruous, and the ancient critics
commented that the whole episode shows childlike behaviour.
2. 1.5 Hera's anger with Zeus
Source: Hesiod, Theogony927-9
Hera gave birth to glorious Hephaistos without mingling in love, and she was
very angry and quarrelled with her husband; Hephaistos who above all the
children of Sky is supreme in crafts.
This laconic statement occurs just after the account of the birth of Athena
from Zeus' head, so it seems to be intended as a parallel; each of the supreme
pair produces another deity without the other, in a way that defies normal
biology. Hephaistos and Athena are themselves linked in some myths, and
in their patronage of crafts and technology.
Why Hera was angry is not stated - perhaps because of the slight to her-
self implied in the birth of Athena, perhaps because of the affair with Metis
that had preceded it. At any rate, the motif of her anger with Zeus seems to
be familiar and expected.
2.2 Divine-Human Sex
Although Greek mythology includes a fair number of stories about the inter-
actions of the gods with each other (and not only quarrels), these stories
are relatively few in comparison with those in which humans play a part.
The majority of stories involve both gods and humans, and one of the most
characteristic scenarios in Greek myth is that of a sexual liaison between a
50 MYTHOLOGY
god and a mortal, usually followed by the birth of a hero. Most often, we
are dealing with an affair between a male god and a female human who
becomes the mother of a male child. Given the Greek propensity to trace the
origins of a city or area to an original hero, often eponymous (below, 2.4),
this motif takes us back one stage further, so that the hero has a divine father.
But the hero's mother is not usually a mere mythological link; she too is spe-
cial, and there is interest in the sexual encounter as well as its result, for which
the poem called the Catalogueof Women, surviving only in fragments, is early
evidence (2.2.1). Some stories indeed elaborate in unusual ways on the sexual
relationship, particularly the amours of Zeus: his appearance as swan, bull,
shower of gold, and the sufferings of his mortal lovers through the jealousy
of Hera. But even where the tradition does not supply such a distinctive theme,
it is possible to view these relationships in very different ways. Thus Pindar
(2.2.2) shows us a remarkable heroine and places her union with Apollo in
a very positive light, while Euripides (2.2.3) sets his account of sex with Apollo
in the words of the woman herself, a young girl, and depicts it as a heartless
rape, a negative impression of the god which is not entirely expunged by the
play's conclusion. Jn a few cases, these encounters may even become per-
manent, as the mortal woman becomes the god's regular consort, the best-
known example being that of Dionysus and Ariadne. Herodotus' story of the
North Wind at 2.2.6, a passage which is hard to evaluate, seems to show that
in some lights at least such a relationship could be viewed as setting up the
obligations of kin: the North Wind is the son-in-law of the Athenians.
Much rarer are unions between goddesses and mortal men, but perhaps for
that very reason the few examples that do exist are prominent in the tradi-
tion. Such couplings subvert the hierarchical order, and often prove danger-
ous for the man involved (2.2.4, 2.2.5); Odysseus, the archetypal survivor,
escapes, but few others are lucky. A threat hangs over Anchises at the end of
the Hymn to Aphrodite(2.2.5), a poem which gives an altogether rather unhappy
portrayal of this scenario: Anchises is frightened of offending, Aphrodite must
trick him into sleeping with her, and as soon as the act is completed she is
bitterly ashamed of consorting with one so far beneath her. No such scruples
trouble Kalypso (2.2.4), but she is aware that in the end the male gods always
intervene to put a stop to these relationships.
2.2.1 Mingling with gods
Source: Hesiod fr. 1 (MW)
Now sing the race of women, sweet-voiced Olympian Muses, daughters of Zeus
who holds the aigis, those who were then the best .. , they loosened their
girdles ... mingling with gods ... For then feasts were shared, and shared was
conversation, between immortal gods and mortal men. ~
MYTHOLOGY 51
This is the opening of the Catalogueof Women attributed to Hesiod, recovered

and reconstructed from a papyrus fragment with the aid of quotations in
surviving authors. It takes the common mythological motif as its raison d'etre,
partly as a means to a genealogical structuring of heroic myth, but also, the
opening suggests, as an interesting theme in its own right. These women were
the 'best': the most noble and also, no doubt, the most beautiful, and so they
are interesting in their own right, not merely as mothers of heroes. The poet
also views with nostalgia a past age when gods and humans, though divided
by mortality, lived more closely together than today. The sexual encounters
between gods and women belong in a far better world in which other aspects
of life were also shared, a world which has now been lost for ever.
The date of the poem is very uncertain; estimates vary from early seventh
to late sixth century BCE.
Now sing: the traditional invocation of the Muse or Muses to sing (for the
poet) a long, originally orally composed, poem, as found at the beginning of
both the Homeric epics. It may still have retained some religious force as a
prayer. According to the Theogony,the Muses were the daughters of Zeus and
Memory (Mnemosyne).
Zeus who holds the aigis:- see note on 2.1.4.
loosened their girdles: or perhaps 'took off their knickers', referring to loss
of virginity.
mingling: a conventional word in epic for sex.
conversation: literally 'seats', meaning that gods and humans spent time
together.
mortal men: anthrl5pois,meaning men and women.
2.2.2 Cyrene and Apollo
Source: Pindar, Pythian 9.1-128
I wish to tell aloud, with the deep-girdled Graces, the bronze-shielded Pythian
victor, Telesikrates, to announce the fortunate man, the glory of Cyrene racer
of horses; Cyrene whom the long-haired son of Leto once stole from the
windswept gullies and bays of Pelion. And he brought the untamed maiden in
a golden chariot, and he established her as queen of a land rich in flocks and
in fruit, to dwell and flourish in the lovely third root of the dry land.
And silver-sandalled Aphrodite received her Delian guest, touching the
god-made chariot with gentle hand; and over their bed of delights she cast lovely
modesty, joining in mingled marriage the god and the daughter of mighty
Hypseus. He then was king of the strong-armed Lapiths, a hero descending in
the second generation from Ocean. The Naiad Kreousa, daughter of Earth, once
52 MYTHOLOGY
bore him in the far-famed mountain folds of Pindos, in her joy in the bed of
Peneios; and he raised his daughter, lovely-armed Cyrene. And she loved not
the repeating paths of the loom, nor the delights of dining with her compan-
ions in the home; but fighting with sword and bronze javelins she overcame
fierce beasts, giving tranquil peace in abundance to her father's cattle. Her sweet
bedmate, sleep, she allowed but little on her eyes, as the night approached dawn.
As she was struggling once alone, without we'fpons, with a mighty lion, Apollo
of the broad quiver, the Worker from Afar, caught sig~t of her. Straightway he
called Chiron out from his dwelling: 'Leave your holy cave, son of Philyra, and
marvel at the spirit and the great strength of a woman. What a fight she puts
up, with head unbowed:.:. a girl, holding her spirits high above the toil! Her
heart is untouched by the storm of panic. Which mortal was her parent? Torn
from what stock does she thus keep the hidden places of the shadowy moun-
tains, and prove her limitless strength? Is it right to stretch out my famed hand
and touch her, and to crop the honey-sweet pasture from her bed?'
The great Centaur laughed softly, smiling with gentle brow, and at once
answered him with wisdom: 'Hidden are the keys of holy loves which wise
Persuasion holds, Phoibos, and gods and men alike feel shame openly to light
upon the sweets of love for the first time. You too, who may not be touched
by falsehood - that sweet emotion led you to dissemble your speech. You ask
me, Lord,. whence the girl was born? You who know the appointed end of all
things, and all paths? How many are the leaves that the earth sends up in spring,
how many grains of sand, in sea and rivers, are swirled about by waves and
gusts of wind, and what will be, and whence it will come - all this you see clearly.
But if I must compete against your wisdom, I will speak: you come to this glade
as her husband, and you will carry her beyond the sea to the choice garden of
Zeus. There you will make her ruler of a city, and you will gather an island
people to a hill surrounded by plains. The lady Libya with her broad meadows
will gladly receive your fair-famed bride into her golden halls, and there at once
she will give her a lawful portion of land, that they may flourish together; it
will not lack for any kind of fruiting plant, nor will it be ignorant of wild beasts.
There she will bear a child, whom glorious Hermes will take from his dear mother
and carry to the fair-throned Seasons and to Earth. And they will gaze at the
child on their knees, and drip nectar and ambrosia on his lips, and they will
make him immortal, to be called Zeus and holy Apollo, a delight to men who
are his friends, closest guardian of flocks, Hunter and Shepherd, and some will
call him Aristaios.' Thus saying he urged Apollo on to bring about the sweet
fulfilment of his marriage.
When the gods are already hurrying, swift is accomplishment and short their
paths. That very day brought it about. They lay together in Libya's rich chamber
of gold, where she holds that fairest city, renowned in games. And now in goodly
Pytho the son of Karneadas has brought her prosperous fortune.
Even in the days when gods and humans lived more closely together, the
women whom the gods chose as their sexual partners were special. The t:hil-
dren (usually sons) born to them were also special: after all, one of the chief
MYTHOLOGY 53
functions, or perhaps effects, of the motif of sexual conduct between divine

and human was that the heroic ancestors of races or founders of cities were
thus provided with a divine parent. In Pindar's account, Aristaios is indeed
a wonderful, even quasi-divine figure, but his achievements lie in the future.
The main emphasis is on his mother Cyrene, Apollo's sighting of her, and
their eventual union. The world in which this takes place is a glamorous,
romantic one far removed from everyday experience. The athletic Cyrene - a
suitable heroine for a poem celebrating the victor in a sporting contest - fits
the folklore pattern of the girl who rejects feminine pursuits in favour of the
sort of heroic exploits by which young males normally prove themselves;
she is not a figure who could have much in common with real fifth-century
girls. Even so, the poem emphasises the wonder of a union between god and
mortal girl, an event which appears as something beautiful, an extraordinary
divine favour, signalled by the miraculous transportation of Cyrene from her
home in north-east Greece to Libya. Pindar has also taken some trouble to
portray the god in a morally favourable light. He does not simply use his power
to grab what he wants; he wonders if it is right (hosiii) to approach Cyrene,
and defers to the authority of his elder, Chiron (he seems to be a very young
god in this narrative, perhaps embarking on his first love affair). The vocabu-
lary, too, suggests that tMs is more than a passing fling: it is a marriage
{gamos), and Apollo comes to Pelion as Cyrene's husband (posis). We know,
of course, that the marriage cannot be a permanent one, but Pindar's any-
thing but linear narrative concentrates on the union, in both anticipation
and fulfilment. Here, as elsewhere, he prefers to give a few vivid cameos rather
than a bit-by-bit account of a whole story.
Cyrene: the more familiar form of Attic Greek Kyrene, in Pindar's Doric
Kyrana, which was also the form the Cyrenaeans themselves used at this date.
Cyrene was a Greek city in Africa, situated in present-day Libya, colonised
from Thera (Santorini). (For an important document from Cyrene, see 3.3.1.)
In the relative clause ('whom once ... ') Pindar moves, without signalling any
change, from Cyrene the city to Cyrene the girl (the repetition of the name
is in the translation only).
long-haired son of Leto: Apollo, called 'with uncut hair' traditionally in
epic, indicating that he remains forever young, since hair was cut at the tran-
sition to full manhood.
Pelion: in north-eastern Greece. The journey to Libya was a long one.
third root of the dry land: Pindar refers to the three 'continents' known
to the Greeks, Europe, Asia and Libya (Africa), or rather the parts of these
landmasses close to the Mediterranean.
silver-sandalled Aphrodite: 'the works of Aphrodite' is a common euphem-
ism for sex, but here the personification seems more real, adding to the feeling
that there is something special about the union.
54 MYTHOLOGY
Delian guest: Apollo was born on Delos, which along with Delphi was his
most famous cult~place.
Hypseus: the detailed genealogy shows the strong Greek interest in estab-
lishing mythological lin~s of descent, especially perhaps for figures who are
important in the mythical past of the polis. Cyrene is appropriately a child
of nature rather than nurture, loving the wild realms rather than those of
human order: she -is descended from Earth,, Ocean and a local river-god
(Peneios), while her father is a Lapith, a member of ? Thessalian race with a
somewhat wild and primitive reputation.
her joy in the bed of Peneios: the delights of the sexual love between Cyrene
and Apollo are here anticipated in Cyrene's grandparents.
Worker from Afar: see 2.1.4.
Chiron: the most famous of the Centaurs, half-men, half-horses, often
located in Thessaly like the wholly human Lapiths. A well-known story related
the violent and abusive behaviour of the Centaurs when invited to a Lapith
wedding-feast and consequent enmity of the two groups. Centaurs were often
thought of as lawless creatures, exhibiting 'animal' passions, but Chiron was
an exception to this general rule, being a repository of wisdom and teacher
of heroes, including Herakles and Achilles, and the god Asklepios, Apollo's son.
Here he seems to have a similar relationship with the young Apollo himself.
the grains of sand: Pindar may have in mind the well-known reply of the
oracle to Croesus, in which Apollo claims to 'know the number of the grains
of the sands, and the bounds of the sea': see 6.2.3.
she will bear a child: the child Aristaios is a remarkable mythological figure,
credited with many inventions in the spheres of agriculture and husbandry,
and associated with several different places in the Greek world. It was gen-
erally agreed, however, that his mother was Cyrene.
carry to the fair-throned Seasons and to Earth: divine and semi-divine child-
ren are often raised by a nurse (trophos)or nurses, rather than by their mother.
Earth and Seasons (florai) are appropriate for Aristaios' interests in farming
(see above), and in the genealogy given by Pindar, Earth is the great-great-
grandmother of the young child. Aristaios' nurses give him the food of the
gods and so make him immortal, an episode recalling Demeter's failed attempt
to give immortality to the child Demophon in the HomericHymn to Demeter.
to be called Zeus and holy Apollo: Pindar is probably alluding to the sort
of cult title where the name of a god is coupled with that of a figure more
often considered a hero: 'Zeus Aristaios' and 'Apollo Aristaios' would look like,
for instance, Poseidon Erechtheus in Athens. The cult of such entities would
presumably be more divine than heroic (Aristaios has been made immortal),
and it is quite likely that originally they were not connected with Aristakls,
son of Cyrene.
MYTHOLOGY 55
2.2.3 Apollo the rapist and child-abandoner
Source: Euripides, Ion 876-921
My eyes shed tears; my soul is in pain, ill-treated by both men and gods, whom
I will show to be thankless betrayers of their unions. O you who sound forth
the voice of the seven-stringed lyre, which in lifeless horns, once wild, echoes
the lovely hymns of the Muses: it is you, child of Leto, whose dispraise I shall
utter to this light of day. You came to me, your hair shining with gold, as I was
gathering saffron petals and putting them in the folds of my dress, to flower
with answering gold (?). You took me by my white wrists, and as I called out
'Mother!' you drove me in your shamelessness to a cave's bed, you a god lying
with me, performing favours for Aphrodite. And then in my misfortune. I bore
you a boy, and fearing my mother I cast him into that bed of yours, where you
yoked me in my misery in a miserable coupling. Alas: and now he is gone,
snatched up to be a meal for the birds, my son and yours. And you, you heartless
one, you just play on your lyre and sing your paians. Yes, you, Leto's son, it's
you I'm talking to, you who give responses by lot at the golden seats and the
midmost part of the earth. I shall proclaim it far and wide: You are an evil lover.
You owed my husband no favours, but for him you establish a child in his family.
No, my child and yours is lost without trace, seized by birds of prey, losirtg his
mother's cradle-gifts. Delos hates you; the laurel shoot hates you, there by the
tender-leaved palm where Leto bore you with holy birth-pangs in the gardens
of Zeus.
A 'lyric monody' (or portion of the play sung rather than spoken by an actor
and not the chorus) was always a virtuoso piece and an emotional high spot
in tragedy. This monody is sung by Kreousa, Athenian princess and wife of
the Achaian Xouthos, who before her marriage was raped by Apollo and bore
a child to him, whom she exposed and believes to have died. For years she
has kept this fact a closely guarded secret, and now she and Xouthos have
come to Apollo's home at Delphi to discover from the prophetic god why
their marriage remains childless and how this may be remedied. To make the
journey and inquiry is bad enough, but when Apollo seems to tell Xouthos
that he has a son conceived before his marriage, Kreousa feels her betrayal
is complete. Here she reveals to the chorus, in a highly elaborate, poetic style,
what happened to her, turning to address and accuse Apollo himself.
Mortal women who bore children to the gods often suffered as a result,
and were not infrequently forced by circumstances to expose their child.
But to be thus chosen by a god was normally depicted as something positive
(above, 2.2.1, 2.2.2). The preceding passage, from Pindar, is a lovely example
of such a union depicted as a wonder and a blessing. Euripides plays on such
depictions, using beautiful and traditional language to describe the meeting
of Kreousa and Apollo (the use of colour is typical of Pindaric scenes else-
where) but then revealing the ugly reality: this is no consensual union, but
56 MYTHOLOGY
a brutal rape. Forced to hide her pregnancy and its result, Kreousa leaves her
baby in the place where it was conceived, and supposes it has perished, while
Apollo cared only for his sexual pleasure and took no thought for the con-
sequences. In this she is mistaken: Apollo actually took the child Ion to his
sanctuary in Delphi, where he has grown up as a temple servant. Eventually
mother and son will be reunited (Xouthos still believing the boy to be his
son), Xouthos and Kreousa will have children, and Ion will become the founder
of the Ionian race,·which is thus of Athenian origin. 'Apollo has done every-
thing well,' says Athena, appearing ex machina at the end of the play.
But has he? It's a happy ending, no doubt, but the fact remains that Apollo
inflicted rape on a young and terrified girl, left her alone to cope with the
consequences, and for fifteen years or more did nothing to alleviate her
sorrow and guilt at the presumed death of her child.
seven-stringed lyre: Apollo presides over music in general, and the lyre or
kithara is his favourite instrument. (The Homeric Hymn to Hermes describes
how he came to acquire it from his baby brother Hermes.) Kreousa continues
the theme of Apollo's music towards the end of her song.
your hair shining with gold: Pindar also mentions Apollo's hair. The descrip-
tion of the meeting of god and girl is beautiful, contrasting with the unpleas-
antness of its sequel, just as right through her song Kreousa contrasts Apollo's
aloof, uncaring, beautiful world with the sordid realities of her own story.
gathering saffron petals: similarly, in the HomericHymn to Demeter,Perseph-
one is gathering flowers when she is seized and carried off by her uncle Hades/
Plouton. Picking flowers is a 'useless' occupation which highlights the innocent
and carefree life of an unmarried girl, as well as pointing to her beauty, and of
course having sexual undertones: the girl herself will be 'picked' like the flowers.
Here Kreousa places the petals in the folds of her dress or her lap, kolpos, a
word with strong sexual implications which anticipates what is to happen.
called out 'Mother': a woman must cry out in order to distinguish rape
from a consensual union, a point enshrined in Jewish law (Deuteronomy
22.24-7). In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (19-20) Persephone calls on her
father Zeus (which is useless, because he has permitted the rape). Kreousa's
call for her mother suggests a very young girl and is highly pathetic.
you a god lying with me, performing favours for Aphrodite: compare Pindar
in the passage above, 2.2.2.
fearing my mother: Kreousa is now completely alone, as the mother she
hoped would protect her from rape will punish her for its consequences. (But
some commentators less plausibly take the meaning of the Greek to be 'in
my fear as a mother'.)
paians: a type of joyful hymn particularly associated with ApollQ anp his
son Asklepios; see 5.5.1.
MYTHOLOGY 57
give responses by lot: though responses in hexameter verse are the most
famous product of the Delphic oracle, it is likely that the drawing of lots played
a part in settling more everyday queries. See 6.2 introduction.
midmost part of the earth: Delphi claimed to be situated at the centre of
the earth, and a sacred stone called 'navel' ('omphalos') marked the actual
spot. See 5.1.1, also from Jon.
without trace: another possibility is that the word refers to Apollo and means
a moral reprobate.
cradle-gifts: in fact these will eventually be used in the mutual recognition
of mother and son.
Delos hates you: The theme of childbirth leads Kreousa from Delphi to Delos,
the other famous centre of Apollo's worship, reputedly the place where he was
born, as described in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo. Apollo's own birth is celebrated,
says Kreousa, but his lack of care for the birth of his son is a sorry contrast.
2.2.4 Goddesses and mortal men 1
Source: Odyssey 5.118-32, 134-36
(Kalypso speaks) 'Gods, you are cruel, and jealous above all others, since you
begrudge goddesses to lie with men openly, if one of us wants to make a man
her dear husband. So when rosy-fingered ·Dawn chose Orion, you gods (whose
life is easy, were jealous, until holy, golden-throned Artemis came upon him
. in Ortygia and killed him with her painless arrows. And when lovely-haired
Demeter yielded to her passion and mingled with Iasion, lying together in love,
in a thrice-ploughed field, Zeus was not Jong in hearing; he hurled his shining
, ..~ thunderbolt at him and killed him. Just so, gods, you now begrudge me the
presence of a mortal man. But I saved him as he clung alone to the keel of his
swift ship, which Zeus had smashed to pieces, throwing his shining thunder-
bolt at it in the midst of the ,wine-dark sea ... I cherished him and looked after
him, and I declared I would make him immortal and ageless for ever.'
Hermes has arrived on the island of Ogygia, where the goddess Kalypso is
detaining Odysseus against his will, to convey Zeus' instructions that she should
let him go. Kalypso's response points out the limits of sexual interaction
between humans and gods. It is all very well for a male god to have his way
with an attractive woman, but for a goddess to 'submit' to a mortal man is
against the proper order of things. Such unions are fascinating for humans
to hear about; there is a list at the end of Hesiod's Theogony (perhaps not part
of the original poem). But the gods evidently feel threatened by them, and
their reaction is something like an honour killing. Kalypso sees the problem
from her own viewpoint, that of the goddess losing her lover, but for the
58 MYTHOLOGY
hapless man it is worse - both Orion and lasion lose their lives. Odysseus
will be more fortunate, in this as in his other adventures. Though he was
not averse to sleeping with Kalypso in the first place, he rejected her offers
of immortality and wished t_oreturn to his wife and family, thus preferring
his proper station in the world. He also has a powerful divine patron in the
(asexual) Athena, and it is her concern for his safe return to Ithaca which is
the immediate cause of the intervention of Zeus and Hermes, rather than the
more general problem. ,-
Dawn: Eos or Heos was associated with several human lovers, notably
Tithonos and Kephalos, whom she snatched up in a predatory fashion; the
link with Orion, the mythical hunter par excellence, is found only here. Orion's
connexion with Artemis, however, occurs in a number of variants; she is in love
with him and kills him by mistake, or she kills him for attempting to rape her.
whose life is easy: a recurrent formula describing the gods in epic verse.
holy Artemis: the word (hagne) also means chaste.
Ortygia: 'place of quails', believed by the ancients to be an old name for Delos,
birthplace of Artemis and her brother Apollo.
her painless arrows: Artemis was associated with the death of women in
childbirth (see 2.1.4), but also with sudden death in either sex. Similarly in
Iliad l, the symptoms of plague are caused by the arrows of Apollo.
Iasion: or Iasios. This story is also related in the Theogony and elsewhere.
The 'thrice-ploughed field' may be one that has been turned over several times
before ploughing in the autumn, or it may mean a field where three furrows
have been ploughed (as part of a fertility ritual?). The myth is no doubt con-
nected with Demeter's role as patron of agriculture.
I saved him: Kalypso had received and looked after Odysseus when he reached
her island after the shipwreck which resulted in the loss of all his companions,
12.447-50.
immortal and ageless: a Homeric formula, these are the qualities which
distinguish gods from humans. In the HomericHymn to Aphrodite(below, 2.2.5),
Dawn forgets to request agelessness in addition to immortality for her paramour
Tithonos.
2.2.5 Goddesses and mortal men 2
Source: Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 181-201, 218-58, 276-91
When he saw Aphrodite's neck and her lovely eyes, he was afraid and turned
away his gaze. He covered up his fair visage with his cloak, and entreating her
he spoke winged words: 'Goddess, as soon as I laid eyes on you I knew you were '
MYTHOLOGY 59
a deity, but you lied to me. But I beseech you, in the name of Zeus who carries
[ the aigis, do not let me dwell without strength among mortals in my lifetime,
--but have mercy. For a man who sleeps with immortal goddesses has no flour-
ishing life.'
Then Zeus' daughter Aphrodite answered him: 'Anchises, most glorious of
mortal men, be of good cheer, and do not be too much afraid in your heart.
': There is no fear that you will suffer any evil from me, or from the other Blessed
Ones, for you are dear to the gods. You will have a dear son who will rule among
the Trojans, and children will follow children continually in your line. His name
will be Aineias, because terrible (ainos) grief has possessed me for falling into
the bed of a mortal man. And yet among human beings subject to death, it is
always those of your race who are close to the gods in appearance and nature
'", Then again, Dawn of the golden throne snatched up Tithonos from your
race, most like to the immortals. She went to Zeus of the dark clouds to ask
that he might be immortal and Jive for ever, and Zeus assented and granted her
, wish. Poor fool, the lady Dawn did not think to ask for youth, or to remove
horrible old age. So while lovely youth still held him, he delighted in early Dawn
of the golden throne, and lived hy the streams of Ocean at the ends of the earth;
but when the first grey hairs were sprinkled over his fair head and his well-formed
chin, then lady Dawn kept away from his bed, yet she kept him in her hails
and fed him with food and ambrosia, and gave him beautiful clothes. But when
loathsome old age had overcome him completely, and he could not move or
, lift his limbs, she thought this was the best plan: she placed him in a chamber,
and shut the shining doors. His voice continues without end, and he has no
strength such as he once had in his curveg limbs. I would not have you thus
among the immortals, to be immortal and to live for ever. But if you could live
as you are now in form and appearance, and you were called my husband, then
anguish would not overcome my close-set mind. But as it is, soon a like (?)
pitiless old age will overcome you, which stands some day beside mortals,
dreadful and wearisome, at which even the gods shudder in fear. And as for
me, I shall have great shame among the immortal gods continually for ever
more, because of you. Previously they would fear my lovers' talk and cunning
plans, through which once I mingled all the immortals together with mortal
women, and my will subdued them all. Now no longer will my mouth endure to
name these things among the immortals, since I have been greatly out of my
mind, a terrible madness not to be endured, and I have wandered far from good
sense, sleeping with a mortal and putting a child under my girdle. As for him,
when first the sunlight sees him, the deep-bosomed mountain nymphs will bring
him up ... And I shall come to you again in the fifth year, bringing your son,
so that I can go over all these things I have in my mind. And when you first
see your offspring with your eyes, you will rejoice at the sight, for he will he
very like a god. Take him straightway to windy Troy. And if some mortal asks
you what mother carried your dear son under her girdle, remember what I bid
you as you answer: say that he is the child of a flower-faced nymph, one of
those who live on this forest-covered mountain. If you speak out and boast in
your thoughtless heart that you mingled in love with the beautiful-crowned
Kythereian, Zeus will be angered and strike you with his dark thunderbolt. Now
60 MYTHOLOGY
I have said everything; you be sensible and keep it in your mind. Do not name
me, but beware the wrath of the -gods.' Thus saying, she disappeared into the
windswept sky.
The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite recounts the story of Aphrodite's desire for
the mortal Anchises·, inspired in her by Zeus as revenge for her constantly
visiting sexual passion on the gods, and its consummation. Anchises is well
aware that it is not a good idea for a mortal man to sleep with a goddess (see
2.2.4 above), so in order to achieve her end Aphrodite has to pretend to be
a mortal herself, and moreover one whom the virtuous Anchises can marry.
Once the act is done, Aphrodite reveals herself. Although what she says is at
first reassuring, there is a definite sense that she has 'used' Anchises, and the
not-so-veiled threat at the end of her speech was actually fulfilled in other
versions of the story. Her sense of remorse and self-disgust is also interesting;
this version emphasises the inappropriateness of the union far more than the
special qualities of Aphrodite's partner Anchises or her son Aineias, though
in the Iliad it is important that Aineias, like Achilles, is the son of a goddess.
you lied to me: Aphrodite had told an elaborate story in which she pre-
tended to be the daughter of the Phrygian Otreus, taken away by Hermes in
order to be the wife of Anchises.
Zeus who carries the aigis: see note on 2.1.4.
Aineias: in Latin Aeneas. The naming of a child from circumstances sur-
rounding his or her birth or parents is a common mythological motif.
those of your race: Aphrodite, strongly pro-Trojan in the Iliad, is thinking
of the Trojans here. The passage which follows recalls how Zeus kidnapped
the Trojan boy Ganymedes, one of the very few homosexual love affairs
attributed to the gods, and not made explicit here.
Zeus of the dark clouds: see note on 2.1.3.
the ends of the earth: here as in the Odyssey (12.3-4), Dawn is naturally
located at the earth's extreme edge, where in early cosmology it is bounded
by Ocean.
ambrosia: literally 'immortality', it is the food of the gods. On Ogygia (see
2.2.4), Kalypso's meal is of nectar and ambrosia, while Odysseus sits with her
but eats the food that humans eat.
his voice continues without end: according to the fifth-century historian and
mythographer Hellanikos, Tithonos became a cicada (FGrH4 F 140). Aphrodite
is not being quite logical in using the story as a reason against trying for
immortality for Anchises, since she recognises and can therefore avoid tlie rrlis-
take made by Dawn. Far more important in the equation is her sense of shame.
MYTHOLOGY 61
Previously they would fear: it is this situation, irksome to the other gods,
which has prompted Zeus to cause Aphrodite's passion for a mortal, giving
her a taste of her own medicine.
mountain nymphs: the passage omitted describes these nymphs (see 1.2.10).
Nymphs are often nurses of divine or semi-divine children, and they are also
often mothers of children by human fathers.
Kythereian: a title of Aphrodite, because of her association with the island
Kythera.
2.2.6 A marriage connexion
A story is told that the· Athenians called on the North Wind for help because
of an oracular response; another oracle had come to them to the effect that they
should enlist their in-law to help them. According to the Greek account, the
wife of the North Wind is a woman from .Attica, Oreithyia, the daughter of
Erechtheus. And it is said that the Athenians, working out that the North Wind
was their in-law, stationed their ships at Chalkis in Euboia when they realised
that a storm was brewing up, or even before, and in accordance with this
relationship they sacrificed to the North Wind and Oreithyia and called on them
to punish their enemies and destroy the ships of the barbarians, as had hap-
pened before at Athos. I can't say whether _this was the reason that the North
Wind fell on the barbarians as they were at anchor, but the Athenians main-
tain that the North Wind had helped them before, and on this occasion he was
the cause of what happened, and when they left they set up a sanctuary for the
North Wind on the river Ilissos.
Herodotus is narrating events during Xerxes' invasion of Greece in the summer

of 480 BCE. Shortly before the meeting of the land forces at Thermopylae,
about four hundred Persian ships (he claims) were destroyed in a storm at
Cape Sepias in Magnesia (north-eastern Greece), considerably reducing the
strength of the fleet which then faced the Greek ships at Artemision. This is
one of several stories Herodotus tells of apparent divine intervention in the
Persian Wars (see also 3.2.7, 4.4.4).
Erechtheus was one of the mythical kings of Athens, and the story of his
daughter's kidnapping by Boreas, the North Wind, was a well-known one
in the fifth century and a popular subject in vase-painting. Plato also, in a
well-known passage (Phaedrus 229a), mentions the llissos sanctuary, where it
is likely that Oreithyia herself was also worshipped. This was one of the
divine-human unions which became permanent, and hence Boreas can be
referred to as gambros (a man related by marriage, son-in-law) to the Athenians,
the descendants of Erechtheus. If we can take it at face value, it shows that
myths and traditions of this sort could act as the basis for a ritual response.
62 MYTHOLOGY
2.3 Helping and Hindering Mortals
Although the mortals of mythological times were often thought to have been
closer to the gods as a collectivity, it is clear in epic that each individual deity
has favourites and un-favourites among human beings. In the Iliad, as we
have seen (2.1.4), the gods take sides against each other because of their par-
tisanship for one side or the other in the human conflict. Hera, Athena and
Poseidon do all they can to help the Achaian cause, while Apollo and Artemis,
with their mother Leto, favour the Trojans. Naturally the gods favour their
own mortal children, born of human mothers or fathers; a very common motif
is also the persecution by Hera of Zeus' mortal women (fo, Semele and others)
or their children (most notably Herakles, 2.3.1). When the child of a god is
attacked or wronged, the god will usually take vengeance on the attacker,
killing him or making life difficult for him; this is the whole premise of the
continued wanderings of Odysseus in the Odyssey, pursued by the wrath
of Poseidon caused by the blinding of his son, the Kyklops Polyphemos.
Sometimes gods favour particular mortals for other reasons. Zeus approves of
Hector because he is a generous and punctilious sacrificer (Iliad 24.68-70).
Athena is in general a patron of heroes, but particularly fond of Diomedes
and Odysseus in the Iliad (the Lokrian Aias complains in 23.782-3 that she
must have harmed his own prospects in the race because 'she always stands
over Odysseus and helps him, like a mother'), and in 2.3.2 we are explicitly
shown that she is fond of Odysseus because his personality is like hers.
Divine disfavour has usually an understandable cause, but because it is divine
it is often intense and prolonged - more so than might seem reasonable, per-
haps. 'Gods should not be angry in the same way that mortals are', says Kadmos
in Euripides' Bacchae (1348), but the play shows that they are. Sacrilege, con-
ceived in anthropomorphic terms as insult to a deity's honour and standing,
always evokes hostility, the most famous case being the Lokrian Aias' disre-
gard of the sanctity of Athena's temple and statue in Troy (2.3.3). In the Iliad,
the hostility of Hera and Athena towards Troy goes unexplained until nearly
the end of the epic (24.27-30), when the judgement of Paris, giving the pre-
ference to Aphrodite over them, is introduced. Right or wrong, the enmity
of an anthropomorphically presented deity gives plenty of scope for an
unfavourable portrayal of the gods, or at least a pessimistic view of the rela-
tionship between gods and mortals.
2.3.1 The birth of Herakles
Source: Iliad 19.95-125, 132-3
Even Zeus once fell into disastrous folly, he who they say is best among men
and gods; yet even so Hera, female though she is, led him astray witft he~
MYTHOLOGY 63
deceptions, on the day when Alkmene was to bring mighty Herakles to birth
in well-built Thebes. He declared in front of all the gods 'Listen to me, all you
gods and all you goddesses, so that I may say what my spirit bids me to. Today
Eileithyia with her birth-pangs will bring into the light a man who will rule
over all his neighbours, of a line of those men whose blood is from me.' Then
lady Hera spoke to him with guile in her heart, saying 'You will cheat, you will
not fulfil your words! Now come, swear a strong oath to me, Olympian, that
whoever of the men whose blood is of your stock, who today falls between the
feet of a woman will rule over all his neighbours.' Thus she spoke, and Zeus did
not realise her trick, but swore a great oath, and irt doing so was overcome by
folly. Then Hera rushed to leave the ridge of Olympos and swiftly reached Achaian
Argos, where she knew of the flourishing wife of Sthenelos, son of Perseus. She
was pregnant with a son, in the seventh month. Hera brought the child into
the light, though he was premature. She stopped Alkmene's labour and held
back the Eileithyiai. She took the message herself to Zeus, son of Kronos, and
said 'Father Zeus of the shining thunderbolt, I will place a word in your mind.
A fine man has now been born, who will rule the Argives, .Eurystheus son of
Sthenelos, descendant of Perseus, of your race; it is notunfi:tting for him to rule
over the Argives.' Thus she spoke, and sharp anguish struck Zeus deep .in .his
heart ... continually he bewailed his folly, when he saw his own son working
shamefully for Eurystheus~ performing labours for him.
Divine hostility can begin at birth or ev~n before, especially where Hera is
involved; Herakles is the most obvious case of her persecution of a child of
Zeus by another mother. To begin with, Hera cheats Herakles out of the
birthright that was properly his by making Zeus swear an oath and then ensur-
ing that it is fulfilled in a way he would not want: not his own son Herakles,
but his great-grandson Eurystheus is to rule over the Argives. It is Eurystheus
who will later, in an attempt to rid himself of Herakles, impose the twelve
labours on him, usually as a penance for killing his wife and children in a
fit of madness induced by Hera. However, it was of course these labours which
earned Herakles his great reputation, and his name was therefore often inter-
preted, though probably wrongly, as 'glory through Hera'. For Hera's con-
tinuing hostility to Herakles, compare 2.1.2 and for its resolution, 1.2.4.
The story is told by Agamemnon as part of his formal apology to Achilles,
in which he claims like Zeus to have been overcome by 'folly' (ate), a
word indicating a catastrophically irrational decision and the state of mind
that precipitates it. Ate is personified both in this passage and in Iliad
9.502-12.
Eileithyia: goddess or goddesses of childbirth, in this passage apparently

fluctuating between singular and plural. She (or they) has no very stable mytho-
logical personality. For the mother of Eurystheus, compare the genealogy in
2.5.9.
64 MYTHOLOGY
2.3.2 Odysseus meets Athena
Thus he spoke, and owl-eyed goddess Athena smiled, and stroked him. She took
on the form of a ta.U, handsome woman, skill~d in beautiful handiwork, and
addressing him she spoke winged words: 'Anyone who could surpass you in any
kind of trick would be wily and deceptive indeed, even if it was a god that met
you. Wretch, master of different counsels, endless in deceit, so even in your own
land you could not leave alone cheating and misleading stories, which you love
through and through. But come, let us talk of this no longer, since we are both
experienced in craftiness; you are far the best of all mortals in decision-making
and speech, and I am famous for sagacity and craftiness among all the gods:
even you did not recognise Pallas Athena, the daughter of Zeus, the one who
always stands by your side and guards you in all your trials,. and who made all
the Phaiakians your friends. I have come here now to weave a plan with you
and to hide the gifts that the noble Phaiakians gave you through my plan and
thought as you left for your home, and to tell you all the troubles you are fated
to endure in your well-built home. But you bear them as you must, and do not
speak out to any man or woman at <:lllto tell them .that you have returned from
your wanderings, but suffer these many hardships in silence and endure men's
violence.'
Then in answer to her spoke Odysseus of the many wiles: 'It is hard for a
mortal who meets you to recognise you, goddess, even if he knows a lot, for
you can make yourself resemble anything. Butthis I know well, that earlier you
were kind to me, when we, the sons of the Achaians, were fighting at Troy. But
once we had sacked the steep city of Priam and set off in our ships, and a god
scattered the Achaians, then, daughter of Zeus, I did not see you, nor was I aware
of you on board my ship to keep me from suffering; always with heart torn
apart in my breastl wandered, until the gods freed me from hardship, and until
in the rich country of the Phaiakians you gave me encouraging words and your-
self led me to their city. But now I beseech you by your father - I do not think
I have reached the island of Ithaca, conspicuous from afar, but rather I find myself
in some other land. I think you are saying this to mock me, and confuse my
mind. So tell me if it is true that I have come to my own dear country.'
In reply, owl-eyed goddess Athena said to him: 'There is always some such
thought in your heart! So I cannot abandon you in your misfortune, because
you are a fine speaker, and clever, and sensible. Another man who had been
lost on a journey would. gladly rush to his home, to see his children and his
wife, but you don't care to find out or learn anything, until you have tested
your wife, who sits helplessly in your halls while the days and nights
wither miserably away from her as she pours forth tears. But I never doubted
that you would return, with the loss of all your companions - I knew it in
my heart. But I did not want to come into conflict with Poseidon, my;father's
brother, who has put anger towards you in his breast, enraged that you blinded
his dear son.' . '
MYTHOLOGY 65
Odysseus has finally arrived home on Ithaca, escorted with his gifts by the
Phaiakians who received him on Scherie. But he is sleeping when the
Phaiakians leave, and on awaking fails to recognise his native land, which
Athena has covered in mist. Thinking that the Phaiakians have tricked him
and taken him elsewhere, when he sees Athena disguised as a young man he
asks the name of the land; on hearing that it is Ithaca, he has the presence
of mind not to give himself away (since he does not know what reception
he will meet with), but immediately makes up a false persona and life history
for himself. This passage is the exchange that follows. It makes explicit what
is implied throughout the Odyssey and also in the Iliad, the special relation-
ship that exists between Athena and Odysseus. While male gods often favour
particular mortals because they are their sons, and while a priest may get
special consideration from the god he serves (see 5.4) and generous sacrifices
may also help (thus Zeus' fondness for Hector, Iliad 24.66-9), Athena, as a
deity concerned with enterprise and warlike activities, is a natural patron of
heroes in general. But this passage shows that Odysseus is her special favourite,
because of the likeness to herself that she perceives in him. The tone of her
words to him is teasing and curiously intimate, without being sexual.
owl-eyed: or perhaps blue-grey-eyed, though Athena is also associated with

owls. This is one of her standard epithets in Homer.
skilled in beautiful handiwork: contrasting with the 'young man' as whom
she had first appeared, this is Athena's fema_lepersona, crafts and handiwork,
especially in textiles, being another of her provinces.
who made all the Phaiakians your friends: though Odysseus was not aware
of it, Athena was instrumental in his favourable reception by the Phaiakians,
arranging for Nausikaa to meet him after his shipwreck (Odyssey 6.1 ff.) and
applauding Odysseus' performance in the games (8.194-8).
and yourself led me to their city: it was Nausikaa (admittedly stirred to
action by Athena, although Odysseus does not know this) who first started
Odysseus on his way to the Phaiakians' city, but when nearly arrived he met
Athena in disguise (7.18-81). Presumably the sudden disappearance of the
'young girl' at the end of the episode alerted him to her divine status, although
the text does not note his reaction.
2.3.3 Athena changes sides
Source: Euripides, Trojan Women 1-9, 23-7, 45-86
POSEIDON: I come, Poseidon, departing from the salty depths of the Aegean sea,
where the dancing Nereids leave the lovely circling traces of their
feet. Since the time when Phoibos and I with straight measures
66 MYTHOLOGY
built the stone towers around it, goodwill towards the city of
my Phrygian people has never leg my mind. But now it sends
up smoke an(\ is destroyed, sacked by the Argive force ... I am de-
feated by th~ Argive goddess Hera, and Athena, who together have
defeated the Phrygians, and now I leave renowned Ilion, and my
own altars; when dreadful desolation overcomes a city, the gods'
part suffers and will not receive honour ... But farewell city, once
prosperous, and farewell you square-cut_ ramparts. If Pallas the
daughter of Zeus had not destroyed you, you would still sit on your
foundations.
ATHENA: Is it possible for me to set aside our former enmity and speak to the
one who is close by birth to my father, and a great power, honoured
among the gods?
POSEIDON: It is possible. To be with relatives, lady Athena, is no small solace
to the mind.
ATHENA: I thank you for your mild spirit. I bring you for discussion a matter
which concerns both you and me, lord.
POSEIDON: Do you announce some new word from one of the gods, from Zeus,
or another deity?
ATHENA: No, it is because of Troy, where we walk, that I approach your power,
to join it with mine.
POSEIDON: I suppose you have not rejected your previous enmity and come to
pity Troy now that it has been burned?
ATHENA: Go back to where we started. Will you share words with me, and
join in favouring what I want to do?
POSEIDON: Of course, but I want to know what your point is, as well. Did you
come here because of the Achaians or the Trojans?
ATHENA: I wish to cheer the Trojans, previously my enemies, and give a
bitter homecoming to the Achaian army.
POSEIDON: Why do you jump into different ways at different times, and hate
and love excessively whomever you chance on?
ATHENA: Do you not know that I and my temples have been insulted?
POSEIDON: Yes, I know, when Aias dragged Kassandra away by force.
ATHENA: And he received no punishment nor reproach from the Greeks.
POSEIDON: And yet they sacked Ilion by your strength.
ATHENA: And so I want, with you, to harm them.
POSEIDON: As far as I am concerned, what you want is ready. But what will you
do?
ATHENA: I want to send them an evil homecoming.
POSEIDON: When they are on land, or on the salt sea?
ATHENA: When they set sail for their homes from Ilion. Zeus will send rain,
and massive hail, and dark stormwinds; he says he will give me the
fire of the thunderholt, to hurl at the Achaian ships and consume
the.m with fire. Then you, for your part, make the Aegean strait roar,
with vast waves and whirlpools, and fill the hollow nook of Euboia
with corpses, so that for the future the Greeks may learn fo, rev~r-
ence my temples, and to respect the other gods.
MYTHOLOGY 67
The epic tradition is clear that for the duration of the war at Troy (Ilion),
Poseidon and Athena were both on the side of the Achaians (compare 2.1.3,
2.1.4), but that once the city was sacked Athena was angry with the Greeks
and on their return journey brought about the destruction of much of their
fleet and the death of many. Athena's anger was caused by one famous episode,
recounted in the Cyclic Captureof Ilion:when the princess Kassandra had taken
refuge at Athena's temple and statue, the Lokrian Aias (Ajax), son of Oileus
(not the 'greater' Aias, son of Telamon) had dragged her away by force and
raped her. This sacrilege was a clear insult to the goddess, whose subsequent
anger towards all the Greeks is here explained by the fact that the army
appeared to condone Aias' wrongdoing. Euripides does not explain why his
Poseidon seems to represent himself as having been consistently pro-Trojan.
Perhaps the playwright wants his audience to realise that Poseidon's criticism
of Athena for 'jumping into different ways at different times' could apply
equally well, or indeed better, to himself; there is at least some logic to Athena's
position. At all events, Euripides uses the unusual dialogue form between deities
to suggest a criticism of the capriciousness of the mythological gods.
Trojan Women is the final play in a loosely linked trilogy of which the sec-
ond part was Palamedes, and the destruction of the Greek fleet also resonates
with that story, in which Palamedes' father Nauplios takes revenge for his
son's death by luring the returning Greek ships onto rocks.
Nereids: sea-nymphs, the daughters of Ncreus. This picture contrasts strongly

with the horrors of a sacked and burning ~ity.
since the time when Phoibos and I ... : for reasons variously given,
Poseidon and Apollo were said to have toiled for a year building the walls of
Troy for king Laomedon, who on the completion of the task cheated them
of their wages, leading to reprisals. Versions of the story are in Iliad 8.452 ff.
and 21.441-57 (compare passage 2.1.4, Poseidon and Apollo).
I leave renowned Ilion: it is an epic and tragic commonplace that gods lit-
erally 'leave' a place or person facing imminent destruction.
Pallas: the familiar name or title of Athena.
the fire of the thunderbolt: Athena is always very close to Zeus, and in
Aeschylus (Eumenides827-8) she claims that she alone of the gods knows where
the keys to his store of thunderbolts are kept. The gods will combine their
strength to punish the returning Greeks - though this part of the story recedes
into the background during the remainder of the play, which concentrates
on the misfortunes of the Trojan captives.
2.4 Aetiological and Foundation Myths
In the first decades of the twentieth century, a dominant view in classical

(and other) studies was that myth derived from ritual, and ritual consequently
68 MYTHOLOGY
could 'explain' myth. This extreme point of view is now pretty well discredited,
but it remains true that a large number of local Greek myths are in a sense
secondary to a particular ritual, in that their purpose seems to be to give an
explanation of the distinctive features of that ritual; they supply an aition,
a cause. In many Greek ·festivals, the proper performance demanded some
deviation from normal procedure, and the aetiological myth supplies a story
of the rite's foundation, showing that at that first celebration this way of doing
things was the logical or the only possible co'urse of action. Thus for instance
a fireless sacrifice on Rhodes was explained by the first sacrificers having
forgotten to bring a means of kindling flame to the sacrificial spot (2.4.1).
Our earliest evidence for this type of myth comes from poetry, and so it is
not always easy to tell whether an individual aition is traditional or the poet's
own invention. The tragedians, in particular, have often been suspected of
fabricating such stories, and the apparent corroboration of these Attic myths
in the local historians of the fourth century and later might actually derive
from the tragic sources rather than forming independent evidence. But we
really cannot be sure either way. In the broader picture, what is important
is that these literary figures are working within a tradition which likes to have
such mythical 'explanations' and links with the heroic age.
Even where there are no peculiar features to explain, every institution -
religious, political or social - must have its beginning marked out. This nor-
mally demands an explanation in personal, mythological terms, analogous
to the truly aetiological myths. It is not enough to know that the three Dorian
'tribes' (divisions of the citizen body) are Hylleis, Pamphyloi and Dymanes:
the names must be derived from the sons of Herakles, who promptly appear
as the ancestors and eponyms of the tribes. In this way one of the great ethnic
divisions among the Greeks is firmly linked with the greatest of Greek heroes.
Such foundation traditions both supplied some sort of an explanation and
contributed to prestige.
2.4.1 Why fireless sacrifices are offered in Rhodes
Source: Pindar, 0/"ympians7.33-51
... a seagirt land, where once the king of the gods rained on the city with golden
snowfall, when by the craft of Hephaistos and his bronze axe Athena leapt from
the crown of her father's head and raised a resounding cry, and Sky trembled
at her, and Mother Earth. And then the god who shines on mortals, the son of
Hyperion, admonished his dear children to keep the forthcoming obligation,
and be the first to build a conspicuous altar for the goddess, and to establish a
solemn sacrifice and please the minds of the Father and the Daughter whose
spear is thunder. Respect, the child of forethought, gives people excellence and
enjoyment; but a cloud of forgetfulness comes over them to confuse things, and
dive.rts the straight road of deeds away from the mind. And so they went up
MYTHOLOGY 69
without the seed of blazing fire.They made a grove on the acropolis, with fireless
sacrifices. And for them he (Zeus)brought a yellow cloud, and rained down much
gold, and the Owl-eyed Goddess gave them every craft, so that they excel over
all on earth with their fine-working hands.
In this ode Pindar narrates several local stories as part of his praise of a Rhodian
athlete, Diagoras. The myth here relates to what it presents as the charac-
teristic worship of Athena in Rhodes: when Athena was first born from the
head of Zeus, mortals competed to be the first to offer her sacrifice and so
gain her special favour. Rhodes, being sacred to the Sun, was then populated
by his children, the Heliadai, who in their hurry to succeed managed to
forget the fire which is necessary in normal Greek custom to complete a sacrifice
(see 3.2). The story is known to us from other sources, some of which add
that the Athenians under Kekrops succeeded where the Heliadai had failed;
but in Pindar's version, Athena evidently finds the Rhodian sacrifice accept-
able and rewards them with skill in her particular department.
The myth seems designed to provide an explanation for a form of sacrifice
in which the thing offered - animal victim or bloodless gift - is not burned,
but archaeological evidence from the Rhodian Athena sanctuaries indicates
that burnt offerings certainly took place in the archaic period. From the mid-
fifth century, we find a predominance of bloodless, unburnt offerings, sug-
gesting that the aition may have gained new prominence in this period.
2.4.2 A strange custom of the Athenians
Source: Euripides, Iphigeneiaamong the Taurians 947-60
And when I went there, at first no host was willing to take me in, thinking I .
was hated by the gods. But some people felt ashamed, and gave me hospitality
with each man at a table on his own, though we were under the same roof.
They kept silent and gave me no chance to speak, so that I might be separate
from them in the feast and drinking, and they poured an equal quantity of wine
for everyone into separate vessels and enjoyed themselves. I didn't think it right
to blame my hosts, so I concealed my pain in silence and pretended not to notice,
though sighing deeply because I was my mother's murderer. And I hear that
my sufferings have become a ritual for the Athenians, and the custom still remains
for the people of Pallas to pay honour to the chous-measure jug.
In Euripides' romantic tragedy, the matricide Orestes, fleeing vengeance divine

and human, has reached the ends of the earth - Tauras among the Scythians
(south Russia, near the Crimea). There he finds his sister Iphigeneia, who was
believed to have been sacrificed to Artemis by their father Agamemnon to
obtain favourable winds for the expedition against Troy. Artemis, it appears,
70 MYTHOLOGY
saved the girl and has made her a priestess in this 'barbarian' place, where
ironically she presides over human sacrifice. After brother and sister recognise
each other, Orestes describes his sufferings, and in this passage he records
his experiences on reaching Athens, before the well-known Areopagos trial in
which he was eventually.acquitted. In the mythical Athenians' (very typical)
view, someone who had committed such a horrible crime as Orestes could
surely expect divine punishment to follow, and since such punishment tends
not to be aimed with pinpoint precision, it is best to avoid contact with those
whom the gods hate. But this conflicts with the imperative to offer hospitality
to strangers, who are (normally at least) under the protection of Zeus Xenios;
hence the embarrassment of some among the Athenians, and the compromise
solution. By not sharing food and drink, at least the conveyance of pollution
(see 3.3) could be avoided. Ordinarily eating and drinking is of course accom-
panied by conversation, which unites the group, and in normal practice wine
is not drunk direct from enormous jugs, but mixed with water in one com-
munal mixing-bowl or kraterand then, using a jug, poured into individual cups.
The account is given as an explanation for the peculiar ritual of the second
day of the Anthesteria, a conspicuous festival of Dionysos in Athens. This day
was marked by a drinking-party, in which normal practices were inverted,
and each participant was served with his own portion of mixed wine in a
vessel holding a chous of liquid (about three litres); the day was called Choes
after the ritual and the characteristic jug. The occasion must have been a strange
mixture of the solemn (no talking) and the boozy; three litres of even mixed
wine per person is a considerable amount. It clearly needed an explanation,
and a wish to avoid pollution would have seemed a good one. The Attic local
historian Phanodemos also gives this story in the fourth century, but it is
uncertain whether Euripides incorporated an already existing tradition into
his narrative or whether he invented it. At all events he is careful to underline
the point that he is giving an aition here (unusually, in the middle of the
drama rather than the end), and to emphasise the very different experience
in the shared ritual for the Athenians (then and now) and for his tragic hero.
pretended not to notice: or perhaps 'pretended not to be aware that I was

my mother's murderer, though sighing deeply'.
people of Pallas: the Athenians, Pallas being an alternative or additional
name for Athena.
2.4.3 Eponyms of groups
Source: Hesiod frr. 7, 9 (MW)
(a) And she (Thyia daughter of Deukalion) conceived, and bore to Zeus who rejoices
in the thunderbolt two sons, Magnes and Makedon, delighting in horses,• whe
(both) dwelled in homes around Pieria and Olympos.
MYTHOLOGY 71
(b) From Hellen, war-loving king, were born Doros. and Xouthos and Aiolos,
delighting in horses.
These fragments of the Hesiodic Catalogueof Women (see 2.2.1), a poem explor-
ing the supposed genealogies of the heroes, are early evidence for the Greek
tendency to refer the origins of local and ethnic groups to an eponymous
founder-figure. Sometimes this figure was worshipped as a hero (see 1.2.3-6),
while in other cases he (more rarely she) remained a more or less specula-
tive figure of tradition.
Deukalion was traditionally the first man to repopulate the earth after
the flood, and in the first fragment here his grandsons, honorifically supplied
with Zeus for a father, become the eponyms of Magnesia and Makedonia/
Macedonia respectively. The second fragment deals with the genesis of the
Greeks, and their different dialectal and cultural groupings. Hellen, son of
Deukalion, is the ancestor of all the Greeks, whose name is simply the plural
form of his own, Hellenes. His sons Doros and Aiolos were considered to head
the Dorian and Aiolian/ Aeolian subgroups, while Xouthos was in turn the
father of Ion and Achaios, eponyms of the lonians and Achaians (Achaeans).
A later Athenian version, possibly invented by Euripides in his Ion (above,
2.2.3) made Ion the son of the Athenian Kreousa by Apollo, and Doros and
Achaios her sons by her husband Xoutho-s.
2.5 Mythology: Discussion and Treatment
The earliest passages to talk about myth do so to criticise it. Even Hesiod,
responsible for so many of the classic (and criticised) stories about the gods,
relates that when he met the Muses (traditional inspirers of oral poets) on
Mount Helicon, they told him that alongside many true things, they knew
how to tell 'false things that are like the truth' (Theogony27), thus implicitly
indicating that not all poetry tells the truth. But myths can be used as well
as discussed, and from the Iliad onwards we find that myths centring both
on gods and especially on heroes are told for a variety of purposes other than
the pleasure of the narrative. The best-known use in the Iliad, and perhaps
the simplest case, is the presentation of a myth as a persuasive example, to
urge a particular course of action or to demonstrate how things tend to turn
out; and it has been shown that in the process the narrator has a great deal
of freedom to alter details or change the emphasis in order to convey a par-
ticular point. One of the best-known examples is the case of Achilles' aged
family retainer Phoinix telling him the story of Meleagros in book 9, as a
warning that he should yield to entreaties and accept compensatory gifts rather
than persisting in his anger. Passages 2.5.6-7 are morally complex examples
of this use of myth, taken from tragedy.
72 MYTHOLOGY
When we move,Jo the archaic and classical periods, we can see mythology
playing out an important role in the political sphere. Every Greek polis or region
had its mythical past and founding heroes (2.4.3), or similar figures, who were
usually children of a god C?r-of the earth itself. Many of these figures will have
been quite a vivid reality to their descendants, because of their worship as heroes
(see 1.2.3-6), but it was the traditions (and inventions) about their lives which
were most useful in establishing what view tQe city should take of itself and
what its relations with its neighbours should be. L~cal stories of the gods
could be used in the same way; thus behind the arguments of 2.5.5, on the
traditions of Eleusis, lies the claim that agriculture (and hence civilisation)
originated in Attica, which is therefore owed a special debt by other Greeks.
Passages which discuss myth, rather than using it for a specific purpose,
do so in a variety of ways. Perhaps the simplest criticism is to reject a particular
story as implausible or unfitting, a tactic Pindar is particularly fond of (2.5.2).
Even the objections of Xenophanes and Plato (2.5.1, 2.5.3) could at first be
taken as critical only of a certain type of myth, that which involves the gods
in morally objectionable behaviour, although in fact both philosophers go
on to reject divine mythology altogether. This is obviously a radical step, but
it is also inevitable that some would take it, given the obvious difficulties of
reconciling the association of morality and the divine with narrative tradi-
tions in which the gods themselves behave in ways that contravene moral
norms. The point is illustrated by example in Euripides, where the use of myth-
ical parallels to persuade is explored in connexion with the gods' misbehaviour,
an obviously worrying approach (2.5.6, 2.5.7). In 2.5.4 and more clearly in
2.5.5 we see by way of contrast (and in part reaction) the assertion that (some)
myths should be believed because of their antiquity and venerable tradition.
Since myth typically deals in the large-scale and fantastic, another obvious
approach, found in many fifth-century (and later) authors is to assume that
myths, especially the myths of heroes, represent embroidered versions of things
that actually happened, so that in order to recover the original 'facts' it is
necessary to remove the less credible elements and work out what plausible
scenario could have given rise to them. Rationalisation of this sort is repres-
ented in 2.5.8 and 2.5.9, as well as 6.2.2, Herodotus' explanation of the local
myth of the oracle at Dodona. In 2.5.10 a similar technique is applied, rather
less convincingly, to divine mythology; in this somewhat parodic passage of
Euripides, one fantastic story is replaced by another, without diminishing the
problematic behaviour of the gods.
The allegorisation of myth is exemplified in 2.5.11. This method saves the
credibility of the tradition and even converts it into ancient wisdom, while
still withholding consent from implausible or objectionable elements, by
making the narrative a cover for a statement about something else, whether
(as here) cosmological or otherwise physical, or psychological. Allegorical
interpretations of myth were extremely popular in later antiquity, but their
beginning is clearly to be placed in our period, and they are mentioned as a
well-established strategy by Plato (2.5.3, end of passage).
MYTHOLOGY 73
2.5.1 The gods of Homer and Hesiod
Source: Xenophanes (DK 21 B 11)
Homer and Hesiod have asc:ribed to the gods everything that is shameful and
a reproach in humanity, theft and adultery and mutual deceit.
These famous lines are the earliest surviving criticism of the morality of the
mythological gods (Xenophanes' life spanned the mid- to late sixth and early
fifth centuries). Theft occurs, for instance, in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes,
which describes the baby Hermes stealing the cattle of his brother Apollo.
The most famous adultery is that of Ares with Aphrodite (Odyssey 8.266-
366), but the word moicheuein can cover more general infringement of bound-
aries in sexual matters. Deception among the gods is standard in the Iliad;
the most prominent instance, perhaps is Hera's deception of Zeus in fliad 14.159
ff. (see above, 2.1.3). It is noteworthy that Xenophanes does not refer to the
stories of outlandish violence which so disturb Euripides' Herakles and Plato's
Socrates (below, 2.5.3, 2.5.7), presumably because the vices he chooses make
a better parallel with more everyday bad behaviour among human beings.
Xenophanes must have been using the discrepancy between the way the
Gods behave in myth and their connexion with human morality to argue
that the myths were not a true representation. Other fragments (see 1.1.7)
make it clear that he rejected not only immorality posited of the gods, but
their representation in anthropomorphic form.
2.5.2 A myth which insults the gods
Source: Pindar, Olympians 9.29-39
For how could Herakles have whirled the club in his hand against the trident,
when Poseidon stood against him and advanced at Pylos, and Phoibos advanced,
wielding his ~lver bow, and even Hades did not hold motionless the wand with
which he drives mortal bodies to the hollow street of the dying? Mouth, throw
this story far away from me, since to insult the gods is a hateful wisdom, and
to boast in the wrong season is a song accompanying madness.
Here and elsewhere (Olympian 1 is another good example) Pindar rejects par-
ticular traditional and poetic stories which seem to reflect badly on the gods,
and in doing so presents himself as a poet of a superior 'wisdom' (sophia) or
craft. In this passage it is conflict among the gods, or between a hero and
the gods (Herakles' status while living on earth is somewhat ambiguous), which
he finds objectionable. The episode is alluded to in the Iliad (5.395-7) where
Herakles is said to have fought and wounded Hades at Pylos; the wounding
74 MYTHOLOGY
of Hera which, immediately precedes may belong to the same story, but
Poseidon and Apollo (Phoibos) are not mentioned. A scholiast on Homer tells
us that Herakles, accompanied-by Athena and Zeus, attacked Neleus king of
Pylo~, on whose side fought Hades, Hera and Poseidon. This would be a very
unusual example of Zeus actually taking part in fighting.
2.5.3 When myths should be banned
Source: Plato, Republic 2 377b-378e
(The dialoguebetween Socratesand Adeimantos is reportedby Socrates.)

(Socrates)So shall we then simply allow children to hear random stories
(mythoi) made up by random people, and to take in ideas which are just the
opposite of those we think they ought to have when they grow up?
(Adeimantos) Absolutely not.
(Socrates)So first, it seems, we must exercise authority over the story-makers,
and approve those who make good stories but reject those who do not. And we
shall persuade nurses and mothers to tell children the stories we approve, and
to form their minds far more effectively with these stories than they form the
children's bodies With their hands. But we must get rid of most of the stories
they tell now.
What sort of stories are those? he asked.
Well, I said, in the greater stories we shall see also the lesser. For the greater and
the lesser must have the same character and the.same potential, don't you think?
Yes, he said, but I don't know what these 'greater' ones are that you're talk-
ing about. r·
The ones that Hesiod and Homer and the other poets told us, I replied. They
are the ones who have put together untrue stories, which they told and con-
tinue to tell people.
What sort of stories'! he asked. Where do you find fault with them?
Exactly where one should find the first and greatest fault, I said, especially if
the untruth is a shameful one.
What do you mean.?
When someone 1s words describe badly the nature of gods and heroes, just as
when a painter depicts objects which are nothing like the 6nes he wants to show.
Well, he said, it is right to find fault with that sort of thing, but what exactly
are we talking about?
/:,J(i'.'/Firstof all, I said, the greatest untruth, which concerns the greatest things, is
i the shameful lie that Ouranos did what Hesiod says he did, and that Kronos
took his reveng<;on him. As for what Kronos did and what he suffered at the
hands of his son, even if it were true I shouldn't think it ought to be told just
like that to young and thoughtless people. It should be kept quiet, and if for
some reason it ha.d to be repeated it should be told to a very few as a secret tale
' ; to those who have sacrificed not a piglet but a victim that is expensive and
difficult to procure, so that as few as possible will hear it. •
MYTHOLOGY 75
Yes, he said, these stories are difficult.

And they will not be told, Adeimantos - I said - in our city. It must not be
said in the hearing of a young man that in committing the ultimate crimes he
would be doing nothing startling, even if he punished his father's misdeeds by
all means possible, but that he was doing the same as the foremost and greatest
deities.
No, by Zeus, he said, l agree it1s not a good idea to say such things.
Nor is it suitable, I continued, to say at all that the gods wage war on each
other, or plot against or fight each other, since it isn't true ..And if the guardians
of our city are to suppose that it is unacceptable to fall out with each other for
little reason, then the last thing we want is for them to be exposed to stories
and pictures showing Gigantomachies and all the other.enmities of every kind
towards their nearest kin which are attributed to gods and heroes. But if we are
to persuade them that no citizen was ever an enemy to his fellow-citizen, and
that to be so is wrong, then old men and women must say so to children from
the start, and as the children grow up we must compel poets to write their
poetry for them in accordance with this. We will not accept in our city tales of
how Hera was put in chains by her son, or how Hephaistos was thrown from
Olympos when he tried to protect his mother from a beating, or stories of all ·
the battles of the gods which Homer wrote, whether they are composed as
allegories or not. A child isn't able to judge what is allegory and what isn't, but
ideas taken in at that age tehd to be permanent and hard to get rid of. And
perhaps for this reason we should take .the utmost care that. the first tnings
children hear should be the finest stories, which conduce to virtue ..
In the Republic,starting from a discussion of justice, Plato has Socrates converse

with a number of interlocutors in order to build up a picture of how the ideal
state should be run - along notoriously authoritarian lines. Here he is dis-
cussing with Adeimantos the correct education for the 'guardians', those who
have some part in the governance of the state.
The myths of conflict among the gods and especially violence offered by
them to their parents were not surprisingly among those most usually criticised
or regarded as scandalous (above). As Plato is here concerned with education,
he goes further than (for instance) Xenophanes (2.5.1), in objecting that the
divine is not like this: even if it were true, he says, such things should not
be repeated because of their moral effect, especially on the young. It is hard
to be sure how seriously to take this argument: to what extent, if at all, did
people justify their actions by appeal to the mythological behaviour of the
gods? Could myths even have encouraged actions normally considered
wrong? It seems unlikely that the Greeks were particularly prone to violence
towards their fathers because of the myths in Hesiod, and yet there are
passages in tragedy which suggest an interest in the potential of mythology
to lead astray (2.5.6-7). Adeimantos' view that 'these stories are difficult'
may be taken to represent a normal response, stopping far short of Plato's
radicalism in rejecting such myths altogether.
76 MYTHOLOGY
Plato incidentally provides some evidence for the learning and diffusion
of myth. An individual first hears stories about the gods as a child, from his
or her mother or nurse; later encounters have a more literary form, from myths
as they appear in epic, lyric;and tragedy. For 'non-literary' myths, see also 5.1.1.
more effectively than they form their bodies: · babies' bodies were supposed
to be pliable and in need of being formed into the correct shape - hence
swaddling. ·
that Ouranos did ... : Hesiod (Theogony154-82, passage 2.1.1) relates that Sky
(Ouranos) forced his children to remain in the body of their mother Earth
(Gaia) until their son Kronos, encouraged by Gaia, ambushed his father and
castrated him. Later Kronos swallowed his own children but was overcome
by his youngest child Zeus (495-6); then after their defeat by the Olympians,
the Titans were bound and imprisoned at the ends of the earth or under it
(729-33). Hesiod does not say so, but the natural assumption is that this
included Kronos, as later writers state (e.g. Aeschylus, Eumenides 641).
as a secret tale: literally, 'in things to be spoken apart', aporrheta.Aporrheta
were myths or other matter kept secret and divulged only to initiates or those
otherwise qualified. Plato is thinking mainly of the aporrhetaof the Eleusinian
Mysteries (see 6.4.1-4), where every candidate for initiation had to provide
a piglet for sacrifice. Because piglets are cheap, many people are able to hear
the secret tales of Eleusis; Plato suggests that the audience of stories such as
those he has mentioned should be limited to those few who are able to afford
a large and expensive victim.
in committing the ultimate crimes: this recalls the scenario of Plato's
earlier dialogue Euthyphro (see 1.3.1), where Euthyphron is engaged in pro-
secuting his own father on a capital offence. Socrates sardonically suggests
that his action is 'pleasing to Zeus, but hateful to Ouranos and Kronos'.
the guardians of our city: the guardians are to be the ruling class of the
proposed city. ·
Gigantomachies: battles of the gods with the giants, described in epic and
frequently depicted on sculptural friezes, as on the Parthenon at Athens, and
also embroidered on the robe presented to Athena at the Panathenaia (see
Figure 2).
Hera was put in chains: Pausanias (Guide to Greece 1.20.3) tells us that in
revenge for his mother throwing him off Olympos (Iliad 18.395-7) Hephaistos
made for her a golden chair fitted with invisible chains which held her cap-
tive when she sat on it. The story was mentioned by Pindar (fr. 283 Maehler)
and was the subject of a comedy by the Coan Epicharmus, writing more or
less contemporaneously with Pindar in Sicily. Zeus throwing Hephaistos
from Olympos is related at Iliad 1.590-4, with a possible variant at 15.21-4
(passage 2.1.3). The gods stand against each other in Iliad 20.67-7'¼ anQ are
in violent conflict in 21.385-513 (passage 2.1.4).
allegories: hyponoiai, conveying the idea of a hidden meaning.
MYTHOLOGY 77
2.5.4 Why we should accept mythological tradition 1
Source; Plato, Timaeus 40d-41a
To speak about the other deities (daimones) and to be sure of their origin is a
task beyond our capacities. We must believe those who have spoken previously
(about this) and who said they were descendants of the gods; they must surely
have known their mvn ancestors. Even if their words cannot be shown to be
plausibly or necessarily true, it is impossible not to believe the children of the
gods, because they claim to be repeating family affairs, so we must follow
custom and believe them. So let us accept and repeat the origin of these gods
in accordance with them. Okeanos and Tethys were born of Earth and Sky, and
from them were born Phorkys, Kronos and Rhea, and all those .with them, and
from Kronos and Rhea, Zeus and Hera, and all the gods we know who are said
to be their brothers and sisters, and others who are their children.
Unusually for Plato, in this dialogue it is not Socrates but the Lokrian
philosopher Timaios who is the protagonist, expounding his views on cos-
mology and cosmogony. In his account, the universe was created by a divine
(but not omnipotent) craftsman (demiourgos, 'demiurge'); the passage above
follows directly on the description of the creation of the heavenly bodies ('the
visible gods'), when the question naturally arises, what of the conventional
gods - both those who are worshipped and those who are said in Hesiod's
and other theogonies to have preceded them? Elsewhere Plato also insists on
the need to respect tradition in religious matters (see for instance 6.5.2), and
he is unlikely to be rejecting tradition entirely here, but it is hard to avoid
a sense of gentle irony. Timaios/Plato's targets will be the composers and pur-
veyors of Orphic and related theogonies (see 2.5.11), since Orpheus, Mousaios
and other figures to whom such verses were attributed were themselves said
to be the children of gods. Certainly the theogony given here is different from
that of Hesiod, inserting as it does an extra generation with Okeanos and
Tethys.
Ironic or not, the passage is evidence for the power of established tradi-
tion to suggest assent, a counter-current to the questioning we have seen in
passages 2.5.1-3. For descendants of gods in Plato, see also 4.3.8.
2.5.5 Why we should accept mythological tradition 2
Source: Isocrates, Panegyricus30-3
Firstly, the grounds on which one might look down on the story, as being ancient,
are actually those on which we might reasonably suppose that it actually hap-
pened. Because so many have narrated the events, and everyone has heard them,
78 MYTHOLOGY
it makes sense to suppose that what is said is even if not of recent occurrence
still worthy of belief. Then, we-are not forced to take tefuge only in the fact
that the tradition has be~p handed down from ancient times; we can also use
more important evidence than this. Every year the majority of cities send us
firstfrults in memory of our ancient benefaction, and those which do not do so
have often been commanded by the Pythia to bring a portion of their crops to
our city in accordance with ancestral custom:. So what could be more worthy
of belief than matters on which the god commands aµd on which most of the
Greeks are agreed, and on which ancient pronouncements bear the same wit-
ness as contemporary deeds, and present-day happenings agree with things said
by the ancients?. But quite apart from this, if we set aside all such things and
look at the matter from the beginning, we shall find that the first populations
on earth did not have a life like ours right from the start, but attained it only
gradually. And who would we think most likely to have achieved this, either as
a gift from the gods, or by searching and discovering it themselves? Would it
not be those who everyone agrees were the first to exist, and excel both in the
ingenuity of their inventions and their piety towards the gods?
The passage is taken from a text in the form of a speech extolling the glories
of Athens to an Athenian audience, and follows on passage 6.4.3, referring
to the arrival of Demeter in Attica and her establishment of the Eleusinian
Mysteries. Having earlier half apologised for introducing mythical material,
lsocrates now marshals his arguments to show why the myth should be
believed. He gives three points: what has been told very often is more likely
to be true; there is evidence in contemporary practice for an ancient event;
and finally, it is reasonable to suppose the event would have happened (the
argument from probability). As an orator, or rather a writer of rhetoric, Isocrates
is not concerned to give a balanced picture but rather to argue a particular
case. Nonetheless, the points he makes are typical of much Greek thinking
about mythical traditions. His first argument, in particular, may seem weak
when formulated in intellectual terms (which is why he places it first, to
be succeeded by stronger points), but the antiquity of tradition exercised a
powerful emotional pull on most Greeks. In this passage we see both the
use of myth to bolster the self-image of the polis, and the reaction to the ques-
tioning of mythical tradition.
firstfruits: it was a common practice to dedicate firstfruits or aparchai (com-

pare 5.6), either from the harvest or vowed on a particular occasion, to a deity
as a form of gratitude and to ensure continued goodwill. Eleusis, aided by the
Athenian political presence, had been remarkably successful in persuading
the Greek world that it was the location of agriculture's origins, and was there-
fore owed universal aparchai.
the Pythia: priestess of Apollo at Delphi. A large proportion of the stuviv-
ing Delphic pronouncements is concerned with religious matters, sometimes
MYTHOLOGY 79
with a political flavour; see 6.2 introduction and 6.2.4. There is an earlier
reference to this oracle in IG 13 78 (= ML 73, the 'firstfruits decree').
the god commands: the verb is anairei,used particularly of oracular responses.
in accordance with ancestral custom: the plea that a certain course of action
was thus kata ta patria was a powerful one, even when its authenticity was
not thoroughly investigated.
contemporary deeds: the use of current practice as evidence for the remote
or mythological past was a common feature of historical method, related to
aetiology (2.4).
excel both in the ingenuity ... and their piety: Herodotus comments sar-
castically on the view that the Athenians are the cleverest of Greeks (Histories
1.60.3), while piety is a feature of the Athenian self-portrait in tragedy (for
example, Euripides' Suppliant Women and Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus).
2.5.6 If the gods do it ...
Source: Euripides, 1-Iippolytus451-61 1 473-6
NURSE: Those who keep the writings of the ancients, and who spend all their
time among the Muses, know how Zeus once desired to unite with Semele,
and how the beautifully-shining Dawn _oncesnatched up Kephalos and
brought him to live with the gods, all because of love. But they still live
in heaven, and don't keep out of the way of the .other gods; they are
content to be conquered by circumstances. But you can't put up with
itl Your father should have begotten you on special terms, or with dif-
ferent gods for masters, if you won't comply with these norms ... But
·· now, dear child, leave your wrongheadedness and stop this arrogance
- for it is nothing but arrogance to wish to be superior to.the gods. Endure
your love bravely; it was a god that willed these things.
Phaidra has confessed to her nurse her shocking love for her stepson
Hippolytos, and after initial horror the Nurse sets herself to saving Phaidra
from her self-imposed death by starvation, attempting to persuade her to grat-
ify her desire. She argues that sexual desire is natural - Aphrodite pervades
the universe, and even the gods are not immune to her influence. The play
was produced in 428 (or perhaps even earlier), several decades before Plato
wrote the Republic, yet the argument is just that criticised by Socrates in
passage 2.5.3, even to the mention of the poets; and in thus framing it to
justify a shocking course of action Euripides must surely have intended, like
Plato, to point out the moral dangers inherent in mythology. (A similar
argument, without the mythological dimension, is used in a much better cause
already in the Iliad; see 1.1.1.)
80 MYTHOLOGY
the writings oJ the ancients: as a woman in the lower ranks of society,

the Nurse cannot be expected to know much about literature at first hand.
But the phrase also underlines the favourite point that such stories are not
just folk-tales, but embedded in the oldest and most admired literature.
Semele: the mother of Dionysos. Zeus mentions his one-time desire for her
in Iliad 14.323-4. ·
Dawn once snatched up Kephalos: both examples transgress normal bounds
(because they unite gods with humans), but in the second the Nurse,
following good rhetorical technique, comes closer to Phaedra's own situation.
It is not just the male gods who are subject to sexual desire, but goddesses
also. Eos, the dawn, was supposed to have fallen in love with several young
men and brought them to live with her (see 2.2.4, 2.2.5); Kephalos, men-
tioned in Hesiod's Theogony, was a local Attic hero (compare 5.3.1) and so
probably the variant most familiar to Euripides' audience.
Both Zeus and Dawn did indeed carry on as normal after these events, but
the consequences for their human partners were more serious (compare
commentary on 2.2.4): Semele was incinerated when Zeus appeared to her
in a lightning flash, and Kephalos had a stormy relationship with his wife
Prokris, ending in his accidental killing of her. In this case, though Phaidra's
love is never consummated, both she and Hippolytos will die.
they still live in heaven: contrasting with Phaidra, who wishes to kill her-
self rather than give in to her lust. The Nurse is right, although gods are some-
times depicted as feeling shame or at least embarrassment and irritation about
their sexual inclinations, for instance in the HomericHymn to Aphrodite, 2.2.5.
arrogance: hybris. The basic meaning of the word in Greek is something
like 'insulting, lawless behaviour towards an equal or superior'. It has no
necessary reference to higher powers, as it has come to have in English - the
Nurse is extending the normal usage to make a special point.
it was a god: a comforting platitude. The audience, however, having heard
Aphrodite speak the prologue, know that it is true in a literal and personal
sense.
2.5. 7 ... but do they?
Source: Euripides, HeraklesMainomenos (The Madness of Herakles)

1314-21, 1340-6
THESEUS: There is no mortal who is untouched by misfortunes, and no god

either, if the poets' tales are not false. Haven't they shared each other's
bedfellows in defiance of custom? Haven't they defiled their fathers
with chains for the sake of power? But they are still on Olympo~ and
MYTHOLOGY 81
they live with their wrongdoing. So will you say that you, a mortal,
take misfortunes so hard, when the gods don't?
HERAKLES: Alas, this has no bearing on my sufferings. I do not believe that the
gods delight in unions which are not xight; I have never supposed,
nor will I be persuaded, that bonds may tie their hands, nor that one
is master over another. For god, if he is truly god, needs nothing:
these are the wretched tales of poets.
In this much discussed passage, Theseus is trying to dissuade his friend and
kinsman Herakles from suicide, which he has determined on after killing his
own wife and children in a fit of madness. Theseus uses many arguments,
but the first is that given here: if even the gods can carry on after doing ter-
rible things, how much more should mortals (who are naturally more prone
to upsets and misfortunes). Though the cause is a good one, the argument
is perilously close to that used by the Nurse in Hippolytos (2.5.6) to persuade
Phaidra to indulge her shameful passion and to that regarded with horror
by Plato (2.5.3). In terms of argument, it is a short step from using the gods
as exempla in acquiescing in what has been done to regarding them as a
justification for actually doing similar deeds.
Herakles, though eventually persuaded by Theseus, rejects this part of the
argument on the grounds that the gods have not, in fact, done such things.
Indeed, he widens the scope of discussion fo a rather disturbing way. Theseus'
first example refers either to adulteries among the gods themselves, like that
of Ares and Aphrodite, or to incestuous unions like that of Zeus and Hera,
and his second example is that of Kronos and Zeus (see 2.5.3). Herakles' phraseo-
logy, however, would include adultery between gods and mortals, like that
between his own parents, Zeus and the married woman Alkmene. This is very
odd in the context of the drama, which has shown that Herakles' madness
was sent by Hera, jealous of Zeus' child by a mortal woman. Herakles has
himself not long since said that Hera has been hostile to him since his con-
ception, and yet here he effectively rejects the whole foundation of the play.
His positive theology goes further and claims that all such behaviour is
absolutely incompatible with divinity, a viewpoint which must have been
familiar enough to many, if not most, in the audience, but which is oddly
out of place in a mythologically based drama. Euripides is fond of these almost
extra-dramatic moments, especially where the criticism of mythology is con-
cerned, but this is perhaps the most striking.
The point seems to show the direct influence of Xenophanes (see 2.5.1),
with its reference to divine misdemeanours sung by the poets. Xenophanes
is also attested as saying that no god is in need of anything (DK A 32.24-5).
Less mythologically, Parmenides makes the same point about the One (DK
B 8.33).
82 MYTHOLOGY
shared each other's bedfellows: taken thus, the reference is to adultery (see
above), but the Greek may also mean 'have they not visited each other's beds
in ways not permitted by custof1!?' hence referring to incest.
defiled their fathers: a very strong word, emphasising the shocking nature
of a circumstance played· down by Hesiod, at least in so far as Zeus' actions
towards Kronos are concerned.
But they are still on

Olympos: the wording and argument here are very
close to that of the Nurse in Hippolytos (above, 2.5.6).
This has no bearing: may perhaps refer to Theseus' most recent words
offering him honours in Athens, rather than looking back to the beginning
of the speech about the gods.
2.5.8 Myth an exaggeration of real events
Source: Hekataios (1) FGrH IF 19, fr. 19 Fowler
But Aigyptos himself did not come to Argos. As for his sons, Hesiod writes that
they were fifty in number, but in my view they were not even twenty.
Source:Hekataios (2) FGrH I J; 27, fr. 27 Fowler
(a) Pausanias 3.25.S (about the dog Kerberos, guardian of the underworld)
But Hekataios of Miletos devised a plausible account, saying that there was a
terrible snake kept at Tainaron, which was called 'the dog of Hades' because
anyone bitten by it would die immediately from the poison. He says that it was
this snake which Herakles brought to Eurystheus.
(b) A papyrus fragment of an unknown author, quoting Hekataios
And Hekataios of Miletos writes as follows: I think that the snake was not huge
or monstrous, but it was more dangerous than other snakes, and because of this
Eurystheus believed that it was impossible to deal with.
Although some fragments of Hekataios seem to show him accepting marvels

and miracles (for instance, fr. 15 Fowler= FGrH IF 15, which has a dog giving
birth to a piece of wood from which a vine grows), in others, such as those
given above, he is concerned to tone down the fantastic elements of mytho-
logy and thus produce an account of something which could have happened
in real life. In the first passage, he is dealing with the well-known story, of
the Danaids, told by Aeschylus among others. Aigyptos was the king of Egypt,
MYTHOLOGY 83
whose fifty sons wished to marry their unwilling cousins, the fifty daughters
of Danaos. The Danaids fled to Argos, and when the marriage was forced on
them, all but one killed their husbands on their wedding night. Hekataios
assumes that the story reflects a real event which can be reconstructed by
stripping off what he takes to be fantastic accretions. Thus fifty sons is an
implausibly large number, so it becomes simply an exaggeration of a number
which is still large but within ordinary bounds.
In the second 'fragment', we have two attestations of the way Hekataios
treated the story of Herakles' capture of Kerberos, the dog which guarded the
underworld. The fantastic monster becomes a natural creature, a particularly
dangerous snake, which was nicknamed the dog of Hades, whence the mis-
understanding. We can compare the account in Herodotus, Histories 2.56
(see notes to 6.2.2.), where the prophetic doves of Dodona are explained as
priestesses whose foreign speech was thought to be like birdsong.
Tainaron: at this cape in the southern Peloponnese there was reputed to

be an entrance to the underworld.
Eurystheus: ruler of Argos or Mycenae, who imposed the twelve labours on
his rival Herakles believing that they were impossible, and that he would thus
perish in the attempt. For his sovereignty over Herakles, see 2.3.1.
2.5.9 How myth reflects early history
In my view Agamemnon was the most powerful of contemporary leaders, and

that was the reason why he could gather a fleet, rather than that Helen's suitors
were bound by oaths to Tyndareos. Those who give the clearest account of
r· Peloponnesian history from earlier sources relate that Pelops was the first to hold 1
more power than others, because he came from Asia with abundant riches and !
settled among people without resources. Thus although he was an immigrant
the country was named after him, and later his descendants had even greater ,
success. Wheh Eurystheus died in Attica at the hands of the children of
Herakles, his mother's brother Atreus held Mycenae and the sovereignty by virtue
of his kinship, Eurystheus having entrusted them to him when he set out on
his expedition. Atreus had fled from his father because of the death of
Chrysippos, and when Eurystheus failed to return, Atreus succeeded to Mycenae
and all his dominions, with the consent of the Mycenaeans, who were afraid r
of the children of Herakles; Atreus also seemed to be powerful, and he flattered ·
the people. Thus the descendants of Pelops came to be greater than those of
Perseus. In my opinion it was this power to which Agamemnon succeeded, and ,
since his fleet was stronger than those of others he gathered his force more through
fear than through friendly obligation. It appears that he had more ships than
anyone else, and also provided ships for the Arcadians; this is what Homer says,
84 MYTHOLOGY
if he is thought. to be sufficiently reliable. Further, in dealing with the passing

down of the sceptre, he says.that he 'rules many islands and all of Argos.' Being
a mainlander, he would not have ruled islands other than those near the main-
land (which would not be 'many'), unless he had had a fleet.
Like many prose writers, Thucydides is not c~mcerned with the rationalisation
of myth for its own sake, but as a means towards researching the past. He
assumes, as did almost everyone until the nineteenth century, that myth, or
at least heroic myth, is a distorted and exaggerated version of events that
actually happened, and thus by removing the most colourful elements a his-
tory can be reconstructed. Evidently Thucydides is not the first to apply the
method to the story of Pelops, by retaining the tradition that he came from
Lydia to Greece, but rejecting the story that he won a bride and a kingdom
in a chariot race. Thucydides' account of the descendants of Pelops is eloquent
of his own preoccupations: power based on wealth and above all on fear,
and the manipulation of the masses by unscrupulous politicians. Since his
belief is that history is repetitive because human nature remains the same,
it is not surprising that he retrojects these themes freely into what he sees
as simply a much earlier time.
Helen's suitors: the traditional story, found in the Epic Cycle, was that Helen's
father Tyndareos or Tyndareus had extracted an oath from all his daughter's
suitors that if she were ever in danger they would give their help to the suc-
cessful one among them to recover her.
Pelops ... came from Asia: to be precise, from Lydia, supposed to be a rich
country because of gold deposits in the river Tmolos.
named after him: Peloponnesos appears to mean 'island of Pelops'.
Eurystheus died in Attica: Eurystheus (compare above, 2.5.8 and 2.3.1) was
the ruler of Mycenae (or sometimes Argos) who had imposed the labours on
Herakles, and who continued his enmity towards the hero's sons. He was finally
defeated by them in Marathon with the help of the Athenians; the story is
told, with considerable mythological elaboration, in Euripides' Children of
Herakles.
Atreus: he was the son of Pelops. According to the version given here, his
sister would have married Sthenelos, son of Perseus and Andromeda and father
of Eurystheus; she would then be the woman whose labour was hastened by
Hera in 2.3.1, though this story is unlikely to have commended itself to
Thucydides. Chrysippos was a bastard son of Pelops, half-brother of Atreus
and Thyestes, whose mother Hippodameia persuaded them to kill him.
those of Perseus: Eurystheus was the grandson of Perseus, who is associated
particularly with Argos.
' .
MYTHOLOGY 85
friendly obligation: charis, reciprocity or mutual favour. It was not, in other

words, because either Agamemnon or Tyndareos had done anyone any favours
that the Greek chieftains sailed against Troy.
this is what Homer says: in Iliad 2.576, 612-13, ancient Arcadia having
no coastline. The passage dealing with the handing down of the sceptre is
2.101-8. Thucydides wants to press his textual evidence, but is aware that
Horner as a poet may not be entirely reliable.
2.5.10 Myth can be rationalised
Source; Euripides, Bacchae286-97
'So you laugh at hirn (Dionysos) because of the story that he was sewn into.
Zeus' thigh. Well, I'll show you how that makes very good sense. When Zeus
rescued him from the fire caused by the thunderbolt, and brought the baby up
to Olympos as a god, Hera wanted to throw him out of heaven. But Zeus,. being
divine, had a plan to counter her. He tore off a piece of the aither which sur-
rounds the earth, made it into a hostage (horni!ros) and gave it to Hera (a few
words missing) Dionysos from her. hostility. And in the course of time, mortals
came to say that he had been sewn into the thigh (rneros) of Zeus, altering the
word and creating a story, because the god was once a hostage to the goddess
Hera.'
This is a passage from the speech of the old Theban prophet Teiresias,
explaining and justifying the 'new' god Dionysos to the sceptical young ruler
Pentheus. Though the play is set in mythical times, many scholars have thought
that in dramatising the sudden appearance of Dionysos on the scene Euripides
is at least partly glancing at the arrival of 'new', not always respectable-
seeming, deities in the Athens of his own day. Certainly this whole speech
contains arguments which are far more at home in fifth-century Athens than
in mythical Thebes, and this extract looks very much like parody of trendy
mythological rationalisation: in trying to trim the traditional story of its implaus-
ibilities, the prophet has arbitrarily produced another, scarcely less fantastic,
story. The interest in language and its possible corruptions and distortions
(homeros/meros) is a preoccupation of the late fifth century. (Herodotus,
Histories 1.122 is an example of a similar attempt to rationalise a myth by
postulating a linguistic confusion.) Nowhere in the play is Teiresias' version
of events confirmed, though neither is the traditional story in all its details.
sewn into Zeus' thigh: the usual story of Dionysos' birth was that when his
mother Semele was burned to death by lightning, Zeus rescued the unborn
child Dionysos and brought him to term in his thigh. The death of Semele
is confirmed by Dionysos himself at the opening of the play (lines 2-3).
86 MYTHOLOGY
Hera wanted to throw him out of heaven: Hera was consistently depicted
as hostile to the-children of her husband's amours (see 2.1.3, 2.3.1). In the
Iliad, however (18.395-7), Hera actually succeeds in throwing her own son
Hephaistos off Olympos. ·
aither: properly the 'upper air', beyond the earth's atmosphere.

a hostage: Zeus made a counterfeit Dionysos and gave it to Hera, presum-
ably as a guarantee· that he would avoid extramarital entanglements in the
future. E.R. Dodds supposed that a piece of wood fallen from heaven, wor-
shipped in Thebes as Dionysos Kadmeios, was identified as this 'dummy
Dionysos'. 2 The missing words will have stated that the real Dionysos was
given to nymphs to rear and thus saved from Hera's jealousy.
the god was once a hostage: this is the probable translation, and suggests
that the model Dionysos was in part identified with the god himself.
2.5.11 The allegorical meaning of myth
Source: DerveniPap. col. 13:
'Zeus, when he had heard prophecies, from his father ... ' He did not hear at
that time (or, this); it has been shown in what manner he 'heard'. Neither does
Night command. This he shows in these words: 'He swallowed the genitals of
... the one who first sprang from the aither (or, who first generated tlze aither)'.
Since throughout the poem· he is speaking about things in a riddling fashion,
it is necessary to comment on each word. Because he sees that people think
that genesis lies in the genitals, and that without the genitals nothing comes
into being, he compares the sun to genitals. For without the sun the things which
exist could not have become as they are ...
The papyrus, of which the charred remains were found in a fourth-century

burial in northern Greece, carries the fragmented text of a commentary on
what appears to be a theogony attributed to Orpheus (compare 1.3.6). The
commentator's overall viewpoint is debated, but in several places he takes
issue with the common understanding of rites and myths. Here he is using
allegory to explain this poem's version of the succession myth (how Zeus came
to rule over the gods), which consistently causes difficulties to those who reflect
on it (2.5.1, 2.5.3, 2.5.7). The poem seems to have related that Zeus, having
overcome his father Kronos, received prophecies from Night, telling him that
he could perpetuate his rule by swallowing the previous creation and repro-
ducing it as his own. Our author explains the story in symbolic terms. Since
he does not accept the idea of anthropomorphic deities, Zeus cannot liter-
ally have heard prophecies from Night. The commentator then skips several
lines, and the genitals (of Sky, or of Protogonos/Phanes, a figure of Orphic
' .
MYTHOLOGY 87
cosmogonies) become a riddling way of talking about the sun, so that the
story is reread as a physical allegory. (There is controversy about the inter-
pretation of the original poem here, but the above understanding seems
simplest and best.)
The Orphic theogonies, which may have included semi-secret material, appear
to be even wilder and more violent than the Hesiodic version; we might think
back to Plato's view that such stories should be restricted (2.5.3). The com-
mentator, however, complains (col. 20) that professional initiators do not
explain properly the meaning of the rites, contrasting, no doubt, himself as
giving the true meaning of the poem in question. In a very mutilated pas-
sage in column 7, he appears to be saying that 'Orpheus (?) himself did not
wish to speak contentious riddles, but to speak of great things through riddles.
He is speaking of sacred matters from the first to the last word ... '
Notes
1 Hesiod, Theogony, edited with prolegomena and commentary by M.L. West,

Oxford, 1966: 211-12.
2 Euripides, Bacchae, edited with introduction and commentary by E.R. Dodds,
2nd edition, Oxford, 1960: 107-8.
3
Closeness and Distance
It may, perhaps, he an overstatement that Greek religion is about doing, not

believing; it has certainly been repeated to the point of cliche. None the less,
there is a sense in which it is the practice of religion that is central to the
system. Ritual acts were performed in many different ways and in many
different settings: at home, at political meetings, at war or at sea, among groups
of friends, as well as in specially designated sacred space. This chapter and
the three that follow will illustrate the variety of such actions in different
places and contexts, covering the area of Greek religion that is often rather
loosely labeled 'cult': actions directed towards superhuman beings, which
the Greeks themselves tended to call 'honours' (timai), or sometimes 'what
is customary' (ta nomizomena). Ritual cannot be entirely divorced from thought,
however, and many of the passages in these four chapters will implicitly or
explicitly reflect practitioners' views about the objects of the ritual.
In order to give the honours of cult, some kind of approach to the gods was
necessary. Often the worshipper came physically to the god's own dwelling-
place, the sanctuary; he or she addressed the deity in prayer (section 3.1),
and by observing purity regulations and special forms of both actions and
words in a sense entered a sphere that was at least in part marked off from
everyday, human-to-human activities. Sometimes, on the other hand, the god
might approach the worshipper; this is the experience of the divine dream
or epiphany (section 3.2). But there were also conditions which made this
approach of god and human impossible or undesirable: pollution, and the
presence of death, were things antithetical to the realm of the gods, and there-
fore, paradoxically, needed careful consideration and delimitation in a religious
context in order to make sure that they were managed and excluded from
accidental contact with the divine (section 3.3).
Pollution can have a moral component, but to a greater extent it is
grounded in an involuntary or morally neutral event such as death or birth;
'
CLOSENESSAND DISTANCE 89
it just happens. One might also choose to avoid contact with the gods, by
not worshipping them or by not acknowledging their existence, though this
was a choice subject to very strong disapproval, as were acts of deliberate impi-
ety (section 3.5). In this area, it will be seen, action and opinion need to be
considered together, and the same is often tme of the corresponding posi-
tive choices: not only a general piety greater than the usual, but all kinds of
extras. In section 3.4 we look at the many opportunities for an individual to
exercise choice in religion, whether a special devotion to a particular deity,
the worship of 'new' or 'foreign' gods, participation in private initiations, or
even the invocation of divinities for magical purposes.
3.1 Prayers and Associated Offerings
Prayer in ancient Greece was a phenomenon common to the sanctuary and

the world outside. More broadly, it is perhaps fundamental to religion, since
few religious acts are performed without prayer, which in its widest sense may
be defined as words addressed to a deity. Yet 'prayer' in English etymologic-
ally indicates a request ('I pray you'), and the Greek root euch- which refers
to prayer is part of a semantic field including 'wish' and 'vow'. (On vows,
see below and 5.6). Most .addresses to a god, whether they are the formal
prayers used by priests in cult or words uttered on the spot, away from sacred
space, or something in between, contain a petition of some sort. This may
be for something quite specific, or simply for the deity to maintain the well-
being of the individual or community making the prayer and so to make it
possible for him/her/them to offer some pleasant gift in return (see 3.1.2).
Occasionally the point is left implicit: by praising the god, goodwill is
created and a relationship of reciprocity is built up, things the Greeks under-
stood in the word charis and something which was fostered, at its most basic
level, by the simple practice of verbally greeting a god whose shrine one hap-
pened to pass. This point is central to the Greek view of divine-human rela-
tions. Of course the gods were the superior partners, yet it was often assumed
that they could enjoy and thus benefit from what humans offered them, just
as in human relations an inferior could produce goods or services to benefit
a superior (although see Euthyphron's doubts in 1.3.1 ). The gods may often
be thought of as controlling fate, yet in the context of religious practice ideas
of complete human dependence on (and consequent submission to) the divine,
prominent in many modern religions, had little currency among the Greeks.
Prayer formulas are quite up-front about this reciprocal arrangement (3.1.1).
The god may be promised an offering if s/he will grant the worshipper's request:
such vows were very common, and the offerings made in their fulfilment
are treated in 5.6. Alternatively, the worshipper may make an offering along
with a prayer asking for something in return. This will be the case in most
regularly recurring rites, where the deity is asked to guarantee the well-being
90 CLOSENESSAND DISTANCE
and safety of the worshipping community. Another possible strategy is to draw

attention to som~ benefit the worshipper has performed in the past. More
subtly, the prayer may point out that the god has helped the worshipper in
the past (thus a charis relationship exists) or that it is characteristic of him/her
to help devotees, or to help in particular cases. It may even be implied that
the god's reputation will suffer ifs/he does not help those who make prayers
and offerings, just as a male human is less respected if he cannot protect his
own.
What is asked for is usually some personal benefit, ~ut occasionally prayers
of a more sinister nature, for the destruction of one's enemies, may be expressed
or suggested (3.1.4); another method for attaining this end is through magic
and curses (3.4.7, 3.4.14-17). A quite different approach to petitionary prayer
is suggested by Xenophon's Socrates (3.1.5).
In Chapter 5 we shall consider prayers in the sanctuary: those made by the
priest or sacrificer when a victim is sacrificed, those made more informally
by visitors, perhaps addressing the cult statue, and also hymns, which have
much in common with prayer. In this section we look at prayers in other
contexts, and because, where possible, prayer was made with an accompany-
ing offering (if it was not possible, a promise would have to do) we include
these offerings here (3.1.3, 3.1.4).
3.1.1 Prayers to Apollo
Source: Iliad 1.37-42, 451-6
'Hear me, you of the silver bow, you who stand in protection over Chryse and
holy Killa, and who rule Tenedos with your might, Smintheus, if ever I placed
a roof on your lovely temple, or if ever I burned for you the fat thighs of bulls
or of goats, grant me tnis request: let the Danaans pay for my tears with your
arrows.' · ·
'Hear me, you of the silver bow, you who stand in protection over Chryse
and holy Killa, and who rule Tenedos with your might: as before you heard me
when I prayed to you, and you gave me honour, and did great harm to the
army of the Achaians, .so now too grant me this request: now defend the Danaans
from this hideous doom.'
These prayers appear at the beginning of the Iliad, and the first is a link in
the chain of events which sets the story in motion. Agamemnon has taken
as a war-prize the daughter of the local priest Chryses, and rebuffs and insults
the old man when he comes to ask for her back. Thus treated, Chryses turns
to Apollo for redress. When the deity has assailed the Greek (Danaan) army
with the arrows of plague, and Agamemnon has been forced to back down
and return the girl to her father, along with a propitiatory sacrifice to Apollo,
. '
Chryses once again prays, this time for a cessation of the plague. The prayers
demonstrate very clearly two of the formulas referred to above: first the god
is asked to return a favour, and secondly the god's previous favour is called
to mind. They also show the invocation with which a prayer normally begins:
a deity is named or identified by an epithet, and frequently his or her favourite
places are mentioned. Here the places are all close to Troy, where the action
is set, and there may be an implication that Apollo is expected actually to
be in one of these locations, from which he may come to help.
Smintheus: the name derives from an unusual word meaning 'mouse', and
probably has reference to the rats which carry plague.
placed a roof: at this early date, the phrase may mean a temporary structure
of reeds or similar erected over a sacred space. Chryses is in a particularly
good position to call in favours, being Apollo's priest.
3.1.2 Address the gods regularly
Source: Hesiod, Works and Days 336-41
Make sacrifice to the immortal gods according to your ability, with holiness and
purity, and burn the shining thighbones; and at other times propitiate them
with libations and offerings, both when you go to bed and when the holy light
appears, so that they may have a favourable heart and mind towards you and
you may acquire another's land, and not another yours.
The proper relationship between animal sacrifice (mainly sanctuary-based wor-

ship) and other offerings is here suggested. You should sacrifice to the gods
whenever possible, choosing a victim in proportion to your prosperity, and
make libations and other offerings (thyea), such as sweetmeats and incense,
at regular times, specifically in the evening and at sunrise. Animal sacrifice
is a larger offering, but the regular lesser observances will keep the gods on
your side. It is unclear how many people followed Hesiod's advice on such
daily offerings, though Plato (Laws 887e, part of his argument on the exist-
ence of the gods; compare 3.5.4) refers to 'prostrations' at sunrise and sun-
set (also moonrise and moonset) as practised by both Greeks and barbarians.
The prayers and offerings were not necessarily addressed to the Sun and Moon;
sunrise and sunset, in particular, are a natural way of marking off time.
Xenophon (4.4.2) mentions sacrifices made before dawn as a means of ensur-
ing divine favour before the rest of the day's business is conducted.
according to your ability: or 'as your means allow'.

burn the shining thighbones: see the section on sacrifice, 5.2 introduction.
3.1.3 Prayer and libation
•'
But Achilles went into his tent, and opened the lid of a chest of beautiful work-
manship, which silver-sandalled rhetis had put on board ship for him to take,
filling it with tunics, and cloaks which keep 9ft the winds, and thick rugs. In
it was an embossed cup from which no other man drank the .bright wine, and
from which he poured libations to no other god except father Zeus. Taking it
from the chest, he first purified it with sulphur, then washed it with fair streams
of water, and washed his own hands, and drew off some bright wine. Then stand-
ing in the midst of the enclosure, he prayed, and poured the wine, gazing up at
the sky, and he did not escape the notice of Zeus who delights in the thunder-
bolt: 'Lord Zeus, Dodonaean, Pelasgian ... ' (continued as 6.2.la)
Libations - the pouring of a drink-offering to a superhuman being - are among

the commonest cult-acts. They necessarily accompany sacrifice (5.2), when
they are sometimes made with milk, honey or oil as well as wine; indeed,
a few cults prohibit the use of wine. But it is also standard to offer a small
quantity of wine when drinking, and hence we hear of several libations at
dinner-parties and symposia (see 4.1.5), where various set orders might prevail
(for instance, Olympian Zeus and the Olympian gods; the heroes; and finally
Zeus Soter, the saviour). Here the situation is different. Patroklos has gone to
fight, and Achilles wants to ensure that he fights well and comes back safely;
he prays to Zeus, and makes a libation to accompany and reinforce the prayer.
The particular solemnity of the occasion is underlined by the exclusiveness
of the cup and the preparations for the action. To wash one's hands before
prayer and offering is (not surprisingly) normal, probably also to wash the
vessels (compare the emphasis on cleanliness/purity in 4.1.5), but purification
with sulphur is unlikely to be an everyday thing. (On purification, see below,
3.3.)
gazing up at the sky: because that is where Zeus is thought of as located.

Prayers to underworld gods or (probably) heroes would be addressed to the
earth.
3.1.4 'Be favourable ... '
Source: Sophocles, Electra 634-40, 642-59
KLYTAIMESTRA: Come, my attendant, raise up the offerings of all kinds of crops,

so that I may offer to the lord here prayers for release fro:p1tl\C
fears which now I suffer. Protecting Phoibos, please hear now

my hidden words, for I am not speaking among friends, nor is
it fitting to reveal everything with this girl (Elektra) by my side
... The uncertain dream I saw last night, 0 Lykeian lord, if it
was good, bring it to fulfilment, but if it was hostile, then tum
it back against my enemies. If there are those who want to .trick
me out of my present prosperity, do not allow them, but let me
always continue thus, with unthreatened life, controlling the
house of the Atreidai and this sceptre, enjoying a good life with
those dear ones I have now with me, and with those of my chil-
dren who are not ill-disposed to me or afflicted with grief and
bitterness. Be favourable, Lykeian Apollo; hear these things and
grant them to all of us as we ask. Everything else I think you
know even if I keep silence, as you are a god; one can expect
those who come from Zeus to see everything.
The night before she is killed by her son Orestes, the husband-murderer
Klytaimestra has a bad dream, which prompts her to prayer. (On dreams, see
below, 3.2.) She is harassed by her insubordinate daughter Elektra, and can-
not therefore speak out freely with her requests; presumably these would include
the final defeat and perhaps death of Elektra and Orestes. Silent prayer was
often ascribed to motives of a dubious sort such as this, and therefore some-
times considered suspicious. But Klytaimestra supposes that Apollo will know
her intentions anyway. Greek gods were not always considered omniscient;
indeed, the conventions of prayer usually suggest that they are not, and must
be told things. But Klytaimestra's conception is not unusual in the fifth cen-
tury. Of course, her own knowledge is more limited, and the prayer will strike
the audience as ironic, since they know that Apollo has given Orestes the
oracular go-ahead for her murder.
The prayer is, as usual, accompanied by offerings; not animal sacrifice,
but an easier to manage bloodless offering consisting of 'all kinds of fruits'
(pankarpia) - a mixture of different fruits, perhaps including grains (compare
4.1.3).
Protecting Phoibos: the word is prostaterios,indicating Apollo Prostaterios,

whom the Athenians were told by Delphi to worship 'for health' (Demosthenes
21.52, an oracle of similar type to our 6.2.4). Apollo's other epithet Lykeios
(wolfish?) is a familiar one in epic and tragedy.
the Atreidai: the family of Agamemnon, the husband she has murdered.
3.1.5 What to pray for
.source: Xenophon, Memorabilia 1.3.2
(Socrates) prayed to the gods simply asking theJ,n for good things, on the
grounds that the gods know best what 'good things' are. Those who prayed for
gold or silver or ab.solute power or anything otthat sort he thought were doing
just the same as if they prayed for a dice-game or a battle or anything else of
which the outcome was quite obviously uncertain. ,
Xenophon wishes to show that Socrates, despite being convicted of impiety,

had actually a better attitude to the gods than most of his contemporaries,
and this extract is part of a longer passage concerned with Socrates and re-
ligion. The point here is self-explanatory, but is explored at much greater
length in the persona of Socrates in the (probably pseudo-)Platonic dialogue
Alcibiades II.
The question of how one ought to pray, as a matter of good sense and/or
piety, begins to be a preoccupying one in the fifth century. Herodotus, for
instance, comments on the Persians' custom of praying 'for the well-being
of all the Persians and the king', in which, he points out, the person making
the prayer is of course included (Histories 1.132.2), while our 6.3.2 (121.2),
records the consequence of a prayer which was not phrased properly.
3.2 Dreams and Epiphanies
While prayer initiates contact between mortals and gods from below, the sys-
tem also incorporates channels of contact in which the first impulse comes
from the deity, who appears unsolicited to convey an important message to
an individual or often, via an individual, to the community at large. Most
commonly this occurs when the human partner is sleeping, making it easier
to bypass ordinary waking perception, There were many different ideas about
the origins of dreams, but most of them distinguished dreams which were
significant and of divine origin ('dreams too are from Zeus' says Achilles in
Iliad 1.63) from the ordinary run of random and non-significant dreams. Once
the principle was accepted, it was natural to go further and attempt to
persuade the deity to appear in a dream to give advice and convey benefits
(see Chapter 6, sections 2 and 3). Whether dreams were requested or simply
arrived, there were two main forms, One is the more familiar type of dream,
where something happens involving the dreamer, or the dreamer sees an event;
what happens is in a symbolic language, and then must be interpreted. An
example is Penelope's dream at Odyssey 19.562-7, involving birds, wl\ich,the
stranger (really Odysseus) interprets to her as auspicious, although she herself
is not certain of the rightness of the interpretation. The Iliad is aware of

oneiropoloi who specialise in this occupation (1.62-7, 5.148-51). Another
example is passage 3.2.1. The second sort of dream was almost certainly less
common of occurrence, but because its divine nature is more easily recog-
nised it appears more often in our sources. This is the dream where a super-
human being appears directly to the dreamer, either in disguise or, more often
in post-Homeric sources, in his or her own form, and gives some direct instruc-
tion. The deity may appear at the bedside and inform the dreamer that he
is sleeping, suggesting that this kind of dream typically occurs at a different
level of sleep. The instruction given, in Homer, either benefits the dreamer
or in other ways 'advances the plot' and allows the deity a further way of
intervening in human affairs. Similarly, in later times, the second-century CE
rhetorician Aelius Aristides experienced numerous dreams in which various
deities appeared and advised him on health matters. But in many divine-
appearance dreams the dreamer is commanded rather to make a sacrifice or
a dedication, or even found a cult; the dream is thus a channel for the deity
to ensure his or her proper worship (3.2.4, 3.2.5).
Waking visions of the gods are naturally much rarer than dreams, and cor-
respondingly more highly valued, if they are accepted as genuine. Epiphanies
are frequently part of the story of a cult's institution in mythical times; an
example is the epiphany of Demeter at Eleusis given here (3.2.6), and there
are other such episodes in the Homeric hymns. The pattern recurs in his-
torical times, as we see in the story of Philippides and Pan (3.2.7). The other
context in which epiphanies commonly o~cur is in battle, when protecting
gods or heroes (occasionally also hostile ones) are sometimes felt to appear;
on these epiphanies, see 4.4.4 with commentary.
3.2.1 An alarming and portentous dream
Source: Xenophon, Anabasis 3.1. ll
They did not know how to proceed, and he (Xenophon) was upset, along with
the others, and could not sleep. When he did get a little sleep, he had a dream.
It seemed to him that in the midst of thunder a lightning bolt fell on the house
he had from his father, and it lit up the whole building. He was terrified, and
woke up immediately. He judged that the dream was good in one way, because
he had dreamed that while in difficulty and danger he had seen a great light
from Zeus, but he was also worried, because he thought the dream had come
to him from Zeus the King and the fire had been blazing in a circle, and this
made him fear that he would not be able to get away from the land belonging
to the King, but would be hemmed in on all sides with no escape.
Xenophon reports a fair amount of communication with the gods in the

military adventures in his Anabasis (compare 4.4.3). At this point in the work
the Greek mercenaries, of whom he is one, have found themselves stranded

deep in Persia with their Persian leader dead and their own generals betrayed
and killed. The dream is not an u_nrealistic one; dreams experienced in a light
sleep after long wakefulness often seem particularly vivid and memorable.
Its interpretation, corresponding to what in fact happened, may have been
elaborated after the events it appears to portend, although Xenophon does
represent himself as being especially careful to cultivate Zeus Basileus, the
King, after this point. ·
3.2.2 A sinister and mysterious dream suggests a sacrifice
Source: Menander, Dyskolos 407-18
GETAS: (complaining) If she dreams of Pan at Paiania, ,then obviously we'll make
our way there at once to sacrifice.
SIKON: Who's had a dream?
GETAS: Look, don't bother me.
SIKON: Oh please tell me, Getas, who's been dreaming?
GETAS: My owner.
SIKON: ln the gods' name, what was it?
GE.TAS: You're a pain. In her dream there was Pan -
SIKON: This. one here, you mean?
GETAS: Yes, this one.
SIKON: What was he doing?
GETAs: Well, Sostratos, the master's son -
SIKON: Oh yes,a well tu:rned OlJt lad.
GETAS: Pan was putting fetters on him.
SIKON: Apollo!
GETAs: Then he gave him a leather jacket and a mattock, and told him to dig
·the next door plot. ·
SIKON: How weird.
GET AS: So that's why" we're sacrificing, so that this fearful thing may turn into
something better.
Getas, a slave, unwillingly tells Sikon, a hired mageiros(sacrificial butcher-cook;

see 5.4 introduction) about the reason for the sacrifice that is taking place at
the cave of Pan at Phyle, a distant corner of Attica. He is in a bad mood because
he has had to make a long journey from Athens with a lot of sacrificial equip-
ment, and gloomily imagines a trip to another sanctuary of Pan at Paiania,
almost as far in the opposite direction. The horror of the dream is somewhat
comical, involving a smart city lad forced to do the work of a peasant; it will
be fulfilled as Sostratos does precisely this to impress the father of the girl
next door to Pan's shrine, with whom he has fallen in love. But the idea of
a dream leading to a sacrifice is clearly a familiar one, even though So:;tratos'
mother is described elsewhere as a particularly enthusiastic worshipper.
The dream itself is a 'happening' dream (see above), and its sense is unclear
to the dreamer, Sostratos' mother, though it seems to portend something bad.
It has something in common with the 'instruction' dream, in that a recog-
nisable deity appears in it, though he does not apparently speak to the dreamer.
It is interesting that he is recognisable not just as Pan, but as the Pan of a
particular and distant sanctuary, so that it is easy to recognise the deity to
placate. Of course all this is part of Pan's plan, as we learn from the play's
prologue: when the family goes to sacrifice, Sostratos will see the girl who
looks after Pan's cave, and the god will reward his worshipper with a nice
and rich husband.
3.2.3 A clear dream in the darkness of night
Then owl-eyed goddess Athena thought of something else. She made an image
in the form of a woman, Iphthime, daughter of great-hearted Ikarios, whom
Eumelos had married, an inhabitant of Pherai. She sent .her to the house of .
godlike Odysseus, so that Penelope, who was crying and mourning, might cease
from her weeping and tearful laments. The image entered the room by the bolt
of the door, stood over Penelope's head, and spoke to her: 'You are asleep,
Pendope, aching at heart; but the gods whose life ts easy will not let you weep
or be sad, because your son will still return to you;. he has not at all offended
the gods.'
Then prudent Penelope answered her, as she .slept sweetly at the gates of dreams:
'Sister, why have you come here, since your home is so far away? You tell me
to.cease from my many groans and laments, which plague me in my heart and
spirit; first I have lost my good, lionhearted husband, who was distinguished in
every excellence among the Danaans, a good man whose great glory reached to
Hellas and the midst of Argos; and now my beloved son has left on a hollow
ship, who is so inexperienced, and does not know well either the toils of war
or speaking among men; and for him I weep more than for the other. I am fear-
ful and tremble lest something should befall him, either among the people he
is going to, or at sea. There are many ill-disposed men who are plotting against
him and whb are eager to kill him, before he reaches his own land.'
Then in response to her spoke the indistinct dream: 'Be of good cheer, and
do not fear overmuch in your heart; for there is such an escort .with him as
other men would like to have stand by them, Pallas Athena - for she has the
power. She pities you in your weeping, and it is she who has sent me to say
this to you.'
Then prudent Penelope said in reply: 'If you are a god, and you have heard
a divine voice, come tell me also about him I weep for, whether he is still alive
and sees the light of the sun, or whether he is dead now and in the house of
Hades.'
The indistinct dream spoke this in reply to her: 'I shall not speak to you of
him, whether he is alive or dead: it is not good to chatter in vain.' And having
said this, it disappeared through the door-opening, to the breezes of the winds,
The daughter of Ikarios woke fro_(llsleep, and her heart was comforted, because
a clear dream had come upon her in the darkness of the night.
Penelope's fortunes are at a low ebb at this point of the Odyssey; not only is
she being pressed to remarry in the long absence of her husband, but now
her son Telemachos has sailed away secretly to try .to get some news of his
father, prompting her fears that the Suitors will do away with him as an incon-
venience. Odysseus' divine patron Athena extends her care to his family, and
here follows the quite common epic pattern of sending a dream. Like the
majority of Homeric dreams, this is an 'instruction' dream, where a figure -
identified as 'the dream' - appears to the dreamer and gives information or
commands a course of action. Here, as in some other epic examples of dreams,
the dream-figure takes the shape of a person known to the dreamer, as do
very frequently the gods themselves when they appear to mortals in waking
life. There is a certain realism in Penelope's sleepy recognition of her sister:
she sees that her sudden appearance from a distant home is strange, but not
that it is impossible. Penelope is also quick to recognise during the conver-
sation that the dream is likely to be of divine origin, something which
frequently happens only when the dream is over. When she does wake, she
recognises that she has had a 'clear' (enarges)dream; dreams are normally 'indis-
tinct', and so labelled as such in epic, but what we would now call a lucid
dream, where the sleeper is aware that she or he is dreaming, coupled with
communication from a divine source, is taken to be particularly reliable.
You are asleep: or perhaps 'Are you asleep?'

Hellas: in Homer, not Greece as a whole, as in later times, but a particular
area of northern Greece. 'Hellas and Argos' may indicate roughly 'northern
Greece and the Peloponnese'.
3.2.4 A hero in a dream
Source: Priene, mid-fourth century (lnschriften von Priene 196)
PhlHos, a Cypriot by birth from Salamis, son of Ariston, was asleep and saw
Naulochos in a dream, and the holy Thesmophorian goddesses, in white robes.
In three visions, they told him to worship this hero as the guardian of the city,
and showed him the piece of land. And so Philios established this divinity.
Here we have inscribed at what must have been a hero-sanctuary (at the city
walls) the story of its foundation through a dream, or rather three dreams;
evidently Philios is not sufficiently convinced of the veracity of his vision to

respond at once. Naulochon is the name of the harbour of Priene, perhaps con-
sidered an alternative name for Priene itself, so the hero is its eponym; it is
interesting that it is a non-citizen, or at least someone who was not born a
citizen, whom the hero picks to establish him as city guardian. The Thesmo-
phorian Goddesses are Demeter and Kore, whose connexion with Naulochos is
unclear, but who at least would be familiar to the dreamer, as the hero was not.
3.2.5 A holy vision in the night
Source: Knidos, fourth century (Die Inschrifr-en

. von Knidos, I.131; CEG 860)
Chrysina, mother of Chrysogone and wife of Hippokrates, dedkated the house

and the statue to Kore and Demeter after seeing a holy vision in the night, since
Hermes told her to serve the goddesses at Tathne.
This appears to be a self-explanatory text recording the foundation of a cult

of Demeter and Kore. Hermes, who makes frequent appearances much later
in the dreams of Aelius Aristides, appears probably because he is characterised
in myth as a messenger and intermediary between gods and humans. Tathne
is unknown, probably the name of a locality.
An alternative, less likely, interpretation ~sthat Hermes informed Chrysina
that her daughter Chrysogone was 'serving the goddesses' after her death.
3.2.6 Demeter appears in her true form
Source: HomericHymn to Demeter 188-'90, 250-7, 268-81
But she (Demeter)stepped up to the threshold, and her head met the roof, and
she filled the doorway with divine brightness; Metaneira was overcome with
reverence, are and pale fear . . . ·.•
... Thus she lamented, and the bright goddess heard heL And Demeter of the
lovely crown was angry with her, and in her immortal hands she took the dear
son whom Metaneira had borne unhoped-for in the palace, drew him out of
the fire and put him away from her on the floor, deeply angered in her heart.
And straight away she spoke to Metaneira of the lovely girdle: 'Foolish are you
mortals, and incapable of foreseeing either good or evil fortune ... I am hon-
oured Demeter, the greatest benefit and delight to both immortals and mortals ..
Come, let the whole people build me a great temple and an altar beneath it,
below the city and its sheer wall, on the hill above (the well o() Kallichoros. And
I myself will establish my rites, so that in time to come you may perform them
in purity and win my goodwill.' Saying this, the goddess changed in stature
and appearance,.casting off old age and putting on beauty all around. A lovely
perfume diffused from her fragrant clothes, and radiance shone far about from
the deathless flesh of the goddess, her fair hair flowed down her shoulders, and
the close-built house was filled with light as bright as lightning. And she left the
palace. '
The Homeric hymns have several examples of divine epiphanies leading to

the establishment of cult, and as in this passage the· deity at first goes unre-
cognised, only to stage a later self-revelation. In the hymn Demeter has taken
on mortal disguise in order to search for her daughter Persephone; she comes
to Eleusis, where she meets the daughters of Keleos and Metaneira, who bring
her to their parents' house. As she enters (the first part of our extract) there
is already a sign of her divinity, despite her appearance as an old woman
who has fallen on hard times. Appointed as nurse to Metaneira's youngest
child and only son Demophon, Demeter attempts to make him immortal by
anointing him with ambrosia and placing him in the fire at night; he grows
to look like the gods, but the process is interrupted by Metaneira's horrified
discovery, precipitating Demeter's anger and revelatory epiphany. The beauty,
perfume and above all light are typical features of a literary epiphany, and
presumably correspond to expectations of what a god should really look like.
The other typical feature is the instruction to found a cult (compare the
preceding and following passages). Demeter is angry with Metaneira for mis-
understanding her motives, and the child is deprived of his potential immor-
tality, but the goddess nonetheless decrees his honours as a hero, and for the
Eleusinians and others sets up a permanent channel of communication in
the form of a sanctuary and, eventually, the Mysteries (6.4.1-4 and section
introduction).
3.2. 7 Philippides sees Pan
Source: Herodotus, Jiistories 6.105
First, when they were still in the town the generals sent Philippides as a herald
to Sparta, an Athenian who , was a very practised long-distance runner.
' According to Phllippides' own account, which he gave the Athenians, Pan appeared
to him around the mountain Parthenion beyond Tegea, and he called Philippides
by name and bade him ask the Athenians why they paid him no attention, when
he Was well disposed to them and had often been helpful to them in the past
and would be so in the future. The Athenians accepted this story as true, and
when their affairs were in good shape they founded a sanctuary of Pan under
the acropolis, and from the time of the report onwards they have worshipped
Pan with annual sacrifices and a torch-race.
This well-known episode records the establishment of the cult of Pan at Athens
as a result of an individual experience during the invasion of Greece by Darius
in 490. Pan, though well-known in mythology, was essentially a country god
presiding over lonely places rather than a civic deity, and he was worshipped
particularly in Arcadia in the central Peloponncse, which is where he appears
to Philippides in this account. Bare mountainsides in Greece can be strange,
uncanny places, perhaps encouraging superhuman encounters; it is in such
locations that Pan in less beneficent mood may instil 'panic'.
Archaeological evidence seems to confirm that the cult of Pan in Athens
and more broadly in Attica began around this time. Its establishment was
surely encouraged by the repute of Philippides (or perhaps Pheidippides; there
is divergent manuscript authority), who also ran the original 'marathon',
and the critical moment when Athens first fought off the Persian invader.
Herodotus, though he records several other traditions of divine assistance
during the Persian Wars, does not commit himself as to the truth of the story.
Waking epiphanies might in one sense carry more conviction than dreams,
but they were also more prone to suspicion of fabrication.
On the establishment of new cults, see also 6.5.
3.3 Pollution, Death, and the Dead
Some form of system involving purity and pollution is found in very many
cultural and religious contexts around the world, and yet pollution is often
a difficult concept for secular westerners to grasp. It is clearly related in some
way to physical dirt, but it is not identical with it, and neither is it a moral
issue, though again there can be some overlap; it has been defined as a state
involving 'matter out of place'. Rather than searching for a theoretical
definition, it may be easier to see pollution at work in the Greek world. It
resides above all in the basics, birth and copulation and death, events which
are in varying degrees messy and sometimes traumatic. Of these, sex conveys
the least pollution, and death the most, violent death especially. Disease, par-
ticularly certain kinds, was also frequently equated with pollution, a position
contested by the author of On the Sacred Disease (3.3.4). There is a little
evidence for the impurity of menstruation in certain contexts, but in con-
trast to the position of many other societies, such an association does not
seem to have been general. The concept of impure foods also exists, but again
it is not a general issue; rather such foods convey impurity with regard to a
particular cult or religious observance. We may compare the sacrifice of
animals which are forbidden to be sacrificed at a particular altar, or the bring-
ing of forbidden objects into a sanctuary; 3.3.1 below places such incorrect
sacrifice in the context of pollution (see also 5.1.3).
Generally speaking, the impure or polluted stands in an antithetical rela-
tion to the sacred. If for the Greeks the gods are defined by their immortality,
then death is at the opposite pole. But birth, too, and sex, are stringently
and universally kept away from sacred ground; mourners and new mothers
will not enter a ~anctuary until a certain amount of time has elapsed.
One may, however, be unpolluted by such events, and still not be pure
enough to have dealings with the divine. Hence any prayer or offering, how-
ever minor, should be preceded by washing the hands, and before entering
a sanctuary one should sprinkle water on oneself. Discussing this point, the
writer of 5.1. 9 struggles to explain what is in effect a three-term sequence
leading from pollution to a normal state to extra purity. The law of Cyrene
(3.3.1, third paragraph) makes this explicit in terms of things or purposes,
but also makes a distinction between ordinary or profane and pure persons,
the latter being probably priests, who must as far as possible observe an extra
degree of purity. Again, particular cults might make particular requirements.
Most minor pollutions would lapse after a certain amount of time and
perhaps a simple wash, but sometimes more elaborate rituals were required.
Purification was generally accepted to be necessary in the case of murder or
unintentional homicide (but not killing in war), which conveyed a very seri-
ous pollution. Most references to purification are rather vague; when our sources
mention a purification they usually use a phrase such as 'the customary pro-
cedures'. But materials such as water, especially salt water, burning sulphur
(compare 3.1.3 above), plants such as squill and buckthorn, and gold vessels
are mentioned, and along with these sacrifice was also used. Sacrifice could
have two functions: it might be directed to the propitiation of the persecuting
daimones associated with pollution, like the elasterosof 3.3.2 (or in mythology
the Erinyes pursuing Orestes), or it might be directly cleansing: 'they purify
themselves with blood, as if someone were to step into mud and wash it off
with mud,' says Heraclitus (DK 22 B 5). Paradoxical as the process may seem,
the idea was probably that the 'blood' or pollution of the person being purified
was removed along with the sacrificial victim's blood, which was poured onto
the body or hands of the polluted person and then washed off. The separated
impurities were then disposed of carefully, for instance into the sea.
Priests and the chronically anxious, such as Theophrastos' deisidaimon
(4.1.1), might need some form of purification in less extreme circumstances,
and there were those who cultivated an expertise in purification, described
scornfully by the author of On the SacredDisease (3.3.4 and 4.2.9). It was also
sometimes necessary to purify a sanctuary if, despite all precautions, some
polluting event had occurred there. The Athenians went one step further in
purifying the whole island of Pelos (6.1.4), effectively converting the whole
island into a sanctuary.
Death - the ritual response to the event, and beliefs surrounding the soul
and its afterlife - is often pigeonholed into religion, and yet for the Greek
world it is by no means obvious that they belong together. Death is polluting,
and must be kept far from the divine; to that extent it concerns religion.
And yet of course the matter is not quite so simple. Heroes (see 1.2.3-7 and
.
section introduction) are usually conceived of as dead people and an aura of
death sometimes hangs about their cult, which frequently takes place at a
..
tomb, yet they too are worshipped. Even the ordinary dead are given offer-
ings which are in some ways analogous to those given to gods and heroes
(3.3.6-7), and equally prayers may be addressed to them; however, the
sacrifices offered to them were not the most usual kind of divine sacrifice,
but enagismoi(see 5.2 introduction), in which the victim was completely burnt
and there was no participatory meal. In keeping with this ambiguity, con-
cepts of existence after death fluctuated considerably (3.3.8). Views holding
that the soul went upwards to the sky naturally tended to favour a greater
assimilation of the dead to something like the area occupied by the gods.
For death as perceived in mysteries and initiations, see 3.4.7-9 and 6.4; for
the dead used in magical procedures, 3.4.15-16.
3.3.1 Pollution and purity rules
Source: 'Cyrene cathartic law', late fourth century (Rhodes-Osborne 97, LSS 115)
(Side A) Apollo's oracle: they are to live in Libya for ever, observing
purifications, abstinences and [tithes].
If sickness or [famine] or death comes upon the land or the city, they are to
sacrifice in front of the gates, facing the Place of Aversion(?), to Apollo of Aversion,
a red he-goat.
Wood growing;in a sanctuary: if you pay the price to the god, you may use
wood for purposes sacred, secular and unclean.
A man sleeping with a woman at night may sacrifice whatever he wishes;
if he sleeps with her by day, when he has washed . : . (words missing) wherever
he wants, except ...
A woman giving birth pollutes the house. (She pollutes those in the house, ¥
but) she does not pollute those outside, if they do not enter. A person who is
in the house remains impure for three days, but does not pollute another
person, wherever he enters.
Of the Akamantia there is hosiii (see notes) for everyone, whether he is pure
or profane. Except from the human Battos the founder, from the Tritopateres f
and from Onymastos of Delphi, from (any) other, where someone has died, there
is not hosiii Jar someone pure. But of sanctuaries, there is hosiii for everyone.
If someone sacrifices on an altar a victim which it is not customary to
sacrifice, he is to take the fat remaining from the altar and wash it, and to take
other impurities from the sanctuary, and the ash from the altar, and to take the
fire away to a pure place. Then he is to wash himself, purify the sanctuary and
as a penalty sacrifice a full-grown animal, and finally to sacrifice in accordance ,·
with custom.
One is bound as far as the children of brothers.
If ·an adult becomes liable to a tithe, he is to purify himself with blood, to
· purify the sanctuary, and be sold in the market-place for the highest price he
f is worth. He must then make a preliminary sacrifice of a full-grown animal as
a penalty before the tithe, not from the tithe itself, and finally to sacrifice the
tithe and take it away to a pure place. If he does not do this, he will be liable
to the same. Every sacrificer must bring a container (?)
If a child accidentally becomes polluted, it is enough to purify him and there
is no need of a penalty. ,But if he is polluted deliberately, he must purify the
sanctuary and make as penalty a preliminary sacrifice of a full-grown animal.
(Severalsections omitted)
(Side B) (words missing) She will not stay in the same house as her husband, nor
will she be polluted, until she goes to Artemis. But if she does not do this and
deliberately incurs pollution, she must purify the sanctuary of Artemis and make
an additional sacrifice of a full-grown animal as a penalty, and then go to the
sleeping-chamber. If she is polluted accidentally, she must purify the sanctuary.
A bride must go down to the bridal chamber, to Artemis, whenever she wishes
at the Artemisia, the sooner the better. One who does not go down must sacrifice
additionally (?) to Artemis what (is customary?) at the Artemisia. Not having
gone down, (she must purify the sanctuary of Artemis) and make an additional
sacrifice (of a full-grown animal as a penalty).
(A pregnant woman before she gives birth must go down) to the bridal cham-
ber, to Artemis (few letters missing). She must give the Bear (priestess)the feet,
head and skin (of the sacrificialvictim). If she does not go down before giving
birth, she must go down with a full-grown animal. One who has gone down
must observe purity on the seventh, eighth and ninth, and one who has not
gone down must observe purity on these days. But if she incurs pollution, when
she has been purified she must purify the sanctuary and make an additional
sacrifice of a full-grown animal as a penalty.
If a woman miscarries, then if it is distinguishable they are polluted as from
someone dead, and if it is not distinguishable the house is polluted as from child-
birth.
(Two sections 0111itted)
Third (kind of} suppliant, a murderer. He is to conclude the supplication and
present (the ex-suppliant) to the city-(part of word missing) and the three tribes.
When he. announcesthat he .has arrived (or:.is supplicating),he is to seat him
on the threshold on a white fleece, wash {?) and anoint him, and go out into
the public road. All are to be silent while they (the suppliant/murdererand the
announcer/purifier)are outside ... receiving ... the announcer ... (words missing).
This important but difficult inscription, a late fourth-century text from the
Greek city of Cyrene in Libya, is presented here only in part. (A full transla-
tion and more detailed discussions may be found in Rhodes-Osborne and in
Parker, Miasma (see Further Reading), 332-51.) lt lists what are said to be orac-
ular pronouncements dealing with the purification of pollutions incurred in
various kinds of circumstances. Side A of the block deals with general kinds
of pollution, many of which are familiar from other parts of the Greek world,
while side B is concerned firstly with pollutions specific to women and then
with hikesioi, a word which could be rendered either as 'suppliants' OI '(S:(Yell-
induced) visitants'.
they are to live in Libya: Cyrene was a Greek city situated in a far-flung
part of the world, whose foundation (like that of many Greek colonies) was
advised and authorised by the Delphic Apollo. The story is in Herodotus,
Histories 4.145-59. (See also Pindar's more mythical account, 2.2.2.)
purifications, abstinences and tithes: katharmoi, hagneiai and dekateiai (if
that is the right reading). The middle term indicates remaining in a state of
purity by abstaining from practices or foods considered impure. On 'tithes',
see below.
sickness or famine or death: such general catastrophe is often seen as the
result of impurity, but here the only remedy prescribed is a (purificatory)
sacrifice, to Apollo of Aversion (Apotropaios). The Place of Aversion (Apotro-
paion), if this understanding of the text is correct, is the sanctuary of this
deity.
wood: the clause makes it clear that use of wood from a sacred place is not
a religious offence. Of particular interest is the tripartite division sacred-
secular (or profane)-unclean. Sacred purposes are obviously those concerned
with sanctuaries and religious ritual; to sacred things relates a state of height-
ened purity (hagneia, see below). Unclean purposes would include most obvi-
ously in this context the use of the wood in funeral rites, and perhaps in
certain cults regarded as conveying impurity (below), and to such purposes
is related a state of pollution. Most purposes are neither one nor the other.
sleeping with a woman: sex is one of the most usual polluting activities,
but it normally conveys only a mild, short impurity which is easily banished.
The washing may be specified after daytime sex because it is less 'natural',
or because it is assumed that washing will take place in the morning any-
way, or just because after sex at night more time will have elapsed before the
sacrificial activity.
a woman giving birth: childbirth is another common source of pollution.
The law makes it clear that the woman's relatives are not polluted by the mere
fact of their kinship (as, probably, the relatives of a recently dead person would
be); only presence under the same roof where the birth has taken place has
this effect.
of the Akamantia (or Akamanties): this is one of the most vexed clauses
in the law. Even the text of the first words is uncertain; this is the most prob-
able interpretation, and is likely to refer to a particular kind of sanctuary,
perhaps (a subdivision of?) hero-shrines. The clause deals with pollution and
purity issues to do with cult-places. The middle sentence seems to show that
while an ordinary (profane: bebalos) person can visit tombs or hero-shrines
without a problem, a 'pure' person (hagnos;probably a priest or similar) should
not do so, or will have done something negative; hosiii should indicate a state
which is acceptable to the gods. We know of some instances where the aura
of death at a hero-shrine produces sufficient pollution to debar those who
have worshipped there from entering a divine sanctuary for a certain period,
or to be incompatible with priesthood, and the provision here seems to be
related. But precisely how this sentence relates to those surrounding is too
complicated a question to be tackled here. 'Akamantia' are uncertain, perhaps
(a particular kind of?) hero-shrine. Tritopateres (or Tritopatores) are groups
of ancestors, and Battos is the heroised founder of Cyrene; Onymastos the
Delphian is unknown, but may perhaps have had something to do with the
foundation. Does 'the human' Battos imply that while in this case he is wor-
shipped as a hero, he also received cult as a god?
which it is not customary to sacrifice: many sanctuary regulations specify

animals which must not be offered (compare 5.2.3), which in effect are impure
in the context of that particular sanctuary. It is interesting to observe here
the local method of dealing with mistakes of this kind. The first part of the
purification is very obviously physical, removing all traces of the incorrect/
impure victim, and the purification of the sacrificer is performed simply by
washing. The next stages, of purifying the sanctuary and making a special
sacrifice as a penalty, occur in many of the following clauses and are clearly
standard local procedure where a sanctuary-related pollution has occurred.
The inscription does not record the method of purification, which might have
varied in detail between sanctuaries. Elsewhere we hear of the use of water
(including the removal and washing of statues), of purificatory sacrifice and
the sprinkling of blood, and of materials such as sulphur, squill, buckthorn
and others (see section introduction above). At Lindos in Rhodes we even
hear of the removal of the temple roof above the statue for three days to allow
rain in (by a command in a dream from Athena herself), before 'purification
by the customary methods' (the Lindian Chronicle, FGrH 532 F 4 (D2)).
one is bound: probably this indicates the extent to which pollution is incurred
within a family, for example by death (though the inscription does not speci-
fically consider this type of pollution), or perhaps particularly in the cases
envisaged in the following paragraphs.
liable to a tithe: this is another puzzle. Normally a tithe (dekate) is a tenth

part of something made over more or less voluntarily to a deity (see 5.6), but
here it appears to be associated with pollution and penalties; after the para-
graph following this one, there are at least three further paragraphs concerned
with these tithes. Since the following paragraph relates to a pollution in the
case of a child, while this one refers to an adult who is in need of purification,
it is reasonable to assume that the tithe is imposed in case of a severe pollu-
tion, perhaps the commission of a polluting activity in a sanctuary, since the
sanctuary must be purified. The offence would then follow on from and go
further than the previous one of making a non-customary sacrifice. The sale
of the offender is presumably a fiction designed to establish the value of an
individual's property, so that a tenth part can be made over to the µeity. In
addition to the tithe itself, as in other cases envisaged by this code, a penalty
sacrifice must be made. In the case of a child, who does not own property,
no tithe is imposed, even on the parents; but the code also allows that a child
may pollute self and sanctuary accidentally, and in imposing a lesser penalty
in such case adds a moral element to the calculation of the consequences of
pollution.
she will not stay: the second side of the stele begins with cases belonging
specifically to the reproductive life of women. The first three paragraphs seem
to be related, in that all refer to things which women must do at various
points in their life-cycle with regard to the cult of Artemis, here as elsewhere
associated both with unmarried girls and with childbirth. The first paragraph
relates to the time before marriage; the second to rites performed around the
time of marriage itself, and the third to those performed during pregnancy
and, probably, to purity restrictions after childbirth. If these are the seventh,
eight and ninth days after birth, which seems the most natural interpreta-
tion, the purity would perhaps relate to diet, as this would be very soon after
giving birth for the resumption of sex. Failure to perform the correct ritual
can be compensated for by penalties, but what precisely the pollution of the
first and third paragraphs consists of is less than clear.
if a woman miscarries: the point here is that a foetus in the later stages
is considered equivalent to a person, and its death is equivalent to any other
death within the household. It is notable, however, that the inscription never
sets out the rules relating to death-generated pollution.
third (kind of) suppliant: two very difficult sections have been omitted,
which like this one deal with hikesioi. Some suppose that all three sections
refer to hikesioi as superhuman visitants, but it seems easier to take this third
paragraph as dealing with purification from blood-guilt, envisaging a situ-
ation where a killer flees from his homeland to seek refuge and purification
in the polis of Cyrene. What we have of the text relates to procedure before
the purification is carried out (the white fleece may act as a sort of insulat-
ing substance, and the impure suppliant is kept at the threshold - of the
prytaneion? - rather than being allowed entrance). The lost portion of the
text presumably dealt with the purification itself.
conclude the supplication and present ... : the meaning of aphiketeuein

seems to be to end someone's suppliant status by purifying him and reinteg-
rating him into society (thus to the city? and the three tribes).
3.3.2 How to be purified from an avenging spirit
Source: Fifth-century inscription (part) from Selinous in Sicily

(NGSL 27, SEG 43.630)
[If] a person [wishes?] to be purified from elasteroi, having proclaimed it

from wherever he. wishes, in whatever year and month and day he wishes, in
. whatever directipn he wishes, let him be purified (or: purify himself). Receiving
(him), let him give water for washing; and breakfast and salt to the homicide
(or: to the same one), and sacrificing a piglet to Zeus let him (the homicide) go
from there and turn around. Let him be addressed and let him take food and
let him sleep wherever he wishes.
If anyone wishes to be purified from one relating to a guest-friend or an ances-
tor, whether one l}eard or seen or any one at all, let him be purified in the same
way that a killer is purified from an elasteros. Having sacrificed a full-grown
victim on the public altar let him be pure. Let him make a boundary with salt,
let him be asperged from a golden (vessel), and let him depart. Whenever there
is need to sacrifice to an elasteros, sacrifice as to the immortals, but the blood
flows into the earth.
This text, another difficult one (inscribed, unusually, on a large lead tablet)
has been rather literally translated above. (The first part of the inscription is
even more problematic and has been omitted.) The case envisaged is that of
a person whose pollution is related to a superhuman being which has attached
itself to him as a consequence of his action. The word elasterosis related to
the commoner alastor, often translated as 'avenging spirit'.
The first three sentences seem to describe the general case of purification,
probably of a murderer or other homicide, from an elasteros.The proclamation
is probably made to the elasterositself rather than to the human community;
this makes more sense of 'in whatever direction he wishes'. The text may
intend a purification of some obvious sort to follow on the proclamation; if
so it is irritatingly unspecific, but we can suppose that typical purificatory
materials such as water, salt, sulphur and others may have been used.
The next sentence is unclear: either the purifier gives symbolic hospitality
to the candidate for purification, or the person being purified performs this
action to, presumably, the elasteros.In either case, the elasterosmust now be
thought to depart, and a typical purificatory sacrifice of a piglet is made to Zeus.
The word for 'turn around', peristrephomai,suggests turning round in a circle;
this action somehow completes the severance of the candidate for purifica-
tion from his former impurity. The following sentence makes his purity clear,
as now no special precautions need be taken to limit his contact with others.
The next sentence apparently states that some other cases of purification
should proceed in the same way, with some modifications. Instead of a piglet,
a full-grown victim should be sacrificed, and after this the purification candidate
is ritually separated from the altar by salt, and given aspersion from a golden
vessel, gold being the purest of materials. These extra provisions may suggest
a more serious case is here involved, probably the killing of kin or of one in
a relationship of xenia, as translated here (other interpretations are possible).
Neither procedure seems to involve actual sacrifice to the elasteros,but the
last sentence shows that some circumstances (but which?) might ne,cessJtate
this. Along with parts of the first column of the same inscription, this forms
very interesting evidence for different forms of sacrifice used for differently
conceived recipients - what is sometimes labelled, perhaps rather mislead-
ingly, the Olympian-chthonian distinction. Here we see that the sacrifice was
in most respects the 'Olympian' type, with the important difference that the
animal was held so that the blood from its throat fell down to the earth,
rather than being raised to spatter the altar. (See further 5.2 introduction.)
let him be purified: here and in the following places where 'be purified'
occurs, the form is ambiguous and could also be translated 'purify himself'.
It is unclear whether this is a do-it-yourself operation or (as below, 3.3.3)
requires a purifier.
3.3.3 How to purify a suppliant murderer
Source: Dorotheos (FGrH 356 Fl)
Then after you and the others partaking of the sacrificial entrails have washed,
take water and purify. Wash the blood off the one being purified, then shake
up the washing water and pour it into the same place.
These instructions are quoted from a lexicographical source compiled in the

early Roman empire which itself quotes from a work concerned with ances-
tral customs; the style is that of much earlier exegetical works (on exegetes
see 4.2.8), and in essentials the fragment is likely to go back to a much earlier
period. It is introduced as concerning the purification of suppliants, that
is, persons polluted by homicide who are requesting purification, and it is
addressed to one doing the purification. The emphasis on washing and on
getting rid of the impurities washed off (aponimma; compare 3.3.2 above and
3.3. 7) is no surprise, and neither is the reference to a sacrifice, which was an
integral part of many purification rituals. It is striking, however, that the
sacrifice, occurring before the purification proper, was a participatory one;
the impurity did not, evidently, affect the sacrifice itself, which presumably
did not come into contact with the polluted person except after the event,
when some of the blood was poured onto him. Those partaking of the entrails,
the innermost circle at a sacrifice (cf. 5.2.1), did not include the candidate
for purification.
3.3.4 Disease is not divine pollution
Source: (Hippocrates], On the SacredDisease 1.39-45
They employ purifications and incantations, and in my opinion they are doing
something extremely impious and godless. They purify those who have the
disease with blOQd and other such things as if they had some pollution, or aven-
ging spirits (alastores) 1 or as if they had been bewitched by human agency.
But they should do the opposite: they should sacrifice and pray and take the
sufferer to the sanctuaries and implore the gods for help .. In fact they do none
of these things, but they perform purification, and then either bury the off-
scourings in the earth, or throw them into the sea, or take them to mountain
regions where no _one will touch them or set foot on them. But they ought to
take them to sanctuaries and offer them to the' god, if the god is really the cause.
However, I do not believe that the human body is polluted by god - the least
pure thing by the purest - but that if it happens to be polluted or somehow
affected by something else, it would be purified and sanctified, rather than
polluted, by the god. For the divine is what purifies and sanctifies the greatest
and most unholy offences, and forms our protection against them. (Continues
as passage5.1,9.)
The author is attempting to refute the idea that epilepsy is a disease specially
sent by a god, and exposes some of the contradictions in the position of those
who attempt to cure it by purifications (for his view on purifiers, see 4.2.9).
If the disease really comes from the god, he reasons, it is both illogical and
impious to regard it as impure and try to conjure it away; but in fact since
the gods are far purer than humans, they can hardly be responsible for pollu-
tion. It is a convincing enough argument, but the belief that certain forms
of divinity (for instance Hekate, the Erinyes, unspecified daimones) could send
or be associated with pollution was quite deeply ingrained, despite the normal
association of divinity with purity. A part of the Selinous inscription not given
above (3.3.2) even refers to two groups ofTritopatores (ancestors, compare 3.3.1),
one pure, the other impure; the impure Tritopatores are given sacrifice 'as to
the heroes'.
3.3.5 Regulations on funerals
Source; Ioulis, Keos, fifth century (LSCG 97)
These are the laws about the dead. Bury a dead person in the following way:
in three white coverings (under:blanket, top sheet and extra covering), but fewer
are also permitted, the three worth notmore than a hundred drachmas. The
body is to be carried out on a bier with wedge-shaped legs, not concealing
(the head of lhe corpse?) but covering the torso with cloths (?) Not more than
three libation-jugs of wi.ne are to be taken to the tomb, and not more than one
of oil. The vessels are to be taken away. The corpse is to be carried covered and
in silence as far as the tomb. A preliminary slaughter-sacrifice is to be made in
accordance with ancestral custom. The bier and the coverings are to be taken
inside from the tomb. On the following day a free man is to lustrate the, hol\.se
first with sea water, and then wash the ground with water (?) When the. Ius-
tration has been done, the house is to be pure and the hearth-offerings are to
be sacrificed.
The women who attend the funeral are (not?) to leave the tomb before the
men. Thirty-day rites are not to be performed for the dead. A cup is no.t to be
placed under the bier, nor is the water to be poured out, nor are sweepings
to be carried to the tomb. Wherever the death occurred, after the body has
been carried out no women are to go to the house other than those who are
polluted. Pollution extends to a mother, wife, sisters and daughters, and beyond
this not more than five women, being children of daughters or nieces, and no
other person. Those who are polluted are to be pure when they have washed
... (two lines unclear)
B A decree of the council and the people: On the third day and the anniver-
saries those who observe (mourning and pollution). are pure, but are not to enter
a sanctuary, and the house is pure until they come from the tomb.
This funerary law from the island of Keas, perhaps deriving from the sixth-
century Athenian law-code of Solon, is concerned with both pollution and
ostentation. Funerals were often the subject of legislation aimed at curbing
what was seen as an excess of mourning advertising the family to the wider
world, and this is clearly the intent of capping the expenditure on shrouds
and coverings, of limiting the number of libations to the dead, and of the
injunction that the body be carried to the tomb in silence (no noisy lamen-
tations, at least until the place of the grave is reached). The state of pollu-
tion itself, of course, can also be a way of advertising the importance of the
dead person and his or her family, and the law seeks to limit this also. While
pollution is perceived as something real, its observation can be the subject
of legislation because its extent and duration are debatable. It is noteworthy
here that much of the prescription concerns specifically women, whose
responsibility was the washing and laying out of the corpse and the lament.
It seems possible from the context that the thirty-day rites and the obscure
provisions which follow were also particularly associated with women.
The second part of the inscription seems to be somewhat later in date than
the first. Both parts present some difficulties both of reading and interpretation.
libation-jugs: choai. Choai were the libations poured out for the dead, quite
distinct from libations offered to the gods (spondai;see 3.1.3). The jugs used
for the purpose were of a special shape and size. Aeschylus, Libation-Bearers
98-9 suggests that the jugs may sometimes have been thrown away and
broken after the libations were poured.
preliminary slaughter-sacrifice: prosphagion, perhaps indicating a rite per-
formed before the entombment. The ordinary word for a sacrifice to the gods,
thysia, is not used.
inside: that is, back to the house, like the empty jugs. This too may be to
limit ostentatior-i, rather than to promote tidiness.
sea-water: particularly purifying, used for example by Theophrastos' deisi-
daimon (4.4.1).
hearth-offerings: since pollution renders one unacceptable to the gods, nor-

mal household cult would be suspended. Conversely, the resumption of such
offerings indicates the end of the period of pollution and formal mourning.
the women ... are (not?) to leave the tomb: the stone has no place for a
negative, so if it was intended to be there it was omitted by accident (and
there is another error in this sentence). In Athens, it seems that women were
to follow a funeral procession behind the men, which might suggest that here
too men should leave first; alternatively, if the stone was correctly inscribed,
the measure was perhaps intended to stop the women lingering at the tomb
and/or to separate the two sexes, perhaps for the funerary meal.
thirty-day rites: either one rite thirty days after the death, or monthly rites
performed for the first year. The second part of the inscription allows yearly
commemorations.
a cup is not to be placed: these three provisions probably indicate customs
which aimed to 'catch' and confine the pollution emanating from the corpse.
no women are to go to the house: presumably while the corpse is lying
there, and before the house has been purified on the day after the funeral.
no other person: masculine in gender, as are the forms in the next sen-
tence, thus including both sexes.
when they have washed: some qualification has been lost here.
third day and anniversaries: or possibly, on the third day of anniversaries.
Memorial rites involving visits to the tomb are envisaged; these entail a loss
of purity sufficient to exclude one from contact with the gods. The house,
logically, is pure until those who have had contact with the tomb return to
it, and presumably is to be purified on the following day.
3.3.6 Cult at the grave
Source: Kleidemos~ from the Exegetikon (FGrH 323 F 14)
Dig a trench to the west of the grave, then (standing) by the grave look towards
the west and pour down water saying 'A washing-off for you to whom it is
necessary and for whom it is right.' Then pour down perfume.
These terse instructions are quoted from the textbook of the fourth-century
• lo
Athenian exegete (see 4.2.8), Kleidemos, and may refer either to one of the
rituals performed a certain time after death (e.g. the thirtieth day, see
above 3.3.6), or to rites at a later visit to the tomb. Since the word aponimma
('washing-off'), to which we owe the fragment's preservation, should have
connotations of purification, the former is perhaps more likely.
the west: typically the location of the dead and their world. Temples of the
gods are most usually oriented towards the east.
to whom it is necessary: similar language is sometimes used when a plural-
ity of gods is addressed, from a desire to avoid exclusion, but here there may
be a wish to avoid inauspicious words.
3.3.7 Offerings to the dead
Source: Aeschylus, Persians 607-22
QUEEN: And so ... I have come, bearing beneficent drink-offerings (choai) to

the father of my son, offerings to soothe the dead: white milk, good
to drink, from a pure cow, and the essence of bees that work the flowers,
shining honey, with liquid water poured from a virgin spring, and
unmixed drink from its wild mother - this glory of the ancient vine
- and the aromaticfruit, essence of the green olive, which ever flour-
ishes in leaf, and garlands of flowers, children of the all-fertile earth.
Friends, pronounce well-omened hymns with these offerings to those
beneath, and summon the divine Darius, while to the gods below I
will send forth these honours for the earth to drink.
CHORUS: Queen and lady, elder of the Persians, do you send the libations beneath
the earth, and we shall ask in hymns that the escorts of the dead may
be kindly below the ground. 0 holy d,eities of the earth, Earth and
Hermes and the lord of those below, send up from thence a soul to
the light.
The setting is Sousa in the imagined, exotic Persian empire, the language is
the ornamental one of early tragedy, and the intent is unusual, to say the
least: to summon up the ghost of the dead emperor Darius to hear his advice.
Despite this, other more scattered evidence suggests that the passage actu-
ally reflects standard Greek practice quite accurately, and represents what might
be done some while after death, at an anniversary or other significant or
critical moment when it was wished to please the dead person or catch his
attention. Choai, liquids poured out over or at the tomb, are perhaps the most
characteristic offerings to the dead (see above, 3.3.6); milk, honey, water, wine
and oil might all be used. They passed literally into the earth where the dead
person's body or ashes were situated, sometimes directed more accurately into
the tomb by a length of clay pipe. The practice of decorating the grave stele
with garlands (often also with cloth) is also well attested elsewhere.
Actually summoning up the dead person was of course by no means usual

practice, but as vyith cult addressed to gods or heroes, the aim was to open
up a channel of communication and to induce the recipient of the offerings
to act favourably. In another Aeschylean scene (Choephoroi/Libation Bearers
84-105, Elektra, charged by Klytaimestra to take grave-offerings to the mur-
dered Agamemnon, pontlers what form of words to use, and shows that a
common form was to ask the dead person to give back good things in return
for the offerings se1_1t
- again, just as in prayer to gods or heroes (see above,
3.1). Words for 'prayer' are used to describe the address to the dead, even
though their power may be conceived as limited (being ruled by the gods of
the underworld). Here both the Queen and the chorus of Persian elders are
careful to address and propitiate those underworld deities as well as the dead
Darius, to whom the chorus turn in the song immediately following the above
extract. They are addressed largely anonymously as 'those below' and 'earthy
ones', chthonioi, a word usually suggesting what lies underneath the earth.
Hermes is named as the messenger who escorts the souls of the dead to the
world below; if a soul is to pass temporarily in the other direction, he must
equally provide the passage.
3.3.8 Where does the soul go?
Source: (a) fliad 1.1-5
Sing, goddess, -of the ruinous wrath of Achilles, son of Peleus, that placed thou-
sands of pains upon the Acl:1aians,and sent many strong souls of heroes off to
Hades, and left the heroes themselves as prey for dogs and birds.
Source: (b) Euripides, Suppliant Women 531-6
THESEUS: Now allow the corpses to be covered with earth, and let each depart
to the place from where it came into the light; breath to the sky, and
body to the earth. For our body is ours only while we inhabit it dur-
ing our lifetime, and then its nurse (the earth) must take it.
What happens to the soul, or life-force (psyche), at death is a question answered

in various ways, but the idea that the souls of the dead go somehow beneath
the earth, to a place presided over by special deities, is a pervasive one in
Greek culture. The Iliad passage regards the heroes 'themselves' as their bod-
ies, left behind when the souls belonging to them make their journey to Hades,
which other passages make clear is situated beneath the earth (Hades is
also, and more commonly, the name of the ruler of this domain). But the
identification of self with body is not a consistent one, even in the Iltad, ~nd
the dead person can be regarded both as present at their burial place and as
departed to a separate, often geographically conceived, underworld. Euripides
gives a contrasting eschatology, strongly emphasising the non-identification
of self with body (the body is a temporary loan), and sending the non-
corporeal part (here pneuma) upwards rather than downwards. This concept
would appear to be influenced both by systems such as 'Orphism' (see 3.4.8-9)
which give more importance to the soul, and by elemental theory, accord-
ing to which the soul, being light, will when freed from the body naturally
make its way upwards to join lighter substances.
There were of course other eschatological theories. Both such centrally im-
portant celebrations as the Eleusinian Mysteries (6.4.1-4) and more sectarian
rites (see 3.4.6-9) claimed that participants would enjoy a better fate than
the norm after death, while theories of the soul's rebirth in other bodies
(metempsychosis, transmigration), though never mainstream, were a persis-
tent minority view (3.4.9b, 3.4.11-12). Some epitaphs also express doubt as
to whether there is any existence at all after death.
3.4 Personal Choice
'Elective religion', a phrase often used in this area, is a broad term which
covers many types of religious behaviour. In the context of ancient Greece,
what they all have in common is that they are neither required nor, usually,
encouraged by the social groups into which an individual is born, primarily
the city and its subdivisions which regulate so much religious practice.
Some of them indeed may seem to stand in some sort of opposition to 'official'
religion; the state may clamp down on cults of 'new' or foreign deities which
have not been officially recognised, while religious (or quasi-religious) groups
such as the Pythagoreans may embrace a lifestyle which is scarcely com-
patible with the norms of civic religion (specifically animal sacrifice). But such
opposition is by no means necessary, and it is quite wrong to think of two
separate and antagonistic categories of 'public' and 'private' religion. It is
perhaps more accurate in many cases - though somewhat over-simplified -
to think of elective religion as a set of 'add-ons' to the religious background
one is born into. Many if not most individuals will make some choices about
religion which are not purely dictated by their position in society.
One such choice is simply how 'religious' to be. The extreme observances
of the deisidaimon, who experiences 'cowardice with regard to the gods', appear
at 4.1.1, and we shall see the opposite choice of impiety at 3.5. But the
deisidaimon, motivated as he is by anxiety, is not the only type of religious
enthusiast; there are also those who have what we might call a particular
devotion to one or more members of the pantheon. To worship all the gods
is proper and pious, but there is nothing wrong in cultivating a special rela-
tionship with one deity or a group of deities (as we shall see Croesus doing
with the Delphic Apollo, for instance, 6.2.3). There is a remarkable early
example of a devotee's view of his favourite deity in the Theogony(below, 3.4.1),

and we can surmise more from the evidence of inscriptions and also from
two of Euripides' tragedies, Ilip_polytusand Ion: imaginative literature, to be
sure, and Hippolytos at least is a character whose behaviour, if not wrong,
is certainly imprudent, .but if contemporary Athenians had known of noth-
ing like the sentiments these young men express towards their favourite deities
the dramatic circumstances would have meant nothing to them. We must
assume that the mythological setting merely gives a more extreme form to
a kind of religious sentiment that was familiar. .But overall this style of
relationship is perhaps better attested in later antiquity, and the idea of devo-
tion never attains such a prominent place as it does in many other religions.
The section continues with passages illustrating cults of an 'unofficial' kind,
those which however popular they might become do not receive the
ratification and observances of the polis, which is such an important feature
in Greek religion. Such cults were often those of originally non-Greek gods
- though 'foreign gods' might be accepted into the city pantheon, like Bendis
at Athens (see 6.5.10) - and had, or were thought to have, an exotic air. The
passage from Lysistrata (3.4.5), though in part an attack on the politician
Demostratos, indicates how strange the festival of Adonis seemed, or could be
made to seem, with the wild cries of the women and the celebration on the
rooftops rather than in a normal public sacred space. Demosthenes (3.4.6) takes
the mockery several stages further forward in his virtuoso attack on Aeschines
as a one-time purveyor of disreputable cults and initiations. Here, in what must
be a none too accurate mixture and parody of all sorts of unofficial religious
activity, foreign gods and outlandish cults are characterised by written texts,
purifications and rituals of an initiatory type. This conjunction is not pecu-
liar to Demosthenes, but plays upon a common perception which seems to
have some basis in actuality. Euripides gives a more favourable picture in 3.4.13,
but one that contains many of the same elements: exotic deities, initiations
and a particular interest in purity or purifications. Elsewhere (Hippolytus952-4)
he links together claims to special purity, vegetarianism and 'many writings'.
Here we are starting to approach religious structures called Orphic and
bacchic (it is difficult to distinguish the two terms), an area which might almost
be called 'alternative' rather than 'unofficial'. Although some earlier scholars
went much too far in speaking of an 'Orphic church', one can see why they
were tempted: initiates were exposed to myths that were different from those
normally known or at least spoken about, and in some cases observed a dif-
ferent lifestyle, while a sense of Orphic community is suggested by the exist-
ence in southern Italy of a separate section of a cemetery reserved for bacchic
initiates (3.4.8). But it is likely that there were as many shades of opinion
and practice under the bacchic/Orphic umbrella as there were initiators, or
perhaps initiates, and although the experience of initiation probably gave and
was intended to give a different perspective on the relationship between human
and divine, there is no evidence that Orphic initiates did anything so un-Greek
as to abandon other forms of religious observance. Much about 'Orphism'
' ..
CLOSENESSAND DISTANCE 11 7
was secret, of course, but it seems that the secrecy was not quite so strictly
observed as that of the Eleusinian Mysteries (6.4.1-4). The central myth, alluded
to by Pindar and Plato and possibly known in part in non-Orphic circles,
narrated the birth of Dionysos to Zeus and his daughter Persephone, and the
death of the child Dionysos at the hands of the Titans, who lured him with
toys and a mirror - objects which played a part in the ritual. The Titans cooked
and ate the child, whereupon Zeus blasted them to pieces with his thunder-
bolt, and from their ashes, mixed with fragments of the body of Dionysos,
came humanity, while Dionysos himself, in most versions, was reconstituted
from his heart. This is very different from 'normal' mythology, where Dionysos
is the son of Zeus and Semele (his 'second mother' according to some
Orphics) and the defeat of the Titans by Zeus is another story altogether. Its
implications for humanity are clear: the Titan-sin must be purged and the
Dionysos-nature reaffirmed; the gold tablets found in the tombs of initiates,
along with the Pindar passage, show that reparation must be made to Perse-
phone and that in initiation the mystes is liberated by Dionysos himself.
Orphic initiations differ importantly from such Mysteries as those of
Eleusis, Samothrace and Andania (6.4) in that they are not confined to a
single place (tablets of different sorts demonstrating or suggesting an Orphic
connexion have been found all over the Greek world from southern Italy to
Olbia on the Black Sea, the last particularly enigmatic) and that they are
seldom if ever fully integrated into the official polis structure of worship.
But they share the basic formula of secrecy, initiation and the promise of a
better outcome after death. As early as the fifth century, the mythological
figure of Orpheus was linked with Eleusis, and it is likely that there was some
similarity and overlap in content between the two religious complexes.
At the other end of the scale, so to speak, Orphic practices abut onto
Pythagorean. Herodotus attests a similarity between the two, apparently say-
ing that things which are called Orphic and bacchic are really Egyptian and
Pythagorean (Histories,2.81); as a historical judgement this may not be very
sound, but it is still a valuable insight. Little is known for certain about early
Pythagoreanism, but we can be reasonably sure that the Pythagoreans formed
communities in southern Italy in the sixth century and adopted a lifestyle
marked by permanent adherence to the sort of purity rules which for most
people were a temporary observance to be made before participation in
certain cults. They may have gone further than this; they are constantly, though
not quite consistently, associated with vegetarianism, a radical choice in a
religious world dominated by animal sacrifice. (Some sources claim that an
exception was made for sacrificed meat, or some kinds of sacrificed meat, and
it may be that different groups had different practices.) Most early evidence
for the Pythagorean way of life is unhelpfully fragmentary and often con-
tradictory. We do, however, possess considerable chunks of the work of
Empedocles, not a Pythagorean as such, but a poet, philosopher, and reli-
gious thinker and practitioner whose outlook bears some resemblance to what
we are told about the Pythagoreans. Passage 3.4.10 gives his own picture of
how he was viewed by others, a miracle-worker with special powers, close to

the gods. It seems possible that all our fragments come from one poem, with
the alternative titles 'Purifications' and 'On Nature'; in this case the rest of the
poem, among other things, puts his own status in context. Although alleg-
orical explanations have. been canvassed for some of his statements, it seems
that Empedocles (like the Pythagoreans, and, evidently, at least some of the
Orphics) taught some sort of theory of rebirth, in which the soul must undergo
numerous incarnations as a consequence of its misdeeds. He himself could
remember his past lives, and was evidently in his final incarnation before
liberation. Presumably those who listened to and understood his poem, and
avoided such sins as meat-eating, could hope eventually to follow suit.
From such an exalted aim to the use of 'magic' to attain this-worldly (and
sometimes morally dubious) ends may seem a big leap, but Plato's jaundiced
view (3.4. 7) links phenomena of the latter sort with 'private' initiations, speak-
ing of practitioners who offer their expertise in both areas. Magic is difficult
to define; in fact, most scholars are now agreed that it is not really a fixed
category, and certainly not one which can be viewed as watertight and
separate from religion. It is nonetheless useful heuristically to refer to magic,
in that typical practices are easily recognised: the special formulas (spells or
incantations) employed, the use of small dolls to represent the persons on
whom the magic is believed to act, and so on - the aim being generally to
compel someone to do or suffer something against their will, or to protect
against such action. The term 'magic' is derived from the magoi, who were
well known to be a group of priestly specialists among the Persians, but whose
name early came to be used for at least some among the 'unofficial' but pro-
fessional or semi-professional religious practitioners like those mentioned by
Plato. Magic in this sense would seem to extend beyond spells, amulets and
wax figurines into the realm of purifications (the author of On the SacredDisease
mentions magoi among his despised purifiers, see 4.2.9) and indeed initi-
ations, the context in which the Derveni Papyrus author presents magoi (for
the Derveni Papyrus, see 1.3.6, 2.5.11). What all such phenomena have in
common (but share also with Orphism, Pythagoreanism and similar systems,
which are hard to rank as 'magic') is perhaps a body of esoteric knowledge
which enables the adept to attain results not available to ordinary people.
However widely used, the spells, curse tablets and dolls which almost every-
one can agree to call magic were never really respectable. In part this is because
their aims were usually rather dubious, but contemporary writers also object
to the idea that such practices attempt to coerce the gods (3.4.7, 1.3.2).
For the gods are normally there in the magical mix, and often enough the
language used is not very different from that employed elsewhere; they are
frequently appealed to rather than commanded (3.4.16), or a formula is used
such as 'I bind so-and-so before such-and-such a deity' in which the god's
power is invoked rather as it is in an oath, for instance. Typically the gods
mentioned are those of the underworld or at least with a 'chthonic; as~ect,
sometimes divinities of revenge like the Erinyes or Praxidikai ('doers of justice').
A great deal of our evidence for what can be labelled 'magic' comes from
the hellenistic period or later. But the late fifth and fourth centuries have
yielded many 'curse tablets' or defixiones (3.4.15-17), written on lead with
the aim of 'binding' another person, and placed usually in this period in a
tomb, apparently so that the corpse can act as a messenger to the chthonic
powers or even take action on its own account as itself a daimi5n.This con-
cept of binding is central to attempts at supernatural coercion (the word 'super-
natural' is suggested by Plato in 3.4.14) and can have several aims; the idea
is often not to destroy the person but to render him or her ineffective or to
alter his or her behaviour. A frequent context is that of lawsuits, when an
opponent is bound so that his testimony will be unconvincing. Business rivals
are also often bound, and of course the occasion is often a problem in love;
men typically bind women to become mad with lust for them, while women
bind rivals and try to stop their men from straying. Even if the aim was not
death no one, of course, wished to be bound in this manner, and magical
practices are also directed against such interference: counter-bindings (3.4.17)
and amulets and protective spells, of which the 'Ephesian letters' (3.4.18) are
perhaps the best known. These letters have been found embedded in verses
which are reminiscent of the world of mysteries and initiations, once more
linking magic with other forms of 'unofficial' religion.
3.4.1 The praises of Hekate
Source: Hesiod, Theogony411-52
She (Asterie) conceived and bore Hekate, whom Zeus son of Kronos honoured
above all others. He gave her lovely gifts, a portion of the earth and the unhar-
____,m~~!Lt~hn hers. And she has also a share in honour from the starry heaven,
~lyesteemed by the immortal gods. And even now, when some-
➔rtal men performs a fine sacrifice and renders propitiation
stom, he calls on Hekate. Great honour is swift to follow the
1ers the goddess gladly accepts, and she bestows prosperity on
)ower is hers. For she owns the portion of all those who were
1d Sky and were allotted honours. Never did the son of Kronos
:e or take from her anything that she possessed with the Titans,
but she holds it still, just as the division was first made, at the
does the goddess have the less share of honour because she is
-vvnrn:n.u:·,;m,mgc1, she is no less esteemed on earth, in the heaven or in the sea,
but all the more so, because Zeus gives her honour.
She is a great champion and helper to anyone she wishes. She sits beside
reverend kings as they give judgement, and when the people are assembled she
gives distinction to whom she wishes. And when men arm themselves for deadly
war, there the goddess is present to give victory and offer glory willingly to those
she chooses. She is good to stand by the cavalry, those whom she chooses, and
she is good when men take part in sporting contests - there too the goddess is
present and gives them help, so.that he who prevails in strength and power wins
a fine prize easily and happily, and gives glory to his parents. And to those who 1
work the harsh glaucous sea, and who pray to Hekate and the loud-sounding
Earthshaker, the venerable goddess gives a great catch with ease, and with ease
she takes it back when it has appeared, if she wishes. And she is good with Hermes
at increasing the stock in farmsheds. Herds of cattle, and great flocks of goats
and of curly-fleeced sheep, if she wishes she makes abundant from small num-
bers, and decreases from large. Thus, though she is her mother's only child, she
is honoured with privileges among all the immortals_. And the son of Kronos
made her a nurse of children, those who after her behold with their eyes the
; light of much-seeing Dawn. Md so she is the Nurse of Children, and such are
her honours.
This remarkable passage marks a shift from the Theogony'smain business, which
is to give a narrative, in a genealogical framework, of the gods of early times,
in particular how the older gods were superseded by Zeus and the Olympians.
On the whole this mythology has little to do with experienced religion, since
most of the older gods by definition were not worshipped. Exceptions are Leto,
who is mentioned in the lines immediately preceding this extract, and her
niece Hekate, and here Hesiod digresses from his narrative of past deeds to
speak instead in enthusiastic terms of Hekate's present status and her powers
in relation to potential and actual worshippers. But the passage does connect
with the Theogonynarrative: the poet is very concerned to show how Hekate,
one of the older gods, is honoured by Zeus, the ruler of the new order, whose
birth will be narrated in the following section. She has then a special role
and importance, linking old and new gods; in one sense she can even be seen
as superior to Zeus, because she predates him and is honoured by him.
The poet may be keen to emphasise this special status because he himself
has a special feeling for Hekate. He lists various human occupations (agri-
culture is a notable and odd omission) where Hekate's favour will help; the
message is clearly that whatever deity you pray to for success in a particular
realm (such as Poseidon, the Earthshaker, in seafaring), you should always
add Hekate. Her will or wishes are repeatedly mentioned, very likely giving
an etymology of the name Hekate as 'she who wishes'. Although her wishes
are sovereign - she is not constrained to help if she does not wish - there
must be the hope that if she is worshipped she will be willing to help her
worshippers, and there is a sense of the enthusiastic propagation of her cult
about the passage, which has been labelled 'Hekate's gospel'. Hesiod's view
of this goddess is quite different from the predominant picture of later times,
which sees her as a sinister figure to be avoided where possible (see for instance
4.4.1).
lovely gifts: the relative status of Zeus and Hekate is neatly balanced. She
owes at least some of what is hers to Zeus, but the gift was given to hbnour
her. Her 'portions' recall a less amicable arrangement between Zeus and an
older goddess, in an Epidaurian inscription, 5.5.3.
even now: there is no evidence that it was ever common practice to hon-
our Hekate as such at every sacrifice, but the assertion is surely explained by
Hekate's identification with Kourotrophos (below), who was sometimes said
to receive such honours.
she owns the portion of all those ... : because mythologically the Titans
(children of Earth and Sky) were defeated and deposed, and in fact are not
given cult (or not many of them), in the new dispensation, Hekate is said to
have taken over all their concerns and to be given all their worship.
without siblings: a brother, in particular, might be expected to .look after
his sister's interests, but Hekate has no need of such human-style help.
nurse of children: Kourotrophos was the title of a female deity who appears
frequently in the Attic sacrifice calendars (cf. 5.3.1) and was sometimes
identified in Attica with Ge, the Earth. The identification with Hekate occurs
only here.
3.4.2 Two young devotees address their

· favourite divinities
Source: (a) Euripides, Hippolytus .73-87
HIPPOLYTOS: For you, Lady, I have made this woven garland taken from an in-
.violate meadow 1 and I bring it to you. There no shepherd dares to
pasture his flock, nor has iron ever been brought to it, but in spring
the bee flies over the inviolate meadow, and Modesty tends the
flowers with water from the streams. Those who have been taught
nothing, but possess in their own nature restraint in everything,
are permitted to gather flowers here, but the evil are prohibited.
Dear mistress, receive this crown for your golden hair from a
reverent hand. This is my honour, alone of mortals; I am with you,
and I exchange words with. you, hearing your voice, but not see-
ing your face. And may I reach the end of my life's course just as
I began it.
Source: (b) Euripides, Ion 102-53
But I shall perform the tasks which I have always done. since childhood, mak-
ing Phoibos' entrances pure with laurel boughs and holy garlands, and sprink-
ling water on the floor to moisten it, and I shall put to flight with arrows the
flocks of birds which harm the sacred offerings. This is the way in which, born
motherless and f~thedess.as I was, I s.erve the.house of Phoibos which nurtured

me.
Come, fresh-flourishing and loveliest laurel, which acts as servant, sweeping
Phoibos' altar in his temple, plucked from immortal gardens where the holy
dews, pouring forth from·earth in ceaseless streams, moisten the sacred myrtle
leaves. With this I sweep the god's pavement daylong, beside the sun's swift
wing, performing my daily service.
0 Paian, 0 Paian,'may you give us happiness and prosperity, 0 child of Leto.
Fine is the labour, 0 Phoibos, as I serve you before your house, honouring
the seat of prophecy. It ls a glorious toil for hands to be enslaved to the gods,
to no mortals, but the deathless .ones; I do not tire of labouring at auspicious
work. Phoibos is my parent, my father: thus l praise him who feeds me, giving
him the dear name of father, Phoibos who dwells in the temple.
0 Paian, 0 Paian, may you give us happiness and prosperity, 0 child of Leto.
Now I shall cease from my labours with the laurel broom, and from golden
vessels pour a stream from earth, from the eddies of Kastalia, letting fall the , ·
moist drops, chaste as I am. So may I always serve Phoibos, and never cease; or
if I must cease, let it be with a good destiny.
From tragedy, and therefore a mythological setting (see section introduction),

come these two examples of special devotion. Hippolytos is certainly an
unusual young man, vowed to chastity in the service of the virgin goddess
Artemis, so it is unclear to what extent his devotion would also have struck
the original audience as peculiar. Uncut meadows, dedicated to a deity, had
a real existence, and Hippolytos must be assumed to enter with a real
garland in his hand, but the meadow he refers to has an obvious symbolic
value as well, and he fuses the observances of cult, with its language of
what is permitted (themis; compare 5.1.1, 5.2.3), with moral criteria of a
rather exclusive sort. His description of his close association with Artemis, so
close that he actually hears her voice, is striking, but his insistence that he
enjoys a specially privileged position seems again exclusive and perhaps
arrogant; indeed, in the following lines, he is warned against arrogance (to
semnon) by a servant, though the immediate context is that of his hostility
to Aphrodite.
Ion seems altogether humbler than Hippolytos. He is a foundling who has
been brought up in the sanctuary at Delphi as a sacred officiant, a neokoros
whose job is literally to sweep the temple but might include many other tasks
(see 5.1.2, notes): after this song he acts as guide to the visiting women form-
ing the chorus and tells them what is permissible (5.1.1). Though he does
not know it, he is literally the son of Apollo, whom he praises as figuratively
a father to him. It is very likely that some sanctuary attendants and priests
felt something analogous towards the deity in whose worship they assisted.
What is most striking about this passage, though, is the heavy emphasis on
the idea of slave-like toil in the service of the god. This concept is a familhr
CLOSENESS AND DISTANCE 123
one in many modern religions, eastern and western, but it is perhaps nowhere
else in Greek literature found so unequivocally as here, and there is no real
Greek parallel for it until much later in antiquity. 'Fine is the labour' and
'glorious toil' are close to oxymorons; such labour is normally degrading,
but in Ion's apparently innovative value-system to undertake it for a divine
master is quite the reverse. And Ion's labour is indeed menial: sweeping,
scattering water and scaring away birds (he turns to the third task at the end
of this passage). Having described what he will do in a solemn spoken metre
(in the first paragraph of the extract) he begins to sing as he carries out his
tasks, the refrain giving his song something of the character of a paian (see 5.5.1).
Phoibos: the name may be used just because it is metrically more versatile
than Apollon.
laurel boughs: the broom is appropriately made from Apollo's favourite tree
and perhaps conveys ritual purity as well as physical cleanliness. The garlands
may be literally garlands or again bunches of twigs for sweeping.
immortal gardens: in prosaic language, the temenos of the sanctuary (see
introduction to Chapter 5). Myrtle is a plant associated generally with the
divine; priests often wore myrtle crowns.
happiness and prosperity: · the meaning is uncertain, but probably it is a
wish that Apollo will convey happiness and prosperity to his worshippers.
Kastalia: the famous spring of the Delphi.c sanctuary.
chaste as I am: literally, 'being in a state of purity (and therefore permitted
to perform ritual acts) from sex'. A certain degree of purity from sex (the lapse
of a short period of time) was usual before entering a sanctuary (see 3.3.1,
and 5.1.4); some priestly offices were filled by children, no doubt because
sexual purity was thought particularly important in these cases. Here it chimes
with the cleanliness theme in Ion's action and song.
if I must cease: Euripides hints at the play's eventual outcome, when Ion
will learn his true parentage and go to Athens with his royal mother and
stepfather.
3.4.3 A devotee of the Nymphs
Source: Attica, late fifth century (JG 13 977, 980)
(a) Archedamos of Thera planted the garden for the Nymphs.

(b) Archedemos of Thera also built the dancing-floor (?) for the Nymphs.
(c) Archedemos of Thera, the nympholept, completed the cave through the bid-
ding of the Nymphs.
These inscriptions, among others, were carved in a cave at Vari in Attica and
obviously commemorate the founding or elaboration of a cave-sanctuary of
the Nymphs, though Pan and otller deities were also worshipped in the cave.
The first two are inscribed on opposite sides of the same stone. But perhaps the
most interesting inscription is (c), in which the founder (or possibly some-
one else commemorating him) describes his relationship with the nymphs
by calling himself a 'nympholept' - 'one seized by the nymphs'. Studies of
the term suggest that by this he is likely to mean that he attributes the will
and the ability to construct the shrine to the Nymphs themselves; elsewhere
the term often refers to a heightened awareness which may result in
prophecy or poetry. Thus it is a two-way personal relationship which is proudly
commemorated here. There is also a hint that, like Ion, Archedamos may have
gloried in the physical labour for his divine patrons: as well as the words of
the inscriptions, there is a rather crude carving of Archedamos himself wield-
ing building tools, leaving us in no doubt that he did the work himself (see
Figure 3).
The form Archedamos is the one its owner would have used in his
native Thera (Santorini); Archedemos is the Attic form, used in his place
of residence. The inscriptions are a hotchpotch of different dialects and
scripts.
On nymphs, see also below, 3.4.4, and 1.2.8-10.
·~--,,
,- --
- ~:" '"- _ ""· /•,:,-""'/" ,=
_"_""C:ccC.CCo:_:. __
Figure 3 Relief commemorating the construction work of Archedamos at a

cave sanctuary. From the cave of Pan and the Nymphs at Vari, Attica. Curtius and
Kaupert, Atlas van Athen, Berlin 1878, reproduced in American Journal of Archaeology
1903.
3.4.4 Nymphs and others
Source: Thessaly, fifth or fourth century (SEU l 248, Jean-Claude Decourt,

Inscriptionsde Thessalie,vol. 1, Athens, 1995: 73)
God
Hail, passers-by, every female and male, men and women, as well as boys and
girls. (You have come) to a holy place, sacred to the Nymphs and Pan and Hermes,
to• lord Apollo and to Herakles and his companions, a cave of Chiron and of
Asklepios and Health. To them the whole place belongs and all the holy things
in it: plants, pictures, statues and the many gifts. The Nymphs who preside over
· this area made Pantalkes a good man and the overseer of this place. He it was
who planted it and worked it with his hands, and in return they gave him a
life of abundance for all his days. Herakles gave him strength, courage and power,
with which he cut these stones and made the entrance (or, way up). Apollo and
his son and Hermes gave him health and a prosperous livelihood for all his life;
Pan, laughter and cheerfulness, and lawful insolence. Chiron made him wise, and
a poet; So enter with good fortune, sacrifice, all of you, pray and be happy. Here
there is [an end?] to troubles, [a share?] in good things, .and [victory in?] strife. ·
The inscription was found in a cave near Pharsalos in Thessaly, along with
a simpler one recording the dedication by Pantalkes. The two inscriptions
may not be contemporaneous, however; the simpler one is perhaps mid-fifth
century, whereas ours could date from the fourth. So it may not directly attest
Pantalkes' own experience, but if not it tells us what someone - perhaps a
descendant ~ thought about the relationship between the founder, or re-
founder, of the cult and the deities he worshipped.
The sanctuary was a simple country one, formed by tidying up and
improving a natural cave; there are similar small churches in Greece today.
Just like some larger sanctuaries, however, it was shared by several deities.
Pan and the Nymphs, together almost always worshipped in caves, are given
pride of place. Hermes, Pan's father, and Apollo both have interests in herds
and flocks, so are suitable country deities. Asklepios is Apollo's son, and was
brought up by the good Centaur Chiron or Cheiron, who also lived in a cave.
Only Herakles is difficult to explain, along with his mysterious 'companions'
- clearly feminine in gender in the inscription, though this may be a stone-
cutter's error. It may be relevant that in myth Herakles brought about the
death of the previously immortal Chiron.
God: Many inscriptions, not only 'religious' ones, make an auspicious

beginning with words such as 'God', 'Gods' or 'Good Fortune'.
lawful insolence: in Greek, hybris dikaia, a 'just hybris', an oxymoron. Hybris
is disrespect, often accompanied by violence, failing to give someone their
due or insulting them. It is more often used of behaviour towards fellow

humans than to the gods, and Hesiod, for instance, makes it the opposite of
dike, justice. Hybris that is just or lawful might perhaps include practical jokes
and teasing. Pan is a somewhat transgressive god who could well preside over
such activities.
sacrifice, all of you: or perhaps 'sacrifice to Pan'.
3.4.5 Women's self-indulgence
Source: Aristophanes, Lysistrata 387-98
OFFICIAL: So, has the women's self-indulgence broken out again? Their hand-
drum beating, and their constant Sabazioses, and their celebration of
Adonis on the rooftops - I could hear it from the Assembly once! There
was tha.t accursed Demostratos saying we must sail to Sicily, while his
wife was dancing about shouting 'Alas for Adonis!' Demostratos was
saying 'We must raise hoplites from Zakynthos', and his wife, on the
roof and half-drunk, was shouting 'Lament for Adonis!'
On hearing of a meeting of women (which is actually for the political pur-

pose of organising a sex strike in order to bring an end to the war) the Official
assumes that it must be some sort of cult activity. It is interesting that he
associates such gatherings with pleasure and self-indulgence; similarly Lysistrata
herself, at the beginning of the play, complains that no one has come to her
meeting and says that they would have come fast enough if it had been a
bacchic rite or a festival of Pan or Genetyllis (an associate of Aphrodite out
of town at Cape Kolias). No doubt they provided an interesting punctuation
in what was probably a rather boring everyday life for many Athenian women,
and a chance to get out and meet others. Every religious celebration also
involved a meal, and probably drinking as well, even those like the Thesmo-
phoria where feasting was preceded by austerity. But the Official is particu-
larly concerned about the less traditional cults, such as those of the 'new gods'
Sabazios (on whom see below, 3.4.6) and Adonis, who were widely worshipped
in Athens by this date (411) but had not been officially adopted by the state.
Though his description may be somewhat exaggerated, his words suggest
another reason why 'self-indulgence' might be an appropriate term to link
with these cults: they provided a measure of release from the strict self-control
(sophrosyne)which the proper Athenian matron was supposed to exercise (even
if comedy considered her incapable of it).
Adonis, whose name derives from a Semitic root meaning 'lord', was pop-
ularly worshipped in Athens by the growing of 'gardens' - sprouting seeds
during his festival which were disposed of at its end by being thrm,yn i{ltO
water, a novel and distinctive practice in Greece, although both elements are
observed in different ritual contexts in India, suggesting that they may have
diffused from some intermediate point. Whether he was god or mortal (in
myth he was often identified as a mortal lover of Aphrodite), it was his death
that was celebrated as the focal point of his cult, again unusually for Greece,
but less strangely in a West Asian context. Since women were in everyday
life the chief artists of lamentation for the dead, it was perhaps easy for them
to 'let themselves go' in the ritual mourning for Adonis. The festival was cel-
ebrated in private houses rather than official cult-space - hence the roof-tops.
hand-drum beating: tympanismos. The tympana were particularly associated

with the Mother of the Gods (see 5.5.3), whose cult, like that of Sabazios and
Adonis, though officially recognised, was also supposed to be of eastern origin.
Drumbeats and dancing suggest that on occasion a trance-like state could have
been induced.
Demostratos: the reference is to the disastrous Sicilian expedition sent out
in 415. The picture is meant to be funny, but also pointed: Demostratos was
giving the wrong advice, (and how could he have been taken seriously when
his wife was behaving in this absurd way?) The cries of mourning were also
a bad omen for the start of the expedition, which Thucydides on the con-
trary describes as setting out with excitement and high hopes, in a positive
frame: see 4.4.1.
3.4.6 An embarrassing past
Source: Demosthenes 18.259::..60
When you had grown up, you read the books for your mother and helped her
in other ways as she performed initiations. At night you clothed the initiates
in fawnskins and held a mixing bowl over them, and purified them and
cleansed them with mud and bran, and raising them up from the purification
you told them to say 'I have fled evil and found what is better', priding your-
self that no one had ever produced ritual cries so well (which I can believe -
don't suppose that someone who can shout so loud wouldn't be a wonderful
ululator). By day you led your fine bands of worshippers through the streets,
all crowned with fennel and white poplar, and you squeezed pareias snakes and
whirled them above your head, shouting'Euoi saboi' and dancing to 'Hyes attes,
attes hyes', and you were called First One and Leader and Ivy-bearer and Carrier
of the Winnowing Fan by the old women, and took as your fee honey-cakes
and twisted pastries and rolled sweetmeats. Who wouldn't congratulate himself
on his good fortune in such circumstances?
Demosthenes is attacking his opponent Aischines in the time-honoured way

by vilifying his ancestry and parents. His father, he alleges, was a schoolmaster,
a lowly profession, and the young Aischines had helped him by preparing
ink and sweeping out the schoolhouse. Consequently, we cannot suppose that
the orator is concerned to give an accurate picture of the supposed religious
activities of Aischines and his mother; no doubt he hoped to have his audi-
ence in stitches with a virtuoso performance mocking 'unofficial' religious
rituals presided over by paid professionals, drawing on details from various
different cults. The fawnskin and (wine) mixing-bowl suggest a Dionysiac
milieu, while the cry 'euoi saboi' would seem to link Dionysos and the 'for-
eign' god Sabazios, a deity popular in late fifth- and early fourth-century Athens,
but who never quite attains respectability. Pareias (red-coloured) snakes were
also associated with Sabazios by Theophrastos' deisidaimon (4.1.1), but snakes
were significant in many religious contexts; the snake-handling, however, is
meant to seem weird and outlandish. 'Hyes attes' seems to suggest the cult
of Kybele and Attis rather than that of Sabazios, while the purification and
initiation could belong in any number of private cults. What is perhaps most
interesting about the passage is the easy assumption that the audience will
be scornfully amused by the description of such rites, not least perhaps because
of the prominence of women in their celebration (the 'old women', given a
derogatory diminutive, and Aischines' mother as chief initiator). Yet although
the description is played for laughs, we need not suppose that participation
in all unofficial cults is thereby unequivocally condemned. In the preceding
section, Demosthenes describes his own liberal upbringing, and moving on
to his opponent points up the contrast between himself, going to school,
and Aischines the (supposed) slave-schoolmaster's son. What ruins Aischines'
credibility is not so much that he has taken part in such rites but that he
and his family have made a living from them.
In evaluating the description of the activities of Aischines and his mother
(earlier named by Demosthenes, in breach of polite convention, as Glaukothea)
we might bear in mind Aristotle's point that denigration can be accomplished
by reference to something worse in the same category. To illustrate the point,
he refers to Iphikrates calling Kallias, the highly respectable daidoudws of Eleusis,
a metragyrtes or begging-priest of the Mother (referring to rites that are unofficial
and 'dishonourable', as Aristotle says); to which Kallias tartly replied that if
that was his understanding, he was obviously uninitiated (Rhetorica 1404a).
Glaukothea, then, had surely some kind of professional interest in religion,
whether or not she took money for her activities; beyond that, we cannot
go.
read the books: see below, 3.4.7.

clothed the initiates in fawnskins: or, less likely, wore a fawnskin. Similarly
'holding a mixing-bowl' (for mixing wine and water) probably indicates an
action performed on the initiate, and is mentioned as part of an initiation
ritual in the cult of the Korybantes or Kyrbantes at Erythrai (5.4.6).
with mud and bran: this sounds rather like a modern exfoliating treqtm~nt,
no doubt leaving the initiate feeling physically refreshed and clean.
I have fled evil: such declarations, describing what the initiate has done
or experienced (either in terms of the literal physical activity or of its effect)
were normal in initiations. This particular phrase seems to have been used
at weddings also.
ritual cries: referring to ololygmos, a joyful shout or 'ululation' made in a
religious context, often but not exclusively by women.
bands of worshippers: thiasoi.A thiasosis any habitual group of worshippers,
whether an old traditional cult group (such as that in 4.1.6, for instance) or
one of a more newfangled kind, which might attract disdain. See also 4.1
introduction.
ivy-bearer: or in an alternative reading, chest-bearer. Ivy and winnowing-
fan both have Dionysiac connotations, but chests were also used in many
ceremonies to contain secret things.
honey-cakes: when sweetmeats were offered to the gods, they were some-
times taken by the priest as his perquisite.
3.4.7 Objectionable practitioners
Source: Plato, Republic 2 364b-c, ..364e-36Sa
Begging-priests and seers go to the doors of rich people and persuade them that
they have power from the gods through sacrifices and incantations, and if (their
client) or his ancestors have committed. some offence he can atone for this through
enjoyable festivals, or if he wants to bring harm to some enemy then with a
small expenditure he can harm guilty and innocent alike with spells and bind-
ing magic; they claim that they have persuaded the gods to act as their servants
... They produce a great pile of books of Mousaios and Orpheus .- the offspring
of the Moon and the Muses, so they say - and they conduct their sacrifices in
accordance with these. They manage to convince not only individuals but even
cities that sacrifices and enjoyable leisure provide deliverance and purification
from sins for people, both when still alive and even when they are dead, call-
ing them 'ritet', which release us from the sufferings there (the underworld), while
dreadful things await those who do not perform these sacrifices.
This well-known passage is obviously not an impartial view; here as elsewhere

(compare 6.5.1) Plato shows his dislike of religious forms that are not author-
ised by the state, and strongly objects to the idea that wrongdoers can buy
off divine justice by the performance of ritual (see also 3.5.4, 4.3.8). Thus we
cannot suppose that all 'private' practitioners were cynical manipulators of
those with more money than sense, as he implies, and we should be wary of
assuming that the same people invariably had expertise in both initiations and
binding-spells. Nonetheless, it is interesting that Plato makes this connexion,
and though what links the two in his mind is the evasion of justice in both
cases, it is quite possible that some practitioners did indeed offer both.
Religious celebration was normally seen as a joyful, pleasant activity, bring-
ing leisure and a communal meal; initiations were in fact less unambiguously
pleasant, since they often involved disorienting and frightening experiences,
but they too normally ended with feasting, so i.t is fairly easy for Plato to
subsume them in the category of 'enjoyable festivals' which in his view it is
absurd to think cari atone for wrongdoing. He admits that his 'begging-priests'
not only have a private clientele but also act officially for some cities (he may
have in mind particularly cities of Sicily and south Italy where Orphic influence
was strong). Further, his objection to the eschatological claims of the 'rites'
(teletai, a word often implying rites of a secret or initiatory type) would apply
as well to the ultra-respectable Eleusinian Mysteries as to Orphic initiations. With
the 'great pile (literally, a clamour) of books' he is rather snidely indicating
a distinctive difference from more traditional and public rites, where written
sources were seldom used; similarly, in the previous passage, Demosthenes
imagines the young Aischines reading from texts at his mother's initiations.
For examples of binding-spells, see below 3.4.15-17.
Mousaios and Orpheus: on Orpheus, see the introduction to this section,

and below, 3.4.9. Mousaios ('Muse-man') was sometimes linked with him, since
both were mythical figures credited with hexameter verses supposed to predate
Homer and Hesiod. Aristophanes (Frogs1052-3) indicates that while Orpheus
taught 'religious rituals (teletai)and to keep your hands from killing', the sub-
ject of Mousaios' verse was more practical - oracles and cures from diseases.
even when they are dead: teleutesasin, with word-play on teletai, 'rites'
(above).
3.4.8 Initiates only
Source: Cumae, Italy, probably first half of fifth century (LSS 120)
It. is not rightfor anyone to lie here tmless he has been initiated to Bacchos
(bebaccheumenon).
This inscription sets off part of a cemetery for the exclusive use of bacchic/
Orphic initiates (see section introduction), and is early testimony for a cer-
tain sense of community among such. Orphics seem to have observed some
special burial customs, such as a prohibition on the use of woollen shrouds
(Herodotus, Histories 2.81), and there is some evidence suggesting that they
may have performed joyful rituals for the dead, who had gone to a blissful
future. More light is thrown on these customs and beliefs by the J.Jassages
which follow.
3.4.9 Instructions for the afterlife
Source: Inscribed gold leaves from Hipponion (Calabria, ahout 400),

Thourioi (Lucania, fourth century), and Pherai (Thessaly,
second half of fourth century) (a) Graf-Johnston 1
This is the work of memory. When you are about to die (and enter) the well-
built house of Hades, there is on the right a spring, and standing by it a white
cypress. The souls of the dead go down to it and cool themselves .. Do not. go
near this spring. Ahead you will find cold water flowing forth from the lake of
memory, and there are guards at it. They vvill ask you, with cunning intent,
what you are looking for in the darkness of murky Hades. Say 'l am a.son of
Earth and starry Sky. I am parched with thirst, and I perish; quickly let me drink
· cold water from the lake of memory.' Then they will speak of you to the king
beneath the earth, and they will give you to drink from the lake of memory.
And when you have drunk, you will go along the holy road which the .other ·
glorious initiates and bacchoi also travel.
Source: (b) Graf-Johnston 5
I come pure from the pure, 0 queen of the earthy ones, Eukles, Eubouleus, and
the other immortal gods. For I too claim to be of your happy race, but fate
subdued me, and the other immortal gods/and the thunderbolt hurling from
the stars. l have taken flight, away from the toilsome circle with its weight of
grief, I have attained with swift feet the crown that is desired. I have sunk beneath
the lap of the Lady, the queen of the earth, f have attained with swift feet the
crown that is desired. 'Happy and blessed one, you will be a god instead of
mortal.' A kid, I fell into milk.
Source: (c) Graf-Johnston 27

I
I
Tokens: andrikepaidothyrson 1 andrikepaidothyrson. Brimo, Brimo. Enter the holy
meadow, for the initiate is without penalty. (Written upside down) Plot of land.
These are examples from the numerous inscribed gold tablets which have been
found in burials from all over the Greek world from the early fourth century
through to Roman imperial times, and which can now fairly confidently be
identified as coming from an Orphic milieu. The thin metal plaques were
often folded and placed near the hand or head or on the chest of the corpse;
in the last case it may originally have been worn round the neck. The dead
were initiates (some gold tablets have simply the dead person's name with
mystes, 'initiate' added) and the more explicit tablets in some way reprise
the initiation exp.erience at the time of death, making quite clear the claim
that initiation was a passport to a better fate after death. The details vary
in different texts, but the longer inscriptions all carry some reminder of the
knowledge given to the initiate which will enable him or her to satisfy the
infernal powers and attain a blissful state. The core of this knowledge was
no doubt the Orphic myth of Dionysos (see section introduction above),
which provides an• answer to the basic question of who we are and how
we got here, but the tablets show that there was much more detail to be
learned. All our examples seek to recall that detail; the differences may
indicate different forms of initiation, but other tablets show overlaps, and
equally the divergences may be due to different parts of the initiation pro-
cess being recalled.
The first example is the earliest of the gold tablets, dating to around 400;
variants appear frequently in later burials. Here the soul of the initiate must
first remember what it has been told and avoid the mistake of the other souls
(of the righteous, but uninitiated?) which drink from a spring, no doubt
that of Forgetfulness (Lethe, commonly listed in non-Orphic sources as a
river of the underworld). Knowing the correct words will instead enable it to
drink from a source of Memory, which lets it pass into a state of bliss. The
words tell the guards that the soul knows its origins: like the gods (indeed,
like the Titans) it is descended from Earth and Sky (see 2.1.1). Some versions
make this clearer by adding 'but my race is heavenly'. Initiation restores
the knowledge of the soul's divine nature, so that it may be made actuality
after death.
This is even more explicit in the second tablet and its variants. Here the
soul speaks directly, not to go-between guards, but to the gods themselves;
the queen must be Persephone, while Eukles is probably Hades, the under-
world Zeus, and Eubouleus here Dionysos. The 'toilsome circle' is no doubt
that of continued rebirth, from which the soul can escape through initiation
and the consequent knowledge of its true nature, and the presentation of
the soul as deprived of its proper state resonates with the main Orphic myth,
as well as having marked affinities with Empedocles (below, 3.4.11). 'Sinking
beneath the lap (or bosom, or womb) of the lady' may refer to some part of
initiation and would seem to indicate that the initiate somehow becomes a
child or nursling of Persephone. The kid falling into milk, which occurs with
several variants on many Orphic tablets, may also allude to something in the
mysteries, or it may be simply proverbial for great good fortune.
The third example is much more concise, simply giving two one-word
passwords which the soul must give to those it meets after death. The Orphic
milieu was rich in signs, tokens and passwords learned during initiation; in
a sense all of the tablets repeat such signs for the dead initiate. The first word
here is somewhat mysterious, but may be compounded of words meaning
. ..
'man' or 'manly', 'child' and 'thyrsos' - the last being a wand-like stick carried
in Dionysiac worship, often shown when such scenes are depicted in art.
Alternatively, it has been suggested that it represents a corruption of a

phrase meaning 'Boy, open the little door'. The name Brimo belongs to an
underworld or 'chthonic' goddess sometimes identified with Persephone,
and according to Christian writers it was used at Eleusis. The repetition
of the words might indicate their acceptance by the guards in the under-
world, or perhaps the giving and repetition of the passwords at the time of
initiation.
(a) I am a son of Earth: although the grave in question is that of a woman.

Some versions have 'a child of Earth' or 'a daughter'.
(b) the other immortal gods/the thunderbolt: these are marked as alter-
natives in the original, and each version completes a hexameter line. The
first indeed is a Homeric formula; the second recalls the thunderbolt with
which Zeus destroyed the Titans.
(c) plot of land: Graf and Johnston consider these to be meaningless

letters, but gapedon is a word in Doric Greek. Its relevance is quite unclear,
however. Could it have indicated the cemetery where the corpse was to be
buried? Compare 3.4.8 above.
3.4.10 A god among men
Source: Empedocles fr. 1 Inwood (DK31 B 112)
Friends, you who live in the great town of the yeflow Akragas; up in the heights
of the city, you whose concern is good works,. reverent havens for strangers,
unknowing of evil, hail; I go among you as an immortal god, mortal no longer,
honoured by all, as is fitting, crowned with ribbons and festive wreaths. When
I arrive in flourishing towns, I am revered by all, by men and. women. They
follow me in tens of thousands, asking the direction of the path to gain. Some
ask for prophecies, some looked to hear a healing pronouncement for all sorts
of illnesses, having suffered long with· dreadful pains.
In these verses the philosopher and religious practitioner Empedocles presents

himself as he is seen by (some) others; perhaps a more favourable picture of
the sort of person pilloried by Plato above (3.4.7), certainly one with higher
claims. The implication is that ordinary people recognise Empedocles' extra-
ordinary power and holiness, but do not understand its background. Later
on in the poem he is more explicit about his status, in the context of the
general fate of souls.
Akragas: here the river belonging to the Sicilian town of the same name
(modern Agrigento).
3.4.11 Sin leads to rebirth
Source: Empedocles fr. 11 Inwood (DK 31 B 115)
There is an oracle ofnec~ssity, a~ ancient decree of the g~ds, eternal and sealed
with great oaths: whenever someone in wrongdoing defiles his limbs with slaugh-
ter (or?) sinfully fqrswears himself, (one of) the deities whose portion is long
life, then for thirty thousand seasons he must wander away from the blessed ones,
becoming in time all kinds of mortal things, exchanging the harsh pathways of
life one for another. The force of the air drives him to the sea, and the sea spits
him out onto the earth's threshold, and the earth into the rays of the blazing
sun, and the sun into the whirlpools of the air. One receives him from another,
and all loathe him. Of these I too am one now, a vagrant and exile from the
god, having placed my trust in mad strife.
Like the Pythagoreans, Empedocles is quite explicit that souls are reborn in
different bodies, not all of them human (he claimed to remember his own
births as boy, girl, bush, bird and fish; fr. 111 Inwood/DK 117). This process
is seen in strongly negative terms (compare the Orphic 'toilsome circle' above,
3.4.9b), as a punishment, or perhaps better as a natural consequence of wrong-
doing, and as exile from one's proper place and nature (again very like the
Orphic view). The starting-point seems to be existence as a deity (daimon), a
state which the soul struggles to regain. Empedocles implicates himself in the
process, but he must be at the very end of the cycle; he remembers and recog-
nises how he has come to be here, and his godlike nature is recognised 'as
is fitting' (above, 3.4.10). In another fragment (136 Inwood, DK 146) he tells
us that 'finally they become prophets, singers of hymns, and healers, and
leaders among people on earth, from where they spring forth again as gods,
supreme in honour'; this must be the stage he regards himself as occupying.
But what exactly is the wrongdoing committed by the god or daimon which
precipitates the process? The passage shows that there may be different
forms, and individual sins may be bound up in the long-term fluctuation of
the universe between the dominance of Love and Strife which is the core of
Empedocles' cosmology. But one major error which most people commit in
their human lives is tackled below, 3.4.12.
thirty thousand seasons: apparently a set sentence, but it is possible that

it might be shortened by knowledge, purifications and appropriate living.
Herodotus (Histories2.121) mentions a similar cycle of only three thousand
years, held by unnamed Greeks who he says got the idea from the Egyptians.
the force of the air: in these lines it is the four elements which are envisaged
as in turn rejecting the sinner, who moves from birth to birth in different
life-forms.
.
"'
3.4.12 The folly of animal sacrifice
Source: Empedocles fr. 128 InwoosJ (DK 3i B 137)
. A father lifts up his dear son, who is changed in shape, prays over him and
slaughters him, poor fool. And they are without resource, sacrificing him as he
implores them. But he, deaf to these reproaches, made slaughter in his halls,
and prepared an evil meal. In the same way, a son takes hold of his father and
• children their mother, tearing out the life and eating the dear flesh.
If souls migrate into different bodies, it follows that any animal may in fact
be a dead person who was dear to us. Empedocles evokes horrific myths of
human sacrifice (such as Iphigeneia) and fathers unwittingly feeding on their
sons (Tantalos, Thyestes) and shows that such scenarios may occur any time
that an animal is killed in sacrifice and eaten, so that a pious action becomes
the greatest impiety. An allied point was satirically attributed by the philoso-
pher and poet Xenophanes to Pythagoras ('Don't beat the dog - he's a friend;
I recognise the voice', DK 32 fr. 7); but here Empedocles uses the extreme
case to shock us and bring home the message that all beings are kin. Another
passage, though imperfectly transmitted (124 Inwood, DK 139), suggests that
meat-eating could have been the primal sin causing the fall of the daimones,
and in fragment 122 Inwood (DK 128) Empedocles describes how worship
was performed without the killing of animals at the time when Love was dom-
inant in the universe.
they are without resource: presumably the group of sacrificers, who have
no idea what they are doing.
3.4.13 Purity and esoteric rites
Source: Euripides, Cretans (TrGF 5.1 fr. 472)
Child of Europa of the family of Phoinix, and of great Zeus, ruler of Crete
with its hundred cities; I come, leaving the godly temples 1 with their roofs
of cypress grown in that very spot, cut into beams by an axe of steel and put
together into fitting joints sealed with the glue of cattle. I have lived a pure
life since I became an initiate of Idaian Zeus, and a cattle-man of night-
ranging Zagreus, celebrating the feasts of raw flesh, and, holding up torches for
the Mountain Mother with the Kouretes, was sanctified and gained the name
of bacchos. Wearing garments all of white, I shun both the birth of mortals and
the tombs of the dead, and avoid approaching them; and I keep myself from
eating living food.
In this passage, preserved only as a fragment of Euripides' play about Minos,

Pasiphae and the 'Minotaur, the chorus enter and address Minos in highly
ornamental language; they are characterised as adepts of exotic religious observ-
ance, such as Athenians might well have associated with Crete but would
have heard of in other contexts too. Like Demosthenes (3.4.6), Euripides seems
to be mixing up different deities and different styles of worship, which have
in common their elective character, their use of initiation and their special
religiosity. But unlike Demosthenes, Euripides' picture is not a negative one;
the chorus' purity and religious observance was no doubt intended to con-
trast with Pasiphae's horrible lust for the bull and production of a hybrid
offspring.
Of the three deities mentioned, Zeus of Ida is a specifically Cretan form
referring to the Cretan mountain which was a strong contender for his birth-
place and had old associations with his cult. The name Zagreus may also have
a Cretan flavour, but is usually associated with the Orphic form of Dionysos
(above, p. 117), and the eating of raw flesh is frequently mentioned as a
(usually mythical) practice in the ecstatic worship of Dionysos. Ecstatic
worship was also common in the cult of the Mountain Mother (Mother of
the Gods, Dindymene Mother or Kybele; see 5.5.3), also mythologically
identified as Rhea, mother of Zeus, which would have a particular resonance
in Crete with its claim to be Zeus' birthplace and cult of a young Zeus (com-
pare 5.5.2). Because of the similarity in some of the styles of their worship,
Dionysos and the Mother are quite often associated, notably in the entrance
song of Euripides' Bacchae, which also mentions the Kouretes (72-82, 120-35).
The Kouretes arc deities or demigods envisaged as attendants on the Mother,
and mythologically known as the guardians of the baby Zeus, who drowned
out his cries with the clashing of their instruments and wild dancing, thus
hiding him from his father Kronos.
The chorus depict themselves not merely as involved in the worship of
these deities, but as having been initiated (mystes) and thereafter living a
life of special purity as a bacchos. The audience will have in the back of
their minds the picture of the Orphic/bacchic initiate of their own day,
but Euripides has elaborated the picture with his eclectic mix of deities and
purity observances culled from different sources. Wearing white is required
in some celebrations and initiations (as for instance at Andania, 6.4. 7)
while birth and death of course conveyed pollution and the especially pure
tried to avoid them (see 3.3. f, 4.1.1). Vegetarianism is a bit more outre,
but was associated with both Orphism and Pythagoreanism, as well as the
system of Empedocles (above, 3.4.12); 'living' (empsychos, literally 'ensouled')
was the word used to describe meat and fish by those who followed this
observance. It sits oddly with the raw meat feasts mentioned a few lines pre-
viously. Conceivably Euripides has in mind a special ritual contrasting in a
dramatic manner with the normal, religiously inspired lifestyle of his Cretan
bacchoi, or he may simply be running together a number of unusual Jtelig,ous
practices.
cattle-man: boutes may mean a herdsman or perhaps one who slaughters

or sacrifices cattle; either meaning would fit the 'feasts of raw flesh'.
3.4.14 Harmful magic
Source; Plato, Laws 11 932e-933b
There are two kinds of poisoning used in human society, which are difficult to
distinguish. The one we have just explicitly spoken of injures bodies with mater-
ial objects in a natural way. The other uses enchantments. and incantations and
so-called binding-spells to persuade those who have the audacity to harm others
that they have the power to do so, and others that above all they are being
injured by those who are able to perform magic. It is not easy to recognise how
these things came about, or anything connected with such matters, a.nd even
if one does know, it is not easy to convince others. When people are upset with
each other because they have seen wax figurines placed at their doors or at cross-
roads or at the tombs of their parents, there is no point in trying to persuade
them to take no notice of such things because they have no clear and certain
view of them.
Figure 4 Small doll inscribed with the name Mnesimachos, in a box bearing a
binding spell against Mnesimachos and eight others involved in a lawsuit. Found in a
burial at the Kerameikos, Athens. Kerameikos Museum IB12.
Plato's purpose here is to discuss appropriate penalties, but he incidentally

gives one of our most useful testimonies on what came to mind in the fourth
century when people thought of harmful magic: little dolls intended to work
certain undesired actions and often also intended to come to the victim's
notice and frighten him or her. The distinction between 'natural' (kata
physin) and other methods of harm is also interesting. Plato's language indi-
cates that he does not himself believe in the power of 'magical' methods to
harm, but he still considers that their use is a serious offence because of the
psychological effects it causes. The penalties he envisages are severe: in the
case of a mantis (seer) or teratoskopos (one who investigates omens) death is
to be mandatory, just as it is in the case of a physician who uses 'natural'
poisons to kill, while for non-professionals the court is to have discretion to
determine the sentence. It would be interesting to have some idea how many
of the magical remains known to us were set up by experts and how many
were 'do-it-yourself'.
Though magical practices of this sort could be expected to arouse dis-
approval, they were also obviously fairly widely practised. We hear of a
female practitioner from Lemnos who was condemned to death for
impiety in fourth-century Athens, but such a reaction would seem to be
exceptional.
3.4.15 A binding-spell
Source: Fourth-century lead tablet from Athen.s (DTAud 50)
Hermes Possessor and Persephone, hold down the body and soul and tongue
and feet and deeds and plans of Myrrhine the wife of Hagnotheos of Peiraieus,
until she dies and goes down to Hades.
Hermes Possessor and Persephone, hold down the tongue and soul (and feet
and deeds and) plans of Parthenios and Apollonios, the children of Hagnotheos.
Hermes Possessor and Persephone, hold down the soul and body and feet and
hands and deeds and plans and tongue of Euxenos the (... ?) of Myrrhine, until
he goes down to Hades.
Hermes Possessor and. Persephone, hold down the deeds and souls and
tongue and plans of all who are now servants of Hagnotheos and Myrrhine and
Parthenios and Apollonios, and those who were formerly, and do not let go until
they go down to Hades.
This is a fairly typical example of the 'curse tablets' found all over the Greek
world at this date, in which the writer attempts to restrain, in a sinister way,
the activities of others. We do not know the circumstances of this particular
example, but the mention of the servants suggests that we might be dealing
with a family business in which the work was carried out by slaves. ,Business
rivalry is a fairly frequent occasion for binding-spells.
Hermes is the deity most often appealed to in curse tablets as (like the dead
person in whose tomb the tablet is placed) he journeys between the upper
and lower worlds, and katochos ('possessor' or 'holder-down') is his most fre-
quent epithet. Persephone is of course the queen of the underworld, whose
name it is sometimes considered ill-omened to ~mention.
The tablet is rather poorly written, with parts of the names or formulas
omitted at first and added later. Like many of its kind, it was rolled up and
pierced in several places with a nail.
3.4.16 Binding a rival to destruction
Source: Fourth-century lead tablet from Pella (SEG 43.434)
I write down the ceremony and the marriage-night of Thetima and Dionyso-
phon, and of all other women, both widows and virgins (with Dionysophon),
but especially of Thetima, and I place it down beside Makron and the powers
(daimones). And whenever I dig it up again and unroll it and read it, then
Dionysophon is to marry and not before. Let him take no other woman except
me. Let it be me and no other woman who grows old with Dionysophon. I am
your suppliant, dear powers (daimones), have pity on me, for I am lowly(?) and
bereft of all friends. Guard me against these things happening, and let evil Thetima
perish evilly. (A few words unclear) but let me be fortunate and happy. (A few
more unclear words)
The tablet was found in the agora at Pella in Macedonia, and probably arrived
there when material from the necropolis was used to rebuild it some time
after 320. The writer seems likely to be the girlfriend or pallake of Dionysophon,
belonging to some class unlikely or unable to contract a legal marriage, who
seeks to prevent his planned wedding. Like most such tablets, it will have been
placed in a tomb, Makron being the name of the dead man to whom the task
of enforcement is entrusted; the 'other daimones' are the underworld deities,
often named as one or more of Hermes, Hekate, Persephone (Hades is less fre-
quently named), but here left vague and so perhaps all-inclusive. It is intrigu-
ing and perhaps unexpected that the writer hopes that such grim powers may
be moved to pity by her defenceless position. The tablet shows that 'magic'
is often resorted to in apparently hopeless situations, when other means are
of no use.
write down: katagrapho, meaning to 'register' or 'enrol', but here with the
sense of enrolling it before the daimones below; the prefix kata, down, is
used also in the formula of 'binding down' very commonly found on curse
tablets.
whenever I dig it up again: that is, presumably, never.
3.4.17 Counter-binding
Source: Early fourth-century lead tablet apparently from Attica (SEG 49.320)
If someone bound me down, whether woman or man, slave or free, foreigner

or citizen, kin or otherwise, whether in malice against my work or actions, if
someone bound me before Hermes Eriounios
. : \
or the Possessor or the Deceitful,
or anywhere else, I bind down all my enemies in return.
(other side): I bind down my adversary Dion and Granikos (rest is unclear and
uncertain).
The existence of curses and binding-spells leads naturally to the desire for an
antidote or counter-spell. One method is preventative - the use or wearing
of an amulet to render such spells powerless. When this fails, the victim may
hit back at the suspected aggressor. Here the writer clearly wishes to 'bind'
the other side in a lawsuit (the word translated as 'adversary', a<n>tidikos,
properly means a legal opponent) but is afraid that one of his enemies may
have got in first. Binding 'all my enemies' may render this action ineffective
and should certainly make them incompetent in court.
Hermes Eriounios: Eriounios is a Homeric epithet of uncertain meaning; the

other two names are also epithets of Hermes, who is notoriously tricky (dolios)
and very frequently in curse tablets the 'possessor' or 'holder-down' (katochos:
compare above, 3.4.15). The writer seems to have a strong suspicion of the
deities who might be involved in the binding, but with 'or anywhere else'
wishes to cover all possibilities, just as he has done with various categories
of people who might have initiated the process.
3.4.18 The Ephesian letters
Source: Various sources
aski kataski lix tetrax damnameneu aisia
'Ephesian letters' are referred to in a fragment from a mid-fourth century com-

edy, in a context which shows they were carried around the person as a charm
or amulet; two late sources give the letters in forms close to the above. They
have no 'meaning' in Greek and can be seen as powerful sounds like Hindu
and Buddhist bfja-mantras. They have also been found contained in much
longer verse texts on lead tablets from various parts of the Greek world, the
oldest of which is a fifth-century tablet from Himera in Sicily. The piff\rent
versions show that the verses have already become corrupt, and they are
enigmatic and hard to understand; but some of the material there, and
particularly also in associated verses on the fourth-century example from

Selinous (also in Sicily), is more reminiscent of Orphic and other mysteries
than of the harmful magic considered above. Whether the letters themselves
originate as a corruption of an original verse text, as some scholars consider,
or the verses are a lexically meaningful expansion and perhaps interpreta-
tion of the letters, is unclear.
Some sources tell us that the letters were inscribed upon parts of the orna-
mentation of the great cult statue of Artemis at Ephesos. If this is true, they
could perhaps have been used in the worship of Artemis there; but the lead
tablets and other references are more suggestive of their use in a protective
context, invoking divine power for a practical purpose.
3.5 Impiety and Atheism
Alongside the possible choices in religion which we reviewed in the last

section, there are others of a different sort: to have no particular keenness or
interest in the subject (which is broadly acceptable), and going further, to
show disrespect to the gods or to doubt their existence. These more negative
choices come in various forms which we might want to analyse in different
ways, yet to the Greeks impiety and atheism go together. To revere the gods
is to have eusebeia, a word with positive connotations, and the opposite
phenomenon is asebeia, which might cover a variety of behaviours and stances:
insulting the gods as instanced in 3.5.1, certainly, and refusing to worship
the established deities, but also deliberately offering sacrifice in a way that is
not permitted, and generally immoral behaviour, doing things which are not
pleasing to the gods. Impious behaviour could be seen as laying down a chal-
lenge to the gods - 'if you exist, punish me', just as from Homer onwards
those who behave outrageously are described as 'reckoning as nothing the
concern of the gods', and their comeuppance is hailed with 'There are gods!'
(e.g. Odyssey 24.351).
Insulting behaviour towards holy things and holy places is attested as
not all that unusual for late fifth- and early fourth-century Athens by both
Thucydides and Plato (3.5.1, 3.5.4), along with a few other scraps of evidence.
Both authors are no doubt correct to imply that it was often the result of
drunken recklessness rather than considered atheism or godlessness, and yet
the panic produced by the events of 415 could well have linked such events
in many people's minds with the real or perceived atheistic teachings of some
intellectuals - which Aristophanes' Clouds, produced eight years earlier,
shows us could equally inspire fear (3.5.2). In the Laws (3.5.4), Plato certainly
considers the two phenomena as parallel - one causes offence to the gods
through actions, the other through words. Although he is perfectly capable
of expressing the concept of atheism in our sense, he has to do so by a peri-
phrasis, and everyday language is more vague: ou nomizei theous might mean
according to context 'he does not observe normal divine worship' or 'he does
not believe in the gods' - an equivalent might be 'he doesn't do gods'. The
distinction between an atheistic and an agnostic position might be an import-

ant one philosophically, but it was much less clear in popular thought.
Again, it is Plato who is our chief testimonial to the existence of out-and-
out atheists. The famous formulation of the fifth-century sophist Protagoras
(3.5.3) is clearly agnostic, and such a stance may not have been altogether
an isolated one among intellectuals. The later position of Epicurus and his
followers, whereby the gods exist but have nothing to do with the world of
humanity, looks like a means of retaining the benefits of agnosticism or even
atheism without incurring the scandal that such viewpoints tended to attract.
But even the majority for whom doubts about the existence of gods was a
step too far could concur in Protagoras' uncertainty as to their qualities.
Other possibly atheistic positions have been presented at 1.1.5 and 1.3.8.
The first, the argument of Euripides' Bellerophon, from the injustice of the
world, is of course a perennial favourite, the 'problem of evil'. The idea of reli-
gion as a human construct is not necessarily incompatible with theism, but the
presentation of this view in Sisyphos (1.3.8) shows clearly that for the speaker
the gods are a fiction. In both these cases, the views are those of characters in
a drama, the rest of which is lost to us; the original context would have told
us much more about the evaluation of these views, but at the same time we
should not underplay their significance as opinions which could be voiced.
3.5.1 Mutilations and parodies
Meanwhile the stone herms in the polis of the Athenians, which are formed in
a rectangular shape in the local fashion, and of which there are many in the
doorways both of private houses and of holy places, were almost all mutilated
about the face in one night. No one knew who the perpetrators were, but they
were sought with large rewards offered at public cost, and it was further voted
that anyone, whether citizen 1 foreigner or slave, who knew of any other impiety
committed might give information with impunity. They took the business very
seriously, because it seemed both to be an omen· for the expedition and to be
the work of a conspiracy to cause a revolution and overthrow the power of the
people. Some foreign residents and servants then gave information not about
the herms, but about some previous mutilations which had been committed by
young men in a drunken frolic, and also that there were mock celebrations of
the Mysteries conducted in houses. Among the accused was Alcibiades. This was
taken up by those who were Alcibiades' greatest enemies, since he was preventing
them from becoming clear leaders of the people, and they thought that if they
could get him exiled they would occupy the first place. They magnified the issue,
and kept shouting that both the affair of the Mysteries and the mutilation of
the herms were aimed at the destruction of the democracy, and that none of it
had been done without Alcibiades, giving as evidence his general lawless and
undemocratic lifestyle.
Although the passage is good contemporary evidence for deliberately shock-

ing and impious actions, Thucydides' stance on the affair of the mutilation
of the herms and the parody of the Mysteries is one of urbane detachment.
He is agnostic about the herms, but strongly implies that statue mutilation
in general is 'the sort of thing that happens' when young men have too much
to drink, and that the affair of the Mysteries had no intrinsic importance,
but acquired significance largely for political reasons, because Alcibiades was
involved. His attitude was probably quite unusual, though no doubt not unique;
but for a majority, the profanation and mockery of something so centrally
holy as the Mysteries of Eleusis (see 6.4.1-4) would likely be deeply shocking.
Nonetheless, when it was politically expedient the exiled Alcibiades was allowed
back to Athens, and the curse placed upon him by the priests of Eleusis was
rescinded. Perhaps at this point many people assumed that he had been
wrongly accused. As the hierophant was supposed to have said, 'If he does
not wrong the city, then I did not curse him' (Plutarch, Alcibiades 33).
What was alarming about the affair of the herms was probably its scale
and apparent organisation. Both this passage and 3.5.3 bear witness to 'drunken
frolics' culminating in disrespectful behaviour towards religious objects, but norm-
ally such episodes would be spontaneous and confined to one place. The fact
that in one night across the whole city identical acts of outrage had been
performed strongly suggested a deliberate attempt to impress, almost an act
of terrorism. In the charged atmosphere of the later Peloponnesian War years,
when anti-democratic associations flourished or were thought to flourish in
Athens, it would be natural to interpret this as the work of revolutionaries aim-
ing to overthrow the democracy. In that case, the message would be not so
much 'we insult the gods' as 'we insult the gods of the Athenian democracy'.
On herms or 'Hermeses', see 4.1.4.
3.5.2 Throwing out the gods because of Socrates
Source: Aristophanes, Clouds (a) 814-31
sTREPSIADES: By Mist, you won't stay here any longer. Go and eat the columns
of Megakles.
rttEIDIPPIDES: Father, you're behaving oddly: what's the matter? By Olympian
Zeus, you're not in your right mind.
sTREPSIADEs: (laughing) Hark at that, 'Olympian Zeus'! How stupid! Fancy
believing in Zeus at your age.
PHEIDIPPIDES: What on earth's so funny?
sTREPSlADES: You're a child, and you think in such an old-fashioned way. Never
mind, come close, so that you can learn a bit more. I'll teU you
what you need to learn to be a man. But make sure you don't tell
anyone.
PHEIDIPPIDES: All right. So what is it?

STREPSIADES: You swore just now by Zeus.
PHEIDIPPIDES: Yes, I did.
STREPSIADES: You see wha~ a good thing learning is? Phcidippides, there is no
Zeus.
PHEIDIPPIIJES: Then who is there?
STREPSIADES: Vortex has thrown Zeus out and is king.
PHEIDIPPIDES: Eurgh, what rubbish 'are you talking?
STREPSIADES: It's the truth.
PHEIDTPPIDES: Who says so?
STREPSIADES: Socrates of Melos, and Chairephon, the one who understands how
fleas jump.
Source: (b) 1476-1484, 1506-9
STREPSJADES: Oh, madness! I must have been crazy, throwing out the gods because
of Socrates. Dear Hermes, please don't be angry with me and
destroy me. Forgive me - too many words must have driven me
out of my mind. Now give me some advice - should I prosecute
them, or what do you think? Ah yes, that's good advice, don't get
embroiled in a lawsuit, but burn the chatterboxes' house down right
away ...
(Strepsiadessets fire to the Reflectory.Socratesand his students will bum to death if
they cannot escape.)
STREPSIADES: Then what were you about, insulting the gods and searching out
the place where the moon lives? (To his slave) Chase them, hurl
things at them, strike them, for all the things they've done, but
, most of all because they've wronged the gods.
Eight years before the mutilation of the herms, in 423, Aristophanes produced
his comic attack on Socrates, though the version we have is a revision that
was not staged. In the play Socrates was pilloried for all sorts of supposed
interests and practices which bear little resemblance to those of the portraits
by Plato and Xenophon, and it seems likely that the well-known and phys-
ically distinctive Socrates is being made to carry the can for 'intellectuals'
and sophists in general. Comedy loves to puncture pretensions, and much
that this comic 'Socrates' is up to is shown as merely silly, but there is a seri-
ous undertone running through the play: Socrates is presented as denying
the traditional gods and (just as he would eventually be charged) introduc-
ing new divinities of his own. However unlike the real Socrates this may be
(and this is difficult to establish, since Xenophon and Plato have their own
\
agendas) it does suggest a background of radical views about the gods, or at

least one of fear and distrust of intellectual speculation in this area.
In the first extract, the old simpleton Strepsiades, who has gone to Socrates
for instruction so that he can escape paying the debts run up by his extrav-
agant son Pheidippides, meets Pheidippides and imparts to him some half-
understood new learning. The second extract is from the very end of the play,
when the penitent Strepsiades has realised the error of his ways and gets his
revenge on those who have misled him. The problem of the debts is never
solved.
by Mist: Socrates' deities are natural forces, Mist, Air and Clouds - which
all have a suggestion of insubstantiality and nothingness - and Vortex
(Dinos), which is also the name of a kind of cup punningly displayed out-
side Socrates' house, the Reflectory (phrontisterion).
columns of Megakles: Strepsiades refers to the fancy houses owned by the

relatives of his rich wife.
Vortex has thrown Zeus out: a running joke throughout the play. Strepsiades
is too stupid to grasp Socrates' 'philosophical' statement that the real god,
or ruling principle of the universe, is Vortex, not Zeus, and interprets it in a
mythological sense. As Zeus himself defeated Kronos and ruled in his stead,
so Vortex has done the same to Zeus.
Socrates of Melos: Socrates was as Athenian as the next man, but he is here
slanderously approximated to Diagoras of ,Melos, 'the godless', who had insulted
the Mysteries and certainly later had a reputation for not believing at all in
the existence of gods.
Chairephon: this figure appears in a few Platonic dialogues, and in Clouds

he is Socrates' chief disciple. In an earlier scene he was depicted as measur-
ing the jumps of fleas - a self-evidently pointless occupation, as well as indi-
cating the lack of hygiene of Socrates and his associates.
prosecute them: this anticipates Socrates' actual trial by twenty-four years,

but Aristophanes can rarely resist a dig at the legal system. Lawsuits will only
land Strepsiades in a worse mess.
where the moon lives: although the sun and moon may not have been
regularly worshipped in fifth-century Athens, they were certainly mytholog-
ical deities and were often regarded as visible signs of divinity. The philoso-
pher Anaxagoras had got into big trouble (an impiety charge and exile) for,
among other things, his suggestion that the sun was a red hot mass of metal.
Prying into things divine suggests a lack of respect for the gods. Strepsiades'
words are emphatic, because they are effectively the last of the play; the
foilowing line, given to the Chorus, merely announces the end.
3.5.3 An agnostic position
Source: Pro_tagoras (DK 80 B 4)
Concerning the gods, I haye· no way. of knowing either that they exist or that
they do not exist, or what they are like in form. There are many things which
impede that knowledge, both the obscurity (of the subject) and the brevity of
human life.
Protagoras of Abdera was an older contemporary of Socrates, but unlike him

a professional sophist who made a living by his lectures and teaching. The
fragment came from the opening of a work 'On the Gods'; what can have
followed, we do not know. Protagoras was far from alone in his view that
truth about the gods is hard to reach or even unattainable: the point is made
for instance by Xenophanes (DK 21 B 34) and Herodotus (Histories2.3.2), and
seems to have been something of a commonplace. But to extend the uncer-
tainty to the gods' actual existence is to go considerably beyond the norm and
perhaps rather shocking, even if it is obviously not atheistic in the modem sense.
3.5.4 How to deal with atheism and

unsuitable views of the gods
Source: Plato, Laws 10 884b-85d, 888a-d, 889b-c, 889e-890b
ATHENIAN: As for what remains (of crimes to be considered)the greatest are the
bad behaviour, violence and disrespect shown by the young, and the
worst of these are those committed towards holy places. These are
particularly serious when they are done to public, consecrated areas
or to shrines that are partially shared, such as those of tribes, or of
other groups of that sort. Second and next most serious are offences
committed against private sanctuaries and tombs, and third are .
those against parents ... Now we have already described in summary
fashion what should be the penalty for the plundering of sanctuar-
ies, whether it is done by open force or by stealth, and we must now
produce an admonition and decide what should be imposed on those
who commit offences against the gods by what they say and by what
they do. Now no one who believes in the existence of the gods, in
accordance with the laws, has ever voluntarily performed an impi-
ous action or let slip a lawless word. Those who do so must fall into
one •Ofthree categories: either they don't believe what I have said 1
or secondly, they believe the gods exist but not that they have any
interest in human affairs, or thirdly, that they are easily persuaded
and brought round by sacrifices and vows.
KLEINIAs: What then should we do and say about them?

ATHENIAN: My friend, let us first hear from them, or what I prophesy that they
say in jest, because of their contempt for us.
KLEINIAS: What, then?
ATHENIAN: They might say this, in a frivolous manner: 'Dear friends from
Athens, Sparta and Knossos, you are quite right. Some of us don't
believe in the gods at all, and some of us. believe that they are as
you say. But we think that it is reasonable - just as you thought it
so when discussing laws - that before you start making horrible threats
towards us you should first try to persuade and convince us that the
gods exist, giving sufficient evidence, and that they are too good to
be corrupted and deflected from justice by gifts. As it is, we hear that
they can be influenced, and other suchlike things, from those who
are supposed to be the best of the poets, orators, seers and priests
and thousands upon thousands of others, and so most of us are not
induced to turn away from wrongdoing, but we act unjustly and then
try to find a remedy for so doing~~.'
(The Athenian then explains what he takes to be the cause of the cormption of thought;
not wholly desire for pleasure, but firstly improper myths and secondly new ideas.)
.Jhe ideas of modem, clever men must be held responsible for evils
~ for this is where the reasoning of such people ends up. You and I
would adduce the sun, the moon, the stars and the earth as evidence
of the existence of gods, saying that they are gods and their nature
is divine; but those who believe these clever men would say that
they are rocks, quite unable to .take account of human affairs, and
that our account has been very well decked out with words to appear
plausiblef ..
Then let us produce some such statement as the following, quite
without anger towards those who have such perverse opinions; let
us speak gently, overcoming our animus, as though we were addressing
one of these people: 'Child, you are young; and as time advances it
will give you views that are the opposite of those you now hold; so
wait till then before you judge the big questions, and the biggest of
these, which you now think of as nothing, is whether you have the ,.
right opinion about the gods and hence Jive well, or not. But first
there is one important thing I will tell you about this, in which I will
never be shown to be mistaken: you are not the only one, nor are
your friends the first to hold this opinion about the gods for the first
time, but there are always more or fewer people who have this
disease. I have associated with many of them, and:J will tell you that
no one who had this opinion as a young man, that the gods do not
exist, ever remained in that opinion into old age. But the other two
ailments concerning the gods remain. Not many people have them,
but some do: that the gods exist, but have no interest in human affairs,
and the one after that, that they are interested, but can easily be
persuaded by sacrifices and vows. If you will be persuaded by me, you
will wait until you have as clear an opinion about them as you are
able, by investigating whether lt is this way Or that, and by finding
out from others and particularly the lawgiver; and in the mean time
you will not dare to commit any impious action against the gods.
· And the one who has laid down the laws for you must try over and
over again to teach you the truth about these matters ...
(expoundinghis opponents'views) Let me put this more clearly. They
say that- fire, water, eartn and air all ~xist through nature and chance,
none of them through art (techne).Following on this, physical bodies,
have come into existence - earth, sun, moon, stars - through the first
elements, which are completely inanimate. As they are carried about
at random, in accordance each with its own strength, they come
together and combine in some way you might expect - hot with cold,
or dry with wet, or soft with hard, everything combining by neces-
sity through random mixture with its opposite. In this way there
came into existence the whole sky and everything in it, and also all
animals and plants, once the seasons had been produced from the
elements - not through Mind, or through any divinity, or through
art, but as we have said, through nature and chance. As for art, that
came about later from these things ... Firstly, they say that these
gods exist by art and not by nature, but rather by certain laws (or:
conventions),which differ in different societies, as each set of legis-
lators has agreed. Some things are good by nature, others by conven-
tion (or: law) 1 an.d there is no such thing as natural justice, but rather
people are in constant disagreement with each other and changing
what is just; and the changes they make, though deriving from art
a.nd convention rather than. from nature, are valid for that time.
AUthis, my friends, is what young people get from clever men, both
poets and others, who claim that the highest justice is that obtained
through victory and force. And so the young are drawn to impieties,
supposing that gods:of the sort that the law prescribes we ought to
conceive of do not exist, and then conflicts come about as they are
urged to 'live a life properly in accord with nature', which is to live
dominating others in actuality; and not to be in subjection to them
in accordance with law (or: convention).
KLEINIAS: What a theory you have described, Stranger! And how much damage
the corruption of these young people does, both publicly to cities
and privately to families!
We cannot deal here with all the ramifications of Plato's argument, nor with
its connexions with the rest of the Laws (a long three-cornered dialogue in
which the laws of a hypothetical city are sketched) but two things stand out:
his claim that some among the Athenians (for it is the Athenian Stranger
who is speaking about his own city) were atheists, and his treatment of the
topic very firmly in a political context. The other two characters in the work
are the Spartan Megillos and the Cretan Kleinias; their cities, Plato impties,
have a more old-fashioned culture which is less prone to dangerous modern

ideas, and in this passage Kleinias is presented as surprised and shocked by
the ideas that the Athenian mentions as current. The three false ideas which
the Athenian mentions are also highlighted as pernicious in Republic2 (3.4.7
is part of this discussion) and reappear in Laws 12 (see 4.3.8), but here they
are set in context and the first at least - atheism in our sense - is expounded
in more detail. It is clear from the language used that the idea that gods might
not exist is seen not merely as a neutral theory, but as something disturbing
and threatening, something to provoke anger. In part this reaction is self-
standing; in part it relates to the social correlatives it is seen to involve. Normal
Greek thought connected the idea of justice with the gods, with Zeus above
all; the gods thus enabled society to function without descending into viol-
ence and anarchy. The fifth century discovered the antithesis between physis
and nomos, nature and law/custom/convention (the semantic range of nomos
makes a one-word translation particularly difficult in this passage), and with
this discovery came the disquieting possibility that things usually taken as
absolutes might in fact be relative. There might be no fixed meaning, perhaps
no real existence, for either 'justice' or 'the gods'. The only 1natural' justice,
then, is to assert one's own wish for power - quite the opposite of the way
justice is normally conceived.
The Athenian does not name the 'modern, clever men' he has in mind, so
that the views he presents can represent a compound of those of different
groups of thinkers. The idea of the heavenly bodies as rocks or lumps of metal
was propounded already by Anaxagoras, who probably in 437 /6 was prose-
cuted for impiety in Athens, and seems to be a staple in naturalistic expla-
nations of the gods (see 1.3.8). The description of the origins of the universe
has affinities with several of the Presocratic thinkers, but particularly with
the atomists, Leukippos and Demokritos. The view that the gods exist 'by
convention', not by nature or in reality, is for us most famously and clearly
expressed in the well-known fragment of Sisyphos, probably by Kritias (see
1.3.8), but the 'euhemeristic' theory of Prodikos, according to which the idea
of gods developed from natural phenomena on the one hand and ancient
inventors and benefactors on the other (l.3.4) could also be subsumed in this
category.
The city of the Laws is to be a rational one, and therefore it is important
not merely to condemn the atheistic position but to attempt to disprove it.
The presentation of the case for atheism, already recognised in the text as a
digression, if a necessary one, is followed by the argument against, in which
Plato/the Athenian attempts to demonstrate that psyche (soul, or life) is the
first principle of the universe, taking precedence over matter.
an admonition: since punishment is intended where possible to produce

reform and rehabilitation, it is to be preceded, in the city of the Laws, by an
admonition explaining exactly where the offender has gone wrong and what
he can do about it.
no one ... has ever voluntarily performed: in accordance with the famous
Socratic paradox that 'no one does wrong willingly'.
from those who are supposed to.be the best of poets: Plato alludes to his
argument in the Republic(see 2.5.3), blaming poets, especially Homer, among
other things for their eqcduragement of the view that the gods can be
influenced by the gifts given in worship.
no one ... ever remained in that. opinion into old age: not because of
the fear of death, which Greek religion as such 'did little to mitigate, but imply-
ing much more positively that the experience accumulated over a lifetime
leads to a wiser view.
laws: nomoi, indicating both the formal laws of a city, the subject of the
dialogue, and 'customs' or 'conventions'; when opposed to physis (nature)
and paired with techne (art), it is the latter meaning which is uppermost. Plato
may seem to slide from one meaning to the other, but it should be noted
that he thinks it essential for legislators to concern themselves with citizens'
views of the gods. Impiety could be a legal offence in Greek cities, but the
idea that the law should prescribe 'the sorts of gods we ought to conceive
of' is going very much further than anything put into practice in the real
world.
the highest justice: that is, might is right. One poet who expresses this view
is Pindar (fr. 169a Snell-Maehler). It is also a theme running through the his-
torical analysis of Thucydides, although it is far from clear that he approves.
4
Ritual Contexts
The previous chapter explored some of the most important forms of religious
behaviour among the ancient Greeks; others will be treated in the following
chapters. Here we examine some of the contexts and settings, other than the
major sanctuary, in which action directed towards the gods took place,
beginning with domestic and everyday space, the house and street (section 4.1).
If we could be transported back in time, we should no doubt be struck by
the conspicuousness of religious objects and religious practice in the classical
Greek city. At every level and in every neighbourhood; religion was, as we
now say, thoroughly 'embedded' in socit::ty. While much of this low-level
religious activity took place on a do-it-yourself basis, some occasions called
for more expertise. At a sanctuary, priests or other sanctuary officials could
advise on how to proceed, or take charge of procedure, as we shall see later.
Making an offering to a deity in the correct manner was important, but other
types of religious knowledge were also sometimes needed, and in section 4.2
we see some religious experts in action: seers, exegetes and healers. These
experts might be called on by private individuals or by the state, and the last
two sections of this chapter are concerned with the more 'public' aspects
of religion and its interface with the life of the polis as a group. A crucially im-
portant part of this interface is formed by the public sacrifices and festivals
performed in all Greek cities, which appear in the following chapter; here
we deal first with political life in the narrower sense (section 4.3) and then
with military contexts (section 4.4). Section 4.4, however, includes other
critical situations, and leads us back to the life of the individual, since war
and other dangers can have an impact on both individual and group. This
whole chapter, then, is a diverse group of passages illustrative of the wide
variety of contexts in which religious activity took place.
152 RITUAL CONTEXTS
4.1 The House and Neighbourhood
There were manifold opportunities - indeed, demands - for religious ritual

in daily life. Within the house, the hearth, for instance, was sacred, a form
of the goddess Hestia, whose name means simply 'hearth', and it was usual
practice to pour libations (see 3.1.3) before drinking. Several other cults would
find their place in a typical househ.old: there was Zeus Herkeios, for example,
who guarded the boundaries of the plot, and '(at least in Athens) Zeus Ktesios,
who presided over wealth and possessions (ktesis). We are particularly well
informed about the worship of Zeus Ktesios, represented in the form of a jar,
and one of the more conspicuous of 'personal' cults, each household having
its own Zeus Ktesios (4.1.2-3). At the entrance to the house might be found
Herakles, thought of as alexikakos, defender against evil, and Apollo Agyieus,
'of the street'; the latter was worshipped in Athens for good fortune, in accord-
ance with a Delphic response (see 6.2.4). The streets in fact contained many
small shrines and cult-places, which Theophrastos' deisidaimon negotiates with
difficulty (4.1.1). Crossroads were the preserve of Hekate; at other 'punctu-
ation points' on the road, in the agora, or indeed in the home, one might find
stylised block-like statues of Hermes, called by his name (4.1.4). These
'herms' probably originated in Attica (see 6.4.5) but spread to other parts of
Greece. And everywhere all sorts of minor deities and heroes were to be found
particular to that locality.
Some of these cult-places had links with a particular group, whether a
family, a group specifically constituted for that cult, or a larger kin-group.
A very noticeable feature of Greek religion is the association of cult with groups
of all sorts (including the polis itself) and with group solidarity. The cult both
defines the group to outsiders and gives its members a sense of identity and
belonging together. Physically, they met in the relevant sanctuary, which in
the case of kin-groups might belong to a special Zeus or Apollo, to a hero,
sometimes but not always thought of as a forebear, or to beings of an ances-
tral nature known as Tritopatores or Tritopatreis (the meaning is obscure, but
suggests 'third fathers'). Other groups, often called thiasoi (see also 3.4.6),
met, if not in a private house, in the sanctuary of whichever god or hero
they were constituted to worship. As in larger sanctuaries (Chapter 5), a major
celebration was held usually once a year. At other times the place - if open
- was kept clean and tidy, with perhaps minor offerings of cakes, incense
and so on, and garlands for the images.
The meetings of thiasoi, in which the communal meal following the
sacrifice was naturally a major part, shade into less formally constituted con-
vivial occasions where groups of (male) friends met for dinners and drinking-
parties (symposia). But even where a religious event does not form the
occasion for the meeting, occasions of this sort do not pass without pious
gestures and offerings to the god (4.1.5).
RITUAL CONTEXTS 153
4.1.1 Obsessive religiosity
Source: Theophrastos, Characters16

,,
'Fear of daimunes', obviously, would seem to be cowardice with regard to the
divine, and the man who fears daimones is someone of the following smt. He •
washes his hands at a spring (?) and sprinkles himself from a purificatory basin
in a sanctuary, puts a bayleaf in his mouth and walks around like that the whole
day. If a cat runs past him on the road he will go no further until someone else
has passed or he has thrown three stones across the road. As for when he sees
a snake in the house, if lt is one of the reddish kind, he calls on Sabazios, and .
if it is a sacred one, he builds a hero-shrine there and then. When he passes
the stones that are anointed at crossroads, he pours oil over them from his own
r container, and will not leave until he has fallen to his knees and worshipped C'
them. If a mouse nibbles a hole in a leather sack of barley-meal, he will go to
the exegete and ask him what he should do; and if the reply is to give it to the
cobbler to mend, he takes no notice, but goes away and makes an expiatory ;
sacrifice. He is a great one for frequent purifications of the house, saying that
someone has conjured Hekate into the place. rt he hears owls hooting while
he is out walking, he becomes alarmed, says 'Athenalis stronger', and then
' goes on. He won't go to a tomb, and he refuses to paythis respects to a corpse•
or visit a new mother, saying it is good for him not to be polluted. On the fourth
and the seventh of the month he tells his household to boil wine, while he
goes out and buys myrtle, incense and cakes, and when he comes back he spends
the whole day garlanding the Hermaphroditoi. When he has a dream he goes
off to the dream-interpreters, the seers, and the experts in bird-omens and asks
~ them which god or goddess he should pray to. When he is planning to be initi-
ated, he goes every month to the Orphic initiators, along with his wife (or if
she's too busy, with the nurse) and his children. He is probably one of those
who sprinkle themselves very carefully with sea-water. If he happens to.see ...
at the crossroads crowned with (?) garlic, he goes away, washes his head and ·
calls in priestesses, telling them to purify him and his surroundings with squills
or with a puppy. When he sees a madman or an epileptic, he shudders and spits
into his garments.
The Characters of Theophrastos is a humorous little work deriving from

serious Aristotelian views: each sketch represents an excess of a particular
characteristic which vitiates the man. Sometimes there are types showing
opposite faults, though there is no exact pair for the deisidaimon (a godless
man could no doubt have been constructed, but in fact 'not praying to the
gods' is only one characteristic of the abrasive authades).
The work dates from the Athens of the late fourth century, and gives a
fascinating picture of everyday life; to read the whole is to gain an insight
into the normality and inescapability of religious behaviour at every turn.
154 RITUAL CONTEXTS
Deisidaimonia is traditionally translated 'superstition', but the English word

has perhaps too many inappropriate connotations. The deisidaimon is operat-
ing in the same area as normal religious practice; he just takes things to absurd
extremes because he is terrified of the consequences of an error. Normal people
are also aware of pollution arn;l know that snakes and crossroads have a special
significance; they may garland images in or near their house and consult
religious experts; but for the deisidaimonthese have become observances which
take over his whole life. Thus the passage has a great value in showing us the
many ways in which religion might impinge on the most ordinary routine.
It is unfortunate that the text is uncertain in several places, which hinders
the more detailed interpretation.
Several of these 'superstitions' are still recognisable in Greece today.
the divine: to daimonion, perhaps slightly vaguer in nuance than to theion.

at a spring: the text is corrupt here, but it would make sense for the first
example to refer to the man's daily practice, while the following sentences
describe particular occasions. Most people, presumably, would be content to
wash with water that had been brought to the house, and only use water
direct from the spring when there was a special need.
purificatory basin: perirrhanterion.See on 5.1.9; the normal practice was to
sprinkle oneself with water when entering a sanctuary.
bayleaf: sacred to Apollo, who is particularly concerned with purification.
Figure 5 Large perirrhanterion (basin containing water for ritual ablutions) from the
sanctuary of Poseidon at lsthmia. Late seventh century. John Boardman, Greek Sculpture:
The Archaic Period. London, 1978, fig. 74. ~
RITUAL CONTEXTS 155
cat: galen, more literally a polecat or weasel, which at this date had much
the role in Greek communities which cats later acquired. The deisidaimon con-
siders it a bad omen, which he tries to avert.
a snake: Both kinds are sacred in the broad sense. The first kind, the pareias,
is harmless, and associated with Asklepios (see 6.3.2) as well as Dionysos and
Sabazios (see 3.4.6). The second kind is a small venomous snake. The word
'hero-shrine' (heroon)is a very likely correction in the text; heroes were among
the objects of worship particularly associated with snakes. 'In the house' may
include the courtyard as well as indoors. On the founding of shrines, see 6.4.
stones ... at crossroads: such piles of stones were often associated with
Hermes, who could give good luck (or the opposite) to travellers, but the anoint-
ing of stones with oil is a very old custom, not confined to Greece. Kneeling
was a posture not unknown in prayer, but generally used in extreme situations.
Standing was more usual.
the exegete: an expert, at this date officially appointed, who gave advice
on ritual problems, normally of a serious kind; see below, 4.2.8.
Hekate: sometimes seen as a form of Artemis and generally understood as
an inauspicious deity, often associated with malicious magic (though see 3.4.1
for another view). Small shrines to her were sometimes found on the thresh-
old, presumably to keep unwanted influences outside the house; she would
be less welcome inside.
Athena is stronger: or perhaps 'mighty Athena'. It is easy to see why owls
might strike an impressionable person· as sinister, but since they are also
Athena's birds it makes less sense to invoke her to overcome them. The exact
meaning is then unclear, and the text may be corrupt.
not to be polluted: both birth and death conveyed pollution (3.3), and con-
tact with them debarred one from entry to a sanctuary (see 5.1.4). But it would
be normal to accept such pollution when family or friendly relationships
demanded it; the deisidaimon'sbehaviour is unreasonable and rather offensive.
the fourth and the seventh: Hesiod, Works and Days 770, gives the first,
fourth and seventh days of the lunar month as sacred, and states that Apollo
was born on the seventh; the fourth was the birthday of Hermes (HomericHymn
to Hermes 19). But since the month was divided into three sections of nine
or ten days, Theophrastus may intend the fourth and seventh of each section.
incense and cakes: a likely emendation for 'pictures of incense'. As well as
being typical add-ons in sacrifice, these usually formed the basis of everyday,
non-sacrificial offerings. The myrtle was for the garlands.
the Hermaphroditoi: Mythologically, Hermaphroditos was the androgynous
child of Hermes and Aphrodite, but here may be intended a special sort of
herm (see below, 4.1.4) with opposite male and female sides. Evidently these
formed part of the household cult.
156 RITUALCONTEXTS
when he has a dream: It is typical of the deisidaimon that he consults three

separate groups of ~xperts, only one of which is remotely appropriate.
when he is planning: or alternatively 'he goes every month to he initiated'
(telesthesomenos),although no other source mentions regularly repeated initi-
ations. 'Orphic initiators', arpheotelestai,are attested by name only in this pas-
sage, but may be akin to the freelance practitioners disliked by Plato in 3.4. 7;
on 'Orphism', see the introduction to 3.4 and 3.4.8-9.
sea-water: particula~ly purifying, like spring-'0ater or perhaps even more so;
compare 3.3.5 and 6.3.3. '
if he happens to see: something appears to be missing in the text at this
point. The man may see images of Hekate crowned with garlic, or (with an
emendation) he may see someone at the crossroads eating the garlic, which
has been left for Hekate as an expiatory offering, which it is therefore
unlucky to eat. In either case, he over-reacts to something of ill omen which
he has merely seen, rather than participated in, and calls in more religious
specialists (the identity of these priestesses is unclear, but they are presumably
of the more 'unofficial' sort, compare 3.4.6) to purify him. The text is again
uncertain, but the plant sea squill (Urgineamaritima) was commonly used in
purification, and puppies were sometimes used in purificatory sacrifices to
Hekate.
he spits: customary to avert an evil omen, perhaps because by spitting on
oneself one is lowering oneself and hence avoiding envy.
4.1.2 A grandfather's observances
Source: Isaias 8.15-16
As you might expect with his own daughter's children, he never performed any
sacrifice,. large or small, .without us; we were always present and joined in the
sacrifice with him. And it wasn't just that sort of ritual we were invited to; he
always took us into the country for the Dionysia, and we watched public shows
with him, seated at his side, and we spent all the festivals in his company. When
he sacrificed to Zeus Ktesios - this was a sacrifice he was particularly keen on,
and he would not celebrate it either with slaves or with free men not of the
family, but performed everything himself in person - we took part in this, and
handled the victims with him, and made our offerings with his, and did every-
thing else together with him. And he prayed to Zeus to give us health and pros-
perity, quite naturally, since he was our grandfather.
The speaker is contesting the estate of the man he claims was his grandfather
by a legitimate daughter, relying on the fact that it was normal for a man
without surviving legitimate sons to treat his daughter's sons as surro'gattls.
RITUAL CONTEXTS 157
So the passage indicates the kind of religious observance that family members,
at least males, might be expected to do together (it is not clear whether the
speaker's mother was present or not). This includes attending festivals together,
making sacrifices probably for specific purposes, and - what is most inter-
esting here - the celebration of a personal cult. Zeus Ktcsios is the Zeus who
guards possessions (ktemata) and hence the family's prosperity (the rendering
here of ktesis) and wider well-being. Kiron, the grandfather, naturally enough,
extends his prayer from prosperity to health, rather than applying to
another god for the latter; in practice, there is a lot of flexibility in the gods'
spheres of influence.
Another lawcourt speech, Antiphon 1.16-19, shows us both that having a
personal or family cult of Zeus Ktesios was quite normal, and that others might
have different approaches to its celebration. There the head of the family
sacrifices to Zeus Ktesios accompanied by his girlfriend (pallake, 'concubine')
and a male friend, not a relative, whom he has met by chance; he is the
'sacrificcr', whether or not he despatches the victim with his own hands, but
the girlfriend prepares the libations and the friend joins in pouring these and
offering incense.
for the Dionysia: the Dionysia kat'agrous, the 'Country Dionysia', as cele-
brated by local communities across Attica; town dwellers might return to their
family deme for the festivities.
handled the victims: (syn)echeirourgoumen may indicate ki1ling the victims
or possibly simply laying their hands on them, to indicate that the sacrifice
was theirs as well. ·
made our offerings: the verb (syn)epetithemen, almost certainly the right read-
ing, refers to placing something on an altar, whether the deity's portion of
meat or an extra; in the Antiphon passage cited above it refers to incense.
4.1.3 A household Zeus
Source: Autokleides, from his Exegetika (FGrH 353 F 1)
The signs of Zeus Ktesios are to be established as follows. On a new jar with
two handles and a lid ('?)1 garland the handles with white wool, and from the
right shoulder (?) ... (text uncertain) and put in it whatever you find, and pour
in ambrosia. Ambrosia is (a mixture of) pure water, olive oil, and pankarpia. This
should be poured in.
Autokleides was evidently an exegete (below, 4.2.8), who wrote a book of infor-
mation on ritual matters. The text of the fragment is unfortunately corrupt,
and the details of how to dress the jar are uncertain. What seems clear is that
the jar represents and in a sense embodies the deity; it is conceptualised in
158 RITUALCONTEXTS
a vaguely anthropomorphic way, helped by the normal Greek usage of the

word 'ear' for the h~ndle of a jar. The use of a filled vessel to represent deity
has parallels in Indic practice.
Ambrosia (the name suggests immortality) is best known to us as the
mythical food of the gods, but here it is a special mixture for ritual purposes.
Pankarpia ('all-fruits') was' evidently a mix of different produce, perhaps
including fruit and grain (cf. 3.1.4). After some days the mixture would have
become unpleasant (it is not true, as has beet} claimed, that the oil would
prevent this), so we must suppose that the jar was set up in this way for a
temporary period only, no doubt that of the sacrifice to Zeus Ktesios.
4.1.4 Wayside herms
Source: (a) [Platoj, Hipparchos228d-229b
And intending to educate t}Jose in the country, he set up the herms in the roads,
both in the middle of the town and in each of the demes. Then selecting what
he considered the best parts of his wisdom, both what he had learned and what
he had discovered himself, he put these into elegiac verse and inscribed them
(on the herms) as his poems and as indications of wisdom. His aim in doing this
was firstly that his citizens might not admire the wise sayings at Delphi, 'know
thyself' and 'nothing in excess' and the rest, but might think rather that the
verses of Hipparchos were wise, and secondly that as they walked up and down
and passed by they might read the words, get a taste of wisdom and so come
· · in from the country in order to get further education. There are two inscrip-
tions;. on the left. of each Hermes is inscribed 'Hermes stands in the middle of
the town and the deme' and on the right 'This is a memorial of Hipparchos:
journey thinking what is right'. And there are many other fine inscriptions from
the poems on othe.r henns .. For instance, on the road to Steiria there is one that
says 'This is a memorial of Hipparchos: do not deceive a friend 1 •
Source: (b) Herodotus, Histories 2.51.1
But it was not from the Egyptians that they learned to make statues of Hermes
with erect genitals. Rather it was from the Pelasgians that the Athenians, first
of the Greeks took this over, and .from the Athenians the rest.
1
We call them herms, but to the Greeks themselves they were 'Hermeses', called
simply by the name of the god. Hermes was the patron god of the wayfarer,
and even piles of stones placed to indicate a path could be seen as Hermes;
the herm was a further development, a rectangular block of stone topped with
a bearded human face and with male genitals, the penis erect, carved in relief
on the block. The genitals are appropriate for a deity who presided over t~e
RITUALCONTEXTS 159
fertility of flocks, but could also be seen as in some sense apotropaic, warn-
ing off unwanted intruders whether of the human or superhuman kind. Yet
another area where Hermes is influential is in the gift of good luck, which
may explain the placing of herms not only along paths and at boundaries,
but near houses and agoras. Plato (if it is. he) testifies to the deliberate use
of the form by the late sixth-century tyrant of Athens, Hipparchos (son of
Peisistratos), while Herodotus is more interested in relating it to general cul-
tural and ethnic trends, the Pelasgians being a supposed pre-Greek people
who inhabited Athens and many other parts of what later came to be called
Greece. (For this passage of Herodotus, see also 1.3.5, 6.2.2, 6.4.5.)
Steiria: on the east coast of Attica, near modern Porto-Ratti.
4.1.5 A drinking-party
Source: Xenophanes, fr. 1 (DK 21 Bl)
And now the floor is clean, and everyone's hands, and the. cups. Someone is
putting on plaited garlands, while another offers sweet-smelling perfume in a
bowl, and the mixing-bowl is set up, full of good cheer. Another wine is ready
in the jars, mild and fragrant like flowers, which claims it MU never play us
false. In the middle incense exhales its pure and holy smell, and there is cold
water, sweet and pure. Close by lie light brown loaves and an honoured table,
weighed down with cheese and rich hooey. In the centre is an altar, covered
all round with flowers. The sounds of music and revelry fill the house. First,
men who are enjoying themselves must hymn the god, with well-omened speech
and pure words. And when we have poured libations and prayed for the abil-
ity to do right - for this is obviously correct - it is not wrong to drink as much
as will permit a man to get home without a· servant; provided he. is not very
old. One should praise the man who tells good things when drinking, as mem-
ory and eagerness for virtue bid. him, who does not relate the battles of Titans
or Giants, or of Centaurs, fantasies of our ancestors, or terrible conflicts, in which
there is nothing beneficial, But it is good always to hold the gods in esteem.
Writing in the late sixth or early fifth century, Xenophanes imagines a

symposion or drinking-party, and sets down rules for good behaviour at the
occasion, involving respect for the gods. It has been debated whether the
occasion is intended to represent the meeting of a religious thiasos (see below,
4.1.6) or an 'ordinary' party, but this need not concern us; every banquet or
party involved libations and prayers. Xenophanes lays a particular emphasis
on this angle. The altar and incense in the description suggest the importance
he attaches to proper religious behaviour, as does the emphasis on cleanliness
or purity (katharos refers to both). This behaviour includes not only ritual
propriety, but moral elements as well: the prayers mentioned are not the usual
160 RITUAL CONTEXTS
ones for health and prosperity, but for the ability to do right, and the hymns
sung to the gods shs~mldbe proper, as should the stories narrated during the
party (not all the narratives in the Homeric hymns would meet with Xeno-
phanes' approval, one imagines). ·uke Plato later (2.4.3), Xenophanes is
particularly opposed to stories of divine conflict, both because it is unfitting
to narrate such things of the gods, and because they set a bad example ('there
is nothing beneficial'). For Xenophanes on myth, see 2.5.1.
'\
mixing-bowl: from which the wine, mixed with wat~r, would be poured.
pure and holy: hagne covers both ideas.
right ... wrong: ta dikaia and hybris, just and unjust behaviour.
Titans and Giants ... Centaurs: see on 2.1.1-2, 2.5.3.
4.1.6 A worshippers' organisation
Source: LSS 20.12-23
Decreed by the worshippers: the host shall make the sacrifice on the 17th and
18th of Hekatombaion. On the first day he shall sacrifice a piglet to the hero-
ines and a full grown victim to the hero and he shall set up a table, and on the
following day, a full grown victim to the hero. He shall work out his expenses
and not exceed the revenue. [He shall distribute] the meat to the worshippers ·
present, and to their [sons] not more than a half portion, and among the women-
folk of the worshippers, a full portion to free (adults) and to daughters not more
than a half, and not more than a half to one female attendant. [He shall give]
a woman's portion to the man.
This 'decree', not of the Assembly or a dcme body but of a privately consti-
tuted body of 01ge6nes(here translated 'worshippers'), forms part of a third-
century inscription found at the Areopagos in Athens. It is described as 'ancient'
in the surrounding text, and probably belongs to the mid-fifth century. It
appears from the later text that the group of orgeoneswas actually formed
from two groups, one worshipping the hero, the other the heroines, who had
come together to make one combined festival, but the pattern of one hero
associated with several heroines is found elsewhere in Attica (compare 5.3.1).
The worship took place in a (small) sanctuary, but the text is included in
this section because of the emphasis on the distribution of the sacrificial meat
and the relationship with the previous passage.
A group of worshippers such as this one is sometimes called a thiasos; see
above, section introduction, and compare 3.4.6.
Hekatombaion: roughly July in the Athenian lunisolar calendar.

RITUAL CONTEXTS 161
table: see 5.2 introduction, and 5.3.1.
the meat to the worshippers present: this shows that only adult males
were properly speaking orgeones,but that their families might participate in
the sacrifice. The female attendant envisaged is a slave who accompanied a
'respectable' woman when she left the house (compare the slaves in Herodas
4, 5.1.2), thus indicating that the wives and other female relatives of the
orgeones might be present at the occasion.
a woman's portion to the man: not a universal custom, or it would not

be specified.
4.2 Religious Experts and Their Crafts
Priests, as we shall see (5.4), were not invariably experts even in the cults
they served, and their priesthood certainly did not qualify them to pronounce
on wider religious matters. But other groups did claim certain kinds of exper-
tise. Many of these were 'freelance' or 'unofficial' practitioners, unsupported
by the state or, often, by tradition; on them see 3.4.6-7, as well as 4.2.9 below.
Others, such as some prophets and exegetai,were more 'respectable', and oper-
ated within a well-defined area intrinsic to the religious system of the polis.
The same was usually true of those with a particular function or expertise in
sacrifice and at festivals, such as heralds. On sacrificial personnel, see the com-
mentary to 5.3.2 (although note that not all of those listed were necessarily
'professional').
Manteis
In the world of Homer, the gods frequently communicate with mortals by

sending signs about the immediate future, for instance through the behaviour
of birds. (One word for bird, oionos,also commonly means 'omen'.) The inter-
pretation of these signs is largely a matter of general knowledge, but there exist
also professional manteis and acknowledged experts in the craft, notably
Kalchas, mantis of the Achaian army, and Helenos, one of the sons of Priam.
Sometimes these seers also seem to gain their knowledge simply through
intuition.
Such experts continue to practise their skills in the classical period, using
various methods of divination, of which the chief and most reputable were
the behaviour of birds and the outcome of sacrifices - both the way the god's
portion burned on the altar, and the appearance of the internal organs. Seers
of this sort were often highly respected members of society, like the
Athenian Lampon, friend of Perikles (4.2.5), and were called upon to offer
their services to the state. In war especially, the seer was indispensable, in
order to decide which strategy the omens favoured (see below, 4.4.3).
162 RITUAL CONTEXTS
Figure 6 In an imagined military setting, the liver of a sacrificial animal is inspected

for signs of a favourable outcome. From an Attic black-figure amphora, c. 530-510.
Florence, Museo Archeologico inv. 3856.
Another type of prophet - though the two skills could he combined - was
the chresmologos,'collector/speaker of oracles'. These experts produced verse
oracles similar to those attributed to the Delphic oracle, either improvising
them through intuition, or finding them in a book, in which case their skill
lay in knowing which oracle applied to which occasion. Books of oracles
attributed to Bakis and Mousaios were commonly referred to, and authors
sometimes speak of them in derogatory terms.
Although these prophets and seers use hints from the gods in order to divine
the future and hence possibly suggest a course of action, the mode of opera-
tion is different from that of oracular shrines (6.2), where in a particular place
a particular deity gives an answer, often in words, to a particular question,
mediated through a specific cult official. Only at Olympia, where the oracle
is given from the burning of the sacrificial portions, is there some overlap.
Manteis can ply their craft anywhere; they are not confined to a specific sanc-
tuary, and they need not have a special relationship with an individual deity.
Nonetheless, there is a continuum in the spectrum of attitudes towards
oracles on the one hand and seers on the other. There is a common, though
not universal, reluctance to believe that the gods do not in fact give prophetic
signs; in fact, the possibility of divination may be seen as a prime argument
' \
for the gods' concern with the world of men (compare 1.1.8). But fallibility
RITUAL CONTEXTS 163
on the part of human interpreters is very much more readily taken on board.
On the whole, respectable oracles are given more trust in the matter than
freelance experts, but here too lapses were possible; it was widely believed
that the Pythia at Delphi had given improper responses (Herodotus, Histories
5.90). Accusations of corruption and incompetence against individual seers
are commonplace from Homer onwards, and though in mythically based texts
they are almost always proved wrong, elsewhere it is usually accepted that
while the technique is mostly valid, its practitioners (like doctors, for instance)
may make mistakes.
4.2.1 A horrendous vision
Source: Odyssey20.345-70
Thus spoke Telemachos, but Pallas Athene made uncontrollable laughter well
up in the Suitors and set their wits astray. They were laughing with mouths not
their own, and eating food that was sprinkled with bloodi. their eyes filled with
tears, and their thoughts were of wails and laments. Then godlike Theoklymenos
spoke among them: 'Poor sufferers, what is this trouble that besets you? Your
heads and faces and the knees beneath you are shrouded in night, there is wail-
ing ablaze, and your cheeks are wet with tears. The walls and th.e lovely rafters
are spotted with blood. The threshold is full of ghosts, and full is the court,
ghosts which are speeding beneath the darkness to Erebos. The sun has perished
utterly from the sky, and fearful mist has _fallen on everything.'
Thus he spoke, but they all laughed at him happily. It was Eurymachos, son
of Polybos, who first spoke: 'The stranger who has just arrived from somewhere
_else is niad. Come, fads, take him out ofthe house to the market-place, since
he says it is like night here!' But godlike Theoklymenos answered him:
'Eurymachos, there is no need to give me an escort. I have eyes and ears, and
both my feet, and I have sharp wits in my breast - there is nothing wrong with
them. With thes.e I shall leave the house, since I perceive that evH is coming
upon you - a doom which not one of the Suitors can escape .or slip by - you
who insult men in the house of godlike Odysseus and plot things that are wrong
and foolish.'
Most predictions in Homer are based on observation of signs - birds and

sacrificial omens - although it is not always clear how the professional seers
Kalchas and Helenos come to their conclusions. Theoklymenos' prophecy seems
to be based on a vision: the description of the Suitors' laughter as sinister
and inauspicious presumably describes what he saw in a moment of ecstatic
insight. This is a quite different sort of prophetic expertise from the other,
where although manteis are especially skilled, anyone can verify the signs and
indeed to an extent interpret them. Here the prophetic event is completely
interior to the prophet, who may therefore appear mad to bystanders; and
164 RITUAL CONTEXTS
yet something of his experience spills over into the narrative, in the weirdness
of the Suitors' laughter and the food 'sprinkled with blood'. The vision ended,
Theoklymenos returns to normal and replies sharply to Eurymachos' insult.
He knows, however, that what he has seen represents a true depiction,
and so of course do the audience. Before long the Suitors will all perish
miserably.
4.2:2 Peisistratos accepts the prophecy
Source: Herodotus, Histories 1.62-3
There, sent by the gods, Amphilytos of Acarnania, a man who specialised in

oracles, was present to help Peisistratos. He came up to him and prophesied in
hexameters as follows:
'The cast is made, the net is spread; the fish will dart. along on a moonlit
night.'
This was his prophecy, made in the grip of divine inspiration, and Peisistratos
grasped the meaning, said that he accepted the prophecy, and ordered his army
to advance.
The occasion is the battle at Pallene in Attica probably in 546, at which

Peisistratos established himself as tyrant of Athens. Amphilytos is a chresmologos,
a professional evidently practising far from home (unless we accept an emenda-
tion in the text which would make him a native of Acharnai in Attica rather
than Acarnania in northern Greece). Herodotus' words perhaps suggest that
the prophet in this instance improvised the two hexameters rather than finding
them in a book (contrast 4.2.5).
Prophetic words often need to be understood before their subject can benefit
from them. Here Peisistratos not only reads the riddle, but formally 'accepts'
the prophecy, a manoeuvre to make oneself a partner in bringing about the
wanted result; similarly one may attempt to reject an unwanted omen,
though in literature at least this is less often successful.
4.2.3 Seers· at the battle of Plataia
Source: Herodotus, Histories 9.33.1-2, 36-7.1, 37.4-38
When all the armies were drawn up by ethnic group and rank, on the second
day both sides sacrificed. The sacrificer for the Greeks was Teisamenos son of
Antiochos, who was attached to the army as seer (mantis); he was an Elean, from
"
RITUAL CONTEXTS 165
the Iamid family, and had been made one of themselves by the Spartans. When
Teisamenos consulted the oracle at Delphi about offspring, the Pythia told him
that he would be victorious in the five greatest contests. He mistook the mean-
ing of the oracle and applied himself to athletics ... So it was this Teisamenos,
in the Spartan army, who was the seer for the Greeks at Plataia. The sacrifices
were favourable for the Greeks provided they kept to a defensive role, but not
if they crossed the Asopos and began the fight. As for Mardonios, he was keen
to begin the attack, but the sacrifices were not right, though for him too they
were favourable for defence. Mardonios too was relying on Greek methods of
prophecy; he had as his seer Hegesistratos, an Elean, one .of the most reputed
among the Telliadai. Earlier, the Spartans had arrested him and condemned him
to death because of the many reverses they had suffered on his account ... In
the end his enmity with the Spartans did not serve him, for he was captured
and killed by them while working as a seer in Zakynthos. This happened after
the battle of Plataia; at that time he was at the river Asopos in the (substantial)
pay of Mardonios, sacrificing with great enthusiasm because of his hatred for
the Spartans and because of the profit he was making. Since the omens were
not favourable for an attack either for the Persians Or for the Greeks with them,
who had their own seer, Hippomachos of Leukas, and the Greeks kept pouring
in and increasing in number, Timegenides son of Herpys of Thebes, made a
suggestion to Mardonios ...
Herodotus' Persian Wars narrative, here and elsewhere, shows the important
role of seers working for armies. Armies ~lmost never made an attack before
offering sacrifice and checking the accompanying omens (see below, 4.4.2-3).
The occasion here is the eve of the battle of Plataia, a decisive defeat for the
Persians, who have themselves adopted Greek methods and engaged a Greek
mantis, a fact Herodotus clearly finds interesting. The far-flung origins and
destinations of the seers mentioned here is testimony of the international
nature of the profession at the top level.
As neither side has omens favourable for attack, eventually the Persian
general Mardonios grows impatient and attacks anyway - with predictably
bad results.
Iamid: member of a family who specialised in interpreting the sacrifi-

cial omens at the sanctuary and oracle of Zeus at Olympia. See 6.2, section
introduction.
mistook the meaning: it is an interesting twist on the common theme of

misunderstanding an oracle (see 6.2, especially 6.2.3) when the inquirer is
himself destined to be a seer, albeit using different methods of prophecy. The
five greatest contests turned out to be important battles, including Plataia,
which were supposedly won because of Teisamenos' advice.
Telliadai: another Elean family of seers.

166 RITUAL CONTEXTS
4.2.4 A fine seer and a fine spearman
Source: Fourth-century grave stele from Acharnai, Attica (SEG 16.193)
Glaukos' son, Kleoboufos, 'now you are dead the earth covers you, both a fine
seer and a fine spearman, who once was crowned (?) by the people of great-
hearted Erechtheus, when you had exq:lled in gaining glory(?) throughout Greece.
,.
As well as the inscription, the stele has a relief showing an eagle with a snake
in its claws, an Iliadic portent alluding to the dead man's expertise as a seer.
Kleoboulos was the uncle of the orator Aischines (see 3.4.6), and he probably
took part in an Athenian naval victory in 387. His description as excelling
both in prophecy and fighting is modelled on that of the mythical prophet
(and hero, or god: see 5.4.1) Amphiaraos in Aeschylus (Seven against Thebes
568-9), but is none the less evidence that the manteis attached to armies might
also take part in fighting.
Erechtheus: mythical king of Athens and victor of the war against Eleusis.
4.2.5 How to get rid of an oracle-speaker
Source: Aristophanes, Birds 959-91
CHRESMOLOGOS: Hold it! Don't start the goat sacrifice!

PEISET AIR OS: Who are you?
CHRESMOLOGOS: Who am I? I'm a speaker of oracles,
PEISETAIROS: . You're in for a bad time, then.
CHRESMOLOGOS: Dear sir, don't speak lightly of things divine. There is an ora-
cle of .Bakis which speaks directly to Cloudcuckooland.
PEISETAIROS: Oh yes? Then how come you didn't prophesy it before I
founded this city?
CHRESMOLOGOS: (.grandly)The deity would not allow me.
PEISETAIRQS: Well then,. let's. hear the verses.
CHRESMOLOGOS: 'When wolves and grizzled crows shall live together in the same
place, between Corinth and Sikyon -'
PEISETAilWS: So what have I. got to do with the-Corinthians?
CHRESMOLOGOS: It's a figurative expression that Bakis is using, to mean the air.
'- first sacrifice a white-fleeced ram to Pandora, and whoever
first comes to speak forth my words, to him give a fresh cloak
and new sandals -'
PEISET AIR OS: Really? It says that about sandals, too·?
CHRESMOLOGOS: Here, take the book. 'And give him a cup, and fill his hands
with tasty meat -'
RITUAL CONTEXTS 167
PEISFTAIROS: It says to give him meat, does it?

CHRESMOLOGOS:Here, take the book. 'And if, godlike youth, thou dost as I
bid thee, thou wilt become an eagle in the heaven;. but if thou
givest not, thou wilt not be-a turtle-dove, nor a thrush, nor a
woodpecker.'
PEISETAIROS: All that's in there too?
CHRESMOLOGos:Here, take the book.
PEISETAIR0S: Well, that oracle's nothing like this one that I wrote down from
Apollo: 'When some charlatan comes without an invitation and
bothers those who sacrifice, and wants a share in the entrails,
then thou must strike him between the ribs -'
CHRESMOLOGOS:You're talking nonsense.
PEISETAIR0S: Here, take the book. 'And spare him nothing, not if he is an
eagle in the clouds, not even if he is Lampon or great
Diopeithes himself.'
CHRESM0LOGos:All that's in there too?
PEISETAIRos: Here, take the book. Now get out of here! Go to hell! (He begins
to hit him.)
CHRESM0LOGOS:Ow! Stop!
PEISETAIROS: Go and speak your oracles somewhere else!
Peisetairos and his friend Euelpides have left Athens and founded a city of birds
in the air - Nephelokokkygia, Cloudcuckooland. But as soon as they begin the
foundation sacrifices, they are troubled by a whole string of professionals offer-
ing their services to the new city. Thus it is important to note that although
the episode expresses an attitude of both scepticism and cynicism towards the
oracles of the chresmologos,he is only one among many so depicted and sub-
jected to wish-fulfilling ill-treatment at the hands of Peisetairos. In particular,
the next character to appear, Meton the (real-life) astronomer and geometrician,
is shown in a similar light as a 'charlatan' (alazon), and his 'scientific' speech
treated as pretentious gobbledy-gook just like the oracles and explanations of
the chresmologos. All of this is entirely appropriate in the world of comedy, where
any claims to special status are routinely debunked; in Birds even the gods are
pilloried. Even so, unlike 4.2.7 below, Aristophanes does not suggest that pro-
phecy itself is impossible, merely that corruption is usual among its practitioners.
This passage is one of several in the extant comedies where Aristophanes
exploits oracles and their practitioners for their comic potential. In particular,
there is a very similar scene in Peace.
Bakis: a semi-legendary Boeotian prophet, to whom were attributed many

prophecies in hexameter verse like those here. These prophecies were collected
in books, which perhaps rather than circulating as such were the tools of the
chresmologos'trade. A book could, as the passage implies, be checked by the
'client', but it is also possible that the use of books carried negative connota-
tions of the wrong sort of religious professionalism: compare 3.4.6.
168 RITUAL CONTEXTS
wolves: the word may also refer to a type of bird.

figurative expression: literally, 'Bakis riddled this [to refer to] the air'. The
idea that oracles and prophecies speak in veiled language is well established
in the fifth century, but the.language here suggests a wider context of the
allegorical interpretation of religious texts: compare 1.3.6-7, 2.5.11. Of course
the point in this case is that professionals can make very far-fetched inter-
pretations to suit their own advantage.
'
Pandora: though best-known to us as the first woman, who brought trouble
into men's lives, Pandora was also a cult figure in some contexts, though
perhaps not in Athens. She may have been chosen because her name suggests
'all the gifts' that the oracle-speaker wishes to receive. The sacrifice of a male
victim to a female deity, though unusual, is not unparalleled.
tasty meat: literally, 'entrails' from the sacrifice, a dish like the modern koko-
retsi, shared by the inmost circle of sacrificers, so an honour as well as a
delicacy. See 5.2.1, 3.3.3.
Lampon ... Diopeithes: well-known figures in Athens during the Pelopon-
nesian War years. The seer Lampon actually had a high reputation, but
Diopeithes was known at least by some as 'the mad'.
4.2.6 The many ways of prophecy
Source: Aeschylus(?), Prometheus Bound 484-99
And I set forth the many ways of prophecy, and I first discerned which things
in dreams will become waking truth, and I recognised for them (mortals) those
words of omen which are hard to distinguish and the signs they meet on journeys.
As for the flight of birds with crooked talons, I determined carefully which signs
are auspicious and which unlucky, and what habits each has, and which ones
are enemies and which friends and companions to each. I recognised the
smoothness of the entrails, and what colour the gall-bladder should be to please
the gods, and the liver's variegated, well-shaped form. And as I burned the limbs
wrapped in fat and the long tail-bone, I set mortals on the path to an art that
is difficult to discern. I revealed the signs of fire which previously were hard to see.
In this mid- or early fifth-century text, the captive, tortured Prometheus

describes the benefits he has given by inventing techniques to improve human
life. The climactic arts he has taught are those of medicine and prophecy;
after this a couple of lines refer to the mining of metals, and the theme is
concluded. Prophecy receives more lines than any other skill. Since it is
technai which are heing praised, there is no reference here to inspired or rev-
elatory prophecy, but only to the three commonest forms of divinatiqn a~ a
system of signs, which can be learned: the two kinds of sacrificial prophecy
RITUALCONTEXTS 169
(from the victim's innards and from the burning of the god's portions) and
that based on the behaviour of birds.
4.2.7 Leave prophecy alone
Source: Euripides, Helen 744-57
Indeed, my lord - but I have seen how useless and completely false the business
of prophets is. There's nothing sound in the sacrificial flame or the cries of birds;
It's just stupid to think that birds can help human beings. Look at Kalchas - he
didn't tell the army or give any indication that he knew our loved ones were
dying for a cloud, and neither did Helenos. A city was sacked for nothing.
You might answer, it happened because a god willed it so; In that case what's
the point of prophecy? It's best to sacrifice to the gods and ask for good things,
and leave prophecy well alone; it was invented merely as a tempting trap in
life, and no one ever got rich through sacrifices if he was lazy. The real prophet
is intelligence and good planning.
The speaker is a messenger, a member of the fleet of Menelaos who on his

return from Troy has been shipwrecked in Egypt. Following a version of
Stesichorus, in this play Euripides makes Helen an innocent who never went
to Troy at all; she remained safely in Egypt for the duration of the Trojan
War, while Paris took a phantom or cloud with him as his lover. While this
version saves Helen's credit, as the messenger has already seen some forty
lines earlier it renders the whole war particularly pointless.
Despite Euripides' reputation as a free-thinker, one should not take the mes-
senger's words here as necessarily indicative of a deep-seated personal con-
viction. The lines, which in the original may in any case have been amplified
by later additions, rather make a case in sophistic style (for instance, answer-
ing an imaginary objection) for a particular point of view. None the less they
trenchantly express the limitations of prophecy, both through a particular
example (the failure of individual seers to discern the true situation) and
through intellectual argument (if the gods can block prophetic knowledge at
will, why attempt to use it?). The argument could be seen as comparable, in
an expanded form, to Hector's famous line, as he rejects the prophecy of
Helenos and advice of Poulydamas 'one omen (oii5nos) is best, to fight for
one's country': here the Chorus comment that the gods' goodwill is the best
omen. Events will prove that Hector should have heeded the omen, but no
one refutes the Euripidean messenger.
Two of the three common methods of divination arc mentioned, but all,
of course, are to be understood.
Kalchas: the prophet who accompanied the Greeks in their campaign

against Troy.
170 RITUALCONTEXTS
Helenos: a Trojan prophet, one of the sons of Priam.

as a tempting trap: that is, the idea of forecasting the future seems a good
one, but it is delusory. Neither sacrifice nor the prophecies associated with
it is sufficient to ensure pr?sperity (compare 1.1.5).
Exegetes
Individuals known as exegetaior 'expounderi are found in several cities and
in various guises. They may be officially constituted and appointed, as at Athens
in the fourth century, or their position may be less formal though still tradi-
tional, depending perhaps on heredity or personal knowledge. There were
various exegetes in Athens: some from the family of the Eumolpidai, whose
province was matters connected with Eleusis; one chosen by Delphi; and
others probably chosen from the pool of noble and priestly families who
expounded on general ritual matters ('the ancestral law') for individuals as
well as for the state. Such matters would typically concern no one obvious
cult, but relate to issues such as danger, pollution and the religious response
to the dead - perhaps also household worship. At least two of the Athenian
exegetes, Kleidemos and Autokleides, produced written works on the subject,
called Exegetikonor (the plural form) Exegetika(see 3.3.7, 4.1.3, and compare
3.3.3). Priests were not exegetes, but might like to suggest their expertise by
'expounding' matters concerned with their deity's cult, as does for instance
a fourth-century priest of Asklepios at Peiraieus, Euthydemos (5.2.5).
4.2.8 Exegetes advise on a homicide case
Source: [Demosthenes] 47.68-71
Then after she had died, [ went to the exegetes to find out what I should do
about all this, and [ explained to them everything that had happened, how these
menartived, artd the woman's affection, how I had maintained her in the house-
hold, and how she had died because she would not let go of the cup. When
the exegetes had heard this, they asked me whether they should simply
expound to meor whether they should give advice as well, and I asked them
to do both. Then they said 'Well; we will expound what is lawful, and advise
on what is expedient. First, if there is any relative of the woman, he must carry
a spear at the. funeral and make 'an announcement at the tomb, and then keep
watch there for three days. Whatfollows is our advice. Since you yourself were
not present, but your wife and children were, and there were no other witnesses,
you should not give anyone's name in the announcement but mention only
"those who did this and the killers", and you should not lay a suit before the
basileus.That is not permitted to you by law, since from what you say the woman
was neither a relative nor a servant of yours, and it is relatives and masters whom
the law bids launch a prosecution. If you and your wife and children go to the
' .
RITUAL CONTEXTS 1 71
Palladion and swear an oath, and bind yourselves with curses on yourselves and
your house, many people will think badly of you. If the killer is acquitted, they
will think you guilty of perjury, and if you win the case, they will harbour malice
towards you. So purify yourself and your family, and endure the misfortune as
best you can, and punish them in some other way if you wish.'
This extract from a speech made in a fourth-century lawcourt is our fullest

glimpse of Athenian exegetes at work. The speaker has mentioned his old
wet-nurse, a slave whom his father had freed, but whom he himself had taken
back into his house after the death of her husband. When, in his account,
the two accused burst into his house intending to seize his property in con-
sequence of a prolonged and complicated legal wrangle, they fatally injured
the old nurse in a scuffle over a valuable cup which she was trying to keep
from her former master's enemies. The account is part of the speaker's case
against his enemies, and as such both places them in a bad light and aims
to explain why the speaker had not charged the assailants with homicide -
in Attic law, the responsibility of the victim's relatives. The passage shows
clearly the sort of topic on which exegetes were supposed to pronounce -
ritual and religious requirements arising from unusual situations (compare
the absurd circumstance ofthe mouse-gnawed sack in 4.1.1). Death involved
pollution (compare section 3.3), and strategies for coping with violent death
in the community had a strong religious flavour. Again, the exegetes' non-
ritual advice may be a fiction of the speaker's, since it suits his case very well,
but the idea that they might offer related advice in addition to their special
expertise must have struck the audience as plausible.
carry a spear: a homicide victim in Athens was buried with a spear at the grave;
the custom was supposed to have been instituted by King Erechtheus at the
funeral of his daughter Prokris, accidentally killed by her husband Kephalos.
announcement: the word carries a special meaning referring to a proclama-
tion that the killer should stay away from holy and public places, and submit
to justice.
basileus: an annual Athenian official whose name suggests that he fulfilled
some of the roles of the king of much earlier times; his duties were mainly
of a religious nature. Compare 4.3.3, 5.3.8.
Palladion: an ancient statue of Athena, supposed to have been the talisman
stolen from Troy; the court 'at the Palladion' was one of the homicide courts
of Athens, reserved for cases of unintentional killing and killing of aliens.
bind yourselves with curses: it was part of a formal oath to call down impre-
cations on self and family should one transgress its terms or perjure oneself;
see 4.3.5-6.
172 RITUAL CONTEXTS
Purifiers and healers

Purification could be a difficult task, requiring expert knowledge if the
pollution was serious (see 3.3, especially 3.3.3, instructions for a purifier); thus,
for instance, at an early dat-e the semi-mythical Cretan Epimenides was said
to have been called in to purify the city of Athens after suppliants had been
killed at an altar. Another major problem in life is sickness, and one obvious
approach to sickness is to see if it can be C'-{redby means connected with
the gods. Hence cults which specialise in healing are a}ways popular (see 6.3).
Sickness may render a sufferer physically unclean, and is clearly categorised
as an abnormal and undesirable state, so that it has much in common with
pollution. Both states may be tackled by attempting to 'wipe off' the unclean-
ness, and various methods of dealing with pollution can be applied to sick-
ness, especially certain types of sickness. It is therefore unsurprising that
certain individuals should claim or be thought to have special expertise in
this area. The connexion of healing and purification is indicated (and
attacked) in the passage below. Later, fourth-century references tend to make
fun of such methods (compare 4.1.1), but evidently a clientele persisted.
4.2.9 Bogus healing methods
Source: [HippocratesJ, On the SacredDisease 1.10-21
In my view the first to make this disease sacred were the sort of people who
even today are magoi .and purifiers and begging-priests and charlatans, those who
claim to be extremely devout and to have more knowledge than other people.
These people fell upon the divine as an excuse for their inability to do anything
. to produce some benefit, so that their ignorance would not become obvious,
and decided that the sickness was sacred. Picking their words carefully, they estab-
lished a treatment that was safe for themselves and applied purifications and
spells and told their patients to abstain from baths and many kinds of food which
are unsuitable for the sick. Of seafood, they must not eat red mullet, blacktail,
grey mullet, or eels, for these are the most perishable. Of meat, they should abstain
from goat, venison, pork and dogmeat, since these are the meats which most
disturb the belly. Of birds, they should not eat chicken or turtle-dove or bus-
tard, which are thought the strongest meats, and of vegetables, they must keep
off mint, garlic and onions, since nothing pungent is good for someone who is
sick: They tell them not to wear a black Cloak, because black is the colour of
death, and not to lie on or wear a goatskin, and not to place one foot or hand
on top of the other, for all these things are hindrances. They give this advice
relating it to religion,. as though they have some extra knowledge, and they come
up with other causes, so that if the patient recovers, they will get credit for their
skill, and if he dies they will have a secure defence and claim that the respons-
ibility lies not with them but with the gods - for they gave no medicine to eat
or drink and did not heat them up with baths so as to be susceptible to blame.
. '
RITUALCONTEXTS 173
This is hardly an impartial view (for other extracts from this writer, see passages
1.3.2, 3.3.4, 5.1.9), but even making allowance for the writer's bias, the experts
described here are in a different category from exegetes and many seers; they
are freelance practitioners and have only rarely any official function (such as
seers might have with an army, for instance). Derogatory words like those used
here (agyrtai, alazones) can be used of people with many types of religious exper-
tise (compare discussion on 3.4.6), but are more easily and convincingly applied
to those who lack ratification by the polis. The passage is part of an attack on
those who treat sickness, particularly the 'sacred disease', epilepsy, as divinely
caused and therefore susceptible to religious and/or magical treatment. Accord-
ing to the author, their methods are a combination of the magical (prohibition
on black, goatskin and 'tying' the body) with safe all-purpose dietary limitations
which, he implies, can have no special efficacy. In a later section (3.3.4) he
refers to religious purifications also carried out as part of their programme.
The measures adopted have clear similarities with temporary prohibitions
imposed in certain cults and also with the permanent rules for life attributed
to the Pythagoreans. We can then be fairly sure that the idea behind their
use was that the disease was, or was akin to, pollution, and could be driven
out by a state of heightened purity; the employment of formal purification
concurs with this. The Hippocratic author suggests a different kind of reason
for the dietary prescriptions, making our document a very early example of
the rationalisation of religious prohibitions which persists to this day ('pork
is risky to eat in hot countries').
For the final cynical statement, Geoffrey Lloyd has compared both Azande
attitudes to traditional healers ('witch-doctors') and those to the 'cunning men'
of Tudor and Stuart England. 1 Our author may be more thorough-going in
his opposition to the healer-purifiers than many in his society, but it is likely
that some of what he says would be favourably received even by some who
in other moods or circumstances might approach a purifier for help.
magoi: the word was properly applied to a group of religious experts among
the Persians, but this and other passages show that it was also used as a deroga-
tory expression for a religious professional. See also 3.4 introduction.
begging-priests: agyrtai, properly meaning 'collectors', was applied particularly
to those devotees of the Kybele or the Mother, often perceived as a foreign
god (see 5.5.3), who performed religious rites and accepted money. From this
the word came to be used in a denigratory sense of any religious practitioner
of suspect motives and dubious authenticity. 'Charlatans', alazones, on the
other hand, may be as well what we would call doctors, philosophers or geo-
metricians as religious practitioners - anyone whose expertise is perceived as
'gobbledygook' (compare 4.2.5).
dogmeat: not an isolated reference. It is clear that the flesh of dogs was a
normal part of at least some people's diet, though it was certainly not a prized
meat.
174 RITUAL CONTEXTS
these things are hindrances: · to tie knots in clothing or to clasp limbs together
was commonly tre~ted as magically hindering the free functioning of the body.
relating it to religion: or 'on account of the divine'.
4.3 Political Life, Oaths and Curses
A great deal of Greek religious life was carrie'ct on in the public sphere. The
conduct of traditional sacrifices and festivals was the responsibility of the state,
and it has become commonplace to talk of Greek religion as being 'embedded'
in society. But this section examines religion in political life more narrowly
defined: here are references to religious practice associated with the citizen
bodies which transacted the business of the state, along with examples of
oaths and curses which often, if not quite always, are the concern of the polis
and belong in the public domain.
In the typical Greek city, the agora served a multiplicity of functions con-
nected with what we would now call political, economic and religious spheres.
Most often translated as 'marketplace', it was also the area of the city where
many public meetings were held and, often, lawcourts were situated. Agoras
usually contained several sanctuaries, both large and small, but the whole
area had a certain sacredness about it: it was often surrounded by perirrhanteria
or water-basins so that those entering the space could purify themselves (see
5.1.9 and Figure 5), while exiles and the impure were barred from the agora,
as the city's symbolic heart, in the same way that they were from sanctuaries.
Thus the city's public space par excellencewas closely associated with religious
ritual and a religious sense, and it is no surprise to find that political meet-
ings in Athens (the only city for which we have really detailed evidence),
even when held away from the agora, included sacred acts (4.3.1-2); con-
versely, civic officials everywhere were charged with the supervision and/or
performance of certain sacrifices (4.3.3), and legislation on sacred matters was
enacted by the normal political bodies.
Apart from regular sacrifices, one of the most prominent ways in which
the sacred impinged on public life was in the swearing of oaths. The oath -
itself usually involving a sacrifice - was a way of calling both gods and the
human community to witness the truth or good faith of a declaration or under-
taking, and the one who swore the oath called down curses on himself and
his family in the event of his swearing falsely. A typical oath formula is given
verbatim in 4.3.6, and described in passages 4.3.4-5. Agamemnon's oath (4.3.6),
though it concerns what seems to be a private matter, has a public aspect
since it concerns his reconciliation as ruler with the foremost member of the
Achaian army - the community, in the context of the Iliad. Glaukos' pro-
posed oath (4.3.7) is more straightforwardly on private business, though the
swearing itself is likely to be a public act. But oaths really come to the fore
in political life. The fourth-century politician and orator Lykourgos menti~ns
RITUAL CONTEXTS 175
three oaths sworn by Athenian men in the course of public or political life,
two of which are given below (4.3.4-5). (For a public oath outside Athens,
compare 6.4.7, the oath sworn for the proper conduct of the mysteries of
Andania.) Oaths were also sworn by those involved in litigation, which clearly
involves a difficulty: many cases depended on a different version of events
given by plaintiff and defendant, and in most of these one party must have
been knowingly perjured. Plato in the Laws (4.3.8) discusses this problem; if
taken at face value, this passage suggests that perjury was indeed widespread,
despite the evident solemnity of oaths, and that many people hoped to avoid
divine punishment by making suitable offerings.
Related to the oath in terms of its solemn, sombre religiosity is the curse,
and as we have seen a curse is incorporated in an oath. Curses are often con-
sidered in the more private sphere, individuals cursing other individuals for
personal reasons; these have been considered at 3.4. But they were also often
sponsored by the polis, to invoke a superhuman sanction against enemies.
A well-known example is the case of the decree instructing the priests and
priestesses of Eleusis to curse Alcibiades after his profanation of the Mysteries
of Eleusis, 'facing west and shaking red-purple cloths, according to the
age-old ancient custom' (Lysias 6.51; cf. Plutarch, Alcibiades 22.5). Passage 4.3.9
is an epigraphic text cursing anyone who should commit certain acts against
polis welfare, designed to be proclaimed three times a year at public festivals,
and permanently on view in its written form.
4.3.1 Sacrifice and prayers in the Assembly
Source: Aischines L23
When the victim for the purificatory sacrifice has been carried round and the
herald prays the ancestral prayers, the lawgiver commands the presiding officers
to bring forward next matters concerning ancestralrites, about the reception of
heralds and embassies, and secular matters, and after this, the herald asks 'Who
of those aged over fifty wishes to speak?', and when they have all spoken,
he tells any other Athenian who so wishes that he may speak, provided it is
permitted to him.
Aischines is describing procedure in the Athenian Assembly in the fourth cen-

tury, showing the priority given to religious matters both in what is discussed
(ancestral - that is traditional - rites, come first, then matters to do with her-
alds, an area where religious sanctions apply; for heralds, see on 5.3.2) and
in action: before discussion, the area is physically purified with a sacrifice
(see 3.3 on purification) and a religious official speaks traditional prayers. The
passage does not itself indicate in what way this procedure was regarded. Was
it given a lot of attention, was it merely a matter of form, or somewhere in
between?
1 76 RITUAL CONTEXTS
4.3.2 Sacrifice and prayers in the Council
Sourte: Antiphon 6.45
These people saw me acting as a councillor and going into the council-house.
In the council-house there is a holy place belonging _toZeus of the Council and
Athena of the Council, and when. the. councillors enter they pray here. I was
one of them, and l did this, and I entered the·other holy places along with the
council, and I sacrificed and prayed for this city. In addition, I was part of the
first prytany for all except two days, and I organised rites and performed sacrifices
for the democracy, and I could be seen putting motions to the vote and speak-
ing to the most important and serious matters in the city.
Here the reference is to prayers of the Athenian Council (boule) rather than
the Assembly, but the passage constitutes slightly clearer evidence than the
preceding that religious actions were seen as an important and conspicuous
part of political procedure.
Demosthenes goes further (19.190): 'I know that all the prytaneis in each
prytany make common sacrifice, and dine together with each other, and make
libations together ... The boule does the same: it performs the sacrifices for
the opening (eisiteteria),it dines together and shares libations and sacred rites.
So too do the generals, and one might almost say all those in office.'
Zeus of the Council, Athena of the Council: Zeus Boulaios, Athena Boulaia.
Zeus and Athena were the gods perhaps most commonly associated with polit-
ical activity, especially in Athens.
prytany: the members of the boule were selected annually by lot in groups
of fifty from each of the ten Cleisthenic tribes. Each group formed a prytany
('presidency') and presided over proceedings for one tenth of the year.
4.3.3 Sacred officials
Source: Aristotle, Politics 6 1322b
Another. kind of office (epimeleia) is that concerning the gods, such as that
exercised by priests and supervisors (epimeletai) of things to do with the sacred
- preserving existing buildings, and restoring those which have fallen into dis-
repair, and all the. other things which must be done for the gods. This may on
occasion be a single office, as for instance in small cities, or it may be divided
into many, which are separated from priesthoods, such as those of sacred
officers (hieropoioi), temple guardians (naophylakes) and treasurers (tamiai) of the
sacred revenues. Connected with these is the office defined as concerning all
..
RITUAL CONTEXTS 177
the public sacrifices which are not assigned by the law to priests; these officials
have their honours from the common hearth. They are called by some archons,
by others kings (basileis), and still others prytaneis.
Aristotle has relatively little to say about religion in his theoretical and com-
parative analysis of the Greek city; this passage, from a larger discussion of
political office in general, is one place where he does touch on such matters.
The passage demonstrates how the city itself typically controls the adminis-
tration of public (or 'common') worship by appointing priests or more usually
others to oversee such affairs. Not only administration, but also, very import-
antly, the function of presiding over sacrifice may in certain cases be assigned
to the city's officials. Where priests derive their 'honour' and the legitimacy
of their functions from their priesthood, these men have the right and duty
to sacrifice 'from the common hearth', the religious identity of the city itself.
The titles which Aristotle lists are all attested in other sources. For the basileus
at Athens, see 5.3.8.
4.3.4 An oath sworn by the young men of Athens
Source: Athenian ephebic oath (Rhodes-Osborne 88)
Ancestral oath of the ephebes, which the ephebes are obliged to swear. 'I will
not shame my holy weapons, nor will I abandon my comrade wherever I take
my stand. I will defend tbings both sacred and proper, and I will not leave my
country lesser, but greater and better, both as far as I myself can, and in com-
'pany with all. I will obey those who at any time exercise power reasonably, l
the laws which have been laid down, and those which shall in future be
reasonably laid down. If someone tries to abolish them, I will not permit it,
either myself or in company with all, and I will honour the ancestral holy things.'
Witnesses: the gods Aglauros, Hestia, Enyo, Enyalios, Ares and Athena Areia, Zeus,
Thalia, Auxo, Hegemone, the borders of the country, wheat, barley,vines, olives
and figs.
This text is known to us in both literary and epigraphic sources, which differ
slightly; the version given above is from a fourth-century stele from the
Athenian deme Acharnai. Although the oath is likely to be considerably older
than this, we know that it was sworn in the second half of the fourth cen-
tury by the ephebes (epheboi), young men on the verge of adulthood under-
going military training, and hence every Athenian male citizen would have
sworn it.
The text gives the substance of the oath in verbatim form, but omits the
formula invoking destruction on the oath-breaker (and the opposite clause
178 RITUAL CONTEXTS
for the keeper of the oath, see 4.3.5 below). Though also omitting the open-
ing 'I swear by ... ' it does list the gods invoked, a very unusual set of deities
but one appropriate for a military group. Aglauros, daughter of King Kekrops,
was a kind of patroness of the ep}lebes, whose sacrificial death for the city
was a suitable model for what they might themselves have to do. Hestia here
is the personification of the city's own hearth, its symbolic heart. Enyo (female)
and Enyalios (male) are war deities, as is Ares; but the couple Ares and Athena
Areia had a sanctuary at Acharnai, and the stele was dedicated by their priest,
so Athena may be a local addition. Zeus needs no comment, but it is unusual
to find him in the middle of a list of gods, rather than at the beginning.
Thallo, Auxo and Hegemone are Attic deities of the Charites ('Graces') or Horai
('Seasons') type, whose names, implying respectively flourishing, increase and
leadership, are admirably suited to the resolve in the oath to 'leave the coun-
try greater and better'. Herakles, of course, is the archetypal heroic achiever,
as well as an Athenian favourite and patron of youth. Remarkable but not
quite unparalleled is the occurrence of the country's boundaries (horoi) and
principal crops - things to be defended, but things which also give well-being
- as quasi-deities.
things both sacred and proper: hiera and hosia. Hosion indicates something
which is pious and acceptable to the gods, so 'permitted'; hence it comes to
refer to things which are proper to do but not directly sacred, and at times
seems to mean almost 'secular'. In modern terms, the ephebes swear to defend
both religious and political institutions.
ancestral holy things: or 'traditional religion'.
4.3.5 An oath to protect the People
Source: Demosthenes 24.149-51
I .shall vote according to the laws ,md the decrees of the People of the Athenians
and of the Council of Five Hundred. I shall not vote for a tyrant or for an
oligarchy, and if someone tries to destroy the (power of) the Athenian People,
or discusses or tables a motion against the People, I shall not follow it ... It is
sworn by Zeus, Poseidon and Demeter, and he who swears invokes destruction
on himself and his house if he should transgress it, and if he keeps his oath to
receive many benefits,
This is a small part of the oath embedded in the text of a speech of Demos-
thenes, which claims to be that taken by jurors in Athens. Like the preced-
ing example, the text quotes only the substance of the oath and not the
opening and concluding formulas, though it does give a paraphrase of these
parts. ,
RITUAL CONTEXTS 179
4.3.6 Agamemnon swears he never touched the girl
They placed (the compensatory goods) in the middle of the meeting-place, and
Agamemnon stood up. Talthybios, with voice like that of a god, carried in a
boar and stood by the shepherd of the people. The son of Atreus took a knife
in his hands, which always hung by his sword's great sheath. He began the rite
by cutting hairs from the boar, and raising up his hands to Zeus he prayed. All
the Argives fell silent, each in his place, as was proper, and listened.to the king.
He gazed into the broad sky, and spoke in prayer: 'Let Zeus first be my witness,
greatest and best of gods, and Earth and Sun and the Erinyes, who punish men
under the earth if any should swear falsely: I never laid hands on the girl Brisei:s,
either to sleep with her or for any other purpose, but she remained untouched
in my tent. If any of this is perjured, may the gods give me countless troubles,
as many as they give to· one who swears on oath and sins.' He spoke, and slit
the boar's neck with the pitiless bronze. Talthybios hurled the animal into the
great depths of the grey sea, to be food for the fish.
Although the Iliad describes a society which predates the archaic and classical
polis, in many ways the Achaian army before Troy constitutes something
not dissimilar, and in this passage we see the fundamentally public nature
of the oath: it is sworn at a meeting of the people, so that humans may wit-
ness it as well as the gods in whose name it is sworn. As part of his public
restitution to Achilles for forcibly removing his concubine and prize Briseis,
the Achaian commander Agamemnon swears an oath that he has not slept
with the girl. The essentials of the oath are well seen here: the sacrifice which
normally forms part of the swearing, and the verbal formula invoking gods
as witnesses, along with the prayer that perjury or breaking of the oath should
lead to troubles or (often) destruction of self and family. Iliad 3.245-301 is
a longer and more elaborate description of an oath sacrifice, which adds to
the above the detail of a wine libation, and gives the self-cursing part of the
formula to the assembled group who are all committed to the truce being
sworn.
Talthybios: the herald (keryx) of the Achaian army. Heralds had various reli-
gious functions (see also on 5.3.2), and here Talthybios is clearly Agamemnon's
sacrificial assistant.
cutting hairs: normal procedure before the slaughter; see 5.2.1. The
sacrificial prayer here is made by the person swearing the oath, and the one
presiding over the sacrifice also kills the animals. In later times, a knife is
used in visual depictions to indicate that the man holding it is a priest; the
fact that Agamemnon always carries such a knife suggests that he is com-
monly called on to perform sacrifice.
180 RITUAL CONTEXTS
Earth, Sun and Erinyes: Earth is everywhere and ancient, Sun 'sees every-
thing and hears everything' (Iliad 3.277), and the Erinyes punish those who
offend against divinely sanctioned norms. Classical oaths are more usually
sworn on Olympian deities, such as Zeus, Poseidon and Demeter (4.3.5),
depending on the situatior1 and context of the oath.
Talthybios hurled the animal: Disposal of the animal without eating
might be expected for a sacrifice in which the mood was somewhat grim (see
5.2 introduction), but after the sacrifice in Iliad book 3 Priam takes the slaugh-
tered lambs back to Troy ·with him, presumably to ~at.
4.3.7 Better the line of the man who abides by his oath
Source: Herodotus, Histories6.86~
(A man from Miletos wishes to leave half of his money with the Spartan Glaukos1
who is renownedfor hi_suprightness,thinking it will be safer in the Peloponnesethan
in Ionia.)
Glaukos accepted the deposit on the terms he had suggested. Much later the
sons of the man who had made the <:lepositarrived il). Sparta and came to Glaukos,
showed him the tokens and asked for the money back But he sent them away,
saying in answer 'I have no memory of the matter, and nothing brings to mind
what you're talking about. I would like to think back and do everything that is
right; if I received the money, I will give it back properly, and if I didn't receive
it, I will follow Greek law in regard to you. So I will postpone a settlement until
three months' time.' The Milesians were upset, and left thinking that they had
lost the money, but Glaukos went to Delphi to consult the oracle. He asked if
he should get hold of the money by swearing an oath, and the Pythia
reproached him in the following verses:
'Glaukos son of Epikydes, in the short term it will benefit you thus to win
with an oath and steal the money. So swear, since death awaits even the unper-
jured man. But Oath h_asa nameless child, handless and footless, who arrives
swiftly and stays until he has taken away a man's whole family and all his
descendants. Better in later days is the line of the man who abides by his
oath.'
When he heard this, Glaukos begged the god to forgive him for what he had
asked. The Pythia replied that to make trial of the god was equivalent to doing
the deed. Glaukos called back the Milesians and returned the money to them.
And now, Athenians, 1 will explain why I have told you this story: in our day
there is no descendant of Glaukos, nor any hearth said to be his, but his line
has vanished utterly from Sparta.
According to Herodotus, this moral tale was told to the Athenians by the
Spartan king Leotychidas as an (unsuccessful) attempt to persuade them to
return a rather different sort of deposit, a group of hostages from Aigina.
RITUAL CONTEXTS 181
It indicates both the solemnity attaching to oaths and the willingness of some
to disregard this - though Glaukos was sufficiently unsure of his preferred
course to consult Apollo about it. The oracle's verse response emphasises the
clause in most oaths which invokes destruction not only for the perjurer but
for his descendants, and it is this consequence which the story itself relates.
But perhaps the most interesting feature of the narrative is the Pythia's pro-
nouncement that to consult the god is equivalent to performing the action:
unequivocal fifth-century evidence for the view that intention and not merely
action is what counts.
4.3.8 Perjury in lawsuits
Source: Plato, Laws 12 948b;.__e
We should admire what is known as the decision of Rhadamanthys on judge-

ment in lawsuits. He was well aware that the people of his own day believed
without doubt in the existence of gods, not surprisingly since the majority of
them at that time were the children of gods, himself included according to
tradition. He seems to have considered that such matters should be entrusted
to no human judge, but to the gods, and consequently he could deal simply
and quickly with cases. On each point that was contested, he administered an
oath to the parties in the dispute, and so he settle<,:!the matter with speed and
certainty. But nowadays, when it seems that some people have no belief at all
in the existence of gods, and others think that they are not interested in us,
while the largest and worst group suppose that if the gods are given some small
offerings and flattery they will help them to deprive others of large sums of money
and save them often horn awful punishments, Rhadamanthys' device is no longer
appropriate for lawsuits conducted among the people of today. Since human
beliefs about the gods have changed, so too the laws should change. In settling
cases, sensibly framed laws ought to remove the oaths sworn by each party; the
plaintiff should write down the charges, but not swear an oath, and in the same
way the defendant should write down his denial of the charges and hand this
over unswom to the magistrates. It is a terrible thing to bewell aware that when
so many lawsuits are in progress in the city, that almost half of those who asso-
ciate quite happily with each other at public feasts and other gatherings, and
in private parties, have perjured themselves.
Although Plato is not here speaking in his own person, it is hard not to recog-
nise some of his familiar preoccupations and to feel that the Athenian's words
do in fact reflect his views. His analysis of what he sees as a common dis-
regard for oaths may not be entirely accurate, but it has a certain logic.
Looking back to a supposed better age, he imagines that whereas the people
of that time were pious and could easily be constrained by fear of the gods,
now views of the gods have changed. The idea that sacrifice and offerings
can avert the just punishment of the gods is one of Plato's bugbears (com-
pare 3.4.7, 3.5.4), and has an obvious application to perjury; indeed, the story
182 RITUAL CONTEXTS
of Glaukos in the preceding extract might imply that Glaukos hoped to avoid
the consequences of perjury by cosying up to Apollo. Particularly interesting
is the reference to 'a small category of people who have no belief in the gods;
this and other passages in the Laws are among our best evidence for thorough-
going atheism (see 3.5.4).
Rhadamanthys: son of Zeus and Europa and brother of Minos, renowned

for his uprightness and a well-known mythical judge, frequently in the
underworld.
it is a terrible thing: not only because of revulsion from wrongdoing, but
because association with the sacrilegious was itself often thought dangerous.
4.3.9 Public curses
Source: Inscription from Teas, first half of fifth century (ML 30)
Whoever uses destructive drugs against the Teians, whether against the com-
monalty or against an individual, he is to perish, both himself and his descend-
ants, Whoever prevents grain from being imported into Teian land, whether
by art or by device, by sea or by land, or sends away grain that has been imported,
he is to perish, both himself and his descendants ... [damaged and fragmentary
section followsl ... knowingly (?) betrays the city and land of the Teians, or the
men on the island, or at sea, in future, or the suburb (or, fort?)in Aroia, or betrays
in future, or practises brigandage or receives brigands, or piracy or knowingly
receives pirates committing robbery from Teian land or sea, or knowingly plans
evil for the Teian commonaltywith regard either to Greeks or to barbarians,
he is to perish, both himself and his descendants. The timouchoi who do not
perform the curse at the (statue of) Power when the crowd is seated for the con-
test(?) at the Anthesteria. and the festivals of Herakles and Zeus are to be bound
in the curse (themselves).Whoever breaks the columns on which the curse is
written, or mutilates the letters, or makes them invisible, he is to perish, both
himself and .his descendants,
An early example of traditional curses operating on the polis level. Although

there are some uncertainties about the details of Teian territory and exactly
what categories of offenders are to be cursed, the text supplies its own con-
text in its last two sentences: not only is it to stand as a written and there-
fore perpetually operative curse, it is to be publicly renewed by state officials
at conspicuous city festivals, and it is to be operative against all who refuse
it or seek to deny its currency.
by art or by device: this appears to be a stock phrase.

timouchoi: 'honour/office-holders', perhaps here the holders of a particular
office. ,
RITUAL CONTEXTS 183
Anthesteria: it is more likely that a festival is intended here than 'in the
month Anthesterion'. The Anthesteria were a festival of Dionysos; it is pos-
sible that the contest was one of drama.
4.4 War and Crisis
Fighting occupies a paradoxical place in religious practice. On the one hand,

it is such a dangerous activity that requesting divine assistance is particularly
urgent; on the other, the circumstances of battle might seem to make formal
worship difficult. In order to cope with this problem, special attention was
paid to 'holy things' at the outset and other crucial points of military expedi-
tions, such as moving towards an engagement, and to the time immediately
before battle commenced, or might commence. Passage 4.4.1 is an example
of prayer and libation at the beginning of an expedition, while 4.4.2 gives
part of the elaborate system practised by the Spartan kings on campaign.
Although any sacrifice involved inspection of the victim's entrails for omens,
this aspect was of particular importance in a military context, and could indeed
be said to be the primary function of many such sacrifices. 4.4.3, one of sev-
eral such passages in Xenophon's Anabasis, shows how consultative sacrifices
were routinely used to give advice on problems faced by the army, and also
suggests different responses to such advice. Most people would probably have
had a rough idea of what constituted good or bad sacrificial omens, but a
mantis (see 4.2.1-7) was always on hand to give expert confirmation and
provide more detail. Indeed, this military function was perhaps the most promi-
nent role assumed by manteis, and there is little evidence to suggest conflict
between seers and commanders.
Once favourable omens had been obtained, immediately preceding the bat-
tle a slaughter-sacrifice (sphagion) would be made, in which (though omens
were not ruled out) the main emphasis was on the spilling of blood. Myth
often transmuted this action into a human sacrifice. Then the army might
advance singing a paian (see 5.5.1). During the fighting, a divine or more
often a heroic response might be discerned in the form of an epiphany (com-
pare 3.2.6-7); often a local hero, sometimes previously unknown, might be
seen helping his own. More rarely, a superhuman being was seen evidently
fighting on the other side (4.4.4).
But battle was not the only dangerous situation faced by the Greeks.
Childbirth was sometimes seen as the equivalent of battle for women,
although of course it was confronted on an individual basis. It is likely that
women had some fixed rites for dealing with the dangers of pregnancy and
birth (compare 3.3.1), and certainly divine help would be appropriate (4.4.5);
many dedications by women are made in thanks for successful childbirth.
Seafaring was another hazardous activity, and here too it was common prac-
tice to make a dedication for deliverance from sea-storm or shipwreck. Cicero
(On the Nature of the Gods 3.89) relates that the 'godless' Diagoras of Melos
184 RITUAL CONTEXTS
in the fifth century was shown a great number of these votives as evidence
of the power of the gods, and commented that pictures of those who had
not been saved w~re not on view. Initiation into the Samothracian Mysteries
was often thought to give protection from shipwreck (see 6.4.5-6).
Other dangers arrive unso_licited. Earthquakes were always attributed to Posei-
don, and from 4.4.6 we ·learn of a paian to this deity to avert the danger;
we also see that earthquakes could be interpreted as signs indicating the divine
will. Finally, epidemic disease is a catastrophe suggestive of the work of the gods.
In myth, plague is often considered to come from Apollo, and as prophetic god,
Apollo at Delphi was frequently consulted for a remedy. The final passage
(4.4.7) suggests an altogether darker type of response.
4.4.1 Prayers and offerings before setting sail
When the crevvs had fully em barked and everything they were to take with them
was on board, a trumpet called for silence, and they made the prayers that are
customary before setting sail, not in each ship individually but all together, led
by a herald. The whole force ·filled mixing-bowls, and crew and officers both
poured libations from gold and silver cups. The crowd on land, both Athenian
citizens and others well-disposed towards them, joined in the prayers. When
they had sung a paian and. finished the libations, they set off, at first sailing in
a line and then racing each other as far as Aigina.
Here Thucydides describes the departure of the doomed Athenian expedition

to Sicily in 415, emphasising the excitement and magnificence of the occasion
(the massed prayers, the precious cups) and the high hopes of the Athenians
(hence 'racing each other', in exhilaration). This emphasis leads him to recount
details which his audience would have taken for granted, but which are use-
ful to us: prayers and libations (see 3.1.3) are clearly normal immediately before
setting sail, and a paian (see 5.5.1 and section introduction) might also be
sung. Both sailing and fighting are hazardous operations and like most new
ventures need divine help. As Thucydides describes it, the Athenians seem
confident of such support, but events will prove them wrong.
4.4.2 Spartan kings on campaign
Source: Xenophon, Constitution of the Lakedaimonians, 13.2-5, 8
I shall go back and relate how the king sets out with an army. First, while at
home he sacrifices to Zeus the \,eader and to those with him (?) If the omens
RITUAL CONTEXTS 185
there are favourable, the fire-bearer takes fire from the altar and goes with it to
the boundaries of Spartan land, and there the king sacrifices again, to Zeus and
Athena. When auspicious omens have been received from both these deities,
he crosses the border, with the fire from these sacrifices preceding him and never ~·
going out, and all sorts of sacrificial animals following. Whenever he sacrifices, i
he begins before it is fully light, as he wishes to get in first and catch the god's
goodwill. At the sacrifice are present the polemarchs, the lochagoi,the pentekonteres,
' the leaders ;·of the foreign troops, the leaders of the baggage train, and any
general from the cities who wishes. Two of the ephors are present also, but. they
do not interfere unless the king invites them to; they just observe what every-
: one is doing and make sure that all behave with proper restraint. At the con-
' clusion of the sacrifices, the king summons them all and announces what is to
be done ...
I think that the following ideas of Lykourgos with regard to battle are very
beneficial. When a goat is being sacrificed and the army is already in view of
the enemy, the custom is that all the shawm-players present play their instru-
ment, and no Lakedaimonian is without a wreath. They are commanded also
to polish up their arms.
The Spartans were often considered particularly punctilious in religious matters,

but Xenophon gives the details above as indicating their professionalism in
matters of war ('only they are true technitai', he says at 13.5). Three kinds of
military sacrifice are mentioned: at the outset of the expedition, at the borders
of Spartan territory, and before battle. Of these the second kind, called dia-
bateriaor 'things pertaining to crossings', are not known to have been performed
elsewhere, but are mentioned many times in Xenophon's Hellenika, and also
in Thucydides, who generally pays much less attention to religious matters;
however, in book 5 Thucydides records three occasions when the omens of
the diabateriaproved unfavourable and the armies returned (5.54.1, 55.3, 116.1).
to those with him: the text is uncertain here. This phrase would refer to
the deities associated with Zeus. It has also been proposed that the Spartan
favourites, the Dioskouroi (Kastor and Polydeukes), lurk within a textual cor-
ruption, while a third possibility is that the king and those with him sacrifice
to Zeus.
fire-bearer: an officiant of this name is not infrequently found in sanctuaries
and at sacrifices (compare 6.3.2 [121.5]); here, the function is explained as
using the fire to link two sacrifices.
Zeus and Athena: in political contexts, it is often Athena, rather than Hera,
who is Zeus' female partner, while her military character and interests are
well known in mythology.
sacrificial animals: these travelled with an army so that a sacrifice could
be made before committing to action; compare 4.4.3.
186 RITUALCONTEXTS
before it is fully light: compare Hesiod's advice at 3.1.2.

polemarchs, etc.: '. various magistrates and commanders of army divisions.
ephors: Spartan magistrates whose power was independent of that of the
two kings.
Lykourgos: the quasi-mythical lawgiver and founder of the Spartan
constitution.
beneficial: not only because to do things properly attracted divine favour,
but also to impress the enemy with Spartan ('Lakeda'imonian') confidence.
The music of the aulos and the wearing of wreaths or crowns were normal
sacrificial accompaniments,· and considered auspicious. What was different
about Spartan practice was that large numbers of men were thus involved in
the sacrifice; from the following passage we see that elsewhere it was more
normal for only the leaders to take part.
4.4.3 The difficulty of getting favourable omens
Source: Xenophon,. Anabasis 6.4.12-5.2
After this Xenophon got up and said 'Soldiers, it seems that we shall have to
make our journey on foot, since there are no boats. And we must set off imme-
diately; if we stay here there are no provisions. So we (the leaders) will sacrifice,
and you must prepare yourselves for battle as never before, for the enemy are
full of confidence.' Then the leaders offered sacrifice, and with them as seer was
·· Arexion the Arcadian; Silanos of Ambrakia had by now hired a vessel from
Herakleia and deserted. They sacrificed for departure, but the sacrifices did not
come out, and so they offered no more that day. Some men even dared to say
that Xenophon wanted to make a settlement in the place and had bribed the
seer to say that the sacrifices were not favourable for departure, so he announced
that the next day anyone who wanted might attend the sacrifice, and he invited
any seer who. might be present to accompany them and join in inspecting the
victims. Then he began the sacrifice, in the presence of a large crowd. He sacrificed
three times for departure, but the sacrifices did not come out. The soldiers took
this very badly, .since .the provisions they had brought with them had run out,
and there was as yet no market.
A meeting was convened, and Xenophon spoke again, as follows: 'Men, as
you can. see., the .sacrifices are not yet favourable for the march. But I see that
you have no provisions, so I think we must make a sacrifice specifically for that
purpose.' Then someone stood up and said 'I think it makes sense that our
,, sacrifices aren't coming out. I happened to hear someone from the boat that
arrived yesterday saying that Kleandros the governor of Byzantium is about to
arrive with merchant ships and triremes.' At this, everyone agreed to wait, but
it was still necessary to go out for provisions. So they sacrificed again three times
for this purpose, and the sacrifices failed to come out. Then the men even went
RITUALCONTEXTS 187
to Xenophon's tent, saying that they had no provisions, but he refused to lead
them out with unfavourable sacrifices.
.. They were to sacrifice again on the next day, and since the matter affected,
everyone, virtually the whole army crowded round the sacrifice. But now they
had run out of victims. The generals did not take out an expedition, but called
,, the men together. Xenophon said 'Perhaps the enemy have gathered together,
and we shall have to fight. So if we leave our possessions at the strong point
and go as if prepared for battle, maybe the sacrifices will be favourable for us,'
When they heard this, the soldiers shouted out that there was no need to go
to the strong point, but to sacrifice as soon as possible. There were no more
sheep or goats, but they bought a cart-ox and sacrificed that. Xenophon asked
Kleanor the Arcadian to inspect it carefully and see if there was any sign. But
even then there was nothing.
Then Neon, who was the general who had succeeded to Cheirisophos, seeing
that the men were terribly in want and wishing to help them, found a citizen
: of Herakleia who said that he knew some villages nearby where they could get
provisions. He announced that anyone who wanted could go for provisions with
him as leader. So almost two thousand of them went out with poles and goatskins,
bags and other containers. They had reached the villages and split up to get
food, when the cavalry of Pharnabazos fell upon them first. They had come to
help the Bithynians, wishing to join them in preventing the Greeks from reach-
' ing Phrygia if possible, and they killed not fewer than five hundred men; the
rest got away and fled to the mountain. One of those.who escaped reported to
the camp what had happened. Then Xenophon, since the sanifices had not come
out that day, took a bullock from a cart, as there were no other sacrificial ani-
mals, slaughtered it, and went to the men's help, along with all others who were
aged thirty or less. They picked up the rest of the survivors and reached camp
again. Then around sunset, when the Greeks were preparing dinner in very low
spirits, suddenly some Bithynians coming through the scrub overcame the
sentries, killing some of them and chasing others right up to the camp. A cry
arose, and all the Greeks rushed to arms, but they did not think it was safe to
give chase and disturb the camp at night, as the terrain was wooded. So they
spent the night under arms and with a heavy guard. ,
Thus the night passed, and at daybreak the generals led the men to the strong
point, and the men followed and picked up their arms and their possessions.
Before it was time for the mid-morning meal, they had finished making a trench
at the entrance to the strong point and put a palisade all round it, leaving three
gates. And a boat from Herakleia arrived with a cargo of barley-meal and animals
for sacrifice and wine. Xenophon got up early and sacrificed for an expedition,
and the sacrifice came out with the first victim. At the close of the sacrifice
the seer Arexion of Parrhasia caught sight of an eagle on the right, and told
Xenophon to lead the men.
Part of the adventures of the (originally) ten thousand Greeks who had gone
into Asia as mercenaries in the pay of the Persian prince Cyrus, and who were
left after his death to return through hostile country to their homeland. The
188 RITUAL CONTEXTS
passage is given here at some length in order to show the importance attached
to auspicious omens, especially sacrificial omens, as a director of strategy.
Xenophon's implication is clearly that the omens were correct, and that the
gods were warning their worshippers both against departure and against an
expedition: in the following.passage, Kleandros arrives and eventually secures
Spartan favour for the arrriy (though he is not in the end able to escort them
home), while the expedition sent out is attacked, but after favourable omens
the Greeks are able tp turn the tables on their attackers. But the passage also
demonstrates the doubt which could attach to omens. Under the pressure
of hunger, there was an obvious temptation to ignore warnings and go
out anyway, while it was also evidently easy to suppose that a mantis could
be bribed to find inauspicious signs to fit the convenience of one of the
commanders.
did not come out: literally, 'the holy things did not happen', that is, the
omens were unfavourable.
to make a settlement: to found a Greek city in 'barbarian' land could be
quite a desirable career move for an ambitious mercenary, and at another
point in his narrative (5.615-17) and a different location Xenophon admits
that he had some interest in such a foundation.
Kleandros: hannostes of Byzantium, at this date under Spartan control.
to inspect it carefully: or, with an emendation in the text, 'to make a pre-
liminary sacrifice in case there should be ... '.
Xenophon ... slaughtered it: this was a sphagion,a sacrifice performed imme-
diately before engagement with the enemy (see above).
mid-morning meal: ariston, a late breakfast, compare 5.3.1.
barley-meal and animals for sacrifice and wine: significant not so much
as provisions, but as necessary materials for sacrifice.
4.4.4 A hostile apparition
Source: Herodotus, Hist01ies 6.117
And in that place (Marathon, at the battle) an amazing event took place. There
was an Athenian, Epizelos the son of Kouphagoras, who fought bravely and lost
his sight, though he was not wounded anywhere on his body by either a hand
weapon or a missile, and from then on he was blind for the rest of his life.
I have heard that he said the following about this: he thought he saw standing
against him a huge man in hoplite armour, whose beard covered his shield com-
pletely, and this apparition passed him by, but killed the man next in line beside
him. That is what l was told he said.
RITUAL CONTEXTS 189
In the danger and confusion of battle it is difficult to be sure of ahything one

sees, and those fighting for their lives are also likely to be praying hard for super-
human help. It is therefore not surprising that divine and heroic epiphanies
on the battlefield are fairly commonplace. But usually such apparitions do some-
thing helpful. One tradition relating to the battle of Marathon in 490 BCE
was that the Athenian national hero Theseus had led the charge against the
Persians (Plutarch, Theseus 35); another was that the Athenians had been helped
by a hero Echetlos or Echetlaios, who mowed down the Persian enemy with
a plough (Pausanias 1.15.3, 32.5). That episode was painted into the depic-
tion of the battle made shortly afterwards in the Stoa Poikile (Painted Portico)
in Athens, so it must have been well known to most Athenians. Herodotus
passes over this story in favour of one he has heard at first hand from a source
he names, giving a much more unusual account: Epizelos saw not a helpful
hero but an enemy one, and it was not at all clear how the 'apparition' should
be identified or what was its motivation. Heroes were sometimes thought to
be dangerous and malevolent (see 1.2.3), but no explanation is hazarded.
4.4.5 The easer of birth
Source: Euripides, Hippolyh1s 161-9
Wretched, miserable helplessness loves to dwell with women's ill-formed nature,

and accompanies pains and unreason. This current once swept through my womb.
But I called on the easer of birth, heavenly Artemis who loves the bow, and
she, much longed for, is by divine grace ever present with me.
The chorus of local women, having heard that something is wrong with
Phaidra, speculate on what it might be, their final suggestion being that she
is undergoing a difficult pregnancy. ('Pains', odines, refers specifically to the
pains of childbirth.)
Although the setting is fictional, it seems reasonable to conclude that women
could be expected to pray to Artemis, who is particularly associated with
childbirth, when faced with difficulties either during pregnancy or in labour.
Dedications to Artemis after birth are also attested, and may be represented
in the Brauron clothing catalogues; see 5.6.2.
4.4.6 Response to an earthquake
Source: Xenophon, Hellenica 4.7.4-5
As he was dining in Argive territory on the first evening, and the after-dinner
libations were being made, the god shook (the earth). All the Spartans, beginning
190 RITUAL CONTEXTS
with those in the ..royal tent (?), sang the paian for Poseidon,. while the other
soldiers thought that they should leave, because Agis himself once led an expe-
dition away from Elis when there ·was an earthquake. But Agesipolis said that
if the. earthquake had happe_ped when he was about to invade, he would have
thought that it was preventing hitn, but since it happened when he had already
invaded, he took it as encouragement. So in the morning he sacrificed to Poseidon,
and led on far into the country. ····
These events took place in 390, when the Spartan king Agesipolis led a
military expedition against the traditional enemy Argos, and show responses
to the earthquake both as danger and as sign. That Poseidon is the god respons-
ible for earthquakes seems to be a universal Greek view (he is called Earthshaker
in Homer), and the existence of a special paian (on paians, see 5.5 introduction
and 5.5.1) to him, attested only here, suggests urgent prayer that this mani-
festation of the god's power will not prove destructive. Like Zeus' thunderbolt,
Poseidon's earthquake is both dangerous and potentially communicative,
because it may indicate the attitude of divinity to what is currently happening
in the world of mortals. Agesipolis interprets the sign in accordance with what
suits him best.
those in the royal tent: the text is uncertain here.

far into the country: again there is a textual uncertainty, and the correct
reading may be 'not much further into the country'.
4.4. 7 Despair in time of plague
Source: Thucydides 2A7.S, 52.3-4, 53.5
Doctors were no help at first through ignorance, but the more they attended
the sick, the more they themselves died, and no other human expertise was any
use either. As for supplications at sanctuaries or the use of prophecy or similar
techniques, they were all useless, and in the end people rejected them, defeated
by their sufferings ..•. The sanctuaries where they camped were full of the
corpses of those who had died there, since under the pressure of disaster peo-
ple hadno idea what would happen to them, and ceased to observe the norms
qf eitheJ: human or <Uvineaffairs ..All the funerary customs that had previously
been in force were turned upside down, and each person performed burial as
best he could ... There was no fear of the gods, no law of men to restrain them;
they decided that respect and disrespect for the gods were of equal value, since ·
they saw that everyone perished equally.
Taken from a very much longer description of the plague of 430 in Athens,
this is interesting testimony of a sense of despair induced by the breal<do*n
RITUAL CONTEXTS 191
of normal expectations of divine behaviour. We must, however, allow for

the fact that the plague is something of a set-piece description, and that
Thucydides is here and elsewhere preoccupied with the collapse of moral and
societal norms under the pressure of extreme hardship. Still, there is nothing
implausible in the description. When the sickness first strikes, people look
for help from both human and divine sources, help from the gods being sought
through prayer (we may envisage something not unlike the opening scene
of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, often thought to have been inspired by these
events, though without much evidence) and through 'prophecy and suchlike'
(probably including both consultations of oracular sanctuaries and indivi-
duals with prophetic skills or knowledge). In another portion of the descrip-
tion, Thucydides mentions a hexameter prophecy which some believed to
have been fulfilled by the plague, though there was some question whether
it was 'disease' or 'famine' which was said to accompany a war with the Dorians;
he caustically remarks that people fit their recollections to their experience,
and that if a future Dorian war should bring famine, the verse would be quoted
in that version.
Since most Greek views of the gods were based on reciprocity and the belief
that, other things being equal, those who cultivated the gods would receive
good things from them, especially if they also lived a good life, it would not
be altogether surprising for a large-scale catastrophe to bring about an aban-
donment of religious practice. But any such effect was obviously temporary,
as with a return to normality the power of the generally accepted model of
human-divine relations reasserted itself.
Note
1 Geoffrey Lloyd, Magic, Reason and Experience(Cambridge, 1979), 17-18.

5
SanctuariesI
We have looked at many of the ways in which the Greeks expressed and
explored their relationship with the divine, and many of the contexts in which
these relationships were expressed. We turn now to those places adapted to
a wide variety of ritual and especially associated with the deities, the major
areas of sacred space. I use the word 'sanctuary' to translate the relevant occur-
rences of the Greek hieron, which is simply the neuter form, used as a noun,
of the word for 'holy': the holy thing. Above all, a sanctuary was, literally,
sacred space - an area of ground set aside as belonging to a deity, in which
that deity could suitably be honoured, and marked off from normal space
by precise boundaries. Within these boundaries, particular rules had to be
followed, so that an appropriate state of purity was maintained. (On purity
and pollution, see 3.3.) A hieron could also be called a temenos, meaning
literally something 'cut off' and referring originally to a human aristocrat's
land. But in practice this word (which I have translated as 'precinct') often
indicates that the sanctuary is quite large, perhaps including land such as
woods or pastures which were not used directly in the worship of the deity.
(However, their produce, such as timber and animals for sacrifice, was often
used in such worship.) The land was still the deity's property, and restrictions
had to be observed by those entering it. In 5.1.3, temenos and hieron are
contrasted, so that temenos evidently here means the whole sanctuary, and
hieron the area used for worship.
Typically the focal point of the sanctuary was the altar (homos) on which
animal victims were offered to the deity. Altars could take various forms, but
most often were square or rectangular blocks of stone, on top of which a fire
could be lit in order to burn the parts of the animal given to the god. The
altar was usually in the open air, and historically altars were a part of the
sanctuary well before the elaborate temples that we associate with Greek holy
places were constructed. The temple was in essence a dwelling-place (this is
the meaning of the word naos/neos) for the image or aniconic object 'which
SANCTUARIESI 193
Figure 7 A man addresses prayers to a statue -of Athena. Red-figure oinochoe,

c. 470-460. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art Rogers Fund, 1908; 08.258.25.
embodied the deity; it came to double as a storage and display area for the
many objects dedicated to the god, which were thus appropriately placed near
the image. Worshippers attending a sacrifice, arguably the central act in Greek
religious practice, did not need to enter the temple; the action was completed
in the area in front of the god's dwelling-house. It would not be true, however,
to say that the temple was marginal to the worshippers' experience. Various
passages (see 5.1.6, 5.1.10) attest the practice of entering the temple and pray-
ing to the deity present in the image. Passage 5.1.4, by imposing additional
restrictions on entry to the temple, as opposed to the sanctuary, may suggest
that in one way the temple was more important, because more holy. This is
a relatively late (second-century) text, but in 5.1.6, a fifth-century passage refer-
ring to a sixth-century incident, the phrasing may indicate that it was temple,
rather than sanctuary, entry which was forbidden to the group in question.
Because sacrifice usually involved the production of meat for consumption
(and it was sometimes actually required that the meat should not be taken
away), sanctuaries often also contained a space designed for dining. This might
be an informal, open-air space, perhaps surrounded by trees, but when sacrifices
occurred in the winter an enclosed building (hestiatorion) would be more
194 SANCTUARIESI
Figure 8 Reconstruction of the interior of the Hephaisteion at Athens, with statues of

Hephaistos and Athena. Only a minority of cult statues were of this impressive size.
Agora XIV, fig. 36.
convenient. Such buildings might also be used for the rituals called theo-
xeniai, where the deity was summoned to join the worshippers at their meal.
Large sanctuaries might also contain areas for special activities carried out
to please the god: dancing very often, but also various kinds of competitive
activity, whether athletic or poetic. As conspicuous public buildings, they
were also sometimes the location for the public display of inscribed official
decrees (see 5.3.7).
A visit to a sanctuary might have many purposes, often combined. A
visitor might go because a sacrifice was performed on that day, whether by
the city as a whole or by some smaller group that he or she belonged to.
One might go to make a request .of the deity, or to thank the deity for favours
received, or simply to maintain a good relationship. In such visits there might
well be an element of sightseeing - the worshipper could admire the sculp-
tures on the pediment and friezes of the temple itself (see 5.1.1), and works
of art which had been offered as dedications (5.1.2). In an unfamiliar place,
one might visit a sanctuary out of curiosity, or one might make a special trip
to visit a well-known and somehow special establishment. People also visited
sanctuaries sometimes to participate in the contests held at certain festivals;
•
they would not, of course, neglect to sacrifice to or otherwise honour the• deity.
SANCTUARIESI 195
Whatever the reason for the visit, certain rules had to be observed so that
the sanctuary could be kept in a state of heightened purity such as befitted
the gods (compare 3.3). It was well known that birth, death and sex were to
be kept away from all sacred areas. Further, some kind of ritual washing
or at least sprinkling seems to have been normal on entering a sanctuary (see
5.1.9, Figure 5). Individual sanctuaries had many different rules on what (and
who) was not allowed, ranging from objects and items of clothing which must
not be brought in to a complete ban on entry (5.1.3-8). These regulations
were often prominently displayed at the entry or entries to the sanctuary,
and those visiting any holy place would be well aware that some kind of restric-
tion might be in force.
5.1 Visiting a Sanctuary
5.1.1 Sightseeing at Delphi
Source: Euripides, Ion 184-232
CHORUS OF ATHENIAN WOMEN: So, it is not only in godly Athens that. there .are
beautifully-pillared halls of the gods,. and shrines
for the deities of the streets. In. the home of
Loxias too, the.son of Leto, there are lovely, shin-
ing twin temple fac,:ades. ..
Look, come and look at this: the son of Zeus. is
killing the Lernaian hydra with his. golden scim-
itar. Cast your eye on it, dear friend.
Yes, I see. And just beside him there's someone
else raising a blazing torch. Is he the one r hear
stories about while weaving, the shicldbearing
Iolaos, who took on Herakles' labours with him
and completed them together?
Oh, look at this oner sitting on a winged horse,
killing the mighty three-bodied monster as it
breathes fire.
I'm glancing in. all directions. Just look at the defeat
of the Giants on the stone walls.
Dear friends, we are looking.
Do you see the figure shaking her shield's glaring
rim over Enkelados?
I see Pallas, my own goddess.
What about this, the massive thunderbolt, with
fire at each end, in the far-hurling hands of
Zeus?
Yes, I see it. He is blasting the enemy Mimas with
fire.
196 SANCTUARIESI
And the bacchic Bromios is killing another of

Earth's children with unwarlike wands of ivy.
You-there, it's you by the temple building I'm call-
ing: is it permitted to place our feet beyond the
threshold?
ION: No, it's not allowed, strangers.
CHORUS: Might I not hear a reply from you?
·10:t4'.r<., What is. it that yG.lJwant?
CHORUS: Is it true that the house of Phoibos contains the
navel, the midpoint of the earth?
Yes, indeed. It is clothed in woollen strands and
around it are Gorgons.
CHORUS: That's what is said.
ION: 'IKt®ihave made an. offering in front of the build-
ing, and wish to learn something from Phoibos,
then go to the sacrifice area. But if no sheep have
been sacrificed, you may not enter the inmost parts.
CHORUS: I understand. We will not transgress the law.
There is delight for the eyes in what lies outside.
ION: Please look at everything that is allowed.
This is a fictionalised piece set in the mythical period, and as such it might
be expected to show only a partial relationship with actual sanctuary visits.
However, Euripides was known for his use of everyday material in his tragedies,
and in Ion he exploits the distance between our reaction to classic mytho-
logical material and a psychologically realistic presentation of characters and
action (compare 2.2.3). In this early part of the play he is perhaps already
doing this, in the contrast between the august scenes depicted and the ordin-
ary, somewhat nai:ve onlookers. The chorus represents the attendants of Queen
Kreousa, who have accompanied her and her husband Xouthos to Delphi and
have been allowed time off to look at the sanctuary. The lyric is divided so
that members of the chorus speak in turn and address each other, until in
the second part they address Ion and he replies, also in lyric.
The piece suggests how little the modern distinction between simple sight-
seeing and 'religious' tourism applies to the Greek world. The chorus have
no special reason to consult Apollo, but they have an awed curiosity about
the omphalos (see below) and are well aware of the type of entry regulations
which may surround parts of a sanctuary. They also enjoy looking at the sculp-
tures on the outside of the temple, not so much from a strictly aesthetic point
of view, as from the pleasure they get in recognising the stories they know.
For many Greeks, especially women, a visit to another city and its sanctuaries
would be an unusual experience, and Euripides imagines the reactions of such
a group as they try to match what they know from their own background
with what they see elsewhere. The panhellenic nature of most mythology
depicted in sculpture ensures that much is recognisable. '
SANCTUARIESI 197
The scenes the women describe were probably not actually shown on the
temple of Apollo at Delphi. They are the sort of scene that sculptors liked to
show on temple friezes and pediments: the defeat of the forces of chaos and
disorder by gods and heroes. Gigantomachies are a particular favourite (see
also 2.5.3), and in fact there was one on the west pediment of Apollo's temple.
This theme runs as a background to the play, because giants are born from
the earth and thus represent a negative counterpart to the earth-born Athenians
of whom Kreousa appears to be the last scion.
The dialogue with Ion represents what was probably a common pheno-
menon, at least in larger sanctuaries: out-of-town visitors look for a temple
official to help them with procedure and tell them about the cult-place's tra-
ditions. When Herodotus speaks of his conversations with Egyptian priests
(regardless of whether he is telling the truth or not), he probably means to
remind his readers of what they themselves would do if they wanted informa-
tion about an unfamiliar Greek sanctuary. But the first thing such a guide
would have to do would be to explain what is not allowed (ou themis), espe-
cially with regard to entry to the sanctuaries. Some sanctuaries were entirely
off limits to certain groups of people (for instance, foreigners or women), while
in others, as here, certain parts were open to all while in other parts there
was restricted access. frequently inscriptions advised of such limitations (see
passages 5.1.3-7).
godly Athens: Athenians were proud both of their piety and of the
magnificence of their temples.
shrines for the deities of the streets: agyiatides therapeiai. The phrase
evokes Apollo Agyieus, 'of the streets', whose wayside shrines were commonly
found in the Greek world, but also includes other small-scale holy places and
objects, including sacred stones and herms (see 4.1.4). Such little places con-
trast with 'beautifully pillared halls of the gods', but were no less character-
istic of Greek cities.
Loxias: a title of Apollo most often used to refer to the god of Delphi, and
often explained by reference to the less than 'straight' nature of the deity's
pronouncements (loxos meaning 'slanting').
lovely, shining twin temple fa~ades: literally, 'the beautiful-eyed light of
twin faces', perhaps referring to the two Delphian temples of Athena Pronaia
and Apollo himself.
the son of Zeus: Herakles, one of whose labours was to kill the hydra or
water-snake of Lema in the Argolid. In normal mythological chronology, Ion
precedes Herakles by at least one generation, but the audience is not expected
to be thinking along such 'historical' lines.
hear stories about while weaving: or perhaps 'while winding weft threads
on a bobbin'. In either case, this is a male author's view of how women might
198 SANCTUARIESI
be expected to spend their time, one which Euripides uses elsewhere (Iphigeneia
at Aulis 788), and ,which forms an interesting parallel with Plato's allusion to
children first hearing myths in similar informal settings from their mothers
and nurses (2.5.3). ·
Iolaos: son of Herakles' ·half-brother Iphikles, Iolaos accompanied Herakles

on his labours.
sitting on a winged-horse: this is Belleropho.µ with the winged horse Pegasos,
killing the Chimaira, a monster with a body comp~sed of a lion, goat and
snake. The story is in Iliad 6.179-83 (without Pegasos) and Hesiod, Theogony
319-25.
the figure shaking her shield's glaring rim: Athena, who is generally cred-
ited with having despatched Enkelados in the battle of gods and giants
(see Figure 2, p. 39, and above on gigantomachies). The word for 'shaking'
is pallousa, which suggests an etymology for Pallas, the name of Athena used
by the answering chorus member, who identifies the warrior-goddess as 'her'
deity, a familiar and reassuring figure in this new context.
thunderbolt: Zeus' particular weapon was depicted in art as a twisty rod
with flames at each end. Mimas was another of the giants, more often said
to have been killed by Hephaistos.
Bromios: 'Roarer', title of Dionysos, whose province of wine and ecstasy is
anything but warlike, but who can defeat his enemies in unexpected ways.
The wands of ivy are his typical thyrsoi,staffs wound about with ivy and topped
with fircones.
is it permitted: (is it) themis, the usual phrase for what is correct or per-
mitted in a religious context (see above). The threshold is mentioned several
times in connexion with Delphi: it seems that to step over the temple
threshold implied an intent to consult the oracle, and was only permitted
in these circumstances (compare passages 6.2. lc, 6.2.3). At the end of the
extract, Ion explains the rule more fully.
the depths: gyala, 'hollows', perhaps indicating the rock-cut chambers from
which the temple of Apollo developed.
might I not hear: having heard that they are not allowed to proceed fur-
ther, the Chorus wonder whether they are also forbidden from knowing what
the inner shrine contains.
the navel: this omphalos was a sacred stone, probably very ancient, in the
inmost part of the Delphic sanctuary. It was said to have been there long
before Apollo took over the site from an earlier goddess or goddesses (Earth
or Themis) and as it was supposed to be a natural marker of the centre of
the earth it was crucial to Delphi's claim to be a special place. Woollen strands
(stemmata, 'fillets') are used to mark out various objects as sacred, 'sucl\ as
SANCTUARIESI 199
heralds' staffs and the persons of priests. Imitation omphaloi have been found
with these stemmata carved onto them. The Gorgons are more difficult to
explain, but seem to be stylised sculptures on either side of the omphalos,
presumably of fearsome aspect.
If you made an offering: it is not clear whether Ion is simply saying 'no
offering/request for consultation - no entry' or whether he is describing two
stages. It is perhaps more likely that a simple bloodless offering (a pelanos:
see below, 5.1.2, end of passage) permits one to advance to the inside altar
where a sacrifice is made before going in further to a consultation. (In either
case, we know that there was a further area, the adyton,which only the priestly
personnel were permitted to enter.) But the Chorus do not qualify for any
kind of further progress. They are within the sanctuary, but having made no
offering and having no intent to consult the god (unlike their master
Xouthos, who has gone inside) they must remain in its outer purlieus.
5.1.2 A visit to an Asklepieion
Source: Herodas 4
KYNNO: Hail, lord Paieon, you who rule over Trikka and who have settled
in lovely Kos and Epidauros; and hail, too; Koronis who bore you,
and Apollo, and Health whom you toucb with your right hand,
and the owners of these honoured altars - .Panake and. Epio ·and
Jaso, and those who sacked the walls and habitation ofLaomedon;
healers of savage disease, Podaleirios and Machaon,; and all the gods
and goddesses who. live at your hearth, father Paieon. Come gra-
ciously, all of you, and receive a supper of this <;:ockerelthat I
sacrifice, the herald of my house's walls. We don't .have a lot of
ready resources, or we would offer an ox or a pig covere.d in plen-
tiful skin instead of a cockerel, in return for your healing of those
diseases which you took away by stretching out your gentle hands.
Kokkale, put the picture to the right of Health. ·
KOKKALE: Just look, dear Kynno, at these lovely offerings. l wonder who made
this stone, and who dedicated it?
KYNNO: It was the children of Praxiteles - don't you see the writing on the
base? And it was Euthies the son of Prexon who set it up.
KOKKALE: May Paion be favourable to them and to Euthies for their lovely
works.
KYNNO: Just look, love, at. that girl looking up at the fruit: wouldn't you
say she would die right away if she didn't get hold of it?
KOKKALE: Look at that old man, Kynno - by the Fates, how that child is stran-
gling the goose.
KYNNO: If there wasn't a stone just in front of our feet, you would say it
would speak, Heavens, in time people will even be able to put life
into stones.
200 SANCTUARIESI
KOKKALE: Do you see this statue of Batale, Myttes' daughter, the way it stands?
Anyone who hadn't ~een Batale would have no need to if they had
seen this likeness.
KYNNO: Come with r.ne; love, and I'll show you something more beautiful
than you've ever seen in your life. (To her slave) Kydilla, go and
call the attendant. Hey, you, aren't I speaking to you? Why are you
looking here and therel Goodness, she takes no notice of what I'm
saying, but stands there looking at me, worse than a crab. Go and
call the attendant, I say. Greedy thing, neither a priestess nor a lay
person would call you good - you are equally worthless everywhere!
I call this god to witness, Kydilla, I don't want to be angry, but
you're driving me to it. I tell you, the god is my witness: there'll
be a day when you have to scratch the scars left by tattooing.
KOKKALE: Don't take everything to heart so, Kynno - she's a slave, and slaves'
ears are always slow.
KYNNO: But it's day now, and the crowd is getting bigger. You, just stay here
- they have opened the door, and the curtain has been drawn back.
· "' ATTENDANT: Ladies, your sacrifices are entirely good, and indicate an auspici-
ous outcome. No one has pleased Paion more than yourselves.
le ie Paieon, may you look kindly on these fine offerings, and on
any who are these ladies' husbands and families. le ie Paieon. Thus
may it be.
KOKKALE: So may it be, greatest one, and may we return in the best of health
bringing greater offerings, with our husbands and children.
KYNNO: Kok.kale, take care to cut the bird's leg nicely and give it to the
attendant. And put the posset in the snake's hole silently, and wet
the cakes. The rest we'll eat at home, and don't forget ... [the last
two lines are hopelessly corrupt]
This little verse dialogue or 'mime' is of a later date than many of the extracts
in this volume, dating from roughly 270 BCE. Two women and a slave or slaves
are visiting a sanctuary of Asklepios, probably intended to be the Asklepieion
at Kos, and (as with many descriptive pieces of late fourth-century or
hellenistic date) it is hard to imagine that the occasion would have been
substantially different in the fifth century; it is simply that the later period
has more interest in the delineation of everyday scenes. In the previous pas-
sage, Euripides also depicts ordinary women visiting a temple, but his scene
is (supposedly) set in mythological times.
The centrepiece of the dialogue is the description by the two women of
the works of art set up as dedications in the sanctuary, part of which has
been omitted above; the beginning and end give the occasion of the visit,
to make a dedication and a sacrifice as thanksgiving for healing. The pivi~ion
of lines between the characters is not entirely certain, and neither is it clear
SANCTUARIESI 201
whether Kokkale is the name of the second woman (perhaps a younger rela-
tion) or one of Kynno's slaves. Kynno is certainly the more experienced of
the two; she is familiar with the sanctuary, she probably speaks the prayer
and definitely takes charge of the procedure. As the dialogue begins, the time
is just before dawn, and it must be imagined that Kynno has handed over
to a temple official her small sacrificial victim, a rooster. She then addresses
an elaborate prayer to the god and his associated divinities, and arranges the
placing of a votive tablet. (See below, 5.2 on sacrifice, 5.5 on hymns, 5.6 on
dedications, and 3.1 above on prayer.) The two women then pass the time
admiring the more elaborate sculptural dedications in some outer part of the
sanctuary. While Kynno is trying to call the attendant (sometimes translated
'sacristan') or neokoros (see below, 5.4) to inquire about her sacrifice, the
temple is opened (at dawn), revealing more works of art in the porch and
the body of the temple (the characters' comments here have been omitted).
Eventually the neokoros returns the body of the victim to the women,
informing them that their sacrifice has pleased the god and the omens were
favourable. The mime ends with a prayer and a final offering to the sanctuary,
while the bird's body is divided up: a leg is given to the neokoros,or through
him to the priest, and the rest is taken home to be eaten there.
Although literary depictions can never be taken as exact copies of life, in
this case the emphasis is on the women's reactions to the dedications and
works of art in the sanctuary, and secondarily on Kynno's relations with her
friend and her slave, so that there is no reason to suppose that the setting -
the thanksgiving visit to the sanctuary and the procedure followed - shows
anything very atypical. It is therefore a valuable piece indicating what such
a visit might have been like and how worshippers might have behaved.
In common With Euripides' women in the previous passage, Herodas' characters
find time to admire the sanctuary's art works; the women's words also suggest
gratitude to the god, familiarity with his entourage and attributes, the wish
to do things properly, and perhaps to impress other visitors (placing the votive
tablet in a prominent position), as well as all-too-likely distraction from the
divine setting by the comically unsatisfactory behaviour of the slave-attendant.
I have followed Zanker's distribution of the lines; he also gives a guide to
further discussion of this and other problems raised by the text. 1
Paieon: Ionic form of Paion or Paian, the healer god of the Iliad often
identified with Apollo, but here with Asklepios: see below, 5.5.1, where the
notes also identify the other deities. It is characteristic of the worship of
Asklepios that his family - parents, wife and children - are worshipped with
him. Health (Hygieia) is usually the most prominent of the group, and gen-
erally taken to be his daughter: a variant made her his wife (who is usually
Epione), and this may be intended here by Asklepios' gesture of touch with
his right hand, seen in some surviving sculptures. Kynno may be looking at
reliefs on the monumental altar or else thinking of the cult statues, even if
these are not visible as yet; she is very familiar with the sanctuary.
202 SANCTUARIESI
Trikka, Kos, Epidauros: the most famous centres of Asklepios' worship. The
cult probably diffused from Trikka in Thessaly, hence its primacy. Kynno
follows an established prayer formula of invoking the deity by mentioning
his or her favourite places: see 3. i .1. Her language in the first part of the prayer
is quite formal and 'literary'. This is not necessarily unrealistic; personal prayer
will often take a formulaic shape, influenced by what the worshipper perceives
as appropriate 'religious' language.
habitation of Laomedon: Troy, becaus,t Machaon and Podaleirios are
mentioned in the Iliad (2.730-3), though there is no indication there that
their father Asklepios is divine.
this cockerel: here Herodas shows us that his characters, as often in hellen-
istic poetry, are not grand and may perhaps be viewed by his elite audience
with amused condescension (especially when they use grandiose language:
'the herald of my house's walls'). A piglet is the smallest victim used in
regular public sacrifice, and in fifth- and fourth-century Attica it was the usual
poor person's offering; a chicken was clearly even less expensive. It is per-
haps at this point, or soon after, that the bird is left to be sacrificed.
in return for healing: Kynno uses a special word, ietra (Attic iatra), meaning
'gifts given as a thank-offering for healing'.
took away: literally, 'wiped off'.
gentle hands: Asklepios is conceived not just as a god who effects cures, but
as a physician, and the word for gentle (epios) is often used in describing him;
it is also the base of his wife's name, Epione (here Epio).
put the picture to the right of Health: Kynno has brought with her a votive
tablet commemorating the cure which the god effected in her or a family
member (we are not told what the health problem was). Such tablets have a
close parallel in the metal tamata (with schematic indication of the person
or body part healed) .which are dedicated in Orthodox churches today, and
the similar offerings in many Catholic countries. Many such pinakes, and also
sculpted reliefs depicting scenes of healing (see Figure 16) or representations
of body parts, have been found in shrines all over the Greek world. Whether
to draw the deities' attention and/or (perhaps) that of her fellow devotees,
Kynno wants her tablet to be placed in a prominent position. On dedications,
see below, section 6; for votive pinakes, Figures 12 and 17.
offerings: agalmata, literally 'delights', commonly referring to statues, which
are held to delight the deity. Admiring art work and dedications of all sorts
is part of a visit to a sanctuary (compare above, 5.1.1). The more that accrues,
the greater the god's honour; and especially beautiful objects are particularly
honorific.
Praxiteles: the famous fourth-century sculptor. Question and answer
demonstrate that at least one function of the inscriptions which are tsual
SANCTUARIESI 203
on larger votive offerings is to publicise both donor and artist to the sanc-
tuary's visitors. Kokkale's prayer or wish that both may find favour with
Asklepios suggests that as well as simple commemoration the authors of the
inscription may have had an approach not unlike that implied by inscrip-
tions in medieval churches: 'Of your charity, pray for the soul of .. .'
by the Fates: apparently an oath used particularly on Kos.
if there wasn't a stone: i.e. the stone base on which the statue stands.
the attendant: neokoros.While in a small sanctuary a priest or priestess would
be the only officiant, and not always present (compare passages 5.4.1-2), larger
sanctuaries had also a temple-keeper or neokoros, literally 'temple-sweeper',
and probably often other staff. In 5.1.1, Ion's role is that of a neokoros;earlier
in the play he is seen literally sweeping the temple. In general, the neokoros
took care of a lot of the practical business of the sanctuary, and here is seen
acting as intermediary between the worshippers and the priest. It was pre-
sumably to him that Kynno gave the cock for sacrifice during the opening
prayer, or before the dialogue begins.
priestess or a laywoman: the word I have translated as 'priestess' (orge) is
unknown elsewhere, but looks to be in the semantic range of erdein/orgia,words
for 'doing' sacred things; the word for 'laywoman', bebiilos, could as well be
masculine, and its most common meaning is something like 'secular'. Some
sort of distinction between ordinary people and the specially consecrated there-
fore seems to be implied; compare the Cyrenaean cathartic law, 3.3.1.
scars left by tattooing: this is the probable meaning. It is clear at any rate
that it is a threat of punishment. For tattoos applied to slaves, compare 6.3.2
(121.6-7).
the crowd is getting bigger: the Asklepieion is a popular place, and evid-
ently dawn is a good time to visit, just when the inner temple is opened.
Kynno and her friend have tried to beat the crowds by arriving early to trans-
act their business.
curtain has been drawn back: or perhaps 'the chamber has been opened'.
The omitted section which follows shows the two women admiring more works
of art which are now revealed to them.
your sacrifices are entirely good: the neokoros returns with the sacrificed
cockerel, minus the parts that have been burned on the altar. The priest has
presided over the sacrifice, but the credit goes to those who gave the victim,
and the appearance of the inner parts and their behaviour 'indicates an
auspicious outcome' (they are es loion embleponta).
No one ... more than yourselves: this may be a set response, or it may
indicate that Kynno's anxiety about the size of her offering was unnecessary:
the gods (especially perhaps Asklepios, a kind deity) appreciate sacrifice in
204 SANCTUARIESI
accordance with the means of the donor. Compare 5.2.7 (Socrates; note also
his dying wish ta offer a cock to Asklepios, Phaedo 118a), and for Asklepios,
5.5.1 and 6.3.2.
le ie .Paieon: Compare Kynno's prayer at the opening of the dialogue, and
for the 'paian-cry' see 5.5.1. The prayer which follows is clearly of a sort used
habitually at the conclusion of private (non-community based) sacrifices.
greatest one: Asklepios. Kynno in turn ma~es a concluding prayer. Her final
request is typical of those making offerings of any sort: that the god will con-
tinue to give the favour requested, and hence the worshipper may continue
to make offerings (compare 5.6.ld). This relationship of reciprocity is at the
heart of Greek religion (see also 3.1).
cut the bird's leg nicely: in addition to the god's portions, a sacrifice also
required that a part of the victim, often a leg or the skin, be given to the
officiating priest (compare 5.4.1-2). Here it is not clear whether the neokoros
will give the leg to the priest or keep it for himself, as was sometimes laid
down.
put the posset in the snake's hole: snakes are associated with Asklepios,
as with heroes and many 'chthonic' deities, and it is possible that originally
a real posset (pelanos:a gloopy mixture of grain and liquids such as oil, honey
and wine) was offered to a real snake. However, the word pelanos is well attested
with the transferred meaning of a money offering, and it appears that
collection-boxes with a snake motif were used to symbolise the gift.
wet the cakes: these were probably real cakes dipped in honey or wine. Such
offerings often complemented blood sacrifice, and cakes seem particularly
prominent in the cult of Asklepios.
the rest we'll eat at home: by contrast, when Sostratos' mother sacrifices
a sheep (also a private sacrifice) in Menander's Dyskolos, a feast is held in the
vicinity of the shrine itself. Of course, a cockerel minus the innards and one
leg would not provide a feast to which friends could be invited. At some
public sacrifices, and in some places even at private ones, it was actually
forbidden to take the sacrificial meat out of the sanctuary (see 5.4.1).
5.1.3 What must not be brought into the sanctuary
Source: Ialysos, Rhodes, about 300 BCE (LSCG 136)
A decree of the Searchers and the lalysians, proposed by Alkimedon: So that the
sanctuary [hieron] and the precinct [temenosl of Alektrona is kept pure in accord-
ance with ancestral custom, the hierotamiai are to ensure that three columns
of Lartian stone are made and that this decree is inscribed on the columns, includ-
ing what the laws state it is not right to bring into the sanctuary or when
' ~
SANCTUARIESI 205
crossing the precinct, and the penalties for anyone who acts against the law;
One column is to be placed at the entrance on the city side, one above the
dining-hall, and the third at the way down from the city of Achaia.
The law as regards what is right to enter or bring into the sanctuary and the
precinct of Alektrona: let no horse, donkey, mule, ginos or any other pack
animal whatsoever enter, nor let anyone bring any of these into the precinct,
nor let anyone bring in sandals or any product made from pigs. Whatever any-
one does against the law, let him purify the sanctuary and the precinct and offer
sacrifice there, or let him be guilty of impiety. If someone introduces animals
for pasture, let him be fined one obol for each animal. Let anyone who wishes 1
inform the Searchers of someone doing any of these things.
Although this decree belongs to the early hellenistic rather than the classical
period, it is concerned to recreate what it sees as 'ancestral custom', and is
in some ways typical of regulations dealing with entry to sanctuaries, a class
of document which gives us some idea of what was permissible in sacred space.
Here the space involved is both the sanctuary proper (hieron), that is the
temple and probably a space outside including an altar, and the temenos - a
larger portion of land marked off as belonging to the deity, which could include
a grove of trees, pasture, arable land or, as perhaps here, tracks. The fact that
there were three copies of the inscription shows the importance attached to
getting things right, although it is noteworthy that a financial penalty sufficed
to correct the misdemeanour in the case of pasturing animals. Regulations
of this sort would have been a common sight at the entrances to sanctuaries.
They were necessary because while certain things (birth and copulation and
death) were hot permitted in any sacred space, the rules about other forbid-
den activities, objects or indeed people varied considerably from sanctuary
to sanctuary. That such restrictions existed would have informed the mind-
set of any visitor to a Greek sanctuary and was an important fact in experi-
encing such a visit.
Searchers: mastroi, local financial officials.

Alektrona: in a later source (Diodorus 5.56) Alektrone appears as a daughter
of the Sun and the nymph Rhodos. The island Rhodes was considered sacred
to the Sun.
hierotamiai: literally 'sacred stewards', these were officials appointed by the
state to deal with the financial affairs of a sanctuary.
Lartian stone: a kind of hard stone quarried on Rhodes.
dining-hall: histiatorion, more commonly hestiatorion. Most larger sanctuaries
had such a building, which the worshippers could use for consuming the
sacrificial meat or for other ritual meals. This was especially useful if there
was a prohibition on removing meat from the sanctuary (see 5.4.1)
206 SANCTUARIESI
city of Achaia: this was the acropolis of lalysos.

ginos: it is disputed exactly what animal this is, but the prohibition is on
all animals used for carriage. If the temenos was large (as it probably was, since
animiils could be pastured_In it), people using pack animals would have had
to divert from their route and follow the outer perimeter of the enclosure.
Otherwise we may envisage simply a prohibition on tying up such animals
within the temenos.
sandals: it is clear from specific rules such as this one that there was no
absolute expectation that footwear would not be permitted on sacred sites,
but nonetheless this is a fairly common prohibition. The context in regula-
tions of other sanctuaries suggest that sandals may sometimes have been
banned because they were tied (they are hypodemata, 'things bound beneath';
on 'tying', compare 4.2.9, commentary), but often, as here, it seems to have
more to do with their manufacture from animal skin (compare below, 5.1.4).
A law from a Peloponnesian sanctuary in the first century BCE (6.4.7) pro-
hibits the wearing of shoes unless they are either of felt or made from the
skin of sacrificed animals.
product made from pigs: presumably in addition pigs were not to be
sacrificed to Alektrone, though we do not have the sacrifice regulations of
this sanctuary. Although the pig is a very commonly prescribed sacrifice, it
is also one of the most frequently forbidden.
let him purify: things forbidden in a particular cult were considered impure
in that context, and since pollution had been introduced into the sanctuary
it would be necessary to purify it. This was probably a considerable financial
burden for the offender. See further on pollution, 3.3, and on purifying a
sanctuary especially 3.3.1.
5.1.4 Purity laws for a sanctuary
Source: Eresos (Lesbos), second century (LSCG 12)
... from a death in one's own family, having observed purity, in twenty
days. From a death in another household, in three days after having washed.
from a stillbirth, in ten days; for the mother herself, in forty days. From a live
birth, in three days; for the mother herself, in ten days. horn a woman, the
same day after washing. Murderers are not to enter, neither are traitors or
galloi, and women are not to perform gallic rites in the precinct. No one is to
bring in military equipment or animal carcases. No one is to bring into the
temple iron or bronze, except currency, nor shoes nor any other animal skin.
No woman is to enter the temple except the priestess and the prophetess.
It is not allowed to fpasture? slaughter?] cattle or pasturing animals in the
precinct.
SANCTUARIESI 207
A further group of regulations stipulates that worshippers must be pure

from the pollution caused by particular activities - sex, eating certain foods,
and contact with pollutions such as death and childbirth. Purity is gained
through lapse of a certain number of days, or washing, or both (see also 3.3).
Most of the well-preserved inscriptions of this sort date from the hellenistic
or Roman periods, but since there are fragmentary fourth-century inscriptions
which are clearly of the same kind it is clear that this was not a new devel-
opment. The inscription above, from an unknown sanctuary at Eresos on
Lesbos, combines such purity regulations with prohibitions on bringing in
certain articles similar to those in the previous example, and also bars cer-
tain categories of person entirely. These total bars in this example (contrast
the following two) refer to rather unusual groups and have a faintly moral
tinge. Murderers and other homicides, with the exception of those who killed
in battle, were of course subject to serious pollution and therefore unfit to
enter holy places, but this state could normally be changed by heavy-duty
purification; their coupling with traitors, who are not usually thought to be
polluted, suggests that the criterion may be more one of morality than strictly
mechanistic pollution. Such moral criteria for entry are typical of regulations
of this date and later; sometimes they add a positive requirement for moral
and spiritual purity ('thinking holy things' [hosia]).Galloi were male followers
or priests of the Mother of the Gods (see 5.5.3] who used an ecstatic style of
worship and who had sometimes been castrated; here, too, there may be a
sense that such a lifestyle is morally reprehensible, or it may simply be that
it is considered incompatible with the preferences of the deity here worshipped.
Either way, it is the whole complex of cult behaviour which is forbidden,
not simply the eunuch priests.
having observed purity: hagneusantas, a vague word perhaps indicating

abstention from sex, perhaps from certain forbidden foods. The original audi-
ence would presumably have had some clearer concept of what was intended.
from a woman: it is hard to believe that this is not shorthand for sex in
general; some texts also mention the case of women 'from a man' (see 5.3.8),
while others distinguish between intercourse with one's wife and with a
prostitute.
military equipment: by contrast, it was common practice in many sanc-
tuaries to dedicate armour taken as spoils. Clearly this deity was not of a
military nature.
iron or bronze: the restriction is presumably due to the association of these
metals with weapons and armour. Note that such objects were not outlawed
from the sanctuary as a whole, only from the temple (see chapter introduc-
tion). Similarly, women may enter the sanctuary and thus be present at sacrifice,
but they may not enter the temple.
prophetess: evidently this was an oracular cult.
208 SANCTUARIESI
5.1.5 No entry for some
Source: Paras, fifth-century inscription at the boundary

.of a sacred area (LSCG 109)
The boundary of the Highest (Hypatos). It is not permitted for an uninitiated

person or for a w_oman.
Here we see a prohibition on much wider categories than in the previous

example, and whereas at the sanctuary of Eresos women were debarred from
entering the temple, here they are to be kept out of the whole precinct.
Regulations of this type, though clearly not the norm, have survived in enough
quantity to show that they are not anomalous either. Gender restriction is
one of the commoner forms, and almost all the surviving documents exclude
women rather than men. (To redress the balance, there were numerous
'women's festivals' from which men were rigorously excluded, even though
at other times they were allowed to enter the sanctuaries where these rites
took place; see below, 5.3.5-7.) Sanctuaries which thus excluded women were
often those of male deities, but the rationale is frequently hard to discern.
Hypatos is known only as a title of Zeus, and yet the sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos
(an equivalent form) in Athens was full of dedications by women, admittedly
of a later date. The character of the Parian cult may have been quite different:
this is strongly suggested by the exclusion of non-initiates. Similarly, non-
initiates were excluded from at least certain parts of the sanctuaries of Eleusis
and Samothrace (6.4.1-5). We know nothing of the mysteries celebrated here,
and it has been suggested that the sanctuary may have belonged to an idiosyn-
cratic cult association.
5.1.6 No entry for Dorians
Source: Herodotus, Histories5.72
As Kleomenes was going up the (Athenian) acropolis intending to take posses-

sion of it, he went into the adyton of the goddess as though to pray to her. The
priestess got up from her throne before he had passed the doors, and said 'Stranger
from Lakedaimon, go back and don't enter the holy place; it is not right for
Dorians to be there.' But he replied 'Lady, I am not a Dorian but an Achaian.'
He took no notice of the omen and made his attempt on the acropolis, but was
thrown out with the Lakedaimonians.
Herodotus here describes what he thinks of as a significant moment in the

attempt of the Spartan king Kleomenes to capture the acropolis durihg his
SANCTUARIESI 209
involvement in Athenian politics in 508. Kleomenes wishes to pray to the

city's goddess Athena, perhaps both genuinely to get her favour in the enter-
prise and to be seen to do so; for prayer in a temple, see below, 5.1.10. The
adyton, literally a place into which one does not go down, is usually the space
at the back of the temple in close proximity to the deity's image, to which
only cult personnel have access. The mention of doors here may indicate that
Herodotus intends the word to apply to the whole inner part of the temple.
The Greeks (Hellenes) saw themselves as subdivided into various ethnic groups:
Aeolians, Achaians and most conspicuously, Dorians and Ionians. Athens
claimed to be the oldest of the Ionian cities, while Sparta was often consid-
ered the leading Dorian state. But Dorian cities had usually an element in
the citizen body which was thought to be of non-Dorian, perhaps pre-Dorian,
origin, and it is evidently this group with which - for reasons that have been
much discussed - Kleomenes wishes to identify, implying that he is one of
the older inhabitants of the Peloponnese, the Achaians.
The prohibition on Dorians in the temple of Athena Polias may conceiv-
ably have been an improvisation on the part of the priestess, but it is paralleled
in a fifth-century inscription from Paros (LSCG 110). By calling the priestess's
words a kledi5n (an omen in the form of something spoken), Herodotus shows
that he regards Kleomenes' riposte as a pointless equivocation.
5.1.7 No entry for any
Source: Kallion, Aitolia, fifth-century inscription (LSS 128)
There is no entry into the sanctuary; Penalty for infringement, four stateres.
A few places were considered to be sacred to a particular deity, who, however,

did not require worship to be done there - who indeed might object to any-
one entering the consecrated ground (see below, 5.1.8). Among such places
were often the sites of lightning strikes, which were held sacred to Zeus
Kataibates ('who comes down'). Another possible explanation of the present
regulation is that the sanctuary was opened only one day in the year, a custom
observed at 'Dionysos in the Marshes' in Athens (see below, 5.3.8) and which
the much later traveller Pausanias mentions as applying to a few sanctuaries.
5 .1.8 A stranger in a place it is not holy to tread
Source: Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 33~40, 118-33
OEDIPUS (who is blind): Stranger, I hear from this girl (his daughter
Antigone) who sees both for herself and me,
210 SANCTUARIESI
that you have come just in time to explain

what we are not sure of -
INHABITANT OF KOLONOS: B~fore you ask any more, come away from
where you are sitting - you are on ground which
it is not holy to tread.
OEDIPUS: What is this place? Which god does it belong to?
INHABITANT: It may not be approached or inhabited, since
fearful goddess~s own it, the daughters of Earth
and Darkness. '
(Oedipus recognisesa mysterious link with the goddesses arid after the Inhabitant's
departurehe prays to them.)
CHORUS (of local inhabitants): Look - who was he - where does he stay?
Where has he gone, rushing from this place,
lawless above all men! Look for him, search,
inquire everywhere. A vagrant: the old man was
some vagrant, not a local person, or he would
never have approached the untrodden grove
of these maidens fierce beyond measure, whom
we tremble to name, whom we pass by without
looking, without speaking, wordlessly letting
our silent thought leave our mouths.
The dramatic setting is Kolonos, a country deme (village) not too far from
Athens. Oedipus, his disastrous actions discovered, is in exile from Thebes,
living a wanderer's life accompanied by his daughter Antigone, and has
unknowingly stumbled into a sanctuary of the fierce goddesses sometimes
known as Eumenides (Kindly Ones; on 'chthonic' deities, see 1.2.1-2). It is
debated whether the cult is real or fictional, but even if it is Sophocles' inven-
tion the passage shows that the audience would understand the idea of a sacred
place which must not be entered. Obviously in this case the reason was that
the deities in question were much better left undisturbed. It was normal when
passing a sanctuary to greet the deity aloud, but here the Chorus avoid the
practice: even mentioning the name of these deities might bring unwelcome
attention.
5.1.9 Why we place water at sanctuary boundaries
Source: A Hippocratic writer, On the SacredDisease 1.6 (late fifth century)
We ourselves (as opposedto the gods) mark out the boundaries of sanctuaries and
sacred precincts, so that no one who is not pure may cross them, and when we
enter we sprinkle ourselves with water, not because we are polluted, but so that
we purify any previous uncleanness we may have had.
SANCTUARIESI 211
The point is made very clearly here that while an actively polluted state dis-
qualifies a person from entering sacred space, an 'everyday' status is not enough:
there must be an extra degree of purity which can be provided by the cleans-
ing power of water. (Compare the three categories of sacred/pure, secular
(or profane) and unclean in the 'Cyrene cathartic law', 3.3.1.) Special water
containers, called perirrhanteria,were often sited at the entries to sanctuaries
(see Figure 5).
5.1.10 Prayer at a sanctuary
Source: Herodotus, Histories 6.61.2~5
This man's wife happened to be by far the most beautiful woman in Sparta, and
yet she had become so from having been the ugliest. She was the daughter of
well-off parents and yet unpleasant to look at, and her nurse seeing how ugly
1
she was, and seeing that her parents were upsetabout her looks, decided to take
action. She took her every day to the sanctuary of Helen, which is in the area
called Therapne, beyond the sanctua1y of Phoibe, and when she went there, she
stood in front of the statue and begged the goddess to free the child from her
ugliness. Then one day, the story goes, as the nurse was leaving the sanctuary,
a woman appeared and asked her what she was carrying in her arms. The nurse
said it was a child. The woman asked to see it, and the nurse refused, since the
parents had told her not to show the child to anyone. But the woman insisted
she should show her, and since she appeared so desperate to see, the nurse revealed
the child to her. The woman stroked the child's head, and said that she would
be the most beautiful of all the women in Sparta. And from that day the chilcl's
appearance. was changed. ·
This charming story is told of the wife of the Spartan Agetos, whom he was
forced by a trick to hand over to king Ariston; thus it is located in the
second half of the sixth century, though Herodotus is relating it more than
a hundred years later. Note that he does not endorse the whole story; from
the appearance of the strange woman to the end of the extract he tells it in
indirect speech, signalling that this is 'what is said'. Presumably he has no
better authority for the first part of the story, but here there is nothing difficult
to believe. The nurse's behaviour is extremely interesting, as like the preceding
passage it shows an interaction with sanctuaries which is not always empha-
sised in our sources, demonstrating that people did not visit sanctuaries just
for festivals or even a private sacrifice, and that the focus of human approach
to the divine could as well be the temple interior and the cult statue as the
altar and the exterior. The philosopher Heraclitus also mentions people pray-
ing to statues of gods 'as if to houses' (DK 22 B 5); the story's continuation
shows the wish to believe that such prayer could be effective. For the
epiphany of Helen, compare section 3.2.
212 SANCTUARIESI
sanctuary of Helen: it is reasonable to consult the most beautiful of women

in a matter con~erning feminine appearance. Although Helen was credited
with a human l1fe and might therefore be expected to appear in cult as a
heroine, she received divine honours in some places. The sanctuary of Helen
and Menelaos at Therapn.e has been excavated. The sanctuary of Phoibe is
mentioned by Pausanias (Guide 3.16.1); she was a local Spartan heroine.
a woman appeared: epiphanenai, hinting at a divine 'epiphany'. See 3.2.
5.2 Sacrifice
While a visit to a sanctuary could take many forms, the most conspicuous
activity which took place there was normally animal sacrifice; the altar
designed for this was arguably the focus of the cult-place. There has been
much discussion of the rationale and significance of sacrifice in the Greek
world, from structuralist analysis in which sacrifice marks out the separation
Figure 9 This version of the sacrificial procession ( compare Figure 1) shows the
goddess, perhaps Hekate (left), in low relief, larger than the human figures, receiving
the sacrifice. The victims are unusual, though not unparalleled - a goose and a deer.
Votive relief from Aigina, late fifth century. Athens, National Archaeological Museum
(EAM) 1950. '
SANCTUARIESI 213
Figure 10 After the sacrificial animal is killed, the inner parts are roasted over a fire lit
on the altar and wine is poured over them. The figure on the extreme right represents
Apollo, the recipient of the sacrifice. Red-figure bell-krater (mixing-bowl), last quarter of
fifth century. Paris, Musee du Louvre G 496.
between gods and men (and beasts), and emphasises human community, to
theories of the ritual containment of violence in early human history (asso-
ciated above all with Vernant and Burkert respectively). Such ideas, however,
can only be teased out with great difficulty from hints in the texts left by
the Greeks themselves. This of course is far from invalidating them, but in
the present context it tends to relegate them to the background (a few direc-
tions are given in the Suggestions for Further Reading).
A much simpler point is probably the most conspicuous in the surviving
literature: sacrifice is a means of communicating with and pleasing the gods.
The mythologised deities of Homer take pleasure in the lavish sacrifices offered
by the heroes, and the same assumption lies behind real-life cult, whether it
214 SANCTUARIESI
is the regular public sacrifice of the polis or the gift of a victim by an indi-
vidual on some special occasion. Sacrifice was a means of maintaining good
relations, just as it might be thought appropriate to give gifts to a human
friend or superior. As Aristotle's pupil Theophrastos said 'there are three
reasons to sacrifice to the gods: to give them honour, or to render thanks,
or because we need good things ... we honour the gods in the wish that they
will turn away evil from us and bring us good, or because we have been helped
by them in the past, not in order to get something useful from them, or through
sheer respect for their good disposition' (fr.' 12 Ptitscher). The whole occa-
sion of sacrifice, including the meal which usually followed, was also usually
considered an enjoyable break from routine, and shared sacrifices were often
a potent bond within the participating group.
The actual procedure of sacrifice varied, but by piecing together various
sources, both text-based and visual, it is possible to establish the main lines
of what seems to be normal procedure, from which differences are often
marked by special instruction. It is the Homeric poems which give us the
fullest description of a sacrifice; passage 5.2.1 is a good example. One point
of divergence from some later practice is that in Homer it is the senior male
present, rather than a priest, who presides over the sacrifice (see also 4.3.7),
yet in later times too there were circumstances in which a sacrifice could be
conducted without a priest (see 5.4.1, 5.4.2; on sacrificial personnel, 5.3.2).
More important was to get the procedure right, and do-it-yourself sacrifice
was common enough for us to assume that many or most people (at least free
males) would have been familiar with the basic routine. (So it is interesting
to find that even this was puzzling enough to need some mythological explana-
tion: see 5.2.2.) Inscriptions frequently mark out differences from the norm,
most obviously in the case of sacrificial animals prohibited in a particular
cult, but sometimes in other details too; infringement of these special rules
was often regarded as pollution, and might incur a heavy penalty (5.2.3, 3.3.1).
Sacrificial calendars, such as that of Thorikos (below, 5.3.1 ), often define the
proper sort of victim in a more detailed and positive way, by species and often
colour and age, but in all cases the animal had to be a good specimen of its
kind, and the choice of the right individual might be an elaborate procedure
(see 5.3.2).
The most conspicuous divergence from the norm was holocaust sacrifice,
in which there was no division of the meat into divine and human por-
tions, since the animal was burned entire, wholly for the god (examples in 5.3.1,
5.3.2). This might be practised when sacrifice was made to deities with an
underworld association, and sometimes - though the extent is debated - in
the case of heroes, whose mortality may be emphasised in cult. There is some
evidence for a division of sacrifice types into what modern scholars have
labelled 'Olympian' and 'chthonian', with the former corresponding to what
I have called the norm of sacrifice, and the latter typically marked in con-
trast by holocaust treatment and by taking place in the evening or night,
with a dark-coloured victim whose throat was bled directly onto the• ground
SANCTUARIESI 215
rather than being pulled upwards, giving a special emphasis to the blood.
(See 5.3.2 for a distinction of sacrifice types.) But while most of these practices
are known in the classical period, as are the verbs enagizo and entemno to
describe special modes of sacrifice often given to heroes and corresponding
in part to supposed 'chthonian' practice, the sources which list them expli-
citly are late, and given the fluid nature of Greek cult in general, along with
such indications as we have in epigraphical sources, we may feel some doubt
in the face of this rigid schematism. It may perhaps be more accurate to
suppose that there was in fact a spectrum, with the majority of sacrifices
following the 'Olympian' pattern, and a minority diverging from it in one
or more particulars and thus being marked out as different to a greater or
less degree. (Compare also the - equally debated - classification of deities, as
opposed to sacrifice, as Olympian and chthonian/chthonic, 1.2.)
A proper sacrifice required many expenses additional to the animal (5.2.4).
The animal might be beautified, as the cow's horns are gilded in 5.2.1, and
it would certainly be garlanded. Barley-meal had to be sprinkled on the animal
before slaughter, and firewood was needed to cook the meat (or burn the
animal whole). There were also peripheral offerings to make on the altar:
incense, libations (usually of wine, sometimes water, oil, milk or honey;
see 3.1.3) and often cakes and sweetmeats. Cakes and bread might also be
offered to the deity not by being burned on the altar but by being placed on
a separate offering-table, and such table-offerings might become quite elab-
orate (see 5.3.1, and compare 6.3.3). Generously filled 'tables' merge into the
type of ritual sometimes called theoxenia, in which the recipient of cult is
ritually considered to be hosted by the worshippers and dine together with
them. When theoxenia were not practised, table-offerings and cakes were
frequently given to deities associated with (but, for the purposes of that cult,
subordinate to) the main recipient of the sacrifice (5.2.5, 5.2.6). There are
also a very few examples of cults where only such bloodless offerings were
made, such as the altar of Apollo Genetor (Father) on Delos.
Sometimes bloodless offerings met with approval because of their simplicity
and lack of ostentatious display. If the purpose of sacrifice is to please the
gods, it is natural to suppose that their pleasure will increase with the scale
of the offering, and indeed Zeus in the Iliad (24.66-9) is uncomplicatedly
pleased with Hector because of his lavish hecatombs (sacrifices of a hundred
oxen). But do the gods then like rich people best? Perhaps they actually
prefer less showy gifts, and an obvious alternative is that they look rather at
the intent behind the offering - the 'widow's mite' idea, expressed here by
Xenophon's Socrates (5.2.7). Such ideas were commonplace by the fourth
century, but never displaced showy sacrifice on a large scale, which had the
advantage that it could impress one's fellow humans as well as the gods to
whom it was directed. It also normally provided large quantities of meat, guar-
anteeing a festive occasion once the gods had received their portions.
Sacrifice was therefore not only a ritual duty, but a pleasant and enjoyable
occasion.
216 SANCTUARIES I
A further important function of sacrifice was divinatory. If in sacrifice the

deities were offered a gift, they reciprocated by sending information and
guidance in signs which experts could read from the flame on the altar or
the animal's internal organs (see further 4.2.1-7). The hope, of course, was
to find everything normal, in which case it could be assumed that the god
was pleased with the sacrifice and divine favour would attend those who had
made it (see 5.1.2, end of passage).
5.2.1 A Homeric sacrifice-
Source: Odyssey 3.429-64, 470-2
Thus (Nestor) spoke, and all of them hurried to obey his bidding. The cow came
from the plain, great-hearted Telemachos' companions came from the fast, evenly-
constructed ship, and the smith came with bronze equipment in his hands, the
tools of his trade, the anvil, the hammer and the. well-made tongs, which he
' used to make gold. And Athena came to meet the holy rites. The old horseman
Nestor gave gold, and the smith gilded the cow's horns all round, so that the
goddess might take pleasure in looking at the delightful offering. Stratios and
bright Echephron led the cow by the horns. From a chamber, Aretos brought
water in a flowery bowl for them to wash their hands, and in his other hand
he carried barley-grain in a basket. Thrasymedes, steadfast in war, stood beside
him with a sharp axe in his hand, waiting to strike the cow. Perseus held a basin,
and the old horseman Nestor began the ritual with the water and the grains,
and making a start to the sacrifice he prayed at length to Athena, throwing some
hairs from. the victim's head into the fire.
Then when they had prayed and scattered the barley-grains, straightway
Nestor's son, proud Thrasymedes, stood close by and struck. The axe cut the
·tendons of the throat, and destroyed the cow's strength. Nestor's daughters and
daughters-in-law and his modest wife Eurydike, eldest daughter of Klymenos,
raised the ululation. The men then took up the cow from the wide-wayed earth
and held her, and Peisistratos, leader of men, slaughtered her. The dark blood
flowed away and the life left her bones. Immediately they dismembered her and
cut pieces from the thighs in the proper fashion, and covered them all round
with fat, making a double layer, and on them they placed pieces of raw meat.
The old man burned the pieces on logs and poured gleaming wine over them;
the young men beside him held five-pronged forks in their hands. Then when
the thighs were burned and they had tasted the entrails, they divided up the
rest, placed it on spits, and held the sharp-edged spits in their hands to roast
them ...
When they had roasted the outer flesh and taken it off the spits, they sat down
and dined, and goodly men attended them, pouring wine into cups made of gold.
Thanks to Homer's descriptive methods, which often involve a blow-by-blow

account of quite familiar activities, we have here the fullest description,of a
SANCTUARIESI 217
Greek sacrifice in existence. The circumstances are somewhat unusual. Nestor

has realised that the 'young man' accompanying the unexpected guest
Telemachos was none other than the goddess Athena, and determines on a
sacrifice to her. The emphasis on sacrifice at Pylos (when Telemachos and
Athena arrive they find Nestor and his family feasting after a sacrifice to
Poseidon) indicates both Nestor's prosperity, and his generosity and concern
to do things properly, with regard both to the gods and to his guests.
Bovines were the most costly sacrificial animal, and this description is meant
to show an ideal sacrifice. To modern sensibilities it is a gory and violent
account; visual depictions, on the other hand, tend to play down the
violence, usually showing a point in the ritual before the first blow is struck
(see Figures 1 and 9), or alternatively the roasting of the entrails (Figure 10).
A few details of sacrificial procedure can be added from other sources, and
one or two differences can be observed in later practice.
The few lines omitted describe Telemachus' preparations away from the
sacrifice.
Athena came to meet: this 'meeting the rites' is a standard formula for gods
in Homer, and the idea that the deity is somehow present at a sacrifice is also
shown on votive reliefs, where the god is typically shown near his or her
altar, with the worshippers and the victim on a smaller scale (see Figure 9).
the delightful offering: agalma, literally 'a delight', is also the later word
for a statue used in cult. Deities must be pleased by what is offered to them,
whether it is the smells associated with sacrifice, a pleasant sight, or an enter-
tainment of some sort (songs, dances or athletic contests). Hence also, in this
case, the animal's horns are gilded, which is not a necessary preliminary to
sacrifice.
barley-grain in a basket: in later times it was usually a girl who carried
this basket, with the grains concealing the sacrificial knife beneath. To be a
kanephoros or basket-carrier in any of a number of Athenian rituals (and no
doubt those of other cities) was a great honour for the girl and her family,
and one of the very few ways in which an unmarried girl could be distin-
guished in public.
Perseus held a basin: the basin was to collect the blood when the animal's
throat was cut. Some of the blood would be deliberately splashed on the altar,
a detail omitted in this account.
Nestor began the ritual: Nestor here enacts the role of the priest, presiding
over the sacrifice and leading the prayer. Generally it was only in the small-
est and least elaborate cults that the priest himself slaughtered the animal;
see further 5.4 introduction.
the ululation: ololygmos, a high-pitched whooping noise, generally thought
joyful and often associated with invoking the gods, which at a sacrifice it
was the women's part to raise at the moment the victim was struck.
21 8 SANCTUARIES I
and held her: a smaller victim would be held above the altar so that blood
would fall directly on it. Here the blood is collected in the basin.
covered them all round wit~ fat: these were the portions that were
reserved for the exclusive use of the gods. Later it was sometimes the pelvic
bone area and the tail wl)ich was thus offered. Either way, the divine recipi-
ent seemed to obtain a less appetising portion than the human participants,
a paradox which puzzled many. One explanation for the practice is provided
by the following passage.
tasted the entrails: this was usually the privilege of the priest or priestess
and a small inner circle.
they sat down and dined: in some sacrifices, the victim was entirely burnt
(see above, section introduction), but the norm was always a communal meal
following the sacrifice itself. In Homer's ideal world, heroes always dine on
meat, but in real life the eating of meat would have been less frequent, and
the eating of quality meat used in sacrifice rarer still. Sometimes portions of
meat could be carried home from a sacrifice; in other cases this was not allowed.
5.2.2 Why is the victim divided as it is?
Source: Hesiod, Theogony 535-5 7
Again, when gods and men came to a settlement at Mekone, (Prometheus) carved
up a huge ox and set it before them with a spirit of foresight 1 trying to deceive
the mind of Zeus. For Zeus he put meat and entrails rich with fat in skin, cov-
ering the whole with the ox's stomach, but for men with a cunning craft he
arranged the white bones tidily and covered them with shining fat. Then the
father of gods and men addressed him: 'Son of Iapetos 1 my friend, most per-
ceptive of all gods, how unfairly you have divided the portions.' Thus Zeus, knower
of unending plans 1 spoke to him in rebuke. And Prometheus of crooked coun-
sel, gently smiling and unforgetful of his wiles, answered him in turn: 'Zeus,
greate~t and most glorious of the ever-living gods, choose whichever of the two
your spirit bids you.' He spoke with guile in his mind, and Zeus1 knower of unend-
ing plans, understood the trick, nor did he fail to recognise it. In his mind he
pondered evil for mortal. men, evil which he was to bring about. He picked up
the white fat in both hands; he was angry in his mind, and the anger reached
his spirit when he saw the ox's white bones, due to Prometheus' crafty trick.
Ever since then the races of humans on earth burnwhite bones on smoky altars
for the immortals.
Hesiod's poem describes the genesis of the gods, the establishment of Zeus
as their king, and Zeus' struggle to subdue divine relatives who contested his
rule in one way or another, such as Prometheus (compare 2.1.2). In the
narrative, Zeus punishes Prometheus for two offences: the unfair division of
sacrificial meat, described here, and the theft of fire and its gifting to'hmhan
SANCTUARIESI 219
beings. Both favour mortals over Zeus. The episode given here is also an
aetiology, or explanation in narrative or mythological form of a particular
practice, often one which seems odd (compare 2.4): in this case, the distribu-
tion of sacrificial meat, in which the deity honoured at the sacrifice gets a
less good portion than the human diners. Aetiologies are very commonly found
for the distinctive features of individual cults; here the story hints that a
normal feature of sacrifice was also felt to need explanation. We see also the
concept of sacrifice as a shared meal, though it is an unequally shared one,
and one in which the participants eat apart.
came to a settlement: the phrase seems to allude to a time not mentioned

in the Theogony, but known from elsewhere in the Hesiodic corpus (see 2.2.1),
when gods and humans spent much of their time together and shared meals.
Somehow this state of affairs comes to an end, and the settlement is to deter-
mine how next to proceed. What happens at Mekone will be binding.
Mekone: possibly a name for Sikyon in the northern Peloponnese.
with a spirit of foresight: the word can mean 'willing', but here it must be
a play on the supposed meaning of Prometheus, 'the forward-planning one'.
for Zeus ... for men: pronouns in the original, and the text is uncertain.
I follow West's reading and interpretation: 2 the trick is much more satisfy-
ing if Prometheus begins by putting the better portion in front of Zeus, and
Zeus of his own will chooses the worse.
with shining fat: fatty meat was attractive to Homeric and archaic sens-
ibilities, so this parcel looked the better deal. But contrary to expectations,
the fat concealed not meat but only bones. The other parcel contained most
of the edible portions of the animal, wrapped up in unattractive-looking skin
and stomach - parts which would normally be discarded.
Zeus ... understood the trick: it is normally supposed that in a hypothetical
original form of the narrative, Zeus really was deceived, and that Hesiod (or
a predecessor) has altered the story to save face for him. This may be so, but
the picture of Zeus knowing the truth and acting out a charade while grimly
determining a punishment for mankind is none the less a powerful one. Gods
do not always act in the most logically self-interested way.
which he was to bring about: when Zeus was once more thwarted by
Prometheus, this time in his attempt to kept fire from mortals, his revenge
was the creation of Pandora, a 'lovely evil' who unleashed all sorts of hor-
rors on the human race. Further, she is the origin of women in general, who
for Hesiod continue as a constant trouble for men.
ever since then: the lines make the aetiological function explicit. The
passage then goes on to narrate that Zeus hid fire from mortals (probably, as
West suggests, to prevent them from having the use of the meat they had
been allotted).
220 SANCTUARIESI
5.2.3 Rules for sacrifice
Source: Fifth-century inscription on altar, Thasos (LSCG 114)
(side A) One may process in addition if wished a female and a male (victim) for
the Nymphs and for Apollo Leader of the Nymphs. It is not proper (to sacrifice)
a sheep or a pig. There is no singing of a paian.
(side B) It is not 'proper (to sacrifice) a goat dr a pig to the Charites.
This short inscription, which appears on the altar used in sacrifice, is typical
of numerous regulations regarding the proper sacrifices to be made to the
particular deity in a particular location. There were some general tendencies as
to the appropriate sacrifice (for instance, pigs were forbidden in most cults of
Aphrodite), but also numerous local exceptions. Here one altar is evidently used
for Apollo Nymphagetes, the Nymphs, and the Charites ('Graces'); perhaps also
for Artemis, Hekate and Hermes, who are shown on the accompanying relief.
process in addition: proscrdein. Erdein and its cognates, literally 'to do', are
often used to indicate sacrifice. 'In addition' shows that the main ritual is
not described here, presumably because it is under the strict supervision of
a priest or priestess.
it is not proper: au themis, a phrase used to indicate ritual impropriety or
forbidden behaviour. On forbidden victims, compare 3.3.1.
a paian: see 5.5.1. Paians were customary in the cult of Apollo, so their inter-
diction here needs to be firmly stated.
a goat or a pig: making the most likely victim a sheep, as a goat for Apollo
and the Nymphs. Bovines would be permitted in both cases, but were rather
expensive.
5.2.4 Provisions for sacrifice
Source: Fourth-century inscription from Epidauros (LSS 22)
The priest of Asklepios must. provide for those performing preliminary sacrifice
everything necessary for the pre-sacrifice that they have not brought with
them: they should receive three obols' worth of these, half an obol's worth of
barley~groats and garlands, half an obol's worth of logs for sucking-pigs and an
obol for a full-grown victim.
In the case of regularly recurring sacrifices, the cost of a victim was normally
paid by the city, deme or other unit (see below, 5.3.1), and in other
SANCTUARIES
I 221
circumstances by private individuals who wished to make an offering. In both

cases, apart from the victim there were many accessories necessary to per-
form a sacrifice: barley-grains (see above, 5.2.1), garlands, incense, cakes and
wine were usual (though some cults might ban one or more of these and/or
substitute other requirements), and of course firewood to cook the slaugh-
tered animal. A busy sanctuary like Epidauros (see 6.3.2), attended by many
pilgrims from out of town, might find that it increased efficiency to provide
some of these necessities to those who had difficulty in getting their own.
For the 'pre-sacrifice', see the following passage.
5.2.5 Bloodless offerings
Source: Inscription from Peiraieus (LSCG 21, IG II2 4962)
Cfi.rst side) Gods. The pre-sacrifice is to be made as follows: to Maleates, three

cakes, to Apollo three cakes, to Hermes three cakes, to Iaso three cakes, to Akeso
three cakes, to Panakeia three cakes, to the dogs three cakes, to the hunters-
With-dogs three cakes.
Euthydemos of Eleusis, priest of Asklepios, put up the columns by the altars,
on which he was the first to make likenesses of the appropriate cakes for
pre-sacrifice. .
(second side) To the Sun, a propitiation-cake, a honeycomb. To Memory, a
propitiation-cake, a honeycomb. Three altars free from wine.
(third side) Three altars free from wine.
(fourth side) Free from wine (plural).
The inscription was found in the sanctuary of Asklepios in Peiraieus, on a

rectangular block which probably stood in the middle of a group of altars
corresponding to each of its four sides. Sides two to four are probably of
hellenistic date, while side one is early fourth century, though its second part
may be a slightly later addition, so the cult increased either in complexity
or in prescriptiveness. All the inscriptions refer to bloodless offerings made
to the associates of Asklepios as a prothyma,'pre-sacrifice' or preliminary sacrifice,
a practice perhaps particularly conspicuous in the cult of Asklepios, and one
in which cakes and sweetmeats usually play the predominant role. The 'cake'
here is a popanon, seemingly a rather vague word applied to sacrificial cakes
of various compositions and shapes, but precision is demanded by what
follows: the stele originally incorporated a picture or pictures of the type of
cake it was proper to offer. These pictures are now missing, but the interest-
ing thing is the attempt to enforce ritual propriety by this means, and the
eagerness of Euthydemos to claim credit for the idea. A contemporary inscrip-
tion, JG II2 47, lines 23-30, records an assembly decree that pre-sacrifices should
be carried out in accordance with the exposition of Euthydemos, priest of
Asklepios.
222 SANCTUARIESI
The deities of side one are associates of Asklepios, most of whom are fre-
quently worshipped as subordinate entities in his cult (see further 5.1.2, 5.5.1).
Apollo was Asklepios' father, and almost always worshipped with him; Maleates
or Maleatas, a local deity of Epidauros (one of Asklepios' most important sanc-
tuaries), was identified a~ a form of Apollo. Iaso, Akeso and Panakeia were
Asklepios' daughters, while Hermes may be present either in his capacity as
messenger and mediator between gods and men, or simply as bringer of good
luck. Dogs were ass.ociated with Asklepios apd actually present in some of
his sanctuaries, but the addition of the 'hunters' suggests that both groups
here are daimonic rather than physically present entities. It is possible, though,
that if the cakes were not burned on the altars they could have been eaten
by the sanctuary dogs. ·
The best-known of Asklepios' family, his daughter (or wife) Hygieia (Health),
is not mentioned here, which suggests that she may have received an animal
sacrifice in association with Asklepios himself.
propitiation-cake: arester,deriving from the root 'to please', is a kind of

sacrificial cake attested for Athens and Samas.
free from wine: nephalios.Wine was the most commonly used liquid in the
libations which accompanied most prayer and offering (see 3.1.3). However,
a ban on wine is not uncommon, and may suggest austerity and enhanced
solemnity.
5.2.6 Do not throw cakes into the spring!
Source: Fourth-century inscription from Kos (LSCG 152)
Philistos son of Aischinas proposed: Whatever is sacrificed to the Nymphs in

the sanctuary of Asklepios is to be sacrificed on the altars. It is not to be
permitted. to anyone tothrow a cake. or anything else into the springs in the
sanctuary. If someone does throw something in, he is to purify the sanctuary
of the Nymphs in the customary fashioni
This is the record of a public decree relating to conduct in the Kaan

Asklepieion, where evidently there was a subordinate cult of nymphs asso-
ciated with springs - indeed, a sanctuary within a sanctuary. Nymphs appear
connected with the cult of Asklepios in other places too, probably because
of their association with water. As in the previous example, we find blood-
less offerings made to the peripheral deities. It seems also to have been com-
mon practice in general to throw cakes and garlands directly into a spring
as an offering, obviously a do-it-yourself cult act which could lead to a messy
situation in a very popular sanctuary such as the Asklepieion at Kos. It was
no doubt for this practical reason that the action was prohibited llere,
SANCTUARIESI 223
though practicality merges into propriety: it would not be fitting for the springs
to be blocked with a gooey mess. We see here too that contravention of a
manmade rule is equated with pollution, as quite often (compare 3.3.1 and
especially 5.1.3), and the offender is required to perform an expensive
purification of the sanctuary.
5.2. 7 Large and small sacrifices
Source: Xenophon, Memorabilia 1.33
[Socrates]considered that when he made small sacrifices from his small means
they were not at all inferior to the many lavish sacrifices performed by those
of great and lavish resources. He said that it would not be proper for the gods
to take more pleasure in large sacrifices than srnall, because then they would
often prefer those made by bad people to those made by the good, and it would
not be worth living if the offerings of the bad were more pleasing to the gods
than those of the good. In his opinion, the gods like best the worship of the
most pious. And he would quote with approval the verse'Make sacrifice to the
immortal gods according to your ability', and he said that 'doing according to·
your ability' was good advice in regard to friends and guests and in all other
areas of life.
This passage from Xenophon's recollections of Socrates continues from 3.1.5

and is related in theme: the gods can make better judgements than can humans.
This version of Socrates is also notably consistent with Plato's oft-repeated
view that the gods approve of goodness and justice, and cannot be bought
off by performing rituals (see 3.4.7, 3.5.4). But the Socratic circle was certainly
not alone in praising simple piety, and supposing it to be as or more welcome
to the gods than lavish offerings.
The verse that Socrates quoted is Hesiod, Works and Days 336, and is given
in context in 3.1.2.
5.3 Festivals and Calendars
When a sacrifice is made at public expense by and on behalf of the city or

a similar group, it is usually performed at a fixed, regularly recurring time
and embedded in a ritual complex which distinguishes it from other sacrifices,
even those performed to the same deity in the same place. These ritual com-
plexes are usually described as 'festivals' (heortai), although as this word pro-
perly denotes a celebration it does not cover every observance of this sort.
Usually they combined multiple sacrifices, sometimes made spectacular by large
and long processions, with other actions more distinctive to the particular
'festival', sometimes well-known and practised throughout the worshipping
224 SANCTUARIESI
community, in other cases kept secret or confined to a small group. In 5.4.1,

however, it seems .that what we might call the festival of Asklepios is known
simply as 'the Sacrifice' (it is clearly one on a large scale).
Most festivals were annual; a few were penteteric, recurring every four years,
or five years in the Greek.inclusive style of counting. As with many cultures,
each Greek community thus had its own 'festival year'. It was common
practice to make inscribed calendars showing the main celebrations of a par-
ticular local group, and we have the whole or.part of several such documents;
an example is 5.3.1, the sacrifice calendar of the Attic deme Thorikos.
Although it names several festivals, it is really more accurate to call it a 'sacrifice
calendar' than a 'festival calendar', since its main concern is to list the sacrificial
victims to be provided month by month, and gives little detail beyond that,
apart from the recipient and sometimes the place. Nonetheless, it gives us
some sense of the festival year and an idea of the range of (probably) local
celebrations, with the recipients of cult involved: well-known deities, often
under familiar titles, and also heroes and heroines worshipped uniquely at
Thorikos.
The Koan calendar from which 5.3.2 is taken is a rather different sort of
document with some very full descriptions of ritual; probably these were new
or partly new celebrations established after the synoecism (unification) of the
island. The description of the festival of Zeus Polieus is perhaps the most
detailed that we possess, revealing a lot of the action surrounding the main
sacrifice. The earlier Panathenaia decree, from Athens (5.3.3) is less explicit
in describing exactly what is done at the festival, but it says enough to illus-
trate the scale and variety of the celebration. Another important document
bearing on a festival is the 'Molpoi decree' from Miletos (LSAM 50, now the
subject of a German monograph by Alexander Herda), 1 especially interesting
for its detail on the conduct of a procession, but this text is too complex and
uncertain to be considered here.
Much of what we know about the conduct of festivals comes not from epi-
graphical sources at all, but from chance literary references, and even more
from late antique scholarship explaining these references in the classic texts.
Thus pictures with any degree of clarity emerge only from a jigsaw-puzzle-like
process of fitting together many different pieces of text, along with some icono-
graphical evidence, mainly from vases. This material is overwhelmingly con-
cerned with Attica, and some pointers are given in the Suggestions for Further
Reading. But many sources are concerned only with giving a very general
picture, even if one which would plainly evoke the mood of the festival for
its ancient audience. (See also 6.5.10 for the 'festival mood'.)
One class of ritual observances needs special consideration: the so-called
'women's festivals'. Participation in the totality or at least the major part of
these (depending on the case) was confined to women, and in many cases
the nature of the rites was a solemn secret, carefully concealed from men
(5.3.5, 5.3.8). Again, almost all our detailed information about these rituals
comes from Athens, although the Thesmophoria at least were celebrate~ in
SANCTUARIESI 225
virtually all parts of the Greek world. Some of the more obvious women's
festivals are listed in 5.4.7, a document from Peiraieus. Participation was a
serious business, though no doubt it also had its fun moments, and under-
lined the important public role that Greek women had in regard to religion,
for these rituals were not a matter of individual choice (contrast for instance
the celebration of the Adonia, 3.4.5) but ancestral custom which it was essen-
tial for the city to preserve and foster. A man, if wealthy enough, was obliged
to provide the wherewithal for his wife to sponsor the celebration in her turn
(5.3.6, 5.3.7). Many of these festivals were very inclusive, involving for
instance, like the Thesmophoria, all married citizen women; other celebra-
tions had only a few participants, and might form part of a larger festival
complex, like the women's rites at the Anthesteria in Athens (5.3.8). Here
too we see a peripheral male role, in the form of the herald who is present
at the administering of the oath to the Honouring Women; he must have
withdrawn before the heart of the ritual. Similarly, the conduct of women's
festivals, and women's place in general festivals, was sometimes placed in the
hands of a male official called a gynaikonomos, 'regulator of women' (see for
instance 6.4.7), but he too would remain on the outside.
5.3.1 The sacred year in a local community
Source: Calendar of the Attic deme Thorikos,

late fifth or fourth century (NGSL l)
(Fragmentaryopening omitted.)
[Metageitnjon.] To Zeus Kataibates in the enclosure by the (? Delphinion], a
full-grown victim, to be sold. An oath-victim is to be provided for the audit.
Boedromion. The Prerosia: to Zeus Polieus a selected sheep. A selected piglet
at Automenai (?) A piglet to be purchased and burned whole; the priest is to
provide breakfast for the attendant. For Kephalos a selected sheep, for Prokris a
table(-offering).For Thorikos a selected sheep, for the heroines of Thorikos a table.
For Poseidon at Sounion a selected lamb. For Apollo a selected billy-goat, for
Kourotrophos a selected female piglet. For Demeter a full~grown victim, for Zeus
Herkeios a full-grown victim, for Kourotrophos a piglet. For Athena a sheep to
be sold (latererased),.at the saltpans. For Poseidon a full-grown victim, for Apollo
a piglet.
Pyanopsion. For Zeus Kataibates in the property of the (?) Philomelidai, a
full-grown victim, on the 16th. For the Young Man, a full-grown victim. At the ·
Pyanopsia ... [a few words missing]
Maimakterion. For Thorikos, an ox costing between forty and fifty drachmas.
For the heroines of Thorikos, a table.
Posideion. The Dionysia.
Gamelion. For Hera, at the Sacred Marriage, [victim missing]
Anthesterion. For Dionysos, on the 12th, a goat without age-marhlng teeth,
reddish or black. At the Diasia, for Zeus Meilichios, a sheep to be sold.
226 SANCTUARIESI
Elaphebolion, for the children of Herakles,. [a full-grown victim), for Alkmene,

a full-grown victim, for the Anakes a full-grown victim, for Helen (?), a full-
grown victim. For Demeter, the Chloia offering (?), a selected pregnant sheep,
for Zeus a selected lamb.
Monychion. For Artemis Monychia a full-grown victim (?), to the sanctuary
of Apollo Pythios a set of three victims, for Kourotrophos a piglet, for Leto a
goat, for Artemis (?) a goat, for Apollo a goat without age-marking teeth, for
Demeter a pregnan't sheep, the Antheia offering (?), for Philonis (?) a table, for
Dionysos at Mykenon a [billy-goat], reddish or black. .
Thargelion. For Zeus at Automenai (?) a [selected] lamb, for Hyperpedios a
~heep, for the heroines of Hyperpedios a table, for Nisos a sheep, for Thras[ ... ?]
a sheep, for Sosineos a sheep, for Rhogios a sheep, for Pylochos a piglet, for the
Pylochian heroines a table.
Skirophorion. An. oath-victim is to be provided. At the Plynteria, for Athena
a selected sheep, for Aglauros a sheep. For Athena a selected lamb, for Kephalos
an ox costing between forty and fifty drachmas, for P[rokris?] a sheep costing
20 drachmas (?)
(The last few lines of the inscription give the oath which is to be sworn by the official
appointed to audit or scrutinise the conduct of a magistrate. The sides of the stone are
also inscribed with a few additions to the main text omitted here.)
This local calendar listing the public sacrificial victims to be provided in the
course of a year almost certainly belongs to the deme (political-administrative
unit comparable to a village) of Thorikos in south-eastern Attica, where it was
found. Several such calendars, in a more or less fragmentary state, have been
found in different areas of Attica, generally dating from the fourth century;
some scholars consider the Thorikos inscription to be a little earlier. The aim
of these calendars was clearly not to give a complete description of the reli-
gious rites performed in the area, but to set out the victims whose provision
was to be organised by the annual officials, with the approximate dates when
they would be needed. None the less, for us they are the fullest information
available on the religious life of the demes and other local units, giving us
a good idea of the number and size of public sacrifices offered at this level.
We also see something of the range of gods and heroes worshipped (on heroes,
see 1.2.3-7 and section introduction).
The amount of information .in our document, as in the others, varies in
different cases. Some calendars give the price of all, or almost all, the vic-
tims; ours gives only two, or perhaps three. Again, only in a few cases is the
actual day of the sacrifice given. It is easy to imagine that 'everyone knew'
the dates of the festivals, and the arrangement by month is merely for con-
venience, but why then give the ctates in just two cases? Very few details of
the conduct of the sacrifices are given: the victim at the Diasia is to be sold
(rather than eaten on the spot or taken home by the worshippers), and in
Boedromion there is a holocaust sacrifice, that is, the victim was• bu~ned
SANCTUARIESI 227
completely and not consumed by those present (see 5.2 introduction). The
calendar of the deme Erchia, though its main purpose is clearly financial, gives
rather more of this sort of information. At Erchia there are several holocaust
sacrifices, cases where no wine is to be poured out or drunk until a certain
stage, sacrifices where it is forbidden to take the meat out of the sanctuary
(compare the notes to 5.1.2), and one case where the meat is to be handed
to the women - presumably instead of giving a portion to each male head
of household, who then divides it among his family.
Probably 'everyone knew' also which sacrifices belonged to which festivals,
but again the inscription sometimes helps out, listing Pr(o)erosia, Chlo'ia and
perhaps Antheia as occasions for particular offerings, and also sometimes using
dots as a form of punctuation to mark a break. In this latter case, however,
its usage is not entirely consistent, and modern readers have difficulty in assign-
ing some sacrifices to their proper occasions and groups.
It is clear that all the sacrifices in the calendar were financed by the deme,
but where they took place - whether within the deme itself or outside - is
not always certain. The inscription lists some place-names obscure to us, which
were probably locations within the deme boundaries (the enclosure by the?
Delphinion, Mykenon, perhaps Automenai). But Sounion was outside the deme,
though not far away, and the sacrifice to Pythian Apollo looks as though it
refers to an extra-deme sanctuary too. The Erchia calendar lists some sacrifices
which were to be offered (by the Erchians) 'in the town', that is Athens, and
we cannot be quite sure that some of the references here are not to festivals
celebrated in Athens rather than Thorikos. On balance it seems likely that
most of the ambiguous cases were locally celebrated, though the Diasia is a
special case (see below).
I have not attempted to discuss all the issues and difficulties raised by this
document; there is a full discussion by Eran Lupu in NGSL pp. 115-49, with
reference to earlier treatments.
The Athenian year employed a }uni-solar calendar and began with the month
Hekatombaion, around July. The first lines of the inscription, containing the
sacrifices for this month, are preserved in a very fragmentary state and not trans-
lated here; neither are the also fragmentary additional sacrifices on the sides.
Zeus Kataibates: 'he who comes down'. Places which had been struck by
lightning were sacred to this deity, and access was usually restricted (see on
5.1.7).
oath-victim: an oath was normally taken over a sacrifice, and the victim
disposed of without being eaten (see 4.3.6). Here and in Thargelion, oaths
were taken in connexion with the euthyne, a process by which officials
examined under oath the conduct of the previous year's office-holders.
Prerosia: 'pre-ploughing', a ritual observance in many Attic locations, usually
offered to Demeter. It is not entirely clear here which sacrifices relate to this
festival.
228 SANCTUARIESI
selected sheep: it was normal procedure for animals to be inspected and

passed as suitable Jor the gods to receive. See 5.3.2 for an elaborate example
of this procedure.
to be sold: that is, after the god's portion had been burned and the entrails
tasted, the animal was taken to be sold, rather than the meat being shared
between the participants.
to be purchased: it is unclear why this is-.;5pecified. Alternative means of
provision would include contribution by a deme official and choice from among
animals belonging to the sanctuary.
burned whole: holokautos. This type of sacrifice is relatively rare, and
marks out the rite as unusual (see introduction to 5.2). It may sometimes be
associated with contexts in which good cheer is inappropriate, and deities
with whom one would not wish to share. In this case, however, a meal still
occurs after the sacrifice, though obviously special provision has to be made
for it.
breakfast: or lunch. Ariston was a meal taken early in the day (the 'mid-
morning meal' at the end of 4.4.3). Most sacrifices took place in the morn-
ing. It is interesting that the priest had to provide the meal, an inversion of
the normal sacrificial procedure whereby he received certain portions of the
animal by right.
Kephalos, Prokris: well-known figures in myth, associated with hunting (see
also on 2.2.5). Kephalos was said to have been a native of Thorikos whose
wife was Prokris, daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens.
table: that is, a table-offering, trapezoma, a less costly and prestigious alter-
native to sacrifice (see introduction to section 5.2). In this calendar the
heroine or heroines associated with a hero regularly receive such an offering,
confirming their lower status. (In Thargelion, it is unclear whether the name
following Kephalos is that of Prokris; the sheep received is in any case of less
value than his ox.)
Thorikos: the eponymous hero of the deme. It is noteworthy that both he
and Kephalos receive public sacrifice twice yearly.
heroines of Thorikos: three of the heroes in this calendar have associated
nameless heroines, not a pattern found in other extant calendars. The side
of the stone by contrast lists a sheep sacrifice (not a table-offering) to the
'heroines of the Koroneians', apparently a group independent of a male hero.
Kourotrophos: literally the Child-nurturer, this female figure appears fre-
quently in cult all over Attica, usually as the recipient of a small victim such
as a piglet in connexion with other deities receiving more major offerings.
She is sometimes, not always, identified with Earth, but remains essentially
independent of the mythological system of deities. See also notes to 3.l 1.
SANCTUARIESI 229
Poseidon at Sounion: this is a well-known cult, almost certainly belong-

ing to the temple which is so conspicuous today on the promontory of Sounion,
at the extremity of the Attic peninsula. Representatives of the deme will have
joined those from other places for this celebration, so that here we have
an example of a cult of wider local significance - Thorikos is about ten kilo-
metres from Sounion.
full-grown victim: this is the likely meaning, although teleos in sacrificial
contexts can also mean 'perfect'. But the stone is unlikely to specify that a
sacrificial victim must be perfect: would an imperfect victim be offered?
the Young Man: Neanias, presumably the name of a hero (there is a parallel
elsewhere in Attica).
Pyanopsia: an autumn festival of Apollo, which got its name from the 'boil-
ing of beans' and other legumes and seeds to make a special stew. Children
carried a decorated branch called an eiresione from house to house begging.
Because of the domestic nature of these observances, it is far more likely that
the Thorikians celebrated their Pyanopsia (its sacrifices are illegible) in their
own deme, rather than travelling to Athens.
Dionysia: the 'country Dionysia', Dionysia kat'agrous, as opposed to the
Dionysia in Athens itself at which, among other things, plays and dithyrambs
were performed (see below,· .S.3.4), were celebrated at various dates during
this winter month in different demes. Thorikos had its own theatre, and it
is possible that plays were put on locally at the Dionysia.
Sacred Marriage: a celebration dedicated to Zeus and Hera as gods of
marriage.
without age-marking teeth: leipognomona. Gnomones are teeth from which
an animal's age can be gauged. In goats, these must be the two large teeth
in the centre of the jaw which are the first to replace the milk teeth at around
twelve months. A leipognomon goat is therefore one which is under a year
old.
reddish or black: when the colour of a victim is specified, it is thought to
be particularly appropriate to the recipient (see introduction to section 5.2).
In this calendar, it is only the victims for Dionysos that are thus limited, for
uncertain reasons. It is far from clear that the Dionysos of Thorikos was more
'chthonic' than, say, Zeus Meilichios (below).
Diasia: a festival of Zeus Meilichios, a name understood as the 'kindly' one,
a Zeus very different from the mythological figure and sometimes represented
as a snake. The name indicated obliquely that while he was powerful to confer
benefits, he also might need to be propitiated. Thucydides (1.126.6) speaks
of offerings at the Diasia other than animal sacrifices, while Xenophon
(Anabasis 7.8.3) reveals that in his family the custom was to worship Zeus
Meilichios with holocaust sacrifice (see above), in both cases non-standard
230 SANCTUARIESI
procedure; the tradition also attaches an element of gloom to the observance.

The Erchia calendar provides for victims to be sent from the deme to Agrai
just outside the centre of Athens, confirming Thucydides' point that the Diasia
were celebrated 'all together'. It ·is usually assumed that the same will apply
to Thorikos. However, the inscription shows no distinction between this offer-
ing and those made within the deme, and it is possible that Thorikos, a very
old centre of settlement with many independent traditions, celebrated its own
Diasia.
Anakes: 'Lords', a pair of Attic deities or heroes consistently identified as

the Dioskouroi ('Sons/young men of Zeus'), Kastor and Polydeukes. In Attica
they were often worshipped with their sister Helen (Helene), so the follow-
ing name, ending in -ne, is almost certainly hers.
Chlo'ia: an observance for Demeter at the time of the emergence of the green
shoots of barley and wheat.
to the sanctuary of Apollo Pythios: the wording suggests that this was an
offering sent outside the deme, like that to Poseidon at Sounion. The sanc-
tuary may have been the Pythion at Daphne, west of Athens and a consid-
erable distance from Thorikos. A 'triple offering' (trittoa, trittya) was one of
three types of animal, usually ox/cow, sheep or goat, and pig. This was quite
a large expense.
a pregnant sheep: pregnant animals were offered, logically enough, in con-

texts concerned with fertility (and often to Demeter). Here the occasion is
probably the flowering of the corn, looking forward to an abundant harvest.
Philonis: a likely supplement for the fragmentary name, Philonis was

according to one author (Konon, FGrH 26 F 1. 7) a native of Thorikos and
mother of Autolykos by Hermes and Philammon by Apollo.
Hyperpedios: numerous heroes are here listed, but only Nisos is known
from elsewhere, as one of the sons of king Pandion, particularly associated
with the Megarid, on the other side of Attica from Thorikos. Hyperpedios
means 'beyond the plain', so the hero seems to be named simply from his
locality. Sosineos is 'saviour of ships', appropriate to this maritime deme, while
Pylochos and the Pylochides combine location and function as 'gatekeepers'.
Plynteria: in Athens, this was a celebration with a somewhat inauspicious

flavour, when the temple of Athena Polias on the acropolis was closed and
the image washed and freshly adorned; it was also associated with Aglauros,
daughter of king Kekrops and a heroine with her own sanctuary on the east
end of the acropolis. The Athenian festival took place in Thargelion, not
Skirophorion, so that this observance must have taken place locally in
Thorikos, as it did also apparently in Erchia. It is interesting to find rural demes
seemingly replicating one of the most central cults of the Athenian acropolis.
SANCTUARIESI 231
5.3.2 How a festival is conducted in Kos
Source: Mid-fourth-century calendar from Kos (part)

(LSCG 151, Rhodes-Osborne 62)
... and [they?] pray ... [a few words uncertain] as to the other gods. The priest
and the guardians of the sacred (hierophylakes) and the magistrates are to
announce ... [? words uncertain] and the sacred officials (hieropoioi) and the
heralds are to go to the chiliastyes. They are to drive nine oxen, one ox from
each Ninth, from A ... [name uncertain] and First Pasthemidai and Nostidai. The
Pamphyloi are to drive them into the agora first, and in the agora they mix
together. The priest is to sit at the table wearing his holy clothes, and the hieropoioi
on either side of the table. The Parnphyloi are to drive in the three finest oxen,
to see if one of these is chosen. If it is not, the Hylleis are to drive in three, to
see if one of these is chosen. If it is not, the Dymanes are to drive in the three
" remaining ones, to see if one of these is chosen. If it is not, they are to drive
other oxen into the agora and drive them forward in the same way, to see if
one of these is chosen. If it is not, they are to drive in for a third time in the
t' same way. If none of these is chosen, they are to choose an extra ox from each
chiliastys. They drive these, and they mix together with the others, and imme-
diately they choose and pray and make an announcement.
Then they drive (the oxen) again in the same way. It is.sacrificed if.it bows its ·,
r head to Hestia. The Portion-holder of the kings sacrifices it, and provides and
sacrifices in addition offerings of half a hekteus. As honorific portions he takes
the skin and a leg, and the hieropoioi get a leg, and the rest of the meat is the
city's.
The heralds lead the ox chosen for Zeus into the agora. When they are in the
r -,agora, the person who owns the ox, or another suitable (?) person on his behalf
makes a proclamation: 'I am providing the ox for the Koans; let the Koans ren-
der the price to Hestia.' The prostatai are to swear an oath and value it imme- :..
diately, and when the valuation has been made the herald is to announce how 1
much it was valued at. From here they drive it to Hestia [uncertainepithet] and
sacrifice (?) it. The priest garlands (the ox?) and pours out a libation of a cup of
mixed wine in front (?) of the ox. Then they lead out the ox and the burnt
offering, seven cakes, honey and a garland, and those who lead them out
announce a holy silence. Then they fasten (?) the ox and begin the ritual with
young shoots of olive and bay. The [heralds?] offer the pig and the entrails on
the altar, pouring on them a libation of honey mixed with milk, and they wash
the intestines and offer them beside the altar. When they have been offered
without wine, he is to pour a further libation of honey mixed with milk on
them. The herald is to announce that they must keep the festival of Zeus of the
City (Polieus) as an annual observance at the right time (?) The priest is to make
an additional sacrifice onto the intestines, of incense, the cakes, libations of both
mixed and neat wine, and a garland. From here the priest and the heralds go
to the liieropoioi at the public building, and the hieropoioi give hospitality to the
priest and the heralds on this night. When they have made libations, the priest
232 SANCTUARIESI
is to. choose from the hieropoioithe slaughterer of the ox that is sacrificed to

Zeus Polieus and to proclaim that he is to be pure from woman and man on
that night. The heralds are to choose whomever they wish from among them-
selves as a slaughterer of the ox, and whoever wishes (?) i.s to make a procla- ,
mation to the chosen man to the same effect.
On the same day, to Dionysos Skyllites, a piglet and a kid. From the pig
nothing is to be ta~en away. The p~ie,s,tsacrifices and provides the offerings. As
portions he receives the skin and a leg.
On the twentieth: the chosen ox is sacrificed to Zeus •Polieus. The parts to be
wrapped in the skin are wrapped. Half a hekteus of barley is sacrificed at the
hearth along with two loaves of half a hekteus, one in the shape of a cheese,
and the parts in skin. On these the priest pours a libation of three mixing-bowls
of wine. Portions of the ox for the priest are the skin and a leg (the priest pro-
vides the offerings), half the. breast and half the belly. The incense-bearer is given
the hip end of the leg belongingfto the hieropoioi.for the heralds, a double por-
tion of back meat, the parts under the shoulders, and a three-legged spit of blood
parts. For the Nestoridai, a. double portion of [back meat?], for the physicians
meat, for the shawm-player meat, and to each of the bronze-smiths and the
potters, (meat from) the head. The rest of the meat belongs to the city. None of
these is take.n outside th.e city (?)
On the same day: to Athena of the City (Polias),a pregnant sheep. The priest
(?) sacrifices and provides the offerings. As portions he (?) receives the skin and
a leg.
These unusually detailed instructions for the performance of a festival are part
of a calendar from mid-fourth century Kos, and refer to the festival of Zeus
Polieus celebrated on the nineteenth and twentieth days of the month
Batromios. Our document dates from soon after the synoecism of Kos (its
unification into one polis) in 366, which probably accounts for the amount
of attention given to this festival: the Zeus of the polis was of particular and
new symbolic importance, and certain aspects of the ritual were probably
unfamiliar.
Unfortunately the detail of the inscription does not, for us, result in a totally
clear picture, and the festival timetable and number of sacrifices have been
debated. The most likely reconstruction seems to be the following: on the
nineteenth day, the ox for the main sacrifice to Zeus Polieus is chosen and
displayed; another ox is chosen for Hestia (equivalent to the city's real and
symbolic hearth) and sacrificed; and a sacrifice of a pig is also made. On the
twentieth, the chosen ox is sacrificed to Zeus Polieus, and his frequent
partner Athena Polias receives a lesser sacrifice of a pregnant sheep. Some
scholars, however, take the sacrifice mentioned in the second paragraph as
a summary in anticipation of the main sacrifice on the following day. It is
true that a (male) ox sacrifice to Hestia would be unparalleled, as far as we
know, but the distribution of the honorific portions in the sacrifice as
described here seems to differ from that given on the twentieth. ' "
SANCTUARIESI 233
Since only sound and healthy animals were acceptable to the gods, every
public sacrifice involved some method of choosing a victim or victims, but
the selection procedure here is particularly elaborate, even theatrical - as much
as the sacrifice itself, this demonstration of procedure seems designed to
provide a spectacle for the city. And because this was the festival of the city
par excellence, the whole city must have the chance to provide the victim,
and animals are thus preselected by the three Dorian 'tribes' (divisions of the
citizen body - Pamphyloi, Hylleis and Dymanes) which Kos shared with other
Dorian cities, and within each tribe one animal is contributed by each
subdivision. But if the animals were preselected, why is it anticipated that
finding an acceptable one might be such a long procedure, especially if the
finest specimens are examined first? The answer appears rather late on in the
text: 'It is sacrificed if it bows its head to Hestia.' Leaving aside the problem
of whether this sentence actually refers to an animal sacrificed to Zeus or to
Hestia, it seems clear that it must give the key to selection in either case. The
right animal will appear to submit to the divine and consent to sacrifice.
(Similarly, it is often supposed that just before the kill the sacrificial victim
is sprinkled with water to make it move its head and seem to consent - though
this has recently been disputed.)
The description gives a glimpse of the large number of people involved in
organising and preparing an important festival such as this. As well as the
priest of Zeus Polieus, we hear of the magistrates, the archeuontes (of whom
the prostatai are the chief) and the 'portion-bearer (gereaphoros)of the kings',
probably a magistrate like the basileusat Athens (see below, 5.3.8), who sacrifices
the ox to Hestia and, as his name suggests, receives the honorific portions
from that sacrifice. As in many cities, there are also hierophylakesand hieropoioi,
again allotted or elected officials, who are specifically charged with sacred
matters (compare 4.3.3). In this case, the hieropoioiare the more hands-on
group; literally so, as one of them will be the slaughterer of the ox for Zeus.
In this he is joined by one of the heralds (kerykes),whose job is more likely
to have been a hereditary and semi-professional one, although this is not
certain. Our document shows clearly the main function of a herald of this
type, to make pronouncements concerning sacred matters, but heralds were
also usually present at sacrifices, and it was not unusual for them to fulfil
other roles at them, as here. The list of honorific portions given at the main
sacrifice shows others involved, notably the shawm (aulos) player who was
required at most sacrifices, and the incense-bearer, who is seldom mentioned
separately, although incense was also a normal sacrificial accompaniment. The
role of the physicians, bronze-smiths, and potters is much less clear (though
there was a sort of guild of physicians in Kos), while the Nestoridai were
presumably a hereditary group who performed some special role. A notable
omission in this list is the kanephoroi, young girls who carried the baskets
containing meal in the sacrificial procession (see 5.3.3).
Amidst all the actions performed by this personnel, there is evidence of a
concern to maintain a proper level of solemnity and holiness: the priest of
234 SANCTUARIESI
Zeus Polieus must wear his priestly clothes during the selection process on
the nineeenth day, not only at the sacrifice on the following day, and the
hieropoiosand herald who are cl10sen to act as slaughterers must keep pure
by abstaining from sex during the intervening night. (A fortiori, the same is
probably true of the priest; but this may be so obvious that it is not stated.)
The text is also unusual, though not unparalleled, in listing at least some
of the non-animal offerings which accompany ·the sacrifice, both in the
ritual of the nineteenth day and at the main sacrifice. On the nineteenth,
there is a parade including both the victim that will _besacrificed on that day
and the items that accompany it, and the ox destined for the following day.
Such display is frequently a function of the procession immediately before a
sacrifice. The sacrifice which follows is of a pig completely burned (kauton),
and at first no wine is used in the accompanying libations; this is suggestive
of the alternative form of sacrifice often labelled as 'chthonic' (see above, intro-
duction to 5.2), but as often we find only a partial deviation from the
'Olympian' pattern, since wine libations are made towards the end of the
procedure, when the entrails have been partly burned, along with other
offerings suggestive of cheerfulness and the more normal form of sacrifice.
However, this sacrifice must have contrasted, and been intended to contrast,
with that of the following day, where abundant quantities of wine are used
and the meat is not burned but distributed. Burkert suggests (GreekReligion
pp. 63-4) that the sequence corresponds on a larger scale to the normal burnt
offering of the thighbones to the god, followed by feasting on the rest of the
meat. It is remarkable, though, that only one ox was sacrificed at such a major
festival: contrast the Panathenaia in the following passage. Probably those
who did not receive special portions would have eaten boiled meat from a
cauldron in which other meats had been mixed.
It is remarkable that so little detail is given of the sacrifice on the same
day to Athena Polias. The choice of a pregnant victim, however, suggests
that this sacrifice may have been felt to help fertility and prosperity - the
economic, as opposed to the political, life of the city. Dionysos Skyllites, on
the nineteenth, may not be connected with this festival at all, but be sim-
ply a survival of an older observance, since he appears on other days which
have no connexion to Zeus Polieus.
valuation: important because the city itself must pay for the victim, as the
sacrifice is made on behalf of the city.
holy silence: euphemia, literally 'auspicious speech', frequently called for at
religious ceremonies; it usually amounts to silence, in order that inadvertently
ill-omened words may be avoided.
garland: or possibly a wreath of wool.
olive: thallos means in general any leafy shoot. When a particular plant is
intended it is normally olive. This 'beginning of sacrifice' (katarchesthai)must
SANCTUARIES
I 235
be the consecration of the animal, which is normally performed with water

and barley-grains. Here the olive and bay may be used to sprinkle the water,
or perhaps thrown on the animal in place of grains.
honey mixed with milk: melikraton is honey that has been mixed, as wine
is mixed or diluted with water, but the mixing agent in this case is usually
milk. See above on sacrifice with a 'chthonic' aspect.
as portions: when a sacrificial animal is not entirely burned, the priest or
priestess receives a good cut of the animal sacrificed as an honorific
perquisite, in which the skin is usually included.
a hektcus: about 8.7 litres.
the priest provides the offerings: this clause is oddly placed, but presum-
ably means that the peripherals to the sacrifice (the wine, barley, loaves and
perhaps other things not mentioned such as incense) are provided at the
expense of the priest, not that of the city.
the priest (?) sacrifices: the word 'priest' is only partly legible and in gen-
eral terms one might rather expect a priestess for Athena, but this calendar
shows several occasions where a priest is mentioned as sacrificing to a female
deity. Conceivably all the sacrifices were made by a priest of the Twelve Gods
who is mentioned further down in the inscription, though this would be an
unusual arrangement. At any rate we can suppose that the priest who sacrifices
to Athena Polias is the same who performs the rites for Zeus Polieus.
5.3.3 Sacrifices at the Panathenaia
Source: IG II2 334 (part), LSCG 33, Rhodes-Osborne 81
(The first survivingpart of the inscriptionrecordsthe leasingout of a piece of land in

orderto generaterevenuefor the annual Panathenaiafestival.)
... [so that] ... every year, and (so that) [the sacrifice to Athena?] on behalf
of the People of Athens take place every year in a manner as well furnished as
possible, and all other things necessary for the festival celebrated for the god-
dess be well arranged by the hieropoioiin perpetuity, it has been decreed by the
People: in other respects as the council, but the hieropoioiare to make the two
, sacrifices, the one to Athena Health and the one in the [old temple?] as before,
and having distributed five portions to the prytaneis, three to the nine archons,
one to the treasurers of the. goddess, one to the hieropoioi(?), three to the
generals and the taxiarchs, and in accordanc:e with custom to the Athenians
taking part in the procession and to the basket-carriers (?), they are to divide
the rest of the meat into portions for the Athenians. The hieropoioitogether with
the buyers of cattle are to buy cattle from the forty-one minas from the renting
of Nea, and having sent off the procession for the goddess, they are to sacrifice
all these cows on the great altar of Athena and one on the altar of Victory,
236 SANCTUARIESI
h(lvipg first selec,ted it from among the .finest cows. Having sacrificed to Athena
of the City and Athena Victory, they are to distribute the flesh of all the cows
bought with the forty-one minas to the People of Athens in the Kerameikos as
· : at other meat distributions. They are to distribute the portions to each deme in
accordance with the number of [participants in the processi01;1?]that it provides.
For the cost of the procession and the butchery and. the decoration of the great
altar and everything else necessary.for the festival and the all-night celebration,
they are to give· fifty drachmas.··. The hierbpoioi in·· charge of the annual
Panathenaia are to make the all-night celebration for the goddess as fine as
possible, to send off the procession at sunrise, and to inflict the legal penalties
on anyone who does not comply. The People are to choose [word~ missing] men
from all the Athenians ... (the rest is lost)
A decree of the Athenian Assembly ('People'), dating from the mid-fourth cen-
tury and following the usual format of such documents (the major part of
our text being an emendation or addition to a proposal of the Council [boule]
passed in the Assembly). The Panathenaia were the signature festival of the
Athenian polis, held in honour of its patron goddess Athena on behalf of
the whole (pan-) of Attica. The festival occurred annually in Hekatombaion
in mid- to late summer, and once every four years a particularly magnificent
version was held called the great Panathenaia, attracting foreign visitors and
including competitive games which were supposed to rival the 'big four' (see
6.1 introduction and 6. 1.5-7), although they never quite did. Our decree deals
with the festival in the other three years of the cycle, known either as the
annual Panathenaia or, as here, the little Panathenaia. Of course, it was not
so little. The land leased out generated forty-one mnas (often called minas,
from the Latin form), a considerable sum which at that date would prob-
ably have purchased around fifty cows. All of these except one were sacrificed
to Athena Polias, the presiding deity of the city, the exception going to Athena
Nike ('Victory') whose sanctuary was near the monumental entrance to the
acropolis. As well as this new arrangement, the decree also makes provision
for two sacrifices as previously performed, one to Health (Hygieia), identified
in the heart of Athens as another form of Athena, and one where the stone
breaks off and unfortunately prevents us from knowing where it was held -
perhaps on the altar inside the Erechtheion. The size of these sacrifices is not
mentioned, since they are 'as. before', but it seems that a great deal of the
meat must go to numerous city officials and those particularly involved in
the celebration.
The document makes clear how much of a city celebration this is. Like other
'official' Athenian rituals it is in the charge of the hieropoioi,officials whose
remit is to organise sacred matters (compare 4.3.3, and above, 5.3.2, for Kos),
and the distribution of the meat honours both those who are serving their turn
in office and the people in general, organised by deme, the local unit which
was at the heart of the democracy, and in accordance with the contribution ' .
SANCTUARIESI 237
of that deme towards the celebration. In the first pair of sacrifices, meat is
distributed to the Athenians taking part in the procession; we know from other
sources that non-citizens also had a part to play in the procession, and the
Panathenaia formed a display of Athenianness to those who didn't belong
as much as to those who did - though it is disputed how far the festival was
one of inclusiveness and how far of differentiation. Certainly this document
is more suggestive of the latter, emphasising as it does the privileges that the
Athenian participants are entitled to. Since the sacrifices are carried out 'on
behalf of the Athenian people' and at public expense, even those who do
not attend are entitled to the distribution of the sacrificial meat in the
Kerameikos, an area adjacent to the city walls where such distributions are
often carried out.
the basket-carriers: the reading is not certain here, but the noun appears
to be feminine and it is difficult to see to whom it could refer, if not to the
well-born girls who were chosen as a great honour to carry the baskets of
meal in the sacrificial procession. They may be mentioned specifically as en-
titled to a portion because a more usual practice would be to distribute meat
only to the male head of household, though even this is not certain.
the all-night celebration: pannychis. This gives some idea of the overall sched-
ule of the festival; the most likely possibility is that the pannychis occurs on
the night before the festival's main day on 28 Hekatombaion (July-August),
and the main procession sets off at dawn. We know almost nothing of what
happened at the pannychis, but Euripides (Children of Herakles 777-83) speaks
of girls dancing all night at the Panathenaia.
5.3.4 A joyful festival
Source: Pindar fr. 75 Snell-Maehler (Furley-Bremer 7.1)
Come here to the dance, Olympians! Send your glorious favour, Gods! - you
who visit the much trod centre of the town, smoky with incense, and the
renowned agora, adorned all round, in holy Athens. Come and share in the
garlands bound with violets and the songs gathered in springtime. Behold me,
as a second time I make my way from Zeus, v1iiththe splendour of songs, to the
god who is wreathed with (?) ivy, whom we mortals call Roarer (Bromios)and
Loud Shouter, singing the offspring of the highest fathers and of Theban
women.
The clear (signs?) do not go unnoticed [... a few words uncertain]when the
chamber of the purple-robed Seasons is opened, and the plants, dripping with
nectar, bring in the sweet-smelling spring. Then the lovely petals of violets are
thrown on the deathless earth, and roses are mingled in the hair, and the voices
of melodies resound v1iithpipes, and the dances echo round Semele, crowned
with a circlet.
238 SANCTUARIESI
The opening of a dithyramb (a hymn associated with Dionysos, see below,

5.5) written by the Theban poet Pindar for the Athenians, probably on the
occasion of the City Dionysia. The poem evokes the auspicious and delight-
ful mood of a springtime festival, when gods and humans come together to
celebrate; it is sometimes supposed that it is a largely imaginary picture and
that the text was never designed to be used as a 'real' hymn. But it may be
that the invocation of all the gods to this festival of Dionysos corresponds
to cultic reality, since we know that the chowses of the Dionysia were thought
to please not just Dionysos, but the Twelve Olympi~n Gods and other deities
also; they were therefore present at the festival, just as Pindar calls on them
to be. The poem in any case attests to the idea that at a major festival the
whole family of the Olympians is involved, peripherally to the main deity
and enjoying the rituals in his honour.
centre of the town: literally 'navel' of the town, as we would say 'heart'.
The most famous 'navel' was the omphalos at Delphi, which claimed to be
the centre of the world (see 5.1.1).
a second time: probably indicating that this is the second dithyramb, or
the second dithyramb for Athens, that Pindar has composed. 'From Zeus' may
refer to the poem's beginning with the Olympian gods; it is always and prover-
bially auspicious to begin with Zeus.
Roarer: the name Bromios is well attested for Dionysos, used extensively
for instance in Euripides' Bacchae. The Loud Shouter (eriboas) is a variation
on this theme. As the god presiding over ecstatic states, Dionysos is associated
with shouts also.
the highest fathers ... women: plural for singular, Dionysos being the son
of Zeus and the Theban Semele, which Theban Pindar naturally points out.
Semele: as the mother of Dionysos she may naturally be supposed to take
pleasure in a festival honouring her son. It is also quite likely that she too
received cult at the City Dionysia: we know of a sacrifice to her in the Attic
deme of Erchia.
5.3.5 A man at the Thesmophoria
Source: Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazousai625-35
WOMAN: I'll try her out nicely on last year's celebration. (To Kleistl1enes,an effem-
inate man present)Now you stand aside so you can't hear, since you're
a man. (To the Relative) Now you tell me which of the holy rites was
first revealed to us.
REU\TIVE: Let's see now, .what was the first thing? We had a drink.
WOMAN: Well then, what happened after that?
SANCTUARIESI 239
RELATIVE: We had another one.

WOMAN: Someone must have told you. So what was the third thing?
RELATIVE: Xenylla asked for a bucket, as there wasn't a chamber pot.
WOMAN: You're talking rubbish. Come here, Kleisthenes, this is the man
you're talking about.
Not only were men (along with non-citizen women) not allowed to particip-
ate in the Thesmophoria, the best-known of women's festivals, celebrated
in most Greek cities, they were not supposed to know what was actually done.
Such secrecy is quite a common feature of the most solemn Greek rituals (see
below, 5.3.8), but in the context of comedy it becomes the cloak for all sorts
of misbehaviour. In Aristophanes' play, Euripides has heard that the women
of Athens are plotting against him for his malign portrayals of their sex in
his tragedies, and persuades a relative-by-marriage to dress up as a woman
to find out their plans when they are assembled together at the Thesmophoria.
Naturally, the Relative arouses suspicion, which can only temporarily be
deflected by the comic convention that women are inveterate wine-bibbers.
The passage is amusing because of its absurdity; though the whole subject of
the play does suggest some underlying male anxiety about what women get
up to together, no one can really have supposed that the festival was an excuse
for a drinking party.
5.3.6 Men foot the bill for their wives' festival duties
Source: Isaios 3.80
Again, in his deme, since he had resources worth three talents, if he had been
married he would have been compelled on behalf of his lawful wife to feast the
women at the Thesmophoria, and to bear for her all other expenses of office
arising within the deme, which are required from one having so much property.
The passage indicates a more serious and down-to-earth way in which men
might be concerned in women's festivals - finance. The speaker in an inher-
itance case is arguing that Pyrrhos was not actually married to the woman
claimed to be his legitimate wife, and adduces as evidence the lack of a public
marriage-feast and the fact that he had not taken his turn in paying the
expenses of women's festivals. Many expenses of civic life in Athens and other
cities were financed by 'liturgies\ that is, a system by which the richer mem-
bers of society paid for and organised necessary functions out of their own
pockets. Women's official festivals, of which the Thesmophoria were the most
prominent, fell into this category, and since married women did not have
money at their own disposal, this side of the organisation would pass
240 SANCTUARIESI
through the normal channels of the deme, and men at least could speak of
a man as providing the wherewithal for the festival. His wife no doubt took
care of the practical details and_ enjoyed high status among her companions
(see below).
5.3.7 What must be provided for the Thesmophoria
\J,;
Source: Inscription of 334/3 from the Attic deme of _Cholargos (IG ll 2 1184)
[ope~inglost} .. . tl:).ehieron;in?1:J1Q1Jes,
The archousai,each in common, are to give/
to the priestess for the purpose of the festival and overseeing the Thesmophoria
half a hekteus of whole barley, half of whole wheat, half of barley flour, half of
wheat flour, half of dried figs, one measure of wine, half a measure of oil, two :
cups of honey, a cltoinix of white sesame and one of black sesame, a choinix of'.
poppy seed, two pieces of cheese each weighing no less than a stater, two stateres
of garlic, a torch costing/weighing (?) not less than two obols, and four silver
drachmas. This is what the archousaiare to give. So that this may be done on
behalf of the people of Cholargos in perpetuity in accordance with what is
written, those in the archonship of Ktesikles are to set up a stele and write this
decree on it in the Pythion. The expenses ire to be set to the account of the
Cholargians.
This fourth-century inscription from the Attic deme of Cholargos gives some
idea of at least part of the financial and practical arrangements for the
Thesmophoria. It is debated whether the items mentioned were a deme con-
tribution to the celebration in Athens itself, or a local observance; possibly
the latter is more likely, since women were ordinarily less mobile than men,
and we know there were local Thesmophoria at Halimous and Peiraieus. The
two archousai (feminine of archontes, 'rulers' or magistrates) would be chosen
from among the wives of the richer men of the deme, as the speaker in the
previous passage is arguing that a lawful wife of Pyrrhos would have been,
and to them would fall much of the organisation of this most important among
women's festivals. From a practical and male point of view it might have been
the husbands who paid for the festival expenses, but officially the decree shows
that the archousaiwere the providers. We must note, however, that the decree
makes no mention of sacrificial victims, so if this is the deme celebration
animals and firewood must have been provided by some other means. Neither
are the quantities enough to provide a feast for the married women of the deme;
it is likely that they were intended to make bread and cakes as offerings.
four silver drachmas: either a fee for the priestess, or to enable her to pur-
chase other necessities.
on behalf of the people of Cholargos: or 'the deme' of Cholargos. The women
performed the Thesmophoria for the benefit of the whole community.
SANCTUARIESI 241
those in the archonship: perhaps the stonecutter omitted a word, maybe

the hieromnemones or the tamiai.
the Pythion: a local temple of Apollo Pythios, perhaps the largest sanctuary
in the deme, where it was probably customary to display inscribed deme decrees.
the expenses: that is, the cost of having the decree inscribed is to be borne
by the deme's public funds.
5.3.8 Holy and unnameable rites
Source: [Demosthenes] 59, Against Neaira, 73, 74-9
And it was this woman who would sacrifice on behalf of the city in rites that
must not be spoken of, and who saw what she had no right to see as of foreign
birth, and who, being such as she is, entered where no other among all the
;;AthenianS:may enter except the wife of the King. She administered the oath to
the Honouring Women who assist at the. holy rites, she was given as wife to
1Dionysos, and on behalf of the city she performed the ancestral worship of the
t gods;;...rites many in number, holy and not to be spoken of ...
In· ancient times, men of Athens, our City had rulers, and the kingship
- belonged to those who stood out at any one time because they were born from
the earth itself. The king would make all the sacrifices, and naturally enough
his wife, being queen, performed the most solemn and secret rites. Now when
Theseus made Attica into one city and established democracy, and the city's
population grew, the people had a king just the same, choosing him on a
criterion of manly virtue by a show of hands from names put forward in advance.
They made a law that his wife should be a citizen and should have had no know-
leclge of another man, but should have been a virgin at her marriage, so that
she might make the unnameable sacrifices on the city's behalf in accordance
with ancestral tradition, and so that the customary rites for the gods might be
performed with reverence, and nothing might fall out of use or be changed.
They wrote this law on a stone pillar and set it up .in the sanctuary of Dionysos ,·
in the Marshes; the pillar is still there, showing its inscription in old Attic let-
ters which have become rather unclear. In this way the people bore witness to
their piety towards the god and left instructions for posterity, telling what kind
of woman we think fit to be given to the god and to perform the holy rites.
Because of this they set it up in the oldest and most sacred sanctuary of Dionysos,
the one in the Marshes, so that only a .few would know what was written there
~ since the sanctuary is opened only once a year, on the twelfth of Anthesterion
I wish further to call among you the sacred herald who serves the wife of the
King, when she administers the oath to the Honouring Women who are at the
altar with their baskets, before they touch the victims, so that you may hear
both the oath and the words that are said - as much as you are permitted to
hear ~ and so that you may see the solemnity, holiness and antiquity of the i
customary rites.
242 SANCTUARIES
I
Oath of the tfonouring Women. I observe a holy life, and I am pure and
undefiled from impure things, including intercourse with a man, and I will honor-
ifically perform the Theoinia and·the Iobaccheia for Dionysos in accordance with
ancestral custom at the appropriate times.
Now yo~ have llf2'ardthe o~th and the ancc;stral customs, as far as it is per-
mitted to speak of them, and how Stephanos betrothed the woman as his own
daughter to Theogenes when the latter was King, and how she performed these
holy rites and gave the .oath to the Honouring Women, and you have heard
that even those who have seen these rites are not allowed to speak of them to
anyone else.
The Anthesteria were celebrated in Athens in late winter, one of several fes-
tivals for Dionysos, and contained several unusual and characteristic features
(cf. 2.4.2). They were not a 'women's festival', but a group of women did have
a special and secret role to play in the festival, which the fourth-century orator
(probably not Demosthenes) here explains, as far as he is able. The background
to his exposition is his case against Stephanos and Neaira: that Neaira was a
non-citizen and prostitute who was never legally married to Stephanos, and
that they passed off their daughter as his legitimate child and married her
to one Theogenes, who subsequently became 'king' (basileus) - that is, he
took on the office associated with the religious duties which were supposed
to have been those of the king of Athens in what we would call mythical
times. As the author explains, the wife of the hasileus (basilinna) had special
and secret religious duties to perform, the most high-profile of which was
her 'marriage to Dionysos' at the Anthesteria (how this was accomplished is
quite uncertain). Of course, in order to arouse indignation against Stephanos
and Neaira the author is playing the solemnity and secrecy of the rites for
all they are worth, but it is still indicative of a strong sense of propriety in
the minds of the Athenians: non-citizens, particularly non-citizen women of
uncertain morals, should not have contact with the city's sacred rites and
above all 'unnameable' (arrheta) rites of such antiquity and holiness as these.
The orator even concludes his speech by asking the jurors how they think
their wives will react if they hear that Neaira has been acquitted.
The passage is valuable evidence for the profusion of ritual involved in what
we call a 'festival' (heorte), even though the unnameable secrets are not revealed
to us. The rites alluded to here seem to have taken place while the men of
Athens were involved in their heavy but silent drinking at the Choes (see 2.4.2).
Late commentators on this passage tell us that the Honouring Women
(Gerarai) were fourteen elderly women, but not exactly what they did. (They
are sometimes translated as Venerable Women, but the name probably means
those who perform honours rather than those who receive them; the oath
as quoted in this passage includes a promise to 'perform honorifically' the
customary rites, using the same root as their title.) Theoinia and Iobaccheia
are not presumably names of yet more festivals of Dionysos, bu't of rites
SANCTUARIESI 243
forming part of the Anthesteria, the name of the former suggesting 'god' and
'wine', that of the latter being composed of two ritual cries for Dionysos.
The three days of the Anthesteria included also the opening of the new
season's wine at the Limnaion (Sanctuary in the Marshes) on the first day,
and on the third day, rituals concerned with the appeasement of the dead,
when sanctuaries were closed to avoid the pollution caused by death (for the
association, see 3.3). The final day also included another specifically female
part within the festival: the custom of the aiora,or 'swinging', in which young
girls took part, supposedly in memory of the Dionysiac heroine Erigone who
hanged herself after the murder of her father lkarios, one of several institutor-
figures whom Dionysos instructed in winemaking.
where no other Athenian may enter: the building in which the sacred
marriage was consummated was apparently known as the boukoleion, or
'cowherd's place'.
ancestral worship of the gods: probably indicating that the basilinna had
religious duties other than at the Anthesteria.
born from the earth itself: all Athenians were supposed to be autochthonous,
'born from the earth', and considered that they had always lived in Attica.
Mythologically, this meant claiming descent from early kings like Erechtheus/
Erichthonios, who was literally the son of Earth; the author here suggests that
these :figures became kings because of this distinction.
the king would make all the sacrifices: as is typically the case in Homer
(5 .2. introduction).
Theseus made Attica into one city: local historians normally credited
Theseus with the 'synoecism' of Attica, making what had been twelve loosely
allied cities into one unified polis in the generation before the Trojan War.
He was also often, but less credibly, seen as the institutor of democracy, which
in sober historical discourse was attributed to Kleisthenes in 508/7. But our
author here suggests a way in which the office of 'king' could have contin-
ued in a democracy, ending with the archonship called that of the basileus.
unnameable sacrifices: arrheta.See above, and for secrecy in women's rituals
5.3.5, discussion.
on a stone pillar: the usual Greek custom of inscribing laws and decrees
on stone, so that a durable copy was available. The author here inverts the
normal idea that such copies were easily read, to increase the idea of holy
secrecy. The 'old Attic letters' must have been written before the official intro-
duction of the Ionic alphabet into Athens in 403, and the author could prob-
ably recognise letter styles that were considerably older than this, though
the inscription is unlikely to be as old as he imagines.
Dionysos in the Marshes: en limnais. Its precise location is unknown, but
it is clear that it was the sanctuary most closely associated with the
244 SANCTUARIESI
Anthesteria, and opened only on the second day of the three-day festival.
On closed sanctvaries, compare above, 5.1.7, 5.1.8.
sacred herald: on heralds, see above, 5.3.2.
with their baskets: these would have contained sacrificial barley-groats (above,
5.2 introduction) and in most rites were carried by girls rather than mature
women (see 5.3.3). The fourteen Gerarai apparently corresponded in num-
ber to the fourteen altars of the sanctuary.
before they touch the victims: or 'before they touch the holy rites'.
the oath: but the oath itself, in the sense of the deities by whom it is sworn
(among whom was presumably Dionysos) and the self-imprecation clause, is
not given in our text (and what is given was probably added to the speech
by a later hand). See 4.3.4-6.
5.4 Priests
Many people are struck by what may seem the minimal role of priests in Greek
religion. There is no special group or 'caste' of priests in Greek society, such
as the Greeks themselves recognised in the Persian magoi, and no consolidated
priestly expertise; rather, each priest or priestess serves a particular deity in
a particular sanctuary. They would be expected to have a particular know-
ledge of how best to approach that deity (5.4.8) - even, perhaps, a child, as
a few priests were required to be, might have that knowledge after a short
while - and it might seem plausible that they might have some interest in
other religious matters, but there was no necessity that this should be so.
Many, if not most, male priests would have other important pursuits -
politics, perhaps, or merely making a living - while priestesses, if married,
had also their normal family affairs to occupy them. Thus, most priests would
not spend their whole time in the sanctuary (5.4.1-2), but much would depend
on the individual case; passage 5.1.6 seems to imply that the priestess of Athena
Polias in Athens might reasonably be expected to be found within the sanc-
tuary of Athena, and the larger and more important the sanctuary, perhaps,
the more likely this was to be the case.
The chief role of the priest was to preside over sacrifice, and what this meant
is seen in 5.4.1: the priest made the appropriate prayers over the victim, and
after the slaughter offered the god's portion by placing it on the altar. He
might also cut the few hairs from the victim which were removed before
the kill, but although male priests are commonly shown in art equipped with
a knife he would not necessarily perform the slaughter himself - indeed, in
the case of a priestess, this would have been a highly anomalous action. Rather,
the animal was killed under the priest's direction, by a subordinate official
(cf. 5.3.2) or a hired mageiros (butcher-cook, cf. 3.2.2). However, as we have
seen (5.2), it was not necessary to be a priest to perform sacrifice~ Pa~sages
SANCTUARIESI 245
5.4.1-2 show that it was quite normal for one individual in a group to take
on this role within a sanctuary, but they also safeguard the right of the priest
to offer sacrifice when present. The decree from Peiraieus at 5.4.7 goes much
further, and forbids a whole range of activities within the Thesmophorion
without the supervision of the priestess. A document like this is suggestive
of a great enthusiasm on the part of many worshippers to perform their own
ritual actions in a sanctuary (compare 5.1.2, 5.1.10), to an extent and in a
manner that might not always seem appropriate to an expert on the cult.
Another reason for insistence on the priest(ess) performing sacrifice was
more practical: the usual custom was for the sacrificing priest to receive a
quite large honorific portion (geras) from the victim, often a leg and the skin,
which had considerable value.
Priests were, of course, both male and female, though the gender of the
priest was fixed for each cult. Most often a male deity was served by a priest
and a female deity by a priestess, but there were exceptions: Dionysos, a some-
what androgynous god, was often served by a priestess, and priests of Artemis
and Athena are known. Age was sometimes specified too, particularly in the
Figure 11 Depiction of a priestess holding the large temple key against her left
shoulder. Male priests are usually shown with a sacrificial knife. Grave relief from
Rhamnous in Attica, second quarter of fourth century. Athens, National Archaeological
Museum (EAM) 2309.
246 SANCTUARIESI
case of priestesses where a cult might require a virgin, married woman, or

(as we should now say) post-menopausal woman. A virgin would be a young
teenager at most> and in a few cults an equally young boy served as priest.
Many of the older established priesthoods were hereditary, in the sense that
they were confined to a particular family, within which the priesthood
might be allotted or pass ·down more strictly from father to son. Some of
these priestly families acquired great prestige from their exalted office. Other
priesthoods, which we can see most clearly in democratic Athens alongside
the older type, were appointed by lot from a much larger pool (5.4.3, 5.4.4),
often annually. A third method of acquiring a priesthood was through
purchase, a practice found mainly in the cities of Asia Minor from the begin-
ning of the fourth century (5.4.6).
Passage 5.4.6, with its mention of initiations, also reminds us that some
priesthoods involved duties of a more specialised nature than offerings,
prayer and the general supervision of the cult. The obvious example here is
that of the many priestly officials of Eleusis, who each had a special role to
play in the Mysteries, but the term 'priest' or 'priestess' is also used for those
who conduct ceremonies of less official standing (compare 4.1.1), and the
difference between the two types might sometimes be more one of percep-
tion and sympathies rather than a watertight distinction. And while for some
their priestly office was no doubt in large part significant for the prestige it
conveyed, it would be surprising if many priests did not have some feeling
for the deity they served. This is suggested by the dedications of priests and
priestesses (see 5.6.1), and more strikingly by 5.4.5, where, however, it may
be that the gift of the house and garden comes first and the priesthood is
given as a reward. Here we might compare the cave shrines in 3.4.3-4, where
the founders appear as self-constituted priests, stimulated by their devotion.
While a priest might have a great deal of authority in the sanctuary of the
deity he served (5.4.1, 5.4.7), his authority was not absolute. Passage 5.4.8
suggests a reason for this: a priest was responsible not only to the deity, but
to the community whom he represented in his efforts to please the god. What
we should call political structure had a large and crucial input into the way
in which religious practice was performed. Not only did the main magistrates
actually perform some sacrifices (see 4.3.1-3), but cities generally had boards
of officials who were responsible for the proper running of state cult, and
others who supervised the finances of major sanctuaries. Something of the
role of hieropoioi,hieromnemonesand others, and their interaction with priests,
can be seen in 5.3.2 and also 6.4.7; for the theory, see 4.3.3.
Within the sanctuary, the priest might be assisted by a nei5koros(see notes
on 5.1.2), who took care of much of the day-to-day business of the sanctu-
ary: keeping the building and ritual equipment clean, and generally preserving
good order. The Herodas passage, 5.1.2, shows the neokoros of a large and
popular sanctuary acting as a go-between for the priest in dealing with
worshippers. It is easy to imagine that in some cases (where priesthoods were
held annually, for instance, or by a child) the neokorosmay even hawe been
SANCTUARIESI 247
the repository of tradition who told the new priest what to do. The largest
sanctuaries probably had several practical assistants, and also officiants with
a more priestly role, like the 'fire-carrier' at Epidauros (6.3.2 [121.5]), or -
perhaps a rather singular case - the great number of cult personnel at Eleusis.
In fact, at Eleusis the cult complex was so intricate that demarcation disputes
were not infrequent. (See also 5.3.2 for a list of assistants at a sacrifice.)
5.4.1 A priest's rights and duties
Source: Frorri the Amphiareion at Oropos, between 386 and 377. (LSCG 69)
Gods
The priest of Amphiaraos is to be present at the sanctuary from the end of winter
up to ploughing season. He is not to be absent for more than three [consecutive]
days, and is to remain in the sanctuary not less then ten days in each month.
He is to make the neokorostake charge of the sanctuary, in accordance with cus-
tom, and ..,ith those who arrive there. If someone, whether foreigner or citizen,
commits some wrong in the sanctuary, the priest should impose with full author-
ity a fine of up to five drachmas and should take security from the person fined;
if he (the offender) pays the money let him put it in the chest in the presence
of the priest. The priest is to pass judgement on whether an fndividual, foreigner
or citizen, has been wronged in the sanctuary, with .restitution of up to three
drachmas; more serious cases should be dealt ,.vith wherethelaws dictate in each
case. Summons for wrongs in the .sanctuary is to be made on the same day, and if
the defendant does not agree, then the case should be heard the following day.
Anyone wishing to be cured by the god must give an offering of not less than
nine obols of genuine currency, and must put it into t.he chest in the presence
of the neokoros[some words missing] The priest is to make .the prayers over the
vic.tims and place the offerings on the altar, when he is present. When the priest
is not present, the sacrificer is to do this. At the Sacrifice, each person is to pray
over his own victim, and the priest is to pray over the publicly provided victims.
The skin of all animals sacrificed in the sanctuary [a few words missing] It is
permitted to sacrifice any victim, whatever each person wishes, but it is not allowed
to take the meat out of the sanctuary. Those sacrificing are to give the priest a
shoulder from each victim, except at the time of the festival: then he [thepriest]
should take a shoulder from each of the public victims ... (the rest of the inscrip-
tion, though fragmentary, has little to do with the priest and is given at 6.3.1).
This early fourth-century inscription, dating from one of the brief periods
when Oropos was an independent city, attempts to regulate the affairs of an
important healing sanctuary on the border of Thebes and Attica. (On healing
sanctuaries, see 6.3.) It begins by dealing at some length with the duties of
the priest, and this part of the document, translated above, is one of our most
useful pieces of evidence for the role of the priest and his assistant in a region-
ally important_ sanctuary.
248 SANCTUARIESI
Since being a priest was seldom a full-time profession in our sense, it is

not surprising that the priest of Amphiaraos was not permanently in the sanc-
tuary - he no doubt had other things to attend to (but contrast the priest-
ess of Athena Polias at Athens, 5.1.6). The 'law' lays down a minimum of
time .he must be present during the spring and summer, when the sanctuary
would be most populous, with visitors from out-of-town joining the Oropians.
In his absence, the nei5koros(see above, and 5.1.2) was to maintain order,
instructing visitors in the proper procedure, and especially making sure that
the correct fee was paid by those wishing for healing from the god; this last
was his responsibility even when the priest was present. His responsibilities
did not, however, extend to sacrifice; when the priest was absent, each indi-
vidual was to perform sacrifice for himself, or more likely, his group.
The inscription is concerned to maintain the dignity and authority of the
priest, insisting that do-it-yourself sacrifice is not allowed when the priest is
in attendance, laying down his sacrificial perquisites, and perhaps most
interestingly of all setting out his judicial power within the sanctuary.
the Sacrifice: this must be another name for the annual festival. If a whole
crowd of people had each their own victim, it must indeed have been a
massive sacrifice. (The capitalisation is not of course in the Greek, though
the definite article may have a similar implication.)
the skin: the inscription originally read 'is to be sacred', that is, to belong
to the sanctuary, but this was later deliberately erased, indicating that the
skins could be sold.
any victim: many cults did not allow the sacrifice of certain animals; com-
pare 5.2.3. It was apparently quite common to take sacrificial meat home,
but it was not allowed in every cult (see 5.1.2, end of passage and note). Eating
in the sanctuary would presumably have helped to retain awareness of the
sacrificial origins of the meat.
A new inscription has been found at Oropos which seems to include a tariff
for different sacrificial victims. 4
5.4.2 Priestly perquisites
Source: Fifth-century inscription from Chios (LSS 129)
To the priest of Pelinaios are to be given the tongues, the honorific portions,
the tf1ya from whatever is sacrificed, the entrails, as far as the knees and the
front feet, two (ordinary) portions, and the skin. If the priest is not present, one
should shout three times in a loud voice, and then do the sacrifice oneself. One
must not offer (perquisites)to any other person. Whoever infringes any part of
these regulations tnust pay a fine of five stateres.
SANCTUARIESI 249
A somewhat laconic inscription recording what are probably fairly standard

arrangements regarding the priest's position in the sanctuary. When a priest
or priestess made a sacrifice, he or she was normally given an 'honorific por-
tion' (geras)(see above, section introduction), which here is obviously a specific
cut and accompanied by a generous amount of the rest of the animal. Thya
or thyea are most usually offerings accompanying the animal, such as cakes
or incense; here, cakes are possible, but it is odd to find them listed in the
middle of the animal parts.
Like the previous passage, this one indicates that the priest was not expected
to spend all his time in the sanctuary. The inscription also gives good
explicit evidence for ordinary worshippers performing a sacrifice themselves:
making the ceremonial beginning, reciting the prayers, then either killing the
victim themselves or hiring a mageiros (cook-butcher) to do this, and (very
important) placing the god's portions on the altar. Nonetheless, the priest
should preside over the sacrifice if he is present; this is 'his' sanctuary, and
he is entitled to the considerable perquisites for performing the sacrifice. Hence
the penultimate clause, prohibiting any unauthorised person from stepping
in and acting as priest for a person who wishes to sacrifice.
Pelinaios: or Pelinnaios, epithet of a local Zeus, bearing the name of Pelin-

naion, the highest mountain in Chios, where he was presumably worshipped.
5.4.3 Selecting and paying a priestess
Source: Atheniao inscription (IG I 3 35-36, ML 44, 71), first part of uncertain
date, fragment of a decree reorganising cult of Athena Nike (Victory)
rA decree of the council and the assembly ... ] Glaukos proposed: Thatthe priest-
ess of [Athena Victory], whoever [happens to be chosen by lot?}, be [chosen by
lot] from all Athenian (women), and that doors be built for the sanctuary, the
plan to be determined by Kallikrates; that the paletai in the prytany of Leontis
are to contract this out; that the priestess is to receive fifty drachmas and the
legs and skins of the publicly sacrificed victims; and that a temple be built to
a plan to be determined by Kallikrates, and an altar of stone. Hestiaios proposed:
that three men be chosen from the council, and they should draw up the plan
with Kallikrates ... (the rest is very fragmentary and concerns the building of the
temple and altar)
(Other side of same stone, inscriptionof 424/3)
A decree of the co~ncil and the assembly ... Kallias prnposed: That the
ki5lakretaiwho are in office should. give the fifty drachmas mentioned on the
stele to the priestess of Athena Victory in the month of Thargelion [... ]
Much about this document can be (and has been) debated, but it seems
reasonably clear that it shows us a priesthood filled by lot, in which case it
250 SANCTUARIESI
is our earliest direct attestation for such a procedure, though it is likely that
there were earlier occurrences in Athens (e.g. the priesthoods of some of the
tribal eponyms established in the Kleisthenic reforms of 508/7). The second
part is dated to 424/3, and it is now often thought that the first part does
not precede it by very much; but some scholars still prefer a date in the 440s,
suggested by the letter forms, for the first inscription. The decree obviously
relates to some innovation in the cult of Athena .Nike (identified firmly by
the inscription on the second side of the stele). At this date, whenever it was,
the cult had plainly' had only very makeshift' arrangements, and the temple
(which survives in part today) was not finally completed until the 420s.
The crucial word which would demonstrate that the priestess was selected
by lot is missing from the stone, but would fit the gap and is suggested by
the partly surviving words 'from all (feminine) the Athenians', and most
convincingly by the passage below, which refers to this priesthood. How the
lot was managed, though, is unclear: it would have been quite difficult to
arrange such a procedure literally among all (perhaps 40,000?) adult Athenian
women. The priesthood, like that of Asklepios (5.4.5), could have rotated among
the ten tribes, and within each tribe the lot might have been applied to a
preselected group, as often, but it is odd that the decree makes no mention
of this. It is also unclear whether tenure of the priesthood was annual, as
often with allotted priesthoods, or for life.
As usual, the priestess is to receive honorific portions of the sacrificial vic-
tims, but also a salary or perhaps 'expense account 1 of fifty drachmas. This
suggests that the post would have been quite a busy one. The cult of Athena
Victory has obvious political implications and was clearly seen as important.
However, the opening of the second decree suggests that there may have been
some initial difficulty about the priestess's payment, subsequently regularised.
kolakretai: a group of financial officials.
5.4.4 The first priestess to serve
Source: Epitaph of Myrrhine, priestess of Athena Nike at Athens (JG 13 1330)
This is the far-shining memorial of Kallimachos' daughter, the first to look after
the temple of Victory. She had a name which travelled with good repute, since
she was truly called Myrrhine, as' if by divine coincidence.
Myrrhine was first to look after the seat of Athena Victory, chosen in good
fortune out of all by lot.
This late fifth-century monument speaks for itself, and taken in conjunction
with the previous passage it begins to give us a picture of the early years of
SANCTUARIESI 251
the cult of Athena Nike. The priesthood, whether it was for life or the first
of a sequence of annual tenures, was the thing above all to be commemor-
ated in Myrrhine's life.
The name Myrrhine means 'myrtle', and since myrtle crowns were associ-
ated with priesthoods (as well as some magistracies) the writer of the epitaph
suggests that there was a peculiar aptness in her office. Greeks were sensitive
to the meaning of personal names, and sometimes viewed them as divinely
inspired signs.
With this epitaph from the outskirts of Athens we can compare a statue
base found on the acropolis which almost certainly commemorates Myrrhine's
contemporary Lysimache daughter of Drakontides, the priestess of Athena Polias
for sixty-four years in the fifth and fourth centuries; her great age is also com-
memorated, as she lived to the age of eighty-eight and 'saw four generations
of offspring' (JG Il2 3453 with Pliny, Natural History 34.76).
look after: amphipoleuo, to busy oneself about, to serve.
5.4.5 A priest gives his house to the god
Source: Athens, mid-fourth century ([G 1124969) ·
The god gave an oracle to the Athenian people, saying that they should tdedi-
cate] the house of Demon and the [adjoining?] garden to· Asklepios, and that
Demon himself [should be his priest.} The priest Demon son of Demomeles of
Paiania [dedicated] both the house and the garden, at the comm.and fof the god],
and the Athenian people granted [that he should be the priest] of Asklepios in
accordance with the oracle.
Asklepios almost certainly arrived in Athens in 421/420, and we know

that the new priesthood established for him was filled annually, probably
rotating among the ten 'tribes' (phylai) into which the citizen body was
divided, and certainly chosen by lot from among those eligible. This
fragmentary inscription, which cannot be dated more precisely than within
the twenty years between c. 350 and 330, seems to show an exception to
the system - if it has been correctly supplemented. The oracle was probably
given by Apollo at Delphi, who was very concerned with religious matters
in general (see 6.2.4), and might be expected to take a particular interest in
the cult of his son. We are not told why Demon of Paiania should have been
picked out in this way; perhaps he had already expressed a wish to dedicate
the house and garden to Asklepios, and Apollo ordered him to be given the
priesthood as a reward. The house and garden would be leased, and the income
go to the cult.
252 SANCTUARIES I
5.4.6 Purchasing a priesthood
Source: Erythrai, -late fourth century (LSAM 23)
The male purchaser and the female purchaser of the priesthood of the
Kyrbantes [word missing] the worshippers' group of Herse and [... ]ore and
Phanis, if it is [necessary], to all of them, if not, to whom he/she wishes,
..and[ .. .] according to the decree. 'Those wh0;,buy the priesthood will initiate, ..
and ['kraterise'] and wash those undergoing initiation,_ the man the male can-
didates and the woman the females. He/she will take as perquisites for washing
three (?) obols, and for kmterismos two obols, the fleece and the [leg? For ... ]
being initiated for [each of the purifications?] three drachmas [and the fleece]
and the leg which is deposited [by the altar?] and ( ... the rest is missing)
An example of the sale of a priesthood, from a Greek city in Asia Minor, the
area where this method of filling priesthoods first appears. We have a con-
siderable number of such documents (the majority of hellenistic date), mostly
designed to inform would-be purchasers of the duties and rights of the office,
and in the continuation (here missing) giving details of the purchase itself.
Double priesthoods like this one, held by a married couple, are a distinctive
feature of the cities of Asia, although in this particular cult, where physical
contact is required with initiates of both sexes, there is a clear practical pur-
pose. The deities served, the Kyrhantes, must be equivalent to the Korybantes
in Attic and other dialects, a somewhat mysterious group of gods sometimes
identified with the Kouretes, who protected the infant Zeus, and associated
with noisy and perhaps ecstatic worship like that of the Mother of the Gods
(on the Mother, see below 5.5.3). The cult is well known, and initiations in
it are referred to by Plato, who mentions an enthronement of the initiate as
part of the process (Euthydemus 277d). It is not clear whether these initi-
ations occurred as part of a regular festival, like the Eleusinian Mysteries (see
6.4.1-4), or less regularly; the description of the priestly couple's duties bears
some resemblance to what little we know of the more ad hoe, less 'official'
initiations as practised in Athens, and elsewhere among groups of a roughly
Orphic persuasion (see 3.4.8-9). In particular, the rite of kraterismos (doing
something with a bowl for mixing wine with water) is mentioned in
Demosthenes' description of what he sees as disreputable initiations performed
by the mother of Aischines (3.4.6). But we cannot definitely label the
Erythraian initiations as 'private' or 'unofficial'; we lack the information to
decide on the status of the cult within the polis.
the worshippers' group of Herse: toi orgioi tes herses. These were probably
already established cult associations connected with the Kyrbantes, but the
sentence is fragmentary and obscure. "
SANCTUARIESI 253
the fleece ... the leg: indicates, unsurprisingly, that at least one sacrifice
was part of the process of initiation, the victim probably provided by the ini-
tiate, and as a sheep or goat must be intended, it was not of the cheapest.
5.4.7 The priestess is in charge
Source: Fourth-century decree of the deme of Peiraieus

(JG II2 1177, LSCG 36)
... the current demarch (is to supervise] the Thesmophorion together with the
priestess, and to ensure that no one frees slaves,·or assembles worshipping groups
(thiasoi), or sets up holy things, or performs purifications, or approaches the
altars or the hall without the priestess 1 except during the celebration of the
Thesmophoria and the Plerosia and the Kalam.aia and the S.kira and any other
day when the women come together in accordance with ancestral custom.
Be it decreed by the people of Peiraieus: if anyone acts in contravention of any
of these points, the demarch is to impose a penalty and bring him to trial, using
the laws laid down on these matters. About gathering wood in the sanctuaries,
if someone cuts wood, the ancient laws established about these matters are to
be valid. The horistai together with the demarch are to inscribe this decree and
set it up at the approach to the Thesmophorion.
This deme decree was intended to regularise activities at the local Thesmo-
phorion, a sanctuary of Demeter and Kore, and to reinforce the authority of
the priestess of the Two Goddesses. Along with the demarchos(the chief mag-
istrate of an Athenian deme, roughly parallel to the archon of the state as a
whole), she is to have control of what is done in the Thesmophorion, and
on her own she is given a degree of monopoly in sacred matters more usual
in a really major sanctuary than one of only local interest (see above, 5.4.1-2
on absent priests). The decree seems to indicate that except at festival time
only the priestess is to perform sacrifice, as well as allowing or forbidding all
the other major activities that tend to happen in sanctuaries. The veto on
the other activities can be seen as an attempt to enforce proper (polis-based)
authority in religious practice and to discourage 'unlicensed' religion, which
is often particularly concerned with thiasoi or groups of orgeones(see 4.1.6)
and purifications (see 3.3, 4.2.9). Freeing slaves was another activity normally
done in sanctuaries, because the process involved dedicating the slave to the
god.
These provisions are to be suspended during the celebration of 'women's
festivals', no doubt as impractical at such times, indicating that a great
number of women normally attended these gatherings. The festivals in-
clude not only the Thesmophoria but all those 'when the women come
together in accordance with ancestral custom', suggesting that Aristophanes'
presentation of the Thesmophorion in Athens as becoming a sort of
254 SANCTUARIES I
'women's centre' (see above, 5.3.5) may not be entirely fantasy. Of the other
festivals mentioned, we know of the Skira as one not confined to women,
but one where the women have a separate role; the Plerosia (or Prerosia,
or Proerosia, 'pre-ploughing') and Kalamaia (probably from 'corn-stalk') are
found. in other Attic demes and are associated with the agricultural year.
Again women must have a special and separate role. It is odd not to find the
Haloa specifically mentioned, as another Attic women's festival of Demeter,
but perhaps it was not celebrated in Peiraieus. 'According to ancestral cus-
tom' is an important clause: no newfangled, /unofficial' women's celebrations
are to qualify.
The final clause, about wood-cutting, is a perennial topic in sanctuary regu-
lations. All trees growing in a sanctuary were of course the property of the
deity, and the sale of wood would contribute income. The horistai ('delim-
iters') must have been deme officials.
5.4.8 What do priests do?
Source: Plato, TheStatesma.n (Politicus) 290c
STRANGER (having dealt with prophets): .Then again, take the category of
priests .. The usual belief is that they have th.e knowledge of how to take
what we give the gods through sacrifices and give it to them in a way
that pleases them, and to ask from them by prayers good things for us.
And yet both of these (the jobs of priests and prophets) belong to the office
of a servant.; .The appearance of priests and prophets is full of self-esteem,
and has an aura of solemnity because of the magnitude of what they are
engaged in.
There is no reason to suppose that Plato's character's words about the

'usual belief' are anything other than what was, in fact, the usual con-
ception of the priestly office: the priest had a special expertise in matters
of ritual, especially the cult he was engaged in, and it was important for
the welfare of society that cults should be maintained and worship offered
in the proper way. By 'servant', Plato means a servant of the community,
because priests offer prayers on behalf of the city (or equivalent) and
prophets (see 4.2) interpret the gods' will to them. But the vocabulary of
service is also used in a way that implies that priests are the servants of
the gods: see for instance above, 5.4.4. Still, priests are not lowly people
such as servants but possess 'an aura of solemnity', and this, if due to 'the
magnitude of what they are engaged in', must be true for the occupants of
newly established, annually held priesthoods as well as ancient hereditary
ones, though perhaps in lesser degree. "
SANCTUARIES I 255
5.5 Hymns
Hymnos is the Greek word for a song to a deity, something which is usually
performed in a sanctuary, often at a sacrifict>, It may contain some of the
elements typical of prayer, in particular a request for a god to be present or
to be favourable, either generally or in some specific way, but it usually con-
tains a greater element of praise, either explicit or implicit in the form of
narrative of the god's deeds. Gods are imagined as taking pleasure in hymns,
just as they do in beautiful visual offerings such as statues, and so hymns
are often artistic creations written by known poets, including such famous
names as Pindar and Sophocles. But sometimes the gods and, indeed, their
worshippers prefer traditional, crude-seeming works of art (Aeschylus was said
to have compared a well-known, old, paian to old statues 'which everyone
prefers') and there were also hymns with little pretension to literary merit
but containing material which sometimes seems startling, diverging sharply
from 'classical' portrayals of the gods. Such is the well-known 'hymn of the
women of Elis', which struck Plutarch as so strange (GreekQuestions36 = Moralia
299b) in which they ask the 'hero Dionysos' (nowhere else that we know of
is Dionysos called a hero) to come to them 'with bovine foot' and hail him.as
'worthy bull'. Hymns of this sort, while very venerable, were, we can imagine,
confined to the cult of one particular sanctuary, or at most had a very limited
local diffusion (compare 5.5.2). But other hymns became known across the Greek
world, like the 'paian of Erythrai' (5.5.1). We can see this process at work in the
hellenistic world, and in the last period of pagan antiquity we find the emperor
Julian referring to 'the hymns sung in sanctuaries', which all priests should
try to learn (Letters 301e), but the first stages of diffusion could well be much
earlier.
Actually, hymnos has two senses: in addition to the general meaning
covering all songs addressed to an object of worship, there is also a restricted
sense in which it refers specifically to songs sung as the participants in the
rite stand at the altar. In this sense it is opposed to a prosodion, which is sung
during the procession to the altar, and to other more specialised types of hymn,
such as the paian and the dithyrambos. The dithyramb is associated with
Dionysos, but certain dithyrambs (for instance those of Bacchylides) may con-
sist largely of narrative with little obvious Dionysiac connexion. In this the
dithyramb resembles tragedy, a form sometimes thought to have derived from
it. The paian (see 5.5.1) is primarily associated with Apollo, but paians to other
deities are known - often those connected with Apollo, but we hear also of
a Spartan paian to Poseidon, used during earthquakes (see 4.4.6). Originally
it is likely that paians were addressed to a deity Paian or Paiawon, who is
mentioned in the Iliad and who became generally identified with Apollo. Paians
seem to be sung either to request or to celebrate release from danger, and
hence they may be sung as an army advances (see 4.4), but they are also
popular in the cult of Asklepios, son of Apollo and deity of healing, who takes
256 SANCTUARIESI
over some of the functions of Paian. Characteristic of the paian is the cry ie
Paian (or ie or hie paian) which appears often in the transmitted text. Where
it does not appear, as for instance in Pin<lar's Paians, we can imagine that it
was added at the beginning and/or en<l by the chorus or all the participants.
Refrains (ephymnia)are quite common in hymns in general, and allow a greater
number of those present to join in this part of the worship.
Somewhat different are the so-called 'Homeric hymns', composed in hexa-
meters, the metre of epic, probably around the late seventh and early sixth
centuries BCE, some perhaps later. The longer Homeric hymns contain nar-
ratives about the gods, while the shorter ones (see 5.S:5) simply describe their
qualities; typically they end with an address to the deity in question and the
statement that the singer will now turn to another song. One formula, refer-
ring to the deeds of half-divine men, suggests that these poems were recited
by professional rhapsodes before they embarked on their main epic piece.
Even if they were not primarily directed towards regular cult in sanctuaries,
they can still be thought of as 'religious' compositions, inasmuch as they
describe and - crucially - address a god.
5.5.1 A paian for Asklepios
Source: 'Paian of Erythrai', before 360 BCE (LSAM 24, furley-Bremer 6.1)
Sing, lads, Paian of glorious wisdom, the son of Leto, worker from afar - ie Paian
- who begat a great delight for mortals when he joined in love with Koronis,
in the land of Phlegya - ie Paian, Asklepios., god most renowned, ie Paian.
And from Asklepios sprang Machaon, and Podaleirios and Iaso, - ie Paian -
lovely Aglaia (Aigle?) and Panakeia, children of ·Epione, and glorious holy
Health - ie Paian, Asklepios, god most renowned, ie Paian.
Hail, and come to my city with its wide spaces;...ie Paian. Grant us to be happy
and to see the fair light of the sun, with glorious holy Health - ii! Paian, Asklepios,
god most renowned, ie Paian.
This paian is primarily in honour of Asklepios, but it begins by praising

Asklepios' father Apollo, the paian-god par excellence,and as often in the cult
of Asklepios includes also the god's wife and children, all connected with health
and healing. It is found written as here in an inscription dated around 360 or
earlier, from Erythrai in Asia Minor; the text itself could of course be earlier than
this. A slightly different version of the same paian has been found inscribed
in Athens, at Dion in Macedonia, and at Ptolemais in Egypt, suggesting it
had very wide currency in the Greek world. The version from Ptolemais has
an extra stanza at the end asking the god's blessings on Egypt and the Nile.
The inscription from Erythrai forms part of the reverse of a block on which
are also inscribed one or two paians to Apollo, with part of an instruction
to perform a paian three times at the altar of Apollo. "
SANCTUARIES I 257
The structure is very simple. It consists of three stanzas, with refrains based
on the characteristic exclamation le Paian, the 'paian-cry' found in many
(though not all) poems classed as paians. The first two stanzas praise the god
by recounting his birth and naming his progeny, while the third contains
the request for the god's presence, which will of itself bring about health and
happiness.
Sing, lads: paians seem to have been most often sung by choruses of young
men (here kouroi), with whom the worship of Apollo is particularly associated.
Koronis: Asklepios' mother is usually thus named. She was often said to be
the daughter of Phlegyas, which is the reading of the other version.
Machaon and Podaleirios: names of physicians and sons of Asklepios
(apparently there mortal) in the Iliad (2.730-3).
laso, Aigle, Panakeia: Asklepios' daughters, personifications of healing, are
more variously named. The ia- and ak- roots relate to healing (Akeso is also
named in the paian's other version); Aglaia seems to be an error for (the read-
ing of the other version) Aigle, meaning 'the shining one'. Aigle is identified
with Koronis in the paian of Isyllos from Epidauros (JG IV2 128, Furley-Bremer
6.4).
Epione: from the root epios, meaning 'gentle', this is the usual name of the
wife of Asklepios.
Health: in Greek, Hygieia, another daughter of Asklepios. Of all the deities
in Asklepios' train, she seems to be the mo_st popular and is found most fre-
quently in cult.
wide spaces: the original meaning is 'wide dancing-places'.
to be happy: or possibly 'to greet you'.
see the ... light of the sun: a very common poetic phrase for being alive.
Under the earth there is no sunlight. The other version of the paian has a
slightly different reading which translates as 'to be happy and esteemed, and
to see the light of the sun'.
5.5.2 A Cretan hymn to Zeus
Source:. Hymn to the Kouros, probably fourth or third century BCE

(Jnscr. Cret. III II 2, Furley-Bremer 1.1)
O greatest Kouros, hail, son of Kronos, all powerful, you have gone to the land
leading the deities. Come to Dikte at the year's festival and take pleasure in the
singing
which we play for you with harps, mixing it with shawms, and sing as we
stand round your well-fenced altar,
258 SANCTUARIESI
0 greatest Kouros, hail, son of Kronos, all powerful, you have gone to the
land leading the deities. Come to Dikte at the year's festival and take pleasure
in the singing.
}iere [the Kouretes hid?] you, a deathless child, taking you from Rhea, [with]
shield[s?]. . . · ·
0 greatest Kouros, hail, son of Kronos, all powerful, you have gone to the
in the singing. ·
[One stanza almost entirely missing]
... were abundant each year, and Justice presided over mortals, and Peace that
loves prosperity . . . .
0 greatest Kouros, hail; son of Kronos, all powerful, you have gone to the
in the singing.
[Leap onto our] winejars (?) and leap onto our woolly [flocks]. Leap onto the
crops of the [fields) and onto the [houses?] that bring fulfilment.
0 .greatest Kouros, hail, .son .of Kronos., all powerful, you have gone to the
in the singing.
[And leap onto) our cmes, and_ leap onto our seafaring ships, and leap onto
the [young?] citizens (?), and 1eap onto [glorious?] Right.
0 greatest Kouros, hail, son Of Kronos, all powerful, you have gone to the
In the singing.
This intriguing hymn relates to a Cretan cult of the young Zeus, a con-
ception of the god somewhat different from the norm. It was found at
Palaikastro in eastern Crete, in an inscription dated to the second or third
century CE, but the text is likely to have been composed in the form that we
have it in the fourth century BCE. The hymn contains the typical features of
an invocation, narrative (with implied praise) and petition; like the previous
passage and some other hymns, it has also a refrain. The idea that the hymn
will give pleasure to the deity is also very commonly found - indeed it is
central to the performance of hymns.
The Kouros ('young man') must be Zeus, the son of Kronos, worshipped
(as we know from other sources) as Diktaios, 'of Dikte', and the narrative alludes
to the story found in the Theogony (477-84) that Zeus' mother Rhea saved
her youngest child from his cannibalistic father and gave him to nymphs to
be brought up in a cave in Crete; other sources add that a group known as
Kouretes danced and clashed their shields outside the cave to conceal the
noise of the baby's cries. The yearly celebration alluded to here probably com-
memorated (possibly represented or re-enacted, as a dance in armour) the birth
of Zeus, who is called 'greatest' Kouros as leader of the Kouretes, the deities
(daimones)whom he comes leading. The word rendered as 'leap' (some trans-
late 'spring up') is sometimes used of the birth of gods; an alternative rriean~ng,
SANCTUARIESI 259
to mount or impregnate, seems perhaps less appropriate given the mytho-

logical reference. At all events the leaping indicates a blessing on the com-
munity's affairs: the presence of Zeus is invoked into agricultural, human and
political enterprises.
you have gone to the land: this is West's suggestion,4 involving a different
word division from most editors, whose reading translates 'all-powerful delight,
you have gone leading the deities'. West supposes the reference is to a sort
of death preceding a periodic rebirth: Zeus 'goes to ground' (the root mean-
ing of the word translated as 'land' is 'earth'). But it could equally well mean
simply that the Kouros has visited the land, and is now asked to come more
specifically to Dikte.
as we stand around your ... altar: this accords very well with the remark
of the late author Proclus (Chrestomathia 320a19-20) that a 'hymn properly
so called' is sung by participants around the divinity's altar.
... were abundant each year: this reference to a past time of peace and
plenty recalls passages in Homer and Hesiod which make prosperity the reward
of upright behaviour, mediated by the gods. The hymn appears to say that
the birth of Zeus coincided with (caused?) such conditions.
the [houses] that bring fulfilment: probably indicating families with off-
spring. The adjective is used 'proleptically', indicating that fulfilment will be
brought once Zeus has 'leapt' into them.
glorious Right: or right (themis). The wo~shippers hope that the leaping of
Zeus will bring about a time like that of the far-off days when Zeus was
originally born.
5.5.3 A hymn to the Mother of the Gods
Source: Epidauros, late inscription (JG lV2 131, Furley-Bremer 6.2)
... goddesses, come here from the sky and sing With me the Mother of the Gods.
Sing how she went wandering over the hills and valleys, trailing her holy hair ·
and sick at heart. Then lord Zeus, seeing the Mother of the Gods, tried fo hurl
his thunderbolt and seize her drums, he broke up rocks, and tried to seize her
drums: 'Mother, go away to the gods, and don't wander over the mountains,
lest fierce lions or grey wolves should [ ... ]you.' 'I won't go away to the gods
if I don't get my portions: half of the sky, and half of the earth, and half of the
sea as my third portion. Then I will go. away.' Hail, great queen, mother of
Olympos.
We know this short hymn from an inscription of late antiquity, but its langu-
age suggests that it is likely to be older (perhaps fourth/third century BCE).
260 SANCTUARIESI
Its repetitions and unannounced dialogue give it a folksy air unlike most Greek
poetry (even some of the so-called carmina popularia): it has been suggested
that the words spoken in turn by Zeus and by the Mother would be allocated
to semi-choruses in performance.-There is no request made in the hymn, only
an address and a short narrative glorifying the Mother and extolling her power
by comparison with Zeus, whom she defies.
The worship of the Mother of the Gods was well established in most parts
of Greece by the fifth century, though it was always considered to be of Asiatic
origin, and retained elements which set it apart from the cult of most other
deities. The Mother seems to represent a fusion of various related Asian
goddesses with a sprinkling of Greek mythology, in which she is commonly
identified with Rhea, the mother of Zeus (in a myth which itself has absorbed
West Asiatic influences). She is also sometimes identified with Earth (Mother
of the gods in the Hesiodic account, see 2.1.1) and less often with Demeter
(see 1.3.6). On occasion she appears as a healing deity, which may account
for her presence at Asklepios' sanctuary in Epidauros; but this may also be
explained by the natural tendency for the most important sanctuaries to attract
the cults of numerous deities in a position subordinate to the main god
worshipped there .
. . . goddesses: though a word is missing, this must be a typical address to

the Muses, who inspire all poetry.
how she went wandering: the worshippers evidently knew what had
caused the Mother's wanderings; we, on the other hand, cannot be sure.
Euripides (Helen 1301-52) identifies the Mother with Demeter, so that her
wanderings are motivated by the wish to find her lost daughter, but this
may be an idiosyncratic version. Other possibilities suggested are that she was
searching for her young companion Attis, or that she was angry at the loss
of her 'portions'.
trailing her holy hair: loose hair can be a sign of mourning.
tried to hurl his thunderbolt: the verbs here are all in the imperfect, which
can indicate either a repeated action or an attempt at an action. Perhaps he
kept hurling the thunderbolt and breaking the rocks, but only tried to get
hold of the Mother's tyrnpana, the drums used in her worship and with which
she is always associated. She is evidently undefeated in the encounter and
therefore must retain her attributes. Another possibility is that it was origin-
ally she who 'took the drums' and played them, whenever Zeus hurled a
thunderbolt or broke a rock: thus Zeus' bombastic violence is nicely nullified
by the Mother's simple response, indicating her power. This is attractive, but
cannot be got out of the text as it stands.
'Mother, go away ... ': whatever the motive for the Mother's wandering,
it is evidently upsetting the normal order of things which Zeus wants to
restore. "
SANCTUARIESI 261
lest fierce lions ... : this is not a very worrying possibility for one who,
like the Mother, has lions to draw her chariot, and who is pleased also by
the cry of wolves (Homeric Hymns 14.4). The blank is due not to a gap on the
stone but to Zeus leaving his sentence unfinished, as often with threats.
my portions: the division of the world into earth, sky and sea is found quite
commonly in Greek thought (compare 5.5.5), and indeed in texts of the ancient
Near East as well. In Iliad 15.186-93 Poseidon gives a different division, recall-
ing that with his brothers Zeus and Hades he drew lots for sky, sea and under-
world, with earth and Olympos to be common to all three. But the mention
of the Mother's portions probably relates to a version of the succession myth,
in which the older gods (which would include the Mother) hand over their
power, or have it wrested from them, by the Olympians with Zeus at their
head. (Compare the more peaceful arrangement between Zeus and Hekate in
the Theogony, 3.4.1.) The Mother claims back half of what was originally hers.
What happens next? Presumably either the Mother gets the portions she claims,
making her co-ruler of the universe with Zeus (which may be indicated by
'great queen, mother of Olympos') or she remains on earth defying Zeus, in
which case she will be ever close to her worshippers. Either way she comes
out on top.
5.5.4 A Delphic hymn to Hestia
Source: Aristonous, Hymn to Hestia, 350:_3z5 BCE

(Fouilles de Delphes 111.2.192,Furley-Bremer 2.3f
We shall h:imn Hestia, the holy one who is queen of holiness, you who forever
hold both Olympos and the midmost recess at ·the earth's centre and the
Pythian laurel. You dance at Phoibos' temple with its [high gates?]/ delighting
in the divine utterances from the [tripods], and you dance whenever(?) Apollo
plays his seven-stringed golden lyre and with you magnifies the gods with hymns
as they feast. Hail, daughter of Kronos and Rhea, you who alone cause the
most honoured altars of the Imrnmtals to blaze up in fire, Hestia. Grant us in
·- exchange always to have great prosperity from lawful undertakings, and always
to dance around your place of worship and gleaming throne.
~<
The hymn was found at the Athenian Treasury in Delphi, and must represent
an Athenian composition to be used on an official visit (theoria) to the sanc-
tuary. A paian to Apollo by Aristonous has also been found. Hestia, the per-
sonified Hearth, was one of the Olympian gods, daughter of Kronos and Rhea,
as the hymn points out, and so sister of Zeus, but was otherwise not a deity
with a strong mythological or personal tradition. She was worshipped not
only at domestic hearths but in public places such as the prytaneion ('town
hall') of a city, and of course in major sanctuaries; sometimes she was the
262 SANCTUARIESI
recipient of the first offering made in an act of worship. Like the preceding
hymn, this one gives an indication of the cult of a subordinate deity within
a great cult-place. Homeric Hymn 24, to Hestia, also refers to the Hestia of
Delphi, linking her with the ornphalos (see below).
The text as inscribed unfortunately contains errors, and it is not always
easy to see exactly what the words originally intended would have been.
However, the general sense is clear. The author emphasises the identity between
Hestia the Olympian goddess, seen in mythological terms as daughter of Kronos
and Rhea, and this Hestia, the Hestia/hearth worshipped at Delphi, and between
the personal, anthropomorphic goddess and the hearth or altar. There is a
particular aptness in this text as a hymn sung at the altar, since Hestia is
seen as the deity especially present at an altar, which is a special kind of hearth.
Aristonous neatly links Hestia with Apollo not only by her presence in his
sanctuary, but also by suggesting that both deities are present when any gods
are worshipped: Apollo in the hymns sung and played, and Hestia in the matrix
of the sacrificial flame. (Compare 1.3.7 on Dionysos and libations.) Mytho-
logically, this translates into Apollo singing hymns to the gods as they feast
(compare fliad 1.601-4), while Hestia dances. The gods behave like their human
worshippers, who ask that they may always dance to the glory of Hestia.
holy one: hiera, a word which far more usually describes things related to
the gods than the gods themselves. Conceivably this is due to Hestia's status
as an object (the altar) in the cult of the gods, as well as a deity herself.
recess: mychos, the word used for the inmost part of the temple at Delphi in
5.1.1. Here was the omphalos,the sacred stone which marked the earth's centre.
to blaze up in fire: the text is very uncertain here, but certainly has Hestia
doing something to the altars, apparently with fire (the beginning of this word
is preserved). The suggestion adopted is due to Furley and Bremer.
Grant us in exchange: the piece ends with the request typical of hymns
and prayers that the god will give such good things as are necessary to per-
mit the worshippers to make further offerings (compare 5.6.1.d).
5.5.5 Praises of Athena
Source: Homeric Hymn to Athena (Homeric Hymns, 28)
I begin to sing of Pallas Athenaia, reverend goddess, owl-eyed, of many wiles,

implacable of heart, a modest virgin, . defender of cities, great in strength,
Tritogeneia, born of wily Zeus himself from his holy head; wearing full armour
of gleaming gold. And awe held all who looked on, the immortal gods. But she
swiftly appeared in front of Zeus who holds the aigis, dashing from his deathless
head, brartdishing her sharp-pointed javelin. Great Olympos was shaking in fear
SANCTUARIESI 263
at the power of the owl-eyed one, and all around the earth bellowed terribly,
and the sea was moved, swelling up in dark waves, and suddenly foam was all
about. The glorious son of Hyperion halted his swift horses for a long time, while
the girl Pallas Athena took from her deathless shoulders the godlike armour, and
Zeus, owner of wiles, rejoiced.
Hail, then, child of aigis-bearing Zeus; I will be mindful of you, and also of
another song.
This is one of the shorter Homeric hymns, probably used as an auspicious

preface to an epic recitation (see above, introduction). The birth of a deity
is a common theme in these short poems, as well as in the longer hymns to
Delian Apollo and to Hermes. (Other hymns describe the character and/or
benefits of the god.) Hermes, Pan and (sometimes) Dionysos are born in rural
seclusion, Apollo in his cult-place of Delos, but Athena's birth does not involve
the normal processes and is a remarkably public affair, as befits a goddess
whose most conspicuous role is as a city patron, taking place on Olympos
itself. The conception and birth of Athena were described earlier in Hesiod,
Theogony 886-900, 924-6.
Athenaia: form of the name commonly used in epic alongside Athene.

owl-eyed: glaukopis. The precise meaning is disputed, perhaps 'grey-eyed',
but the adjective is particular to Athena, who is also associated with owls.
of many wiles: the epithet polymetis has been borrowed from Athena's
protege Odysseus. It chimes with metieta (wily) Zeus: the birth story shows
that Athena is entirely like her father. However, in Hesiod, Metis is the name
of Athena's mother, whom Zeus has swallowed to avoid her giving birth to
one greater than him.
defender of cities: Athena played this role in very many cities, of which
Athens is only the best-known.
Tritogeneia: an epithet of uncertain meaning, sometimes interpreted in the
classical period as 'born at lake Tritonis' in Libya, perhaps actually meaning
'born of water', Neither meaning suits the context particularly well, but the
name is so firmly attached to the goddess that this does not seem to matter.
who holds the aigis: a formulaic epithet, see notes to 2.1.3. Athena herself
is also associated with the aigis, literally a goatskin.
Great Olympos: the home of the gods, it often seems to indicate the sky
rather than a mountain. Here the three worlds of sky, earth and sea (compare
above, 5.5.3) are convulsed with awe as they witness the event.
son of Hyperion: Helios, the Sun. Athena's birth even had an effect on the
marking of the passage of time.
also of another song: because the poet will now turn to an epic narrative.
264 SANCTUARIESI
5.6 Dedications
In 5.1.2, Kynno offered thanks to Asklepios not only with a small sacrifice,
but also by placing a picture (pinax, a tablet) in the sanctuary, and in so doing
she was following a very common practice. The gods of the Greeks received
not only sacrifice and libation, song and dance and spectacle, but also more
durable offerings of all sorts, in a variety of materials, often with an attached
or inscribed piece of writing recording the name of the giver and sometimes
the circumstance. The largest such offering is the foundation of a new sanc-
tuary; such foundations are exemplified in 6.5. But sanctuaries were full of
many smaller dedications, some of which were costly and elaborate works
of art in their own right (the sculptures admired by Kynno and Kokkale con-
trast with the humble tablet they themselves give). Most of the archaic
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Figure 12 A terracotta pinax or tablet set up in a sanctuary as an offering (the holes

for securing the tablet can be seen at the top), showing the offering of a peplos (robe)
to a goddess by female worshippers at a festival. First half of fifth century, from Lokroi
Epizephyrioi in southern Italy. H. Prueckner, Die lokrischen Tonreliefs. Mainz: Ph. von
Zabern, 1968, fig. 5, from Paolo Orsi, 'Locri Epizefiri .. .', Bollettino d'Arte 3 (1909):
1-43.
SANCTUARIESI 265
statues, kouroi and korai, that are now displayed in museums were originally
dedicated in sanctuaries, and made a lavish offering which as a bonus com-
memorated and advertised the donor to the sanctuary visitors (5.6.4). More
modest were stone reliefs, usually mounted on a small column, often show-
ing a sacrificial scene, and normally supplied wjth a commemorative inscrip-
tion, which have survived in great number, unlike the more perishable wooden
pinakes (though pinakes too were sometimes made of more durable material).
Instead of either of these, those who were thanking a god for healing some-
times dedicated a model or picture of the affected body part, a custom which
has survived into the Christian milieu.
While sacrifice was frequently made simply to maintain good relations with
the god, objects were more often than not dedicated for some more specific
reason. Seasonal offerings of firstfruits were made, thanking the deity for the
fruits of the earth, but people might offer 1 firstfruits 1 (aparchai)from anything
else, or the proceeds of anything else, that the deity had seen fit to give them
(5.6.lf). The idea of returning in gratitude a portion of something granted is
also seen in the custom of the 'tithe', dekate, literally a tenth part, but often
apparently not very different from aparche (5.6.la, b, 5.6.3d; the war offer-
ing may be closer to a real tithe). Thus it was customary to dedicate armour
and other spoils taken from the enemy, and victory in battle was one of the
commonest occasions for la-yish dedications by a whole polis, or its ruler or
magistrates (5.6.3). Victory was also an aim in poetic or athletic contests, and
here too the victors often dedicated their prizes in the sanctuary where the
contest was held. Dedications of this sort, of course, were particularly strong
in the self-advertisement aspect, and the tripods commonly offered as prizes
could be matched or outdone by those dedicating in other circumstances
(see 5.6.3). Less grand were dedications of toois, or representations of tools,
by workers and artisans; in 5.6.lb, for instance, a butcher dedicates his axe;
poetic elaborations of this kind of habit later became very popular in
hellenistic epigrams. Offerings of clothes were also made: it was customary,
for instance, to dedicate the clothes in which one was initiated at Eleusis to
the Goddesses, and Artemis at Bramon amassed large quantities of women's
clothing (5.6.2). All of these could be seen as giving back to the deity
some part of the benefit which he or she had supplied, but as well as the
aparche/dekate rationale many dedications were made as votive offerings,
kat'euchen, 'in accordance with a vow'; the devotee promises to give some-
thing if the deity will first perform some beneficial action. Healing is an
obvious case in point, and Kynno in 5.1.2 probably vowed her picture and
sacrifice to Asklepios if he would perform the required cure. Passage 5.6. lc
is another example of a vow performed, perhaps by a third party when the
vow's originator proved unable to carry out his side of the bargain. We should,
however, avoid the assumption that all objects dedicated in a sanctuary are
'votives'; not all inscriptions mention a vow, and we cannot assume that one
was necessarily made.
266 SANCTUARIESI
Figure 13 Terracotta figure dedicated in a sanctuary, showing a woman holding a

piglet and making a prayer gesture. The object would either have commemorated or
substituted for the implied pig sacrifice. From ancient Kamarina in Sicily, probably early
fifth century. London, British Museum, 1772,0316.30 (PRN: GAA2251).
As in prayer (3.1), which votive offerings obviously follow, so dedication

formulas are often quite open about invoking the charis relationship between
deity and devotee, effectively trying to put the god under an obligation to
reciprocate the favour (5.6.la, 5.6.ld; Kynno's prayer at the end of 5.1.2 is
similar). Others are more subtle (5.6.lf, 5.6.3b), and many leave the point
unsaid, hoping that the gift itself will be sufficient to keep the deity well-
disposed. But all dedications share the aim of communication with the divine,
whether they are the offerings of women who had to work for a living (5.6.lf),
or still more modest unlabelled pottery goods, for instance, or the contribu-
tions of priestly officials to the sanctuaries they served (5.6. le), or the sump-
tuous gifts of the rich and influential (5.6.3a, 5.6.4, 5.6.5). Frequently, and
not incompatibly, they also communicated to human observers something
about the dedicator. In this context we may note again in 5.1.2 Kokkale's
brief prayer for the donor and sculptor of one of the dedicated works of art
~~~~~ '
SANCTUARIES
I 267
5.6.1 Dedications of private individuals
Source: {a) Inscription on the legs of a bronze statue,

Thebes, first quarter of sixth centµry (CEG 326)
Mantiklos dedicated me as a tithe to the Far-shooter with the silver bow: do

you, Phoibos, give some favour in exchange.
Source: (b) Inscription on a bronze axe, sixth century, from a Greek

settlement in Calabria, S. Agata dell'Esaro (JG XIV 643)
l am sacred to Hera, the one in the plain. Kyniskos the butcher dedicated me
as a tithe of his work ·
Source: (c) On a marble column-shaft, Melos, sixth century (JG XII 3 1075).
Child of Zeus, receive this blameless offering on behalf of (?) Ekphantos, for
Grophon has vowed it to you and accomplished the vow.
Source: (d) A statue base, Athenian acropolis, early fifth century (JG 13 728)
Maiden Telesinos of Kettos dedicated the statue· on the acropolis. Please take
1
pleasure in it, and grant me to dedicate another.
Source: (e) JG 13 953 Athens, mid-fifth century (from the Eleusinion)
The servant of the secret rites belonging to. you,· lady Deo, and to your daugh 0
ter, Lysistrate placed this offering of two crowns (?) as an adornment for your
doors. She do~ not spare her resources, but gives unstintingly to the gods accord-
ing to her means.
Source: (f) Marble base, Athenian acropolis, fourth century (JG II2 4334)
Having brought up her children with her hands and by her skill in work
and with upright enterprises, Melinna has offered to you, Worker Goddess, this
memorial of her toil, giving a firstfruits portion of possessions, paying honour
to your favour.
268 SANCTUARIES I
A tiny selection of the more informative inscriptions to be found on archaic

and classical dedi~ations. Thousands more give only the name of the dedicator
or the deity. The motifs exemplified in these documents are considered above.
the Far-shooter: a poetic epithet for Apollo.

on behalf of Ekphantos: this is the most likely meaning, and suggests either
that Grophon made a vow for the health or advantage of Ekphantos, or that
Ekphantos was unable to fulfil the vow himself. The 'child of Zeus' is pro-
bably Athena.
Maiden: the virgin goddess Athena. Kettos is a deme of Attica.
lady Deo: another name for Demeter, whose priestess at Eleusis Lysistrate
was (see 6.4.1-4).
Worker Goddess: Ergane, a title of Athena in Athens as the patron of
craftspeople.
this memorial ... : or possibly 'this memorial, giving a firstfruits portion
of possessions from her toil ... '
5.6.2 A list of clothes dedicated to Artemis
Source: From the catalogue of clothing dedicated at the sanctuary

of Artemis at Bramon (JG 112 1514)
... Archippe, an embroidered dress with. sleeves, in a case.

In the archonship of Kallimachos: a decorated short dress with a scalloped
edge, with letters woven into it, by Kallippe. Chairippe and Eukoline, an embro-
idered dress in a case. Philoumene, a dress of Amorgine material.
In the archonship of Theophilos: Pythias, an embroidered full-length robe C?).
[n the archonship of Therriistokles: a patterned purple short dress in a case,
dedicated by Thyaine (?) and Malthake. [... ?], dedicated by Eukoline. Phile, a
belt. Pheidylla, a woman's white cloak .in a case. Mneso, a green dress. Nausis,
a woman's cloak with broad purple border in awave pattern. Kleo, a shawl. Phile,
a dress with a border. Teisikrateia a patterned coat. Melitta, a white cloak and
short dress, worn out. Glykera wife of Xanthippos, a short dress with washed-out
purple border, and two short cloaks. Nikolea, a dress of Amorgine material, on the
statue. An ivory mirror with a handle, on the wall, dedicated by Aristodamea.
In the archonship of Archias: Archestrate daughter of Mnesistratos of Paiania,
a short dress with a battlement-pattern, in a case. Mnesistrate wife (or daughter)
of Xenophilos, a white cloak with purple border, covering the stone statue.
A child's short dress of smooth material without a label, with a tong-pattern (?)
woven into it. Xenophante, a fringed short dress with scalloped edge, which is
on the basket. Nikoboule, a new decorated coverlet, with a design in the middle
showing Dionysos making a libation and a woman pouring wine. Aristeia, a
coverlet in a case, with figures with linked hands in the middle.
SANCTUARIESI 269
In the archonship of Euboulos: a shawl, with the inscription 'sacred to

Artemis', which is placed around the ancient statue. Theano: a shawl around
the ancient statue. Penteteris: a Tarentine garment around the ancient statue.
Theano: an embroidered 'double-wing' garment, around the ancient statue. An
unlabelled smooth thin cloak with a stripe. A chilo's thin cloak of smooth white
material, with an inscription 'sacred to Artemis' and a crimson stripe. A short
dress with scalloped edge, patterned all over, on the standing:statue. A short dress
with scalloped edge and a border. A light summer dress without a l.abel.
Xenariste wife of Antiphon of Perithrous (?), a short dress with scalloped edge.
A light summer dress. A white short dress with a battlement-pattern and a wide .
purple border in a wave design, without a label. A man's cloak, dedicated by ..
Argonias. A green garment, a patterned circular wrap, dedicated by Athenais.·
A foreign purple garment, worn out, without a label. Mnesistrate: a shawl in a
case. Pheidylla wife of Antibios: a single-layered dress of Amorgine material.
Kallippe: a short dress with scalloped edge. Niko: a short dress with a border
all around, 'to Artemis'. Hippodame wife (or daughter) of Theoteles of Halai, a
half-woven short dress in a case, with woollen warp and weft threads. A single- .
layered purple lJorder of a short dress, dedicated by [. , . ?lippe. Phanostrate: an
embroidered [. l .] purple [.. ,l. Aristo: an embroidered [.. ,] soft wool in a piece
of linen. Hedyle: a child's saffron short dress, unlabelled. Chairestrate: a half-
woven dress, worn-out.
The sanctuary of Artemis at Bramon, on the east coast of Attica, was one of
the most prestigious out-of-town sanctuaries in the polis, and was particularly
associated with life-cycle events of girls and. women. The above text is taken
from the fragmentary catalogue of dedications in this sanctuary which was
inscribed on six stelai in the branch sanctuary in Athens in the later fourth
century; the dedications listed in the complete texts were made between 349/8
and 336/5. They show the vast amount of dedications that a popular sanc-
tuary could expect to amass: the text above is one of the best preserved parts
and is given as an example. Euripides (Iphigeneia among the Taurians 1462-7)
speaks of the clothes of women who die in childbirth being dedicated to the
heroised Iphigeneia at Bramon, and the sanctuary was also famous for the
ritual of the arkteia in which (probably) pre-pubertal girls took part dressed
in saffron clothes (see below), but it is clear that dedications must have been
made in many other circumstances also, even, in at least one case, by a man.
The clothes dedicated would mostly have been made by the women who
dedicated them. Most of them had probably been used, sometimes for a long
time: the term rhakos appears to refer to a garment which was partly worn
out. Unfinished pieces would obviously never have been worn, though one
example seems none the less to have been subject to wear and tear, or perhaps,
as one scholar has suggested, deliberately spoiled as a complete consecration.
Typically, it seems, the garments carried a label naming the dedicator, some-
times simply the goddess, while on some the original label was missing. Since
the dedicated clothes were the property of the goddess, it was natural to use
270 SANCTUARIESI
them to clothe her images, of which at least three are listed here, two seated
(hedos = 'seated statue') and one which is specified as standing.
Many of the terms used here to describe clothes and materials are of uncer-
tain meaning. I have followed for the most part the study by Liza Cleland. 6
in the archonship of Kallimachos: 349/8. Our extract lists successive years

to 345/4.
with a scalloped edge: I give the usual translation of this word, found only
here, but it is possible it may indicate a dress made of combed wool.
Amorgine material: probably a kind of fine linen.
battlement pattern: a simple variant of the running fret or 'Greek key' pattern.
the statue: hedos, a seated statue.
the basket: perhaps that used for carrying grain in sacrifices, although one
might expect that there would be more than one.
coverlet: these could probably be used for draping either furniture or people.
child's saffron short dress: presumably this had been used in the arkteia
performed for Artemis at Bramon, in which the participating girls wore a
saffron chiton.
5.6.3 Dedications by rulers and cities
Source: (a) ML 28
Gelon son of Deinomenes of Syracuse dedicated (this) to Apollo.

. ,(slightly smaller letters)Bion son of Diodoros of Miletos made the tripod and
the Victory.
Source: (b) ML 19, Foui/les de Delphes III.2.1
The Athenians (dedicated) to Apollo the firstfruits of the spoils from the battle
at Marathon, taken from the Medes.
Source: (c) ML 22, Olympia-Bericht 5.252
Olympian Zeus, son of Kronos, receive the lovely statue with a spirit well-
disposed to the Lakedaimonians.
SANCTUARIESI 271
Source: (d) ML 741 Olympia-Bericht 5.259
The Messenians and Naupaktians dedicated a tithe to Olympian Zeus from their
enemies. (smaller letters)Paionios of Mende made it, and was victorious in .mak-
ing the akroteria for the temple.
'Public' dedications of this sort were usually thank-offerings and commemora-

tions of major events, typically victory in war, and frequently made at major
panhellenic sanctuaries, so that they could be viewed by citizens of other Greek
states. The first example is an inscription on a tripod base at Delphi, made
by Gelon ostensibly as a private citizen, though he was actually tyrant of
Syracuse and ruler of much of Sicily.
The historian Diodorus ( 11.26. 7) fills in the background for us here, telling
us that Gelon dedicated a gold tripod weighing sixteen talents - a vast amount
of gold - at Delphi following the defeat of the Carthaginians at Himera in
480, an event which the Greeks of the west saw as parallel to the defeat of
Figure 14 Large sculpture of a Victory made by Paionios of Mende and dedicated at

Olympia probably in 421 by the Messenians and Naupaktians. The base bears the
inscription translated at 5.6.3d. Olympia, Museum.
272 SANCTUARIES I
the Persians in old Greece at the same time. The Victory was a statue, like
that of example. (d).
The second inscription is a little earlier, and like the remaining two rep-
resents a gift from a city as a whole; akrothinia, the word used for the offering,
were firstfruits from the spoils of battle. It comes from a long limestone base
belonging to the Treasury of the Athenians also at Delphi, recording a dedica-
tion to the Delphic Apollo made from the plunder taken from the defeated
Persians (often called Medes at this date) at the battle of Marathon in 490.
Passage (c), from a statue base from Olympia, was seen also by the Roman
period traveller Pausanias (Guide to Greece 5.24.3), who says that the statue,
a twelve-foot high Zeus, was dedicated as thanks for a Spartan victory over
the Messenians in what we would call the seventh century. This cannot be
right, but it is uncertain whether the dedication belongs to the early or mid-
fifth century and what the occasion was for its offering.
The fourth dedication was made at Olympia by a sort of government-
in-exile, consisting of Messenians, whose country had long been subdued by
Sparta and who had been settled by Sparta's enemy Athens at Naupaktos on
the north side of the Corinthian gulf, together with the native Naupaktians.
It was probably made around 421, certainly during the first part of the
Peloponnesian War. The base supported a statue of the goddess Victory (Nike),
which has survived (see Figure 14). Akroteria are ornaments on the pediment
corners of a temple.
5.6.4 The lavish dedications of a Lydian king
Source: Herodotus, Histories 1.50.2-52
When he had finished the sacrifice, he melted down a vast amount of gold and
made ingots out of it, eighteen inches on the longer side and nine inches on
the shorter, with a height of three inches, a hundred and seventeen in total.
Of these four were of refined gold, each weighing two and a half talents, and
the rest were white gold and two talents in weight. He also had made a statue
of a lion in refined gold, weighing ten talents. When the temple at Delphi burned
down, this lion fell from the ingots, on which it had been set up, and currently
it is in the Treasury of the Corinthians, with a weight of six and a half talents,
three and a half having been melted away. When these were all complete, Croesus
sent them to Delphi, along with two enormous mixing-bowls, of gold and
silver, of which the gold one· was placed on the right as you enter the temple
and the silver on the left. These too were moved after the temple burned down,
and the gold one, weighing eight and a half talents plus twelve mnas, is in the
Treasury of the Klazomenians, while the silver one is in the corner of the pronaos
and holds six hundred amphora measures. It is used at the Theophania by the
Delphians, who say that it is the work of Theodoros of Samos, which I can believe,
for in my view it is no ordinary work. He also sent four silver storage-jars, which
are in the Treasury of the Corinthians, and he dedicated two purificatory basins,
" -
SANCTUARIESI 273
one gold and one silver. The gold one has an inscription saying that it was
dedicated by the Spartans, but this is not true; it is Croesus' dedication, and the
inscription was made by a certain Delphian who wished to please the Spartans,
whose name I know but will not record. The boy through whose hand the water
flows is a Spartan dedication, but not either of the basins. Together with these ' ··
Croesus sent many less remarkable offerings, and also some circular silver water
bowls, and a gold statue of a woman three cubits high, which the Delphians say
is an image of Croesus' breadbaker. In addition, Croesus dedicated his own wife's
necklaces and belts. All this he sent to Delphi, and, having heard of the courage
and awful fate of Amphiaraos, he dedicated to him a gold shield, gold through-
out, and a spear of solid gold, both shaft and head gold alike. In my time both
are in Thebes, in the temple of Apollo Ismenios belonging to the Thebans.
The outlines of the long story of Croesus and the Delphic oracle are given
as passage 6.2.3. After testing many oracles and finding that only those of
Apollo at Delphi and (in second place) of Amphiaraos, probably at Oropos,
were reliable, the Lydian king Croesus (according to Herodotus) decided to
cultivate a good relationship with the Delphic Apollo by showering him with
gifts, which he sent with the envoys who were to ask the oracle his question;
this is what later tradition recognised as the offerings of Croesus, the richest
man of his day, at an extraordinarily rich sanctuary. Herodotus' story that
one of the perirrlzanteriahad been re-inscribed to suggest another dedicator
(even if he is wrong in his belief that the object was in fact given by Croesus)
shows how some judicious recycling could reflect credit on 'donors' who had
not deserved it. ·
ingots: literally 'half-bricks' of gold, which fitted together to make a base for
the gold lion. Their measurements were about 45 x 22.5 x 7.5 cm.
two and a half talents: but a pure gold block of these dimensions should
weigh more than this, so perhaps the blocks were not solid.
white gold: electrum, an alloy of gold and silver.
burned down: in 548.
mixing-bowls: used at all feasts, for mixing wine with water. Herodotus'
language shows that the capacity of the silver bowl (over 20,000 litres) was
known because of its use in the Delphic festival he mentions. Theophania
(appearance of the god/s) was probably another name for Theoxenia (hosting
of the god/s), a springtime festival held in Delphi for Apollo and all the gods,
in which they were given hospitality as though human guests. Theodoros of
Samas was a well-known architect and craftsman mentioned several times
by Herodotus.
purificatory basins: perirrhanteria,used by worshippers to sprinkle water on
themselves when entering a sanctuary. Compare above, 5.1.9, and Figure 5,
274 SANCTUARIESI
p. 154. Here one at least of the basins is evidently topped by a fountain in-
corporating the statue of a boy.
Croesus' breadbaker: there was a story that a baker woman had saved the
young Croesus' life.
awful fate of Amphiaraos: Amphiaraos was one of the Seven against
Thebes, a brave and good man with the power of prophecy, who had joined
the expedition despite knowing that he would die in it; he was persuaded
by his wife Eriphyle, whom the leader Polyneikes had bribed with the neck-
lace of Harmonia. Fleeing from the battle, Amphiaraos was swallowed up by
the earth with his chariot and horses and became an oracular hero. Some
have supposed that the oracle consulted by Croesus was in the territory of
Thebes, but it seems more likely that it was the well-known one at Oropos
on the borders of Boeotia and Attica (above, 5.4.1). The dedications of Croesus
would have been taken to the extra-urban sanctuary of Apollo Ismenios in
Theban territory, itself an oracular shrine, following hostilities between the
Thebans and the Oropians.
5.6.5 Memorials of their excellence
Source: Isaios 5.41--2
And yet, gentlemen of the jury; our ancestors. who acquired this property and
passed it down to us, served as choregoiin every kind of event, contributed large
amounts of money to the war for you [the cityl, and at no time failed to act as
trierarchs. And from what was left they set up dedications in the sanctuaries to
bear witness to their offices and to be memorials of their excellence - tripods
they had .received for their choregic victori.es in the temple of Dionysos, and
other dedications in the Pythion. On the Acropolis too they dedicated firstfruits
from their resources, adorning the sanctuary with bronze and stone sculptures
in great number, to say that they came from private wealth.
The speaker in a complicated inheritance dispute in fourth-century Athens

is trying to discredit his opponent by demonstrating that he has failed to use
the wealth he once had to benefit the city. By contrast, their common ances-
tors used their wealth for the public good, taking on public office (which
involved the expenditure of one's personal wealth) and commemorating
the honour thus bestowed on them by making dedications to the gods. The
passage illustrates how the more elaborate and showy kind of offering could
function as much as self-advertisement as a pious gift to the gods.
choregos: literally chorus-leader, this was the man who financed a particular
poet's tragic or comic productions at any one festival. The victory was as much
his as the poet's. ,
SANCTUARIESI 275
trierarch: here, the meaning is one who takes on the expenses of maintain-
ing a trireme and its crew.
temple of Dionysos: at some festivals including competitions of a poetic
or athletic kind, it was compulsory for the victor to dedicate his prize in the
sanctuary. This does not seem to have been the case with the Dionysia or
Lenaia at Athens, but since plays were produced in the context of these fes-
tivals of Dionysos, to dedicate the prize here would be a natural thing to do.
Pythion: the temple of Apollo Pythios in south-eastern Athens, with strong
connexions to Delphi.
the Acropolis: there were many shrines on the Athenian acropolis, but the
speaker presumably has in mind Athena's sanctuary as that of the city's patron
goddess. Though, as we have seen, many quite humble people made dedica-
tions here, it would also be the most appropriate spot for a dedication with
some political resonance.
Notes
1 G. Zanker, Herodas:Mimiambs (Oxford, 2009): 104-5.

2 Hesiod, Theogony, edited with prolegomena and commentary by M.L. West.
Oxford, 1966.
3 A. Herda, Der Apollon-Delphinios-Kultin Milet und die Neujahrsprozessionnach
Didyma: ein neuer Kommentar der sog. Molpoi-Satzung.Mainz am Rhein, 2006.
4 E. Lupu, 'Sacrifice at the Amphiareion and a Fragmentary Sacred Law from Oropos',
Hesperia 72 (2003): 321-40.
5 M.L. West, 'The Dictaean hymn to the Kouros', Journalof HellenicStudies 85 (1965):
149-59.
6 L. Cleland, The BrauronClothing Catalogues.BAR International Series 1428. Oxford,
2005.
6
SanctuariesII
In the last chapter, we saw that some sanctuaries had rules which forbade
certain categories of people from entering, and it was never wise to assume
that a foreigner was able to join in the rites of another city's sanctuary (thus
Orestes in Euripides, Electra 795-6: 'if strangers may join with citizens in
sacrificing'). As mentioned in the introduction to Chapter 5, however, people
did travel to other parts of Greece and visited the sanctuaries there, and some-
times they even travelled in order to visit the sanctuaries. In this chapter, we
look more closely at some specialised kinds of sanctuary and their cults, which
were often the objects of religiously based travel. Finally we examine some
examples of the founding of new sanctuaries and the introduction of new
gods.
6.1 Common Sanctuaries
'Common' (xyna, koina) sanctuaries were those over which no one city - or
at least no powerful city - had exclusive daims or control; much of their
raison d'etre was, in fact, to be open to worshippers from different cities. They
were found on different levels, from the local (6.1.1) to the panhellenic, the
most famous panhellenic sanctuaries being Delphi, considered in section 6.2,
and Olympia. Other sanctuaries were common to certain cities within a
particular region, which might be known as amphiktiones (or in English, they
might form an amphictiony), meaning 'dwellers around', with the sanctuary
itself as the supposed centre. Usually these cities were making a statement
about their identity, in contrast to those which were excluded; we see this
in the context of the Dorian/Ionian opposition in 6.1.2 and 6.1.4, and among
the Greeks' neighbours in 6.1.3. In fact, all common sanctuaries carried a poten-
tial political charge. Panhellenic sanctuaries were supposed to be open to all
SANCTUARIESII 277
Greeks, but on occasion cities were formally excluded, and more often it appears
that some cities might not be particularly welcome. Since most cities sent
large delegations (theoriai) to the main festivals held by this sanctuaries,
notably the games at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea and Isthmia, there was also
opportunity for politicking behind the scenes. In Thucydides' account
(3.8 -15), it was at Olympia that the Mytilenea~s made their formal approach
to the Spartans asking for an alliance to bolster their revolt from Athenian
domination.
Internationally famous sanctuaries also sometimes gave rise to local imita-
tions; for an example, see 6.5.4.
6.1.1 A great and conspicuous common sanctuary
Source: Alcaeus, fr. 129 (Lobel-Page)
The people of Lesbos established this great and conspicuous common sanctuary,
and in it they set up altars of the immortal Blessed Ones. And they named Zeus
Antiaos, and you, Aeolian, glorious goddess, mother of all, and this third they
named Kemelios, Dionysos Omestes.
The large island of Lesbos was composed of five or perhaps six cities in the
time of Alcaeus (born probably around 620). Each of these, of course, will
have had its own sanctuaries; the foundation Alcaeus describes was appar-
ently deliberately founded by all or at least some of the cities to be available
to all the islanders. It has plausibly been identified with a sanctuary excavated
at Meson, in a fairly central position away from major settlements and
'conspicuous' across a flat landscape of plain and wetlands. Alcaeus' poem is
fragmentary, but he is writing in exile and referring nostalgically to the sanc-
tuary as a touchstone of identity.
The triad of deities has been much discussed. Zeus Antiaos probably
indicates 'of suppliants', which may have a resonance for Alcaeus wishing to
return home. The second deity is almost certainly Hera (Alcaeus' compatriot
Sappho, fr. 17, names Hera apparently with Zeus and Dionysos), though Hera's
motherly aspect is seldom stressed and nowhere else is she called 'mother of
all'. It is possible we should read 'mother of all Aeolians', though that would
then leave the goddess without an epithet. Dionysos (in Aeolian dialect,
Zonnysos) is not found elsewhere with these two. Kemelios is a word of uncer-
tain meaning; Omestes means something like 'savage', and is often referred
to the (mythical?) practice of his worshippers tearing apart the sacrificial
victims and eating them raw. Of course, the title does not prove that this
exotic custom prevailed in the sanctuary here.
278 SANCTUARIES II
6.1.2 Ionian and Dorian sanctuaries
Source: Herodotus, Histories 1.143.3-44.1, 148.1
But the twelve cities were proud of the name (of Ionian) and even founded
a sanctuary for themselves which they called the Panionion, and decided to
let no other Ionians have any share in it - not that any asked to do so except
the people of Smyrna. This was like the Doria:q.swho now form the Pentapolis,
which was previously called Hexapolis. These Dorians, not only forbid any of
the neighbouring Dorians to enter the Triopian sanctuary, but even barred
participation to one of their own number after a delict concerning the sanctu-
ary ... The Panionion is a holy place on Mykale, facing north and dedicated by
the Ionians to Poseidon Helikonios. Mykale is a promontory of the mainland
stretching out westwards towards Samos, and here the Ionians used to gather
together from their respective cities and celebrate a festival which they called
Panionia.
Herodotus here discusses two sanctuaries corresponding to two major

groups among the Greeks, the lonians and the Dorians (see 5.1.6). Of these,
the Dorians were typically considered brave and manly, the Ionians some-
what effeminate; hence Herodotus' point immediately preceding this passage,
that some cities preferred not to be called Ionian. The tone is somewhat ironic,
as Herodotus brings up for us the paradox of a sanctuary named 'all-Ionian'
which admitted only a limited number of the Ionian cities (the members,
he suggests, considered themselves of purer Ionian stock than others). Both
the Ionian and the Dorian groups he mentions are composed of cities on
the coast of Asia Minor and on the islands immediately adjoining. There is
an obvious political dimension to such organisations, close as they are to
alliances.
The Dorian Pentapdlis ('five cities') was composed of three cities of Rhodes
- Lindos, lalysos and Kamiros - along with Kos and Knidos. The original
sixth member was Herodotus' own city, Halikarnassos. The section omitted
makes it clear that they met to celebrate a festival with games at the sanc-
tuary of Apollo Triopios near Knidos. The twelve Ionian cities similarly
celebrated a festival in honour of Poseidon Helikonios, who was linked
with Helike, a city on the northern Peloponnesian coast, one of the supposed
original homelands of the Ionians. The sanctuary was located in 2004; a
previous identification appears to have been a later complex. It may have
been destroyed around the time of the capture of Miletos in 494, and it seems
that a replacement Ionian festival was held in the territory of Ephesos,
though Athenian interest attempted to build up Delos as an Ionian centre
(see 6.1.4). At any rate, Herodotus puts the festival at Mykale firmly in past
times. "
SANCTUARIES II 279
6.1.3 Carians, Lydians and Mysians
Source: Herodotus, Histories 1.171.6
The Carians adduce an ancient sanctuary of Zeus"Karios (or: tile Carian Zeus) at
Mylasa, which they share with the Mysians and Lydians, considering them
brothers to the Carians; they say that Lydos and Mysos were the brothers of
Kar. With these they share, but they exclude all other races, even if they speak
the same language as themselves.
Not a Greek sanctuary, and Zeus Karios, though Herodotus typically gives him
a Greek name, was presumably not originally a Greek deity. But the three
peoples of Asia Minor mentioned here were culturally quite close to the Greeks
in the Bronze Age and Dark Ages, so it would not be too surprising to find
among them the same phenomenon of the common sanctuary expressing a
particular identity and excluding others. The other possibility is that Herodotus
has allowed his knowledge of the Greek practice to colour his interpretation
of the Carian.
brothers of Kar: It is typic_al of Herodotus, and of early Greek thought in

general, to trace a group back to a distant ancestor who gave it his name,
and to account for perceived affinities between groups in terms of mytho-
logical kinship. See 2.4.3.
6.1.4 Purification and celebration on Delos
In the same winter, the Athenians also purified Delos, following some oracular
instruction. The tyrant Peisistratos had purified it previously, not the whole island,
but as much of it as could be seen from the sanctuary. But now it was purified
in its entirety. They took up all the resting-places of the dead that were on Delos,
and announced that in future no death or birth was to take place on the island,
but that people should be taken over to Rheneia .... And then they celebrated
the first quadrennial festival after the purification, the Delia. There was also in
earlier times a great gathering in Delos of the Ionians and the inhabitants of
the surrounding islands; they came in theoria with their wives and children, just
as the Ionians do now at the Ephesia, and there was both an athletic and a
musical (or, poetic) contest there, to which the various cities sent choruses. The
main evidence for this is Homer, in the following lines from the Hymn to Apollo:
And at other times, Phoibos, you took most pleasure in Delos, where the Ionians
with their trailing robes gather, coming .to your streets with their. children
280 SANCTUARIESII
and wives. And there thinking of you they take pleasure in boxing and danc-
ing and song, when they arrange their contest.
That there was also a music (or, poetry) contest and that contestants were pre-
sent there, he shows in the same hymn. He sings of the women's chorus at Delos,
and he finishes their praise with the following lines, in which he also mentions
himself:
But come, may Apollo and Artemis be favourable, and rejoice, all of you
(women). And think of me in later times, when some weary person shall
come here and ask you 'Maidens, which man is sweetest among the bards
who frequent this place, and which do you delight in most?' Then you must
reply gently all together: 'A man who is blind, and who lives in rocky Chios.'
Such is the evidence of Homer, showing that there was even in ancient times
a great gathering and festival on Delos. Later, the islanders and the Athen-
"" ":ians sent choruses and sacrifices, but the contests and most of the rest of the
events had fallen into disuse with changing circumstances, until the Athenians
at this time held a contest and a horse race, which previously had not been
held.
A somewhat unusual digression in the works of Thucydides, away from pol-

itics and into the past. Of course there was actually a strong political element
in the Athenian reorganisation of Delian affairs. By purifying and renewing
the cult in a major holy place, they were demonstrating both piety and lead-
ership - especially leadership over the Ionians who, Thucydides shows, had
old links with Apollo's birthplace Delos. There were various traditions about
the origin of the Ionian Greeks, but Athens had some success in convincing
the world that the Ionians came originally from Athens; this was an important
ideological plank in maintaining the Athenian 'empire'.
The purification of Delos (in 426) was an ambitious project, though
Thucydides puts the first attempt back into the late sixth century and again
credits it to Athenian initiative. The idea was to create the standard of purity
appropriate for a sanctuary (above all, a ban on birth, copulation and death;
see 3.3 on pollution and purification) across the whole of the admittedly quite
small holy island. In doing this the Athenians staked a claim for the special
status of Delian Apollo, one of the Ionian patron gods, and themselves as
his most devoted worshippers. By reviving or instituting games, they no doubt
hoped to rival the alternative celebration of the Ionian Dodekapolis (see 6.1.2),
now the Ephesia, which excluded Athens, and to produce something on the
scale of the great panhellenic festivals - something which their own Greater
Panathenaia also aimed to do. Athenian interest in Delos at this time is also
shown by the sumptuous and showy dedications offered there by the general
Nikias (Plutarch, Nikias 3.4-6). "
SANCTUARIESII 281
some oracular instruction: the phrasing suggests that this instruction was
from a less prestigious source than Delphi.
quadrennial festival: imitating the great panhellenic festivals which were
typically celebrated every four years, see 6.1.5.
theoria: that is, not only to compete, but to participate more generally and
form an audience, often as official delegates from their cities: see on 6.1.6.
Ephesia: almost certainly this festival is the Panionia, formerly held at Mykale
(see 6.1.2) and in this period celebrated at Ephesos.
musical contest: mousike, 'Muse-stuff', covers what we would call both
music and poetry.
Homer: like other historians, Thucydides likes to use the evidence of poetry
to back up his assertions about the more distant past. The hymn is now dated
substantially later than the Homeric epics, perhaps as late as the sixth cen-
tury. Thucydides' quotations differ slightly from our manuscript versions.
6. 1.5 Festival games at Olympia
Source: Pindar, Olympian Odes (a) Olympians 8.1-11
0 mother of the golden-crowned contests, Olympia, mistress of truth, where

prophets examine the sacrificial offerings and ask Zeus of the bright thunder-
bolt whether he has any word for men who_desire in their heart to attain great
merit and pause from their toils. Men's prayers are granted in return for rever-
ence. 0 well-wooded grove of Pisa on the river Alpheios, receive this celebra-
tory band as they carry the crown of victory. Those who are accompanied by
your shining honour have great glory for ever.
Source: (b) Olympians 10.23-8, 43-76
The laws of Zeus have Uiged me on to sing the matchless contest, which he
(Herakles) founded by the ancient tomb of Pelops, with its altars (?) six in
number, when he had killed Poseidon's son, great Kteatos, and killed Eurytos
... Then he, strong son of Zeus, drove his whole army and all the spoils to Pisa,
and measured out the holy grove for his father supreme. He fenced off the Altis
in a separate clear space, and made the plain all round a place for resting at
supper, honouring the ford of Alpheios with the twelve lords, the gods. He
gave its name to the hill of Kronos; before that it had been nameless, when
Oinomaos ruled over it, when it was wet with much snow. And at this firstborn
rite, the Fates stood close by, and he who alone finds out the very truth, Time.
, As Time proceeds, he has clearly proclaimed how Herakles divided the war-spoils
and sacrificed portions to the gods, and how he established the four-yearly
282 SANCTUARIESII
festival at the first Olympiad and the victory celebrations. Then who obtained
the fresh wreath; with hands, feet and chariot, laying his claim to the contest
by his fame, and achieving it in very deed?
The son of Likymnios, Oionos, was the champion of the stadium-race,
runriing the straight race.With his feet; he came bringing his host from Midea.
In wrestling, Echemos won, giving glory to Tegea. Doryklos carried off the
prize for boxing, a dweller in Tiryns. With four horses, it was Samos son of
Halirrhothlos, from Mantineia. With the javelin, Phrastor hit the mark. At the
long throw, Nikeus whirled a stone in his hand and threw it beyond them all,
and all his allies let out a great shout. At evening, there shone on them the lovely
light of the moon's fair face. And the whole precinct resounded with delightful
music, as a song of praise was sung.
Two extracts from Pindar's victory odes, in which he praises successful con-
testants at the great panhellenic games.
(a) The first passage sets the winner's victory in context by praising
Olympia as the seat of the greatest of these festivals and games. It refers also
to the custom of divination from sacrifice. To a degree this was normal and
universal practice, since the animal parts were inspected to make sure that
the sacrifice was acceptable to the deity (see for instance 5.1.2, the end),
but it was taken much further at Olympia, in that certain descent-groups
specialised in such interpretations, and writers can speak of an oracle at
Olympia. Most, but not quite all, of the consultations we hear about concern
athletic matters.
Pisa: not the Italian city, but the name of an old city in the area of Olympia.
Alpheios: the local river occupied an important place in the conceptual geo-
graphy of Olympia, and received conspicuous cult: see (b).
(b) Pindar's longer odes usually contain a myth with some oblique relevance
to victor or victory, and in the tenth Olympian the myth is that of the found-
ing of the sanctuary at Olympia and the games themselves. Or rather, one
version of the founding; in Olympian 1 he makes Pelops the founding hero
and his race against Oinomaos for the latter's daughter the prototypical
contest of Olympia. Here it is the greatest hero of all who first celebrated the
games in honour of his father Zeus, after a victory in war, underlining the
claim of these games to the most important place in the athletic 'circuit'.
altars six in number: this is one possible reading of a corrupt passage; see
below on 'twelve lords'.
Altis: probably the local form of the word for 'grove', alsos; this was the
name of the main and central sacred area. It is important to note that Herakles
sets up the sacred space before the games are celebrated. "
SANCTUARIESII 283
twelve lords, the gods: cults of the 'twelve gods' are quite common in the
Greek world, though the identity of the twelve is not fixed. Herodoros, an
early prose writer, apparently stated that Herakles established six altars, on
each of which sacrifice was made to a different pair of gods, including the
river-god Alpheios (FGrH 31 F 43a). Pindar probably alludes to this earlier in
the ode, although there is a textual problem with the words where he seems
to mention six altars. Pausanias' account of Olympia in the second century
CE lists considerably more altars (Guide to Greece 5.14.5-10).
hill of Kronos: the most conspicuous natural feature of Olympia, named

after the father of Zeus.
the Fates: often represented as present at a birth.
four-yearly festival: the festival including the games was celebrated every
four years, or every five years in Greek-style inclusive counting.
the moon's fair face: because the festival was held in the middle of the lunar
month, at around full moon.
a song of praise: the writer of victory odes self-referentially represents such
compositions as part of the original celebration.
6.1.6 Portent at a panhellenic festival
Source: Herodotus, Histories 1.59.1-2
A great portent happened for Hippokrates, a private citizen (of Athens) who had
come as a theorosto the festival at Olympia. As he was performing the sacrifice,
the cauldrons which had been placed ready and were. full of meat and water
boiled and spilled over without any fire. Chilon of Sparta happened to be there,
and when he saw the portent he advised Hippokrates first not to take into his
house a woman who would bear children, and secondly, if he already had a
wife, to send her away, and thirdly, if he had a son, to disown him.
Theoroi or 'spectators' came to the great inter-state and panhellenic festivals

both on their own account and, more particularly, as members of official
delegations from their cities. At Olympia they came not only to watch the
athletic contests, but to take part in the more directly 'religious' aspects of
the festival, including, in the case of official theoroi, sacrifice at the great altar
of Zeus and perhaps other altars. In this sanctuary particular interest was shown
in divination by the results of sacrifice (see 6.1.5a), but in this case it is not
one of the hereditary prophets who interprets the unusual omen, but a well-
known shrewd and wise man from another city (traditionally Chilon was one
of the 'Seven Sages'). The cauldron presumably symbolises a womb and the
boiling over represents trouble: Hippokrates' son was the tyrant Peisistratos.
284 SANCTUARIESII
6.1. 7 Peace terms safeguard the common sanctuaries
The Athenians and the· .Lakedaimonians and their allies made peace on the
following terms, and each city swore to them. With regard to the common sanc-
tuaries, any who wishes is to sacrifice and visit and consult oracles and spectate
according to ancestral custom, travelling by land and by sea, without fear. The
sanctuary and the temple of Apollo at Delphi, and the Delphian people, are to
be independent with regard to laws, taxation and jurisdiction, both themselves
and their land, in accordance with ancestral custom.
Thucydides here quotes verbatim the terms of the Peace of Nikias, concluded
in 421 BCE. It is a long and detailed document, the terms of which were intended
to last for fifty years, though in fact war broke out again after only three.
It is interesting that the first two clauses concern the common sanctuaries.
free participation for all Greeks in the cults of the panhellenic sanctuaries
was a potent ideal; indeed a truce was regularly proclaimed at the time of
the games of Olympia. Although political developments seldom actually
debarred particular cities from participating, they could certainly create an
atmosphere in which travel and attendance at a particular sanctuary was
unpleasant or dangerous. Thus peace is symbolised by the removal of all such
constraints.
The second clause relates specifically to the oracular shrine of Delphi, whose
neutrality was important to ensure since it was consulted by all cities on polit-
ical matters. See further section 6.3.
The treaty further stipulated that copies were to be placed at the panhellenic
sanctuaries of Olympia, Delphi and the Isthmos, as well as on the Athenian
acropolis and the temple at Amyklai in Spartan territory.
6.2 Oracular Sanctuaries
Divination of various types was thoroughly embedded in Greek religion. Every

sacrifice was inspected for signs that it was acceptable and auspicious (see
5.2, introduction), and it was generally assumed that the gods gave various
clues about the future to those· who had the skill to understand them. Some
divinatory contexts and procedures, along with views about prophecy, are
given in Chapter 4 (compare also 1.1.8). Here we look at those sanctuaries
which specialised in divination: special places, called manteion or chresterion,
where a particular deity (typically, but not always, Zeus or Apollo) could be
consulted on a particular issue. These issues were sometimes limited by
necessity or custom: for instance, the oracular procedures at Olympia were
normally concerned with athletic victories, while the local oracle of Demeter
SANCTUARIESII 285
near Patrai (6.2.9) revealed only whether a sick person would live or die. The
major oracles like Delphi and Dodona were very frequently consulted by official
city delegations, both on matters of policy and on religious questions ('Which
gods should we sacrifice to, and how?'). At Delphi, at least, questions were more
often of the form 'What should I do?' than ':What will happen?' Individual
queries were typically about matters of livelihood and difficulties in produc-
ing children: numerous such queries have been found at Dodona (6.2.5).
It is likely that at least by the classical period there were many such or-
acles in the Greek world, but while some of these had a local reputation only,
others had acquired greater prestige and a wider clientele. The Croesus story,
for instance (6.2.3), shows that the fame of some oracles had reached even
beyond the Greek world, for although the narrative clearly contains some
mythologising elements, we can hardly doubt the testimony that the Lydian
Croesus made lavish gifts to the sanctuary of Delphi. The list of oracles which
Croesus tests may reflect a fifth- rather than a sixth-century perspective and
a Delphic provenance (see note on the passage). Above polis level, region would
clearly have been important, but even above this a few oracles stood out and
effectively attained the rank of 'common sanctuaries' (see above, 6.1). Delphi,
in fact, as well as being an oracular sanctuary, was also the home of one of
the four great panhellenic athletic festivals (the 'Pythian games', celebrated
in honour of Apollo) and so strictly comparable to Olympia. The oracle itself
went further still, being open to at least some non-Greeks, like Croesus.
By the classical period, Delphi was certainly pre-eminent among the oracles.
Its reputation had perhaps been forged during the period of colonisation from
the late eighth century onwards, when it seems to have supplied the 'charter'
for the foundation of almost all the new cities, and their sanctuaries, outside
Greece proper. In myth it stretched back still further, for instance playing
the crucial role in the story of Oedipus. It was Delphi which supplied most
of the well-known responses to state inquiries, and thus played an import-
ant role in political history - at least in the pages of Herodotus. However, a
great deal of its advice was religious in nature, answering questions such as
'Which god should be worshipped in such-and-such circumstances?' The most
prestigious method of prophecy here was through the woman called the Pythia,
who after preliminary rites descended into the adyton of the temple and, seated
on a tripod, answered an inquirer with the words of the god. Many of the
surviving responses are in hexameter form; it is not clear whether the Pythia,
presumably in a trance-like state, produced this form herself or whether her
words were interpreted in this manner by the male prophetai ('utterers forth')
of the oracle, or worked up even later. This full-scale consultation was avail-
able only on one day in the month, excluding the three winter months; at
other times, simple yes/no answers could be obtained, no doubt at less expense,
by the drawing of lots, apparently also performed by the Pythia, but not in
the adyton. Delphi retained its prestige and influence despite having advised
submission to the Persians during Xerxes' invasion of mainland Greece, and
despite traditions (notably Herodotus, Histories5.90) of the Pythia having been
286 SANCTUARIESII
manipulated by interested parties. Indeed, corruption at some point in the

process was an obvious danger in oracular procedure (6.2.7), but this seldom
undermined belief in the system.
According to Herodotus (6.2.2) the oldest oracle in Greece was not Delphi,
but Dodona, and this tallies with the Homeric evidence, where the Iliad men-
tions Dodona and the (later) Odyssey both Dodona and Delphi. At Dodona,
where Zeus was worshipped as Na'ios with his consort Dione (locally Diona)
Na'ia, the 'classic' method of prophecy seems to have been through signs given
by a sacred oak-tree and by doves. Homer speaks of a group of ascetic males,
the Sellai (or perhaps Helloi), who are hypophetai, probably 'interpreters' of
the signs; Herodotus speaks of priestesses or prophetesses (both words are used).
This was thought by ancient authors to indicate a change in procedure, but
if so it need not have been radical: Herodotus also attests male officiants
('the other personnel of the sanctuary') who could be the equivalents of the
semi-mythical Sellai. The role of women at both Dodona and Delphi is note-
worthy; it was emphatically not usual for women to officiate either for Zeus
or for Apollo. At Dodona, as at Delphi, there was also a lot-oracle or similar,
and some of the questions that it was asked have been preserved, scratched
on lead tablets; some are state inquiries, but many are of a very personal nature,
in contrast to most of the oracular responses preserved (or invented) in literary
sources (6.2.5).
Numerous other oracles are mentioned in classical texts. As well as sanc-
tuaries of Zeus and Apollo, they included places of cult for the dead - the
nekromanteion of Epeiros in north-west Greece - and of individual heroes,
notably Amphiaraos (who came to specialise in healing, see 6.3.1) and
Trophonios, both in Boeotia. Consultation of Trophonios was a spooky busi-
ness in which the inquirer had to descend a hole in the ground and was reputed
to lose the ability to laugh. The fullest description we have, from Plutarch
(Moralia 590a-592e), seems unlikely to reproduce the experience of earlier
periods accurately, but it is clear that this was already in the fifth century an
unusual procedure. Another very famous oracle was that of Zeus Ammon
in Libya, outside the areas of Greek inhabitation, but close enough to be
influenced by Greek ways. In fact it blended elements from different religious
systems: Ammon was the Egyptian Amun, and was represented here with rams'
horns. Herodotus (6.2.2) links this oracle with that of Dodona.
6.2.1 Oracles in Homer
Source: (a) Iliad 16. 233-6
'Lord Zeus, Dodonaian, Pelasgian, dwelling afar, you who rule over wintry Dodona,
and around you dwell the Sellai your interpreters, with unwashed feet, who make
their bed on the ground .. .'
SANCTUARIESII 287
Source: (h) Odyssey 14.327-30, 19.296-9
'(The king o(the Thesprotians) said that Odysseus had gone to Dodona, to hear
the will of Zeus. from the god's oak-tree with its lofty crown of leaves, so that
he might return to the fertile land of Ithaca from which he has been absent so
long, either openly or in secret.'
Source: (c) Odyssey 8.73-82
The Muse inspired the bard to sing of the glories of men, .in a song of which
the fame reached the wide heaven - the strife of Odysseus and Achilles, son of
Peleus. He sang how once they fell to quarrelling with bitter words at a rich
feast, while Agamemnon lord of men was happy in mind, because the best of
the Achaians were quarrelling. For such was the prophecy which Phoibos
Apollo spoke to him in godly Pytho, when he crossed the stone threshold to
make his inquiry, when the beginning of the troubles was unrolling for the Trojans
and the Danaans, through the plans of great Zeus;
Professional or semi-professional seers, unattached to a sanctuary, dominate

the prophetic scene in Homer, but there are none the less a few references
to oracles. In the first passage, Achilles prays to Zeus, locating him far from
the Troad at Dodona; the word hypophetai, probably meaning something like
'interpreters', shows that this is probably already an oracular shrine. It is made
to sound exotic and unfamiliar; calling Zeus 'Pelasgian' links him with the
supposed pre-Greek inhabitants of Greek lands, and the ascetic practices of
the Sellai are far from normal in a Greek context.
Dodona is supposed to be the scene of a consultation in the second passage,
which occurs in exactly the same form in two of Odysseus' 'false tales' told
in disguise to reassure those loyal to him on Ithaca. He pretends to have trav-
elled through northern Greece and heard word of Odysseus. The question is
one which might well preoccupy this fictional Odysseus, and here we see that
the prophetic response was centred on a sacred tree.
Finally, in what is presumably intended to be a true story sung by the
Phaiakian bard Demodokos, Agamemnon must be supposed to have asked
the oracle at Delphi (here called Pytho) another plausible question, some-
thing like 'When will Troy be captured?' The answer will have been 'Soon
after a quarrel between the best of the Achaians', and here already we find
what comes to be a very common Delphic motif, the response which is mis-
understood. Agamemnon supposes that Apollo had meant by 'the best of the
Achaians' Achilles and Odysseus, whereas in fact the quarrel referred to is
that between Achilles and Agamemnon himself at the beginning of the Iliad,
in the tenth year of the war.
288 SANCTUARIES II
crossed the stone threshold: since only those consulting the god were
admitted to the t~mple, the phrase is associated with consultation. Compare
passages 5.1.1 and 6.2.3 ('the temple threshold').
6.2.2 Priestesses (or doves) found the

oracle of Dodona
Source: Herodotus Histories 2.52.2 54-5

1 1
This oracle (Dodona) is considered the most ancient oracular shrine in Greece 1
and at that time it was the only one ...
About the oracles .,.,the one in Greece and the one in Libya - the Egyptians
tell this story. The priests of Zeus in (Egyptian) Thebes said that two priestesses
were carried off from Thebes by Phoenicians and they found out that one was
1
sold in Iibya and one in Greece, and that these women were the first founders
of the oracles among those peoples. When I asked how they could be so sure
of what they said, they replied that a great search had been made for the women,
and they had not been able to find them, but afterwards they had discovered
what I have just said. That was. the version of the Theban priests 1 but the
prophetesses of Dodona have another version. According to them, there were
two black doves which flew away from Egyptian Thebes, one going to Libya,
and the other to Dodona. The bird sat in an oak-tree and declared with a human
voice that there had to be an oracle of Zeus in that place, and the people under-
stood that the announcement was of divine origin, and straight away brought
it about. They say that the dove which flew to Libya told the Libyans to create
the oracle of Ammon, which is also sacred to Zeus. This was the account of the
priestesses at Dodona - Promeneia the eldest, Timarete the next, and Nikandra
the youngest - and the other personnel of the sanctuary at Dodona agreed with
them.
In a complicated section excerpted elsewhere (1.3.5, 6.4.5), Herodotus is dis-

cussing the relationship of Greek to non-Greek religions, especially Egyptian.
The nature of his information is much debated, and it would be extremely
rash to take the passage as evidence for actual Egyptian influence; the whole
tendency of the passage is to trace Greek practice to supposed Egyptian ori-
ginals. However, the connexion between Dodona and the oracle of Zeus
Ammon at Siwa in Libya was probably widely accepted in the fifth century.
Herodotus continues the passage by reconciling the two accounts: the woman
who ended up in Dodona was called a dove, because her foreign speech
was as unintelligible as birdsong (an association often made by the Greeks),
and when she learned Greek the bird was said to speak with a human voice.
Such rationalising accounts are common in fifth-century texts: see passages
2.5.8-10, especially 2.5.8.
The antiquity of the oracle at Dodona would have seemed to Herodotus
to be confirmed by Achilles addressing the Dodonaian Zeus as 'Pe1asgtan'
SANCTUARIES11 289
(above, 6.2.1). The oak and the doves are common to most accounts of Dodona,
and probably represent the earlier methods of prophecy, later substituted at
least in part by simple answers (yes/no, or the name of a god) perhaps deter-
mined by lot (see 6.2.5).
6.2.3 Croesus tests the oracles
Source: Herodotus, Histories 1.46-50.1, 53-56.1, 71.1, 87.1-2, 90.4-91
It occurred to Croesus that if he could, he should put a stop to the increase in

Persian power before it became too great. Having determined this, he immedi-
ately began to test the oracles in Greece and the one in Libya, sending mes-
sengers in different directions. Some went to Delphi, some to Abai in Phokis,
some to Dodona, while others were sent to the sanctuaries of Amphiaraos and
of Trophonios and to Branchidai in the territory of Miletos. Those were the Greek
Coracles which Croesus sent to consult, and he also sent others to Libya to make
inquiry of Ammon. His idea was to test the oracles.'.opinion, so that if he found
they gave a true response he could send to them a second time and ask whether
he should march against the Persians: His instructions to the Lydians whom he
sent to test the oracles were to count the days after their departure from Sardis
Fand to consult the oracles on the hundredth day, asking what it was that Croesus
son of Alyattes, king of the Lydians, was then doing. They were then to write
down the responses;of each oracle and bring them back to him. There is no
record of what most of the oracles replied, but at Delphi, as soon as the Lydians
arrived in the temple to consult the god and.theyl'asked the question they had "'
been told, the Pythia spoke as follows, in hexameters:
I know the number of the grains of the sands, and the bounds of the sea.
I understand the mute, and I hear the one who does not speak .. The smell
of a hard-shelled tortoise has reached my mind, boiling in bronze with the
flesh of lamb; there is bronze underneath, and bronze roofs it in.
When the Pythia gave this response, the Lydians wrote it down and went back
to Sardis. Once the other messengers had returned with the oracles' responses,
Croesus opened all of them and looked at what had been written. Most of them
had no effect on him, but when he heard the reply from Delphi, he immediately
offered prayers and received the omen; he decided that the only oracle was the
one at Delphi, because it had discovered what it was that he was doing. What
he had done when he had sent off his inquirers, after counting the right num-
ber of days, was this: he thought of something that would be impossible to guess
or find out, and chopped a tortoise and a lamb into pieces and himself boiled r
them together in a bronze pot with a bronze lid on top. So that was the reply '
of Delphi to Croesus' inquiry. As for the oracle of Amphiaraos, I cannot say what '
reply it gave when the Lydians performed the customary rites at the sanctuary
- it is not recorded'[- except that Croesus thought that this too was an oracle
without falsehood. ''
290 SANCTUARIESII
After this he propitiated the god of Delphi with sacrifices on a huge scale. He
sacrificed all the.permissible animals, three thousand in all, and he piled up gilded
and silvered couches, and gold (.'Ups,and purple robes and tunics and burned
th(;'m all on a vast pyre, hoping that he might increase his favour in the god's
eyes by these acts, and he ordered all the Lydians to sacrifice, each man what
he had. (There follows a long List of the many precious objects sent by Croesus to
Delphi, and a few to Amphiaraos, most of which could still be seen in Herodotus'
time; see 5.6.4.) ··
Croesus told the Lydians who were going to take the;;e gifts to the sanctuaries
to ask the oracles whether he should attack the Persians, and whether he
should make an alliance and add some other army. So when they arrived at
their destinations and made the offerings, they inquired of the oracles in the ,
following words: 'Croesus, king of the Lydians and of other races, considers that
these are the only oracles in human purview, and has made you gifts that are
worthy of your powers of divination. He now asks you whether he should march
against the Persians, and whether he should make some ally and go also with
them.' That was their question, and the judgement of both oracles agreed that
if Croesus marched against the Persians, he would destroy a great empire; they
further advised him to inquire which of the Greeks were the strongest and make
them his allies.
When Croesus heard the responses, he was overjoyed with the oracles, quite
confident that he would destroy the rule of Cyrus. He sent again to Pytho and
found out the population of Delphi, then gave them gifts, two gold stateres
for each man. Th.e Delphians. in turn gave Croesus and the Lydians priority in
consulting the oracle, exemption from taxes, front seats at festivals and the right
of Delphic citizenship for any who wished for all time.
Then when he had made his gifts, Croesus made a third inquiry of the
oracle; having discovered its truthfulness, he made full use of it. This time he
asked if his reign would be a long one .. The Pythia replied as follows:
When a mule becomes king of the Medes, then, soft-footed Lydian, you should
flee, nor remain by the banks of the pebbly Hermos, nor think it shame to
be a coward.
When these words came to him, Croesus was far more pleased than before, as
he supposed that a mule would never rule the Medes instead of a man, and
that therefore he and his descendants would never cease to rule ...
So Croesus, mistaking the oracle's meaning, marched to Cappadocia, expect-
ing to destroy Cyrus and Persian power ... (He is defeated and his city destroyed;
Cyrns wishes to burn him alive, brit changes his mind when the fire is lit). The Lydian
account is that when Croesus realised that Cyrus had changed his mind, see-
ing everyone trying unsuccessfully to put out the fire, he called on Apollo and
begged him that if he had ever given him anything pleasing, he would stand
by him and save him from his present predicament. As he wept and called on
the god, suddenly from a clear hlue sky and calm weather clouds gathered, a
storm broke out, and there was a violent downpour of rain, which put out the
.
flames of the pyre ... (The two men converse and Cyrns offers to grant Croesus a
"'
SANCTUARIES II 291
wish. Croesus chooses to send a message to 'the god of the Greeks'.) Croesus sent
some of the Lydians to Delphi and told them to place his fetters on the. tem-
ple threshold and ask whether the oracles were not ashamed of having encour-
aged Croesus to march against the Persians to destroy the power of Cyrus, when
the campaign had produced plunder such as this to dedicate - showing. the
fetters. And he told them to ask whether it was the custom for the Greek gods
to be ungrateful.
When the Lydians arrived and spoke as they had been instructed, it is said
that the Pythia replied as follows: 'It is impossible to avoid one's destined fate,
even for a god. Croesus paid the penalty in the fifth generation for a crime cam- '
mitted by a bodyguard of the Heraklid family, who put his trust in a woman's
deceit, and killed his master and occupied his rank, to which he had no claim.
Loxias was eager for the fall of Sardis to happen in the time of Croesus' sons
and not of Croesus himself, but he was not able to divert the fates. As much as
the fates permitted, he had done, and repaid Croesus' gifts: he had postponed
the fall of Sardis for three years, so Croesus ought to realise that the catastrophe
had happened three years 1ater than was fated. Secondly, he had saved him from
being burned alive. As for the oracle that had been given, Croesus was not right
to blame him. Loxias had said that if Croesus marched against the Persians, he
would destroy a great empire. If he had been planning properly, he should have
sent again and asked whether his own empire or that of Cyrus was intended.
Since he had neither understood what was said nor asked again, the respons-
ibility was his. The last response which Loxias had given, about the mule, he
· had not understood either. The mule was Cyrus, who was born from parents of
different races, a mother of better stock and a father of lesser .. ;' This was the
Pythia's reply to the Lydians, which they took back to Sardis and related to
Croesus. When he heard it, he agreed that the fault was his and not the god's. '
The story of the Lydian king Croesus' fatal misunderstanding of the oracle's
meaning is one of the best known of all the Delphic tales, alluded to by many
authors and here given its fullest treatment by Herodotus. It is founded on
historical fact: the empire of Croesus (Kroisos in Greek) was indeed destroyed
by the Persian king Cyrus (Kyros), and it seems overwhelmingly likely that
some at least of the offerings at Delphi ascribed to Croesus were in fact made
by him. Beyond that it is difficult to go. The oracular reply which is misun-
derstood is a favourite motif both at Delphi and in other contexts; the mis-
understanding may even bring about the fulfilment of fate, as in the story of
Oedipus. Herodotus is fond of stories illustrating the workings of fate, and in
the tale of Croesus several such strands come together. In particular, at one level
Croesus is merely paying for the misdeeds of his ancestor Gygcs, who accord-
ing to the narrative had murdered the rightful king Kandaules at the instiga-
tion of the latter's wife, and ruled in his stead. The Pythia had declared to
Gyges that vengeance would come in the fifth generation, which was that
of Croesus. Yet despite this determinism, Croesus is also the architect of his
own destruction, through his failure to enquire into the oracle's meaning.
292 SANCTUARIESII
The story has clearly been filtered through Delphic channels. Not only does
Delphi come out top among the oracles, with the Amphiareion (probably at
Oropos) a second best, but the list of oracles consulted contains three from
Phokis and Boeotia - surely regional rivals to Delphi rather than the centres
of Asia Minor which would naturally suggest themselves to a Lydian (of these
there is only one, Branchidai/Didyma, on which see below, 6.2.8). It is thus
valuable as an indication of the way in which Delphi wanted to be seen in
the fifth century.
on the hundredth day: a good idea, hut it is difficult to square with Delphic
practice, in which the oracle could be consulted in this manner on only
one day each month. Conceivably an exception could be made in certain
circumstances.
the oracle of Amphiaraos: this looks rather like an opportunistic coda to
the Delphic story, but Herodotus records offerings made by Croesus to this
oracle, which is probably the sanctuary at Oropos which by the fourth century
had become primarily a place of healing: see below, 6.2.7, and 5.4.1. In another
place (Histories1.92.2) Herodotus says that Croesus made offerings at Branchidai
equal to those at Delphi (despite the apparent failure of Branchidai in this
passage). In fact, it seems likely that Croesus cultivated several oracles.
piled up gilded and silvered couches: unlike animal sacrifice, the destruc-
tion of property of this sort in an offering to divinity is not a normal Greek
custom. The list of objects burned, as well as the following list of objects sent
to Delphi, is intended to evoke a picture of the great wealth and luxurious
living of Croesus and the Lydians, which is central to the story of the fall of
their empire. Herodotus' attitude to Croesus is somewhat ambivalent. Such
lavish display is typical of his over-confidence, and foolish to say the least,
but in some ways he is sympathetically presented.
Pytho: another name for Delphi, apparently connected with the root 'to
find out'; compare the Pythia.
priority in consulting the oracle: this was a common way for Delphi to
honour states and individuals, and as well as prestige conveyed a practical
advantage, given that only nine days in the year were available for a full
consultation. Other privileges, such as seating priority at festivals, were gen-
erally offered by Greek cities when honouring outsiders. The right of citizenship,
however, is highly unusual, especially offered to non-Greeks.
pebbly Hermos: this river flows through Lydia and forms the valley in which
Croesus' capital Sardis was situated.
if he had even given him anything pleasing: a typical prayer formula,
compare 3.1.1.
on the temple threshold: The threshold becomes a figure separating those
consulting the oracle from the rest (see above, 6.2.1 and 5.1.1 ), but Cro@sus'
SANCTUARIES II 293
emissaries were in fact making a sort of consultation, though this time they
got a very much clearer statement from the god than usual. Perhaps consulters
were not allowed to carry anything over the temple threshold with them.
plunder ... to dedicate: on dedications from war-spoils, see 5.6, especially
5.6.3.
for the Greek gods to be ungrateful: that is, to disregard the charis rela-
tionship which a worshipper tries to set up between himself or herself and
the god. See 3.1 (on prayer), 3.4.1-4, 5.6.
a crime committed by a bodyguard: by Croesus' ancestor Gyges (see above),
whose story Herodotus tells near the opening of his work.
Loxias: a name often given to Apollo of Delphi. It appears to derive from
the word for 'slanting' and was often referred to the oblique and enigmatic
nature of the god's prophecies.
parents of different races: Cyrus was born of a Median mother and a Persian
father. According to Herodotus, the Medes were at that time considered supe-
rior to the Persians.
6.2.4 Oracular advice on sacrifices
Source: Demosthenes 43.66
Oracular response:
With good fortune. The people of the Athenians inquire about the sign which
has appeared in the sky, asking what they should do or which god they should
sacrifice to or pray to so that the result of the sign may be better for them. It
is best for the Athenians with regard to the sign appearing in the sky that they
should sacrifice with auspicious omens to Zeus the Highest, Athena the Highest,
Herakles, Apollo the Saviour, and send offerings to the Amphiones (?) For good
fortune, to Apollo of the Streets (Agyieus), Leto and Artemis, and they should
make the streets fragrant with sacrifice and set up mixing bowls and choruses
and wear garlands in accordance with ancestral custom, and extending both
right and left hands, should make offerings of thanksgiving to all the Olympian
gods and goddesses in accordance with ancestral rnstorn. Sacrifice to the first-
leader hero, whose name you bear, and make gifts in accordance with ancestral
custom. Relatives should perform rites for the dead on the proper day accord-
ing to precedent.
This text of uncertain date is attributed to Delphi and quoted in a fourth-

century lawsuit to illustrate the point that relatives should take on the
funeral and memorial rites for the dead. A great many oracular responses were
of this type, replies to queries of an essentially religious nature (there is a
very similar one quoted in Demosthenes 21.52). So strong was this association,
294 SANCTUARIESII
both for cities and individuals (see also 6.2.7), that Xenophon, wishing to go
adventuring as a mercenary in Asia, framed his question in this way: 'Sacri-
ficing and praying to which gods will it be better for me as I go ... ?', though
Socrates rebuked him for this, saying that he should first have asked whether
it was better to go at all (Anabasis 3.1.5).
The authority of the oracle is here placed alongside that of Salon's laws,
the 'ancient constitution' of Athens to which men of all political persuasions
harked back. Plato (6.5.2) attests the fundamental place of such pronounce-
ments in establishing proper religious practice. The oracle is reciprocally
insistent on the importance of observing the ancestral custom of the polis,
a common feature in Delphic responses.
Thus the deities chosen are not very recherche, with the exception of the
Amphiones, whose identity is uncertain. (They might be Amphion and Zethos
at Thebes, but there is no apparent reason for the worship of Theban heroes
in Athens.) The similar response in Demosthenes 21.52-3 has a verse section
relating to Dionysos; many of the other deities and actions advised are iden-
tical to this passage.
the sign which has appeared: unknown, perhaps a comet.

first-leader hero: heri5sarchegetes,or in the dialect form here quoted archagetes,
a hero who is considered the patron, perhaps the ancestor, of a particular
group. Here it may refer to the ten tribal eponymoi who presided over the
ten divisions of the Athenian population. According to Aristotle (Athenian
Constitution 21.6) the names of these heroes had been selected by the Pythia
from a list of a hundred.
6.2.5 Questions for Zeus and Dione
Source: Lhote, except the last (Eidinow)
(3) God. Good Fortune. The Kerkyraians inquire of Zeus Naos and Diana by sacri-
ficing and praying to which god or hero they may find agreement for their good.
(11) Good Fortune. The city of the Chaones asks Zeus Naos and Dione to reply
whether it is more good and better and more expedient to move and (re)con~
struct the temple of Athena Polias.
(14) The Dodonaians ask Zeus and Diona whether it is because of the impurity
of some person that the god sends the storm.
(8) Gods, Good Fortune. Euandros and his wife inquire of Zeus Naos and Diona,
by praying and sacrificing to which god or hero or daimon may they do more
well and better, themselves and their household, now and for ever.
(23) God[s?], Good Fortune. Master, lord,. Zeus Na'ios and Dione and the
Dodonaians (gods?), Diognetos son of Aristomedes of Athens asks and beseeches
you to give to him and. to all those well disposed to him and to his mother
Klearete (no more was everwritten on the tablet).
SANCTUARIESII 295
(41) Hermon, by attaching himself to which god would useful offspring

come to him by Kretaia, in addition to that which he has?
(46) Nikokrateia inquires by sacrificing to which god would she do more well
and better, and recover from her illness. ,,
(49) Lysanias asks Zeus NaYos and Deona whether the child with which
Annyla is pregnant is not his.
(68) Gods. Good Fortune. Antiochos asks Zeus and Diona about health, his
own and that of his father and his sister, by honouring which god or hero would
it be better.
(Reverse) By going to Hermion.
(73) God. Fortune. Leontios inquires about his son Leon, whether he will be
well from the illness [word missing] which occupies him.
(75) Is it better for Agelochos, who has come from Hergetion, to work .the
land?
(80) Kleoutas asks Zeus and Diona if it is useful and profitable for him to keep
sheep. (Reverse) about keeping sheep.
(114) God, Good Fortune. About property and residence: whether It would
be better for him, his children and his wife (to go) to Kroton?
(Reverse) In Kroton.
(121) Agis asks Zeus Naos [and Diona] about the blankets and the pillows which
[he] has lost, whether someone from outside stole them.
(Eidinow, p. 102 no. 6) Whether Kittos has the freedom from Dionysios that
Dionysios promised him?
Excavations at Dodona yielded a number of small lead tablets on which ques-

tions for the oracle were inscribed, a few being official state inquiries (as the
first. three in our selection) and the majority made by private individuals.
The tablets date from the fifth century well into the hellenistic period; 41
may be even earlier, while 49 is third or second century, but most of those
given here belong to the late fifth or fourth centuries.
Almost all are susceptible of a simple answer, either in a yes/no form or with
the name of a deity. However, the method of divination remains uncertain.
Some literary sources seem to imply that the god spoke through his sacred
oak (compare 6.2.lb) or sacred doves, but the writing out of questions per-
haps rather suggests manipulation in a form of divination by lot, which is
also mentioned in a fragment of a historical writer. But a longer and more
complex response from Dodona is also known, quoted by Demosthenes
(21.52-3) alongside Delphic responses in a manner analogous to 6.2.4 above.
Literary sources, in fact, indicate that both Athens and Sparta consulted Dodona
as well as Delphi, though the surviving public enquiries are all from cities in
the general area of north-west Greece.
Though Dodona was commonly spoken of as an oracle of Zeus, in fact it
belonged to him jointly with his consort Dione (Diona in the local dialect),
a figure who appears in the Iliad as mother of Aphrodite, but who elsewhere
is eclipsed by Hera. The proper formula is seen in the city inquiries: 'So-and-so
296 SANCTUARIESII
asks Zeus Na"ios (Naios, Naas) and Dione/Diona', often preceded by the aus-
picious words 'God(s)', 'Good Fortune', or both; the Dodonaians themselves
omit the epithet Na'ios. Private inquirers are much more haphazard in their
formulation.
The material of the queries is unsurprising. Cities ask about religious mat-
ters (11), about politics (3, which it is very tempting to read in conjunction
with Thucydides' horrific description (3.80-2) of internal strife in Kerkyra in
427 - though letter forms may suggest a later date), and about crisis and pos-
sible purification (14), another very traditional area of oracular concern. The
private inquiries cover many areas of personal life and relate to both very
general and quite specific issues. Both information and advice are requested.
Some of the tablets have been used on both sides, to record different
questions. Others have different material inscribed on the other side such as
a summary of the subject matter or occasionally (as no. 68) what seems to
be the response.
more well and better: loion kai ameinon, a standard formula in consultation
here and elsewhere.
Diognetos ... asks and beseeches: literally, asks and supplicates. It is inter-
esting that here the oracular deities are asked to grant the desired outcome
rather than to predict or advise; there is one other published example of this
usage. Evidently the writer, for whatever reason, abandoned the text, perhaps
starting again on another tablet.
by going to Hermion: this must be the response. At Hermion or Hermione
was a well-known sanctuary of Demeter, where the inquirer is told to worship.
Hermion was in the Argolid, a long way from Dodona.
about keeping sheep: a summary of the subject matter. In the following
example, it is not clear whether 'in Kroton' represents a similar summary or
a response.
Whether Kittos has the freedom: evidently a question from a slave about
manumission.
6.2.6 Phoibos granted offspring
Source: Verse inscription found at Delphi, probably late fourth century

(Fouillesde Delphes III.1.560)
... Phoibos heard the prayer, and through his prophecies granted offspring, and
ordered the offering of hair. In the eleventh month a daughter was born,
perfect, with hair from the top of her head to her eyes, and in the first year her
hair reached the level of her chest. When her mother was pregnant, she did not
.
suffer from ill health as before, nor did she undergo dreadful pain in labour,
"'
SANCTUARIESII 297
through the design of Lochia who nurtures children and of the accomplishing
Fates, and through the wisdom of Phoibos. The child was named Delphis by
1
_her parents because of the prophecy and in memory of Delphi ...
This part of a longer inscription is all that can be read with any certainty,
put up as part of a thank offering for the oracular advice which had enabled
a child to be born. The commemoration invites comparison with the iamata
of Epidauros (6.3.2), though at Delphi the impetus rests with the individual
worshippers rather than the sanctuary personnel, and there is no official attempt
to collect and set out the satisfactory results experienced by different people.
Both the Dclphian Apollo and the Epidaurian Asklepios deal with cases of
childlessness and pregnancy problems, and in both cases the solution may
be found through divine advice. (For the connexion between oracles and heal-
ing shrines, we might compare the case of Amphiaraos at Oropos, who began
as an oracular deity and later specialised in healing.) Here we see a real-life
Figure 15 King Aigeus of Athens consults the oracle of Themis, supposed predecessor
of Apollo at Delphi, about his childlessness. Though set in mythical times, the picture
shows how oracular consultation was typically imagined. From a red-figure cup,
c. 440-430. Berlin, Staatliche Museen, F 2538.
298 SANCTUARIES II
parallel to myth, where Aigeus, later father of Theseus, and Xouthos, step-
father of Ion (together with his wife Kreousa; see 2.2.3, 5.1.1), consult Apollo
at Delphi about their childlessness.
Apollo's favour in this case produces results which seem a little more
modest, and more credible, than those of his son at Epidauros. It would seem
from what we have of the inscription that the child's mother had previously
experienced difficult pregnancies and miscarriages or stillbirths. Apollo prob-
ably gave advice .('through his prophecies') which enabled a child to be
carried to term, but he may simply have granted a prayer: there is sometimes
a slide from oracular Apollo predictingwhat will happen to causing it. Compare
the prayer above, 6.2.5 no. 23.
A few words survive from the lines following what is quoted: the word 'they
named' suggests that a second birth followed.
offering of hair: probably the child's hair, in thanks for the birth. This was
facilitated by the unusually abundant hair with which the gods endowed the
little girl.
Lochia who nurtures children: Lochia Kourotrophos.Lochia ('of childbirth')
is normally an epithet of Artemis, who despite her virginal status in myth is
appealed to by women in labour. Kourotrophos in Attica is a separate deity
(see 3.3.1). Deities of childbirth have often rather fluid personalities.
the accomplishing Fates: often present at a birth, but compare also Apollo's
inability to persuade them in the case of Croesus, above, 6.2.3.
6.2.7 Instructions to dream
Source: Hypereides 4.14-15
The People instructed Euxenjppos and two others to spend the night in the
sanctuary. He says that he went to sleep and had a dream which he reported
back to the People. Now if you (the prosecutor)thought that this was true and
1
what he reported to the People was in fact what he saw in the dream, then
what wrong has he done, in reporting the god's instructions to the Athenians?
But if, as you now maintain, you thought he was misrepresenting the god, and
had given a false report to the People in order to benefit a certain party, you
should not have moved a decree in relation to the dream, but rather, as the
previous speaker said, sent to Delphi to find out the truth from the god.
Here a dream-oracle, that of Amphiaraos at Oropos (5.4.1, 6.2.3, 6.3.1) is con-

sulted officially by the polis. The case for which this speech was written was
heard in Athens probably between 330 and 324, and relates to the division
of land in the territory of Oropos after its return to Athenian control: did a
certain tract in fact belong to the god himself, Amphiaraos, or c'oulc! it be
SANCTUARIESII 299
divided between two of the Athenian phylai ('tribes')? To find out the answer,
the Assembly ('the People') had voted to send a deputation to ask the god
himself, just as polis deputations were commonly sent to Delphi and other
oracles. Such envoys must necessarily observe the norm of consultation, which
at Oropos was 'incubation' (below, 6.3), sleeping in the sanctuary in hope of
the god revealing the answer to the query in a dream. In this passage, we see
that an oracle which by this date was largely concerned with healing could
still fulfil a more general prophetic function (at least on a matter in which
the god had a personal concern). We see also the ever-present possibility of
corruption in the giving or reporting of oracles and, perhaps even more insidi-
ous, the difficulty of certainty. The suggestion here is to find out the truth
by consulting the chief of all oracles, at least as far as Athens was concerned,
that of Delphi.
Prominent among the opponents of Euxenippos and Hypereides was
Lykourgos, one of the most influential politicians of the day and a man with
a great interest in religious matters (compare 6.5.9).
6.2.8 Apollo's stern morality
Source: Herodotus, Histories l. 157.3-159
The people of Kyme decided to refer the matter to the god at Branchidai, where
there was an oracle founded in ancient times, which was habitually consulted
by all the Ionians and Aeolians, situated in the territory of Miletos above the
harbour of Panormos. So they sent envoys. to Branchidai to ask what course of
action in regard to Paktyes would please the gods, and a response was given to
them that they should hand over Paktyes to the Persians. When they heard this
reply, the Kymaians prepared to do this. While the majority were engaged in
this, Aristodikos son of Herakleides, a well-respected citizen, stopped them doing
it. He did not believe the response and thought that the envoys were not speak-
ing the truth. So different envoys, including Aristodikos himself, went to ask a
second time about Paktyes. When they reached Branchidai, Aristodikos made
the consultation on behalf of all of them, asking as follows: 'Lord, Paktyes the
Lydian has come to us as a suppliant, fleeing a violent death at the hands of
the Persians, altld the Persians are asking for him, telling the people of Kyme to
give him up. Although we fear Persian power, we have not so far dared to. hand
the suppliant over, until we have a clear and certain direction from you which
course we should follow.' In reply to this, the god gave them the same response
again, that they should hand over Paktyes to the Persians. Then Aristodikos,
who had thought things out beforehand, went round the temple and pulled
out the sparrows and all the other kinds of birds which had made their nests
in the temple. As he was doing this, it is said that a voice was heard from the
adyton, directed towards Aristodikos, saying: 'Most impious of men, how do you
dare to do this? Are you carrying off the suppliants from my temple?' Aristodikos,
it is said, did not hesitate, but replied: 'Lord, do you protect your own suppliants
300 SANCTUARIESII
in this way, but order the people of Kyme to hand over a suppliant?' And the
god immediately replied: 'Yes indeed, so that by committing impiety you may
perish all the sooner, and notju-future come to the oracle with questions about
handing over suppliants.'
Paktyes had led a Lydian revolt against Persia, but fled to the Greek city of
Kyme rather than face the army of Cyrus. After this episode the Kymaians
passed him on to Mytilene, and he was eventually handed over to the Persians
by the Chians.
To respect the rights of a suppliant - except, perhaps, on the battlefield -
is one of the most basic specific demands of traditional Greek morality. This
is especially so when the suppliant has taken refuge in a sanctuary, for then
it is the deity who protects the suppliant and whose will should be complied
with. (None the less, the Chians eventually dragged Paktyes from the sanc-
tuary of their city goddess Athena and handed him to the Persians.) The point
of the story is that there should be no need to consult an oracle on such a
fundamental point of morality; even to entertain the possibility of betraying
a suppliant is wrong. A similar Herodotean story is that of Glaukos (passage
4.3.7), who consulted Delphi as to whether he should swear a false oath.
On hearing the menacing reply, Glaukos asked for pardon, and the Pythia
replied that to put a question to the god was equivalent to the action. Whatever
the element of truth in these narratives, they show an expectation that the
god speaking through his oracle will uphold morality and, more than that,
they give a clear indication that intent has the same moral standing as action.
They also tally nicely with the idea expressed in some texts that you should
only consult an oracle to get answers which are unobtainable in other ways.
Adherence to proper morality would have rendered both questions redundant.
Apollo at Delphi warns and punishes Glaukos; at Branchidai he actively
encourages the bad behaviour, for the reason stated at the end of the passage.
The idea that the gods may urge on the wicked to worse deeds to expedite
their destruction is found elsewhere, for instance in Athena's treatment of
the Suitors in the Odyssey (18.346-8, 20.284-6).
Branchidai: properly the name of the family who held the priesthood of
Apollo here, but Herodotus always calls the oracle of Didyma by this name
(as do some other authors), ahd represents it as the main oracle for the Greek
cities of northern Asia Minor and the offlying islands (hence Ionians and
Aeolians). The past tense is used because the sanctuary was destroyed by the
Persians in 494 and not rebuilt until after the time of Herodotus, in the fourth
century.
the majority ... well-respected: the words used by Herodotus suggest a con-
trast between the demos and an aristocrat. Aristodikos' name suggests 'the best
justice'. '
SANCTUARIESII 301
did not believe the response: in the same way that the opponents of
Euxenippos in the previous passage claimed that the city's envoys had falsified
the oracular response.
the sparrows: by contrast, the pious temple-servant Ion chases the birds from
Apollo's house at Delphi (see 3.4.Zb). But perhaps it was the nesting that made
the birds suppliants.
the adyton: the innermost part of a temple, into which the worshipper does
'not descend'; in oracular sanctuaries, it was the place from which the
prophecy itself issued.
6.2.9 Some local oracles
Source: Pausanias 7.21.11-13, 22.2-4
(a) Next to the grove is a sanctuary of Demeter; she and her Daughter are stand-
ing, but the statue of Earth is seated. In front of the sanctuary of Demeter is a
spring. On the side of this which faces the temple there is a dry stone wall,
while on the outside there is a way down towards the spring. Here there is an
absolutely truthful oracle, not for every purpose, but for those who are ill. They
tie a mirror to a thin thread and let it down, positioning it so that it does not
go right into the water, but so that the circle of the mirror just touches the
water's surface. Then they pray to the goddess and offer. her incense, and look
in the mirror, and it shows them the sick person either living or dead; such is
the truthfulness in the water. At Kyaneai in the region nearest Lykia there is an
oracle of Apollo Thyrxeus, where the water allows a person looking into the
spring to see absolutely anything that they wish:
(b) At Pharai, there is a large enclosure forming an agora in the anci.ent style,
and in the middle is a stone statue of Hermes, shown with a beard. It stands
on the earth and is square in shape, not very large, and has an inscription
saying that it was dedicated by Simylos the Messenian. ft is called 'Agoraios',
and there is an oracle established here. In front of the statue is a hearth, also
made of stone, and bronze lamps are attached to the hearth with lead. A per-
son who wants to consult the god comes here at evening, burns a little incense
on the hearth, fills the lamps with oil and lights them, and places a local coin
called a 1bronze' at the right hand side of the altar belonging to the statue. Then
he asks the god whatever his question is, whispering it into his ear. After this
he stops up his own ears and leaves the agora, and as soon as he is outside the
enclosure he takes his hands from his ears, and whatever words he hears are
held to be the response. There is a similar oracle in Egypt at the sanctuary of Apis.
Pausanias is writing in the second century CE, and we cannot be sure that
these local oracles of Achaia in the northern Peloponnese were in operation
already in the classical period. But it seems almost certain that similar small-
scale oracles must have existed, catering to those who were not able to travel
long distances to more prestigious sites.
302 SANCTUARIESII
The first oracle is situated in the territory of Patrai. Divination by mirrors

is quite well atte~ted in Greece, but it does not seem to be associated with any
of the 'major' oracles.
Demeter (and her daughter, Kore/Persephone) is very seldom an oracu-
lar goddess, and only infrequently connected with issues of health. This
brief account thus illustrates the great diversity of local cult practice and
association.
The second oracle also uses a type of divination found in other contexts,
through a 'chance' word overheard (kledon). The oracle may well have become
established at an older statue, which is in the form of a 'herm' (see 4.1.4).
Simylos the Messenian is otherwise unknown.
Pausanias is extremely interested in matters of religion, and in both cases
he compares the oracles he is describing with apparently similar ones outside
Greece proper, but within the Hellenic purview.
6.3 Healing Cults
In the nature of human life, relief from sickness, injury and disability is always
likely to loom large in the list of desiderata which people hope to obtain from
superhuman beings. In Greece, almost any god, and a number of heroes too,
could be asked for healing. Local sanctuaries of deities not known elsewhere
as healers might acquire a reputation as particularly effective in this regard.
But in the fifth century, we see the rise of specialist healers among the ranks
of gods and heroes, whose perceived methods are often very similar to those
of human physicians. The most successful of these, in terms of spread of cult,
was Asklepios. Originating perhaps from Trikka (modern Trikkala) in Thessaly,
Asklepios had perhaps his most famous sanctuary at Epidauros, where his cult
had close connexions with that of his mythical father Apollo (known w:ith
the epithet Maleatas, probably originally an independent deity). Another early
sanctuary was at Kos in the eastern Aegean, and the worship of Asklepios
spread rapidly through the Peloponnese and reached Athens around 420
(see 6.5.5).
Despite this rapid growth, those wishing for cures might travel long dis-
tances to specialist healing sanctuaries, which were often adapted for 'incu-
bation' - that is, after making the appropriate offerings, the worshippers slept
within the sanctuary, hoping to meet the god in a dream and either be healed
by him or receive instructions which would lead to a cure. This practice prob-
ably derived from some oracular methods, in which the divine communica-
tion was solicited through dreams, again after proper preparation. In the case
of Amphiaraos at Oropos on the Boeotian-Attic border, the oracular function
seems certain to have been primary, with the hero (or god) turning to heal-
ing only later, perhaps in response to Asklepios.
Other passages of relevance are 5.1.2 (visit to an Asklepieion), 5.4.1, 5.4.5
(priests of Amphiaraos and Asklepios), 5.5.1 (a paian to Asklepios). ,
SANCTUARIESII 303
Figure 16 Relief dedicated by Archinos at the sanctuary of Amphiaraos at Oropos,

giving thanks for his healing. Archinos is seen in the background incubating at the
sanctuary while one of the god's sacred snakes heals his shoulder. The scene on the
left probably represents Archinos' dream of being cured by the god, while on the
far right he worships the god after the success of the cure; the relief itself is seen
self-referentially behind the incubation scene (unless this simply indicates the sanctuary
setting). First half of fourth century. Athens, National Archaeological Museum (EAM)
3369.
6.3.1 Rules for incubation
Source: Inscription from the Amphiareion at Oropos, between 386 and 377
(continuation of 5.4.1) (LSCG 69)
... One who is asking the god must sleep in the sanctuary from ... in the same
place (?) ... and obey the laws. When the person sleeping in the sanctuary
contributes his money, the neokorosis to write his name and the name of his
city, and to display it in the sanctuary,. writing on a wooden tablet available for
anyone who wishes to see it. In the sleeping-hall men and women are to sleep
separately, men to the east of the altar and women to the west ...
304 SANCTUARIESII
The earlier part of the inscription, relating to the rights and duties of the
priest and the conduct of sacrifices, forms passage 5.4.1, from which the text
given above follows on directly. This part of the stone is unfortunately badly
damaged, and the above is all that can be read with any confidence.
The inscription shows that incubation was practised in the sanctuary (the
earlier part of the passage makes it clear that in this period the primary aim
of this was healing). Clearly this necessitated proper regulation and concern
for decorum (contrast the fictitious account in 6.3.3). The records kept of those
who incubated will have served also for advertiseme~t and perhaps facilitated
the compilation of iamata such as those in the next passage.
neokoros: a temple attendant and assistant to the priest, see 5.1.2 and intro-
duction to 5.4.
6.3.2 The miraculous cures of Asklepios
Source: JG IV2 l.121-3 (selections)
[121.1] Kleo was pregnant for five years. When she had been pregnant for five
years she came as a suppliant to the god and slept in the abaton. As soon as
she left there and came out of the sanctuary, she gave birth to a boy, who imme-
diately after birth washed himself at the spring and walked about with his mother.
When this had happened, she made a dedication and inscribed it: 'You should
not wonder at the size of this tablet, but wonder at the divine. Kleo was preg-
nant with a weight in her belly for five years, until she slept here and he made
her well.'
[121.2) Threecyear pregnancy. Isthmonika of Pellana (Pellene) came to the
sanctuary for a birth. She slept here and saw a vision. She thought she asked
the god to become pregnant with a girl. Asklepios said that she would become
pregnant, and that if she asked anything else he would accomplish that for her
as well, but she replied that she didn't want anything else. She became preg-
nant and carried the child in her belly for three years until she came once more
to the god as a suppliant for the birth. She slept here and saw a vision: she
thought the god asked her whether everything she had asked for had not hap-
pened and she was pregnant. She had added nothing about the birth, and when
he had heard this he had asked her if there was anything else she wanted and
had promised to do this as well. But since she was here now as his suppliant
for this purpose, he said he would do this too for her. After this she left the
abaton in a hurry,. and when she was outside the sanctuary she gave birth to a
daughter.
[121.4] Ambrosia from Athens, blind in one eye. She came as a suppliant to
the god, and walking round the sanctuary she made fun of some of the cures,
saying they were incredible and Impossible - lame and blind people becoming
well after just having a dream. She slept here and saw a vision: that the god
stood over her and said that he would make her well, but that she would have
. '
SANCTUARIES II 305
to contribute a fee to the sanctuary by dedicating a silver pig in memory of her

foolishness. When he had said this, he cut open the affected eye and poured a
medicine into it. When it was day, she left cured.
(121.5] A mute boy. He came to the sanctuary for a voice. After he had done ,
the pre-sacrifices and performed the customary rites, the boy who is the fire bearer
for the god looked at the boy's father and told him that he should undertake
to sacrifice the thank-offerings within a year, if he got what he had come for.
Immediately the boy said 'I undertake it.' His father was amazed and asked him
to repeat it. The boy said it again, and from that moment he became well.
[121.6] Pandaros of Thessaly, who had tattoos on his forehead. This man slept
here and saw a dream: he thought that [the god] tied a ribbon round the marks
and told him to go out of the abaton, to [take oft] the ribbon and dedicate it
in the temple. When day came he [got up] and took off the ribbon, and [saw]
that his forehead was [free] of marks, and dedicated the ribbon, which had the
letters from his forehead on it, in the temple.
[121.7] Echedoros received the tattoos of Pandaros in addition to the ones he
already had. This man took [money] from [Pandaros] in order to make a dedi-
cation on his behalf to the god at Epidauros, but did not give up the money.
He slept here and saw a dream: he thought that the god stood over him and
asked if he had any money from Pandaros for an Athena (?) to dedicate in the
sanctuary. He denied it, saying he had not received anything like that from him,
but that if he (the god) would cure him, he would have an image inscribed and
dedicate it. After this, the god tied Pandaros' ribbon round his marks, and told
him that when he went out of the abaton he should take off the ribbon, wash
his face in the spring, and look at his reflection in the water. When day came, he
went out of the abaton and took off the _ribbon, which had no letters on it.
Looking into the'. water, he saw his face with the same marks and having in
addition those of Pandaros.
[121.8] Euphanes of Epidauros, a boy. He suffered from stone and slept here.
In his dream the god stood over him and said 'What will you give me if I make
you well?' and he replied 'Ten knucklebones. 1 The god laughed and said he would
put an end to the illness. When day came, the boy departed in perfect health.
[121.9] A man came as a suppliant to the god so blind in one eye that he had
only the eyelids with nothing in them - they were completely empty. Some of
the people in the sanctuary laughed at his foolishness in thinking that he would
see, when he had nothing at all of an eye, but just the space for it. When he
slept, a vision appeared to him: he thought that the god boiled up some remedy
and then drew back his eyelids and poured it in. When morning came he departed
with sight in both eyes.
[121.10] A drinking-cup. A baggage-carrier was travelling to the sanctuary, and
when he was just over a mile away, he fell over. He got up, opened his bag
and looked at the things inside whici1 were all shattered. When he saw that his
master's usual drinking-cup was broken, he was upset and sat down and tried
to put the pieces together. A traveller saw him and said 'You idiot, why are you
mending that cup? It's quite pointless! Even Asklepios in Epidauros couldn't make
that whole again.' When he heard this the slave put all the pieces in the bag
and went on to the sanctuary. On arriving he opened the bag and took out the
306 SANCTUARIES II
cup, which had become whole. Hectold his master what had happened and what
had been said, and when his master heard this he dedicated the cup to the god.
[121.U] When the suppliants were already sleeping, Aischinas climbed a tree
and looked over into the abaton. He fell out of the tree and his eyes were pierced
on some fencing. Being now blind and suffering dreadfully, he beseeched the
god in prayer, slept here and became well. f'fo'i
[121.15] Hermodikos of Lampsakos, paralysed. [The god] healed him while he

slept here, and told him to go out and bring in to the sanctuary the largest stone
he could carry. He brought the one which is placed in front of the abaton.
[121.16] Nikanor, lame. While he was awake and sitting down, a boy snatched
his crutch and ran away. He got up and chased him, and from that moment
he became well.
[121.17] A man's toe was cured by a snake. This man was in a dreadful state
;· because of very bad ulceration. During the daytime he was carried outside by
the servants and was sitting on some seat, when he fell asleep. While he was
asleep a snake came out of the abaton and healed his toe with its tongue, and
then went back into the abaton. When the man awoke, he was cured, and said
he had dreamed that a handsome young man had spread a medicine on his
toe.
[1233] Kallikrateia, a strong-box. When her husband died, this woman found
out that he had buried some gold somewhere. She searched but was not able
to find it. She came to the sanctuary .on account of the treasure and when she
slept here she saw a Vision. The god seemed to stand over her and say that the '"
gold was in the lion's head(?) at noon in the month of Thargelion. When day :;
came she left the sanctuary, went home and looked first in the [head] of the
stone lion - nearby there was an [old] gravestone with a stone lion on top. She
found nothing, and then a seer explained to her that the god had not meant
that the strong-box was in the stone [head), but in the shadow that the lion
would. cast around midday in Thargelion. After that she made another search
for the gold, and finding the strong-box in this way she made the customary
sacrifices to the god.
These so-called iamata or 'healings' form some of the most remarkable docu-
ments in the field of Greek religion. They were inscribed on large blocks of
stone (stelai) in the second half of the fourth century, but there is no way
of dating the events referred to; some of them could have been much earlier,
the inscriptions we have being perhaps copies of earlier versions. The stelai
probably originally stood in the' sleeping-hall or abaton, where they would
have provided encouragement for those incubating in the hope of a cure.
The miracles form a continuous list and so represent not the direct reports
of the grateful petitioners, but a narrative compiled by temple officials - with
how much elaboration it is impossible to say. In a couple of instances, includ-
ing the first iama, we can see how a dedicated object with an inscription could
have given rise to an 'improved' story, a process we find also outside the
healing context in, for instance, Herodotus' descriptions of dedications. ,
SANCTUARIES II 307
A coherent and rather attractive picture of the god emerges from these texts.
He is above all compassionate, giving relief and healing in apparently hope-
less cases, and like other healing gods and heroes he operates in a manner
similar to human doctors (apart from the healing powers of his snakes and
dogs). His compassion extends even to slaves, ..and he has a sense of humour.
He rebukes sceptics, but does not inflict lasting punishment on them or refuse
to cure them. The only permanent punishment, and that one of humiliation
rather than ill health, is reserved for a man who lies to the god and tries to
cheat his friend; even then Asklepios has given him a chance to come clean
(121.7). Aischinas (121.11) attempts to spy on things which should be kept
secret between the god and his worshippers, and suffers horribly in conse-
quence, but his repentance, shown in his prayer, is enough to attract the deity's
mercy. This is in marked contrast to the behaviour of gods in tragedy.
Asklepios treats quite a variety of conditions, but they tend to be either
disabilities or chronic rather than acute illnesses. Occasionally, they are some-
what implausible, such as the prolonged pregnancies in 121.1 and 121.2
(although, of course, other conditions could have been mistaken for preg-
nancy). The typical healing method is incubation (see above), for which
purpose a special building, the abaton, is used. (Note that abaton properly
means a place which should not be entered; no doubt it could be entered
only by the sanctuary personnel and those worshippers who had duly
sacrificed and wished to receive a cure. This must be why Aischinas' action
in 121.11 is so reprehensible.) But gods tend to be unpredictable, and Asklepios
is certainly not confined to this method: he heals in the daytime (121.16,
17) and even before incubation has taken place (121.5); in passage 6.5.6 the
patient is cured on his return home. Other !amata show Asklepios' sons at
work, as well as snakes (121.17) and dogs. A few miracles (121.10, 123.3 and
others) are not concerned with healing at all, but still give the worshippers
something they need.
Those cured come from a wide variety of places in the Greek world, some-
thing which was no doubt a source of pride for the sanctuary personnel. An
unexpectedly realistic feature in some of the stories is the scepticism displayed
by some of those present. Of course this scepticism is shown to be unjustified.
121.2: Asklepios' rather literal response to Isthmonika's request shows him

in a slightly less kindly light than usual, even though all comes well in the end.
The concern for accuracy and unambiguous phrasing recalls some stories about
oracles, for instance 6.2.3. (Note also the unusual preference for a daughter
in this story; perhaps Isthmonika already had several sons.)
121.6, 7: Pandaros and Echedoros were probably former slaves who had been
tattooed as a punishment.
an Athena: if this is correct, it refers to a small image of the goddess offered
as a dedication. In a large sanctuary like that of Epidauros most deities will
have been present in some sense (see also 5.5.3).
308 SANCTUARIES II
121.15: A votive stele with a verse inscription in the name of Hermodikos

and commemora.ting this event was found in the sanctuary, JG IV2 1 125,
perhaps a new version of an older inscription.
121.17: This incident is interesting because the healing action is perceived
in two different ways: the onlookers see a snake licking the affected area, while
the worshipper/patient dreams of medical treatment performed by one of
Asklepios' divine retinue. It is thus comparable to the Archinos relief from
the Amphiareion at Oropos (Figure 16), as explained by Van Straten: 1 a snake
heals the sleeping Archinos' shoulder, while he dreams that the action is
performed by the god in the human shape of a doctor.
123.3: Here and in one other example the god extends his expertise to finding
lost objects or people. Kallikrateia may have been a local woman (her city is
not given) trying out the local sanctuary for a pressing problem.
6.3.3 A night in the Asklepieion
Source: Aristophanes, Wealth (Ploutos) 653-748
KARION (a slave): So we went to the god as quickly as we could, taking with

us the man who was then most wretched, but now happy
and blessed beyond all others. First we took him to the
sea, and then we washed him.
WIFE (of his owner): Goodness, he was lucky - an old man having a bath in
· the cold sea.
KARION: Then we went to the god's precinct, and when we had
consecrated our cakes and preliminary sacrifices as an
offering in Hephaistos' flame on the altar, we put Wealth
to bed, as was right and proper, and each one of us
arranged his own mattress.
WIFE: . Were there any others asking the god for favours'?
KARION: Well, there was one man, Neokleides, who's blind, but much
better than sighted people at stealing. And there were lots
of others, with all kinds of illnesses. Then the god's attend-
ant put out the lights and told us to sleep, and said that
if anyone heard a noise they should be silent. So we all lay
down in an orderly sort of fashion. But l couldn't sleep .:...
there was a pan full of wheat broth, just by an old woman's
head, which was bothering me, and I felt a terrible desire to
slip off in that direction. But then I looked up, and I saw the
priest snatching the cheesecakes and the figs off the holy
table. Then he .went round all the altars in a circle, to see if
there was any cake left behind there, and 'consecrated' them
into a bag of his. So I thought that this was a greatly pious
.
action, and I got up and went towards the pot with the broth.
'
SANCTUARIESII 309
WIFE: You wretch, did you have no fear of the god?

KARIOX: I did, by the gods - I was afraid he would reach the broth
before me, all decked out in woollen strands around his
head, since his priest haq_already given me a lesson. Well,
the old woman heard the noise I was making, and put out
her hand. So I hissed and caught hold of her with my
teeth, as though I was one of the god's sacred snakes. She
snatched her hand away immediately, and lay there all
wrapped up without speaking, so frightened that she let
out farts smellier than a weasel. Meanwhile I was already
wolfing down the broth, and when I was full, I lay down
again.
WIFE: Didn't the god approach you?
KARION: Not yet. After that I did something really funny. Just as
he was coming up to me, I let out a huge fart - my
stomach was bloated, you see.
WIFE: I suppose that put him off you right away.
KARION: No, but Iaso was with him and she blushed immediately,
and Panakeia turned away and held her nose. My farts
aren't exactly incense.
WIFE: And the god himself? ,
KARION: He didn't even notice, by Zeus.
\"lIFE: So you're saying he's a pretty gross kind of god.
KARION: Not at all, he's a shit-eater.
WIFE: Aargh, you disgusting man!
KARION: So after that, I was frightened, and covered my head with
my cloak. The god was !50ing round investigating all the
illnesses, very methodically. Then a servant put beside him
a stone mortar and pestle and medicine box.
WIFE: What, a stone one'?
KAR!Ol'-:: No, of course not, not the medicine box.
vVIFE: Well, how could you see all this, you damned scoundrel,
if you had covered your head?
KARION: I could see through my cloak - it certainly has one or two
holes. So first of all he began to grind the ingredients
for a healing plaster for Neokleides. He put in three heads
of garlic from Tenos and ground them in the mortar,
adding some fig sap and mastic. Then he poured in some
Sphettian vinegar and slapped it on the man's eyes, lifting
up his eyelids so it would hurt more. Neokleides leapt up,
screaming and bellowing, and ran off. The god laughed,
and said 'Now sit there with the plaster on, so that I can
stop you swearing objections and wasting time in the
Assembly'.
WIFE: How patriotic and wise the god is!
KARION: Next he sat next to Wealth, and first he put his hands on
the patient's head, then took a clean piece of cloth and
310 SANCTUARIESII
wiped around his eyelids. Panakeia spread a red cloth over

his head, covering his whole face, and then the god made
a sound with his lips, and two enormous snakes came rush-
ing out of the temple.
)'VIFE: Dear gods!
KARION: They went quietly under the red. cloth, and licked Wealth's
eyelids, I suppose - and, mistress, before you could drink
ten glasses of wine, he stood up and he could see! I
clapped my hands in delight and, woke the master. The
god and his snakes immediately disappeared back into
the temple. You can imagine how the sleepers there con-
gratulated Wealth, and they stayed awake the whole night ,
until daybreak. As for me, I praised the god with great
enthusiasm, for making Wealth see all at once and mak-
ing Neokleides blinder than ever.
WIFE: Lord and Master, what power is yours!
The plot of Aristophanes' last surviving comedy, produced in 388, revolves

around a miracle cure for the personified Wealth (Ploutos), whose previously
unjust distribution of his benefits has been caused by blindness. In this passage
the slave Karion describes to his master's wife how the master has taken Wealth
to the sanctuary of Asklepios, where he incubated and was healed. Since the
passage is from a comedy - though it may not seem especially funny to modern
tastes - we cannot take every detail at face value. Clearly the antics of the slave
and the comeuppance of the politician Neokleides are not meant to reflect real
practice, but it is also perhaps unlikely that those not seeking a cure would have
been allowed to remain in the sleeping-hall, as the dramatic construction here
demands. However, the basic outline of events seems plausible, and conforms
to what we know of procedures at Epidauros. First there is purification by bathing,
then offerings in the form of cakes and bloodless sacrifice - something par-
ticularly well attested in the cult of Asklepios, see 5.2.5 - and finally the night
spent in the sanctuary. The god also behaves in ways recognisable from serious
documents. As in some of the iamata, it is assumed that the dreams experienced
by those who are healed have an observable corollary in the outside world.
Asklepios appears accompanied by members of his family - in this case two
of his daughters - and he appears like a human physician. The preparation
of the painful eye-plaster for Neokleides is reminiscent of the boiling up of
a remedy which is then poured into the sightless eye in 6.3.2 (121.9). The
use of the cloth perhaps suggests the ribbons in 121.6 and 121.7, and the
snakes of course very commonly carry out healing, not only in 121.17.
In Wasps, produced in 422, a divine cure was attempted at Aigina, so it is
fair to assume that at that date there was no nearer Asklepieion. Here Wealth
is clearly healed locally - but where exactly? The scholiast says that the city
Asklepieion, on the south slope of the acropolis, is intended (see 6.5.'5), tmt
the passage works better if we assume there is not much distance between
SANCTUARIESII 311
the sea and the sanctuary, and so we may be intended to think of the Peiraieus
sanctuary at Zea.
the man: Wealth. Karion's language probably reflects the kind of thing said
by Asklepios' worshippers.
consecrated ... Hephaistos' flame: this is the grandiose language of tragedy,
often used in comedy for humorous effect. Hephaistos stands simply for fire.
if anyone heard a noise: the attendant means to imply that the god or his
followers may be at work, but the real reason, Karion suggests, is that the
priest will be helping himself to the offerings.
snatching the cheesecakes: this is a puzzle, because where such offerings
were laid out on tables for the deity it was evidently a common and legitimate
practice for the priest to consume them. Perhaps, being eager to justify his
own food theft, Karion does not realise this.
woollen strands: priests often wear such headgear, and Asklepios too is some-
times shown with a headband.
Jaso, Panakeia: daughters of Asklepios (see on 5.5.1). Here they behave as
might be expected of modest virgin daughters.
shit-eater: perhaps the sort of thing that was said about doctors, who
examined their patients' stools.
made a sound: a popping noise with the lips.
ten glasses of wine: alludes to women's supposed love of wine, a favourite
comic staple.
6.4 Mysteries
Some sanctuaries were best known for rituals of a secret nature, called teletai
or more precisely mysteria (the latter word applying originally to the rites of
Eleusis specifically), which invited the members of a certain group - often
very widely defined - to participate and thus be 'initiated' (myeisthai,teleisthai).
This last is crucial; there were many more or less secret rites performed in
the Greek cities which were not open in this way to any who wished and
where there was no initiation, and these are not considered here. Initiation
was held to confer certain benefits, whether during life or after death or both,
but it was also often an intense religious experience, perhaps allowing the
initiate the sense of a closer relationship with the divine and a new under-
standing of familiar myths and rituals. It is quite misleading to speak of 'mys-
tery religions'in this context. These rituals, important and prestigious as they
often were, were not self-standing religions but supplements to the general
religious system of the Greeks. Still less should we think in terms of an opposi-
tion between mysteries and 'state religion'. These cults were normally completely
312 SANCTUARIES II
integrated into the official religious observances of the city; indeed, in some
cases (demonstrably Eleusis and Andania), they were crucial to the city's
self-perception. (Other types of initiation, such as Orphic and bacchic rites,
which probably had some elements in common with those considered
here, were often not attached to specific sanctuaries but offered by peripatetic
practitioners, and these more frequently appear as unofficial or even anti-
official observances. On these, see 3.4.7-9.)
The most famous of all mysteries were those of Eleusis, the Mysteries in
Athenian parlance, although we know of at least one similar rite elsewhere in
Attica. No doubt some of this success was due to Athenian self-advertisement,
but this cannot quite account for the readiness of other cities and individuals
to accept the special status of these rites in honour of Demeter and her daugh-
ter (the 'Two Goddesses'), which continued to be celebrated from early times
to the end of paganism. Second in international esteem were the mysteries
of Samothrace, which seem to have conveyed certain kinds of this-worldly
safety, notably from shipwreck - though the majority of our more detailed
sources come from a later period. Among the other mysteries celebrated in
the Greek world, we look here at those of Andania in Messenia, subject of a
long and detailed set of regulations from the Roman period.
The problem in delving deeper into these rites is, of course, that what
happened was secret and could only be divulged by the proper personnel to
those undergoing initiation in the proper way. True, Diagoras 'the godless'
was said to have revealed the secret of Eleusis to all and sundry, and several
Athenians, including Alcibiades, were accused of having celebrated the
Mysteries (apparently with parodic intent) in private houses (see 3.5.1), but
no surviving pagan source committed to writing anything more than the
most general descriptions of the secret parts of these celebrations. Christian
writers have no such scruples, but equally we need not suppose they were
particularly scrupulous about truth or accuracy in their accounts. All recon-
structions therefore remain both partial and entirely hypothetical. In what
follows, I have not drawn upon Christian sources, which in any case would
be considerably later than most of the texts in this volume, but given only
passages which say what could properly be said in public.
6.4.1 Blessed is he ...
Source: Homeric Hymn to Demeter 471-82
Straight away (Demeter) sent up the crops to the well-furrowed land, and the
whole of the wide earth was decked out in leaves and flowers. She went to the
rulers who dispense justice, to Triptolemos and Diokles driver of horses, to strong
Eumolpos and Keleos the leader of the people, and showed them the practice
of the holy things, and told to them all her solemn rites, which are not to be
\
SANCTUARIES II 313
transgressed or found out or spoken of, for a great reverence for the gods keeps
the voice in check. Blessed is he among mortal men who has seen these things;
but he who is uninitiated in the holy rites and has no part of them has never
the same fate when he is dead under the mouldering darkness.
The Homeric hymn recounts the abduction of Kore/Persephone by Hades,

Demeter's search for her daughter, and her eventual recovery and a compromise
agreement, with the long central part of the poem concerned with Demeter's
arrival in Eleusis and her reception there. It is generally and plausibly sup-
posed that much of the detail in these events is obliquely concerned with
the ritual of the Mysteries, although clearly it is told in such a way that noth-
ing is actually revealed to non-initiates. Demeter is pleased with her recep-
tion in the house of Keleos and Metaneira, and in gratitude attempts to make
their son Demophon immortal, but is thwarted by an ill-timed interruption
(compare 3.2.6). Demophon is to be honoured with heroic rituals, and after
the happy reunion of mother and daughter Demeter makes further com-
pensation: the Mysteries will not convey immortality, but they will render
death no longer something to be feared. The final lines of the extract were
well known, and imitated closely by Pindar (fr. 137 Maehler) and Sophocles
(TrGF 4.837); see also below, 6.4.2, end.)
sent up crops: in an attempt to force information about her daughter (who

has in fact been taken with the consent of _Zeus,her father) Demeter has with-
held plant growth and the harvest. In most versions of the Eleusinian myth
she establishes agriculture as well as the Mysteries at Eleusis (see 6.4.3) and
Triptolemos then teaches the technique to the rest of the world.
Eumolpos: he was the heroic prototype and the supposed ancestor of the
hierophant, the chief officiant of the Mysteries, who was taken from the genos
of the Eumolpidai. The other names mentioned here also received heroic cult.
6.4.2 Initiates live in bliss in the underworld
Source: Aristophanes, Frogs 324-53, 372:--413, 440-59
CHORUS OF INITIATES: Iacchos, great in honour, you who dwell here in this place
- Iacchos, 0 Iacchos - come to dance in this meadow, come
to your pious worshippers, shaking the leafy, berried myr-
tle crown that circles your head, stamping your bold foot
in the wanton, playful ritual, the dance with its full share
of the graces, pure and holy for the pious initiates.
XANTHIAS: Lady, great in honour, Daughter of Demeter! What a
lovely whiff of pork I just caught.
314 SANCTUARIES
II
DIONYSOS: Keep still, can't you, if you want to get some sausage.
CHORUS: Wake, for he comes wielding lighted torches in his hands,
, 7 lacchos, Q_Jacchos - lightbringing star of the nocturnal
rite. The meadow is ablaze with the flame of torches; old
men shake at the knees, casting off their sorrows and the
many years of their old age, in the holy celebration. Shine
with your torch, blessed one, and lead forward to the flowery
water-meadows the youth that makes the dance.
Now go manfully, everyone, to the flowery fold of the 1

meadows, stamping your feet and taunting others, and play-
ing, and mocking. We have had enough to eat now!
Onward, and praise the Saviour nobly in song, praise her
who undertakes to save the land each season, even if
Thorykion doesn't agree.
Now strike up a different hymn, singing and glorifying
the Queen who brings the crops, Goddess Demeter, with
heavenly melodies. ·"
Demeter, queen of our pure rites, stand by me and save
' •your own chorus, so that I may play and dance all day long
without any hitches. And let me say many funny things,
and many serious ones, and in play and mockery worthy
of your festival let me win the crown of victory.
Now come, call the youthful god here too in song, our
own fellow-traveller in dance.
Iacchos great in honour, you who invented the sweet!•
melody of our festival, come follow with us towards the
Goddess, and show us how you make the long journey with-
out tiredness. Iacchos, lover of the chorus, escort me on
my way.
You're the one who split my sandal and tore my
clothes, both for fun and to save money, and so you
found a way for us to play and to dance quite cheaply.
Iacchos, lover of the chorus, escort my on my way.
And just now, looking sideways, I saw a very pretty girl '
among our playmates - her dress was torn and 1a tit peeped ~
out. Iacchos, lover of the chorus, escort me on my way.
Dance now in the goddess s holy circle, playing in the

1
flowery grove, all you who have a share in the festival dear
to the gods. And J will go with the girls and the women;>··
to carry my holy torch where they hold the night-long rites
for the goddess.
Let us go to the flowery meadows full of roses, keeping
to our playful ways of lovely dance, and accompanied by !:-
the happy Fates. For the sun and the holy light shines only '
for us, who have been initiated and behaved piously
towards both strangers and ordinary folk. ' '
SANCTUARIES II 315
The second (and main) chorus of Aristophanes' comedy Frogs here enter and
sing, as Dionysos and his slave Xanthias reach the underworld; they represent
both themselves, the comic chorus (praying for victory in the dramatic con-
test) and a group of mystai, who have been initiated in life at Eleusis and
who therefore enjoy bliss after death. In fact they seemingly spend their time
in the rites which earned them that bliss - but of course Aristophanes cannot
depict the scenes of actual initiation, and instead he focuses on the proces-
sion of the mystai from Athens to Eleusis, with its tutelary deity Iacchos (in
origin perhaps the personification of the worshippers' shout). This has the
major advantage (for a comedy) that the mood of the procession was joyful,
even at times frivolous. At the same time we are kept aware that the func-
tion of Iacchos is to lead the mystai to the Two Goddesses of Eleusis, and
there is nothing in the least parodic about the prayers contained here. It is
assumed that Demeter will enjoy the jokes (as in the Homeric hymn she
enjoyed the jesting of Iambe), and the references to the ritual and its benefits
are played straight.
Substantial chunks of this passage have been omitted; they consist mainly
of the 'taunts' promised by the chorus, aimed at well-known figures, and of
the asides of Dionysos and Xanthias. Various theories have been advanced
on the division of the lines between different parts of the chorus, or indi-
viduals within it; it is certainly implausible that all lines are spoken or sung
by all the chorus-members. Half of the chorus may represent women.
myrtle crown: as this was worn by the priests and priestesses of the
Mysteries and perhaps by the mystai, it was naturally attributed to the deities
also.
pork: every initiate was required to provide a young pig for purification
purposes. (There is probably some sexual innuendo here as well.)
Wake, for he comes: there is some textual uncertainty in the first part of
this sentence.
nocturnal rite: the climax of the Mysteries occurred at night. Torches were
prominent in the observance, and in art Iacchos is shown holding a torch
or torches (see Figure 17).
meadow: flowery meadows are naturally thought of as more pleasant places
than rocky mountainsides, and are thus a typical landscape for the happy
dead. There may also be an association with the Rarian field at Eleusis, where
under Demeter's direct instruction grain was first grown.
old men: just so in Euripides' Bacchae the old men Kadmos and Teiresias
are enabled to dance by religious enthusiasm.
taunting others: comic choruses frequently do this, but shouting insults
was also associated with the point where the procession of the mystai crossed
one of the bridges on the way from Athens to Eleusis. Most of the actual
insults are omitted in these extracts.
316 SANCTUARIESII
the Saviour: probably Athena, one of whose titles this was in Athens. This
may reflect real hymnic practice on the walk from Athens (Athena) to Eleusis
(Demeter). Alternatively, Saviour was also a title of Kore in some places.
Thorykion: a topical political reference.
split my sandal: the clothes one wore for initiation at Eleusis became too
holy for normal use afterwards, and it was customary therefore to wear clothes
at the end of their µseful life.
very pretty girl: religious festivals were occasions when men might glimpse
women otherwise not on view, and among the initiands the two sexes had
similar or identical roles.
night-long rites: pannychis (compare 5.3.3). In later comedy, such rituals
were often associated with erotic opportunity; on the other hand, the lines
may be innocently sung by the 'women' of the chorus themselves, if they
were represented.
Figure 17 Painted pinax dedicated by Ninnion at Eleusis, showing scenes alluding to

the Mysteries. The bottom row shows the procession from Athens to Eleusis (lacchos
leads a group of initiands to Demeter), while the top row suggests the concluding rites.
The female initiate carrying a vessel on her head in both scenes and on the pediment
.
probably represents Ninnion herself, who has played a special role in the ritual of the
final day. Dated to about 370. Athens, National Archaeological Museum (EAM) 11036.
'
SANCTUARIESII 317
lovely dance: kallichori5tatonis probably meant to recall the Kallichoron well,

where Demeter sat at Eleusis.
happy Fates: the initiates regard as benign the goddesses whom most
mortals fear.
only for us: an echo of the trademark Eleusinian claim (see above, 6.4. 1)
that only initiates enjoyed happiness after death. (In Frogs the place of the
uninitiated is characterised by darkness and slime.) Another view was of course
that it was good behaviour which earned such happiness, and the relation-
ship between these two ideas was sometimes uncomfortable; Plato, for in-
stance, though he refrains from criticising Eleusis, is very critical of the view
that initiations and other rituals can 'buy off' the gods and avoid punish-
ment after death (Republic 2 364h = passage 3.4.7, Laws 910a-b). Here there
seems to be a requirement for b~th initiation and good behaviour, but the
common assumption may be that the two naturally tend to go together.
6.4.3 Athens gave the Mysteries to humanity
Source: Isocrates, Panegyricus28-9
To begin with, the first necessity of our human nature was provided by our own
city. Even if the story takes the form of a myth, it is appropriate to tell it again ·
here. When Demeter was wandering about after Kore had been taken from her,
she came to our land. She was well disposed towards our ancestors because of
the kindnesses they showed her, which nohe but initiates may hear, and she
gave them the two greatest gifts of all; crops, which have distinguished our life
from that of animals, and the Mysteries, which have given their participants
sweeter hopes for the end of life and indeed for all our existence. So our city
was not only dear to the gods, but also so kindly disposed to humanity that,.
having acquired such great blessings, she did not begrudge them to others, but
shared what she had received with everyone. Even now we reveal the Mysteries
every year, and as for ag;,ii;:uJture,our city was in sum the teacher of its uses,
its techniques, and the b,enefits that derive from it.
In an exhibition speech devoted to the praise of Athens, lsocrates here gives

classic expression to the Athenian view of their most ancient benefactions
to mankind (dependent, of course, on the status of Eleusis as part of Attica).
Athens is both dear to the gods and a benefactor of humanity, and the tradi-
tion narrated here neatly combines the two, as well as pandering to the belief
of the Athenians in their own cleverness (compare Herodotus 1.60.3, a sar-
donic comment) by making them the teachers of the rest of the human race.
The passage is continued at 2.5.5.
has the form of a myth: after Thucydides' rejection of 'mythlike' history

(Thucydides 1.22.4), it became customary to apologise for introducing myth
318 SANCTUARIESII
into prose works. For Isocrates' way of dealing with this, see the continuation
of this passage (2,5.5).
when Demeter was wandering: searching for her daughter after she had
been abducted by Hades, as told in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter.
Kore: the Maiden, the Girl. Athenian authors frequently use this title to
refer to the daughter of Demeter, perhaps because of a reluctance to refer to
the name Persephone or Pherephatta, though there was no absolute taboo
on the name. It may also be that Kore is the more appropriate name to refer
to the relationship with Demeter, rather than the role as queen among the
dead.
the kindnesses they showed her: some of these are narrated in the
Homeric Hymn to Demeter, probably with 'meaning' accessible only to initiates.
Others perhaps were too solemn to be referred to at all in a text available to
non-initiates, as lsocrates indicates.
distinguished our life from that of animals: the hunter-gatherer stage of
human history was often described as a time either of cannibalism or of
subsistence merely on fruits and berries. Agriculture enabled humans to live
in settled, organised communities, and this perception led to the explanation
of Demeter's epithet Thesmophoros (which may originally have referred to
the ritual carrying of something) as 'law-bringer'.
sweeter hopes: this was the 'selling-point' of the Mysteries, which most texts
insist on (see 6.4.1-2). In the Homeric hymn, Demeter is thwarted in her
attempt to immortalise the child Demophon, and establishes the Mysteries
apparently as a second best. Humans must still die, but the rites will cancel
the negative effects of death.
shared what she had received: participation in many rituals was restricted
to citizens of the relevant polis (see above, 6.1 introduction). It was there-
fore particularly noteworthy that an Athenian ritual of such an august and
secret nature should be open to all Greeks. Of course, there was a strong ele-
ment of Athenian self-advertisement here.
our city was the teacher: the myth related that the Eleusinian Triptolemos
was given a winged chariot by Demeter, with the charge to travel the earth
teaching agriculture to all races.
6.4.4 The initiate's experience
Source: Plutarch fr. 178 (Sandbach)
But then it (the soul, at the point of death) goes through an experience which is
like those who undergo the rituals at the great mysteries. For this reason, both
' '
SANCTUARIESII 319
the words 'to die' (teleutan)and 'to be initiated' (teleisthaz),and what they denote,
are similar. First there is wandering, and wearisome running around, and uncer-
tain, fruitless journeys made in darkness. Then before the climax itself there
is everything that is terrible - panic and trembling and sweat and shock. But
after this an amazing light appears, and he is received into pure laridscapes and
meadows, full of voices and dancing and the solemnity of holy sounds and
sacred visions. There, perfect now and fully initiated, he has become free
and moves around at liberty, and wearing a crown he celebrates the rites, and
enjoys the company of pure and holy men. He sees the uninitiated, impure mob
of those living here on earth, who trample and jostle each other in thick mud
and mist, and cling to their sufferings through fear of death and lack of faith
in the good things of the other world.
Although Plutarch does not explicitly say that he is talking about Eleusis, his
readers would surely expect the Eleusinian rites to be included in 'the great
mysteries' (teletais megalais), and it seems likely that here, from a relatively late
author, we have a very general outline of what happened at the Mysteries -
so general that it could apply to other mysteries as well. Plutarch is no doubt
influenced by a passage in the Phaedrus (250b-c), where Plato compares the
vision experienced by disembodied souls to that seen in teletai, referring to
'whole, simple, calm and happy sights in a clear light'. Both authors were
helped by the claim of the Mysteries themselves to render death less fearful.
Evidently the transformation of the sorrowful and fearful moods into joy
corresponds in some measure with this claim.
Just as the dead are compared with initiates, in the final sentence of this
extract the living are compared with those who have not undergone initi-
ation, who according to the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (6.4.1) will have no part
in the joy of the initiates after death; in some texts the uninitiated have to
wallow in mud after death, something which Aristophanes makes much of
in the underworld of the Frogs (compare 6.4.2).
6.4.5 The mysteries at Samothrace
Source: Herodotus, Histories2.51
So these Greek customs, and others in addition which I.shall relate, are derived
from the Egyptians. But the custo.m of making images of Hermes with the phal-
lus erect came not from Egypt but from the Pelasgians, and of an
Greeks it was
the Athenians who first adopted the practice, and the rest. of the Greeks took it
from them ... Anyone who has been initiated in the rites of the Kabiroi cele-
brated by the Samothracians, who took the tradition from the Pelasgians, will
know what I mean ... The Pelasgians related a sacred story about this which is
revealed in the mysteries at Samothrace. ·
320 SANCTUARIESII
This passage nicely illustrates how initiates - for Herodotus was presumably
one himself - could use what they had learned in mysteries to reinterpret
familiar features of other cults. Ithyphallic berms were, as Herodotus implies,
a common phenomenon in the Greek cities, but Herodotus links them all
with the sacred story of Samothrace. There is some evidence that there were
two large ithyphallic statues at the doors of the sanctuary.
The gods of these mysteries seem never to have been officially titled
Kabiroi or Kabeiroi, but simply Megaloi Theoi, Great Gods. The name Kabiros/
Kabiroi is attested for not-too-distant Lemnos and for Thebes, and it may be
Herodotus' own choice to speak of Kabiroi in connexion with Samothrace.
Later writers speak of Kabiroi, Korybantes, Kouretes, Idaian Daktyloi, and
Telchines as being all similar groups of divinities. The Samothracian figures
may have been attendants on a central female divinity or a divine couple.
'Sacred stories' were frequently revealed in celebrations of mysteries: com-
pare 2.5.3, and for Orphic initiations 3.4.8-9.
6.4.6 Any initiates here?
Source: Aristophanes, Peace 276-9
TRYGAros: What's going to happen to us, chaps? There's a great struggle for us
now. If any of you have been initiated at Sarnothrace, now's the time
for a good prayer, to avert - the feet of the messenger.
A difficult moment is reached in one of Aristophanes' fantastic plots, and

the hero appeals to the audience. Evidently one of the benefits of initiation
was the ability to make prayers of special efficacy, presumably to the Samo-
thracian gods, for the aversion of evil and danger. Since the word 'to avert' (apo-
strephein)means literally 'to tum back', Trygaios is hoping that his enemy's feet
will be twisted back as they would be if he were captured and incapacitated.
6.4. 7 Rules for the mysteries of Andania
Source: JG V. l 1390 = LSCG 65 (92/1 BCE or 24 CE), excerpted
The oath of the consecrated men and women. The secretary of the council is
to administer the oath straight away to those (males) who have been consecrated,
unless one of them is ill. This is to be done while the [sacrificial victims] are
burning, with the following oath, as they make libations of blood and wine:
'I swear by the gods for whom the Mysteries are celebrated that l will take respons-
ibility for everything regarding the rite being done as befits divine matters
and in accordance with what is right in every respect. I will neither myself do
. ..
SANCTUARIES II 321
anything unfitting or commit any wrongdoing to the detriment of the Mysteries,

nor will I permit anyone else to do so, but I will follow what has been written,
and I will also give the oath to the consecrated women and the priest in accord-
ance with the schedule. If I keep my oath IJlay my reward be that of the
godfearing, but if I break it, the opposite.' Anyone who refuses to take the oath
is to be fined a thousand drachmas, and is to allot a substitute from the same
tribe. The priest and the consecrated men are to administer the same oath to
the consecrated women in the sanctuary of (Apollo) Karneios on the day before
the Mysteries, with the additional sworn clause: 'and I have behaved piously
and uprightly in regard to my life with my husband.' Any woman refusing to
swear is to be fined a thousand drachmas by the consecrated men, and will not
be allowed to celebrate any sacrificial rite or to take any part in the Mysteries,
but those who have sworn are to take part. Those men and women who have
been consecrated in the fifty-fifth year are to take the same oath in the eleventh
month, before the Mysteries.
Handing over. The consecrated men are to hand over the box and the books
given by Mnasistratos to their successors, along with everything else which forms
the equipment for the Mysteries.
\Vreaths. The consecrated men are to havei'a wreath and the consecrated women
a white felt head covering. Those undergoing the first initiation are to have a
tiara. When the consecrated men announce, they are to take off the tiara and
all are to wear a wreath of laurel.
Clothing. Those being initiated in the Mysteries are to go barefoot and wear
r white clothing. Women are not to wear transparent clothes or to have stripes
wider than half a finger on their cloaks. Laywomen are to wear a linen tunic
and a cloak worth no more than a hundred drachmas; girls are to wear an Egyptian
dress or a linen dress and a cloak worth no D10re than one mna, and female
slaves an Egyptian dress or a linen dress and a cloak worth no more than fifty
drachmas. Of the consecrated females, women are to wear an Egyptian dress or
underdress without borders and a cloak worth no more than two mnas, and
[girls) are to wear an Egyptian dress or a cloak worth no more than a hundred
drachmas. In the procession, the consecrated women are to wear an underdress
and a woman's woollen cloak, with stripes no wider than half a finger, and the
girls are to wear an Egyptian dress and a cloak that is not transparent. No female
participant is to wear gold or rouge or white make-up or a hairband (?), or to
have her hair plaited up, or to wear shoes except those made of felt or the skins
of sacrificed animals. The consecrated women are to have round seats of osier,
with pillows or round cushions which are white, with no border and no purple.
The things which must be prepared for the representation of gods are to be clothed
as the consecrated men detennine. If anyone wears clothing not in accordance
with the schedule or any other item which is forbidden, the women's supervisor
is not to permit it; he is to have the power to inflict punishment, and the cloth-
ing is to be (confiscated and) dedicated to the gods.
Oath of the women's supervisor. When the consecrated men take their own
oath, they are to administer the oath to the women s supervisor upon the same
1
victims: 'I will take responsibility for clothing and for all other matters which
are entrusted to me in the schedule.'
322 SANCTUARIESII
The procession. Mnasistratos is to lead in the procession, then the priest of

the gods for whelm the Mysteries are celebrated, with the priestess, then the
organiser of the games, the Sacrificers and the shawm-players. After these the
con~ecrated girls, in order as they are drawn by lot, leading the chariots on which
is the chest containing the holy things of the Mysteries. Then the Mistress of
the Feast for Demeter and her assistants who have e.ntered on office, then the
priestess of Demeter at the Hippodrome, and then the priestess of Demeter at
Aigila. Next the consecrated women one by one in the order drawn by lot, and
then the consecrated men in the order determined by the Ten. The women's
supervisor is to organise the lots for the consecrated women and girls and to
take responsibility for their order of procession, in accordance with the lot. The
sacrificial victims are also to be led in the procession, and a pregnant sow is to
be sacrificed to Demeter, a ram to Hermes, a young pig to the Great Gods, a
boar to Apollo Karneios, a sheep to Hagna.
Tents. The consecrated men are not to permit anyone to have a tent larger
than thirty feet square, nor to place screens or curtains round the tents, and no
one who is not one of the consecrated is to have a tent in whatever place the
consecrated men mark off with bands. Nor is any uninitiated person to enter
the marked-off area. They are to provide water-vessels, and they are also to
display in writing which things one must observe purity from and what one
must not have (on one's person) on entering.
What must not be kept in the tents. No one is to have couches in their tent, nor
silver vessels worth more than three hundred drachmas. Infringements will not be
permitted by (he consecrated men, and .the excess will be consecrate to the gods.
Improper behaviour. When the sacrifices and the Mysteries are being conducted, ·
everyone is to observe holy silence and listen to what is being announced. Anyone
who disobeys this or conducts himself in an unseemly manner towards the divine
" is to be scourged by the consecrated men and excluded from the Mysteries.
Rod-bearers. Twenty rod-bearers are to be constituted from the consecrated
men, who must obey those performing the Mysteries. They are to be responsible
for everything being accomplished in a proper and orderly fashion by those
present, in accordance with the instructions of those who have been assigned I
for this purpose. They are to scourge those who disobey instructions or conduct L
themselves improperly. If.any of the Rod-bearers does not act in accordance with
what is written, or commits any other wrong, or acts to the detriment of the
Mysteries, he is to be judged by the consecrated men and if found guilty he is
to be excluded from the Mysteries. ~
(Expenses). (passageomitted)
Provision of sacrificial victims. After their installation, the consecrated men
are to make an announcement and to contract for the provision of the victims 1 ,
which must be sacrificed and presented in the Mysteries, and those which must ·
be provided for purification. They may, if it seems convenient, use the same r
source for all the victims, or they may divide the supply, but in any case they \i
are to offer the contract to the proposer of the lowest tender. The following !
must be provided before the beginning of the Mysteries: two white lambs, a well- F'
coloured ram for the purification, and when there is purification in the th~atre.£1
SANCTUARIES II 323
three sucking-pigs, a hundred lambs for those undergoing the first initiation, ,
and in the procession a pregnant sow for Demeter, a two-year-old pig for the
Great Gods, a ram for Hermes, a boar for Apollo Karneios, and a sheep for Hagna.
The contractor must give a guarantee to the consecrated men before taking the
money offered and providing victims which afe suitable for sacrifice, pure and
whole, and he must show them to the consecrated men ten days before the
Mysteries~ The consecrated men are to place a mark on those which they pass
for sacrifi'teFand the contractor is to produce the marked animals (at the time
of sacrifice).Jf he does not provide animals for the examination, the consecrated
men are to recover the money plus half as much again, and to use this recov-
ered money for the provision of victims.
Artists for the dances. The consecrated men are to nominate for the year as
many shawm-players and lyre-players as they find suitable, to perform at the
sacrifices and the Mysteries. Those nominated are to perform for the gods.
Offences. If during the days when the sacrifices and Mysteries are celebrated
someone is found to have committed theft or some other offence, he is to be
1
, brought in front of the consecrated men. If a free man, he is to pay back twice
the amount he took, and if a slave he is to be scourged and to pay back
twice the amount, and for other offences the penalty is twenty drachmas. If
I, he does not pay immediately, the servant is to be given by his master to the
person he has wronged, to pay off the offence with his work; otherwise, he is
to be subject to twice the .penalty.
On those who cut wood in the sanctuary. No;pne is to cut wood from the
holy place . . . '
r Exist~nce of a place of asylum for slaves ...
On the fountain, ..
~ Preparation of treasuries ! ..
The sacred meal. The consecrated men are to remove from the victims which
were led in procession the customary parts for the gods, and to use the rest of
the meat for the sacred banquet with the consecrated women and girls, and to
include the priest, the priestess and the priestess ofKarneios, and Mnasistratos,
his wife and descendants, and the artists who have fulfilled their office in the
dances, and those who have done public service. For the remaining expenses
they are not to disburse more than (amount missing) drachmas.
The market ...
Water ...
Anointirt~ and bathing ...
Custody of a copy of the schedule ...
Appointment of the Ten. On the twelfth day of the. sixth month before the
consecrated men and women are chosen by lot, the damiorgoi are to give the ,
popular assembly the opportunity;of an election to choose from the whole ,
;;; citizen body ten men no younger than forty, no one being eligible twice in. the
same year. The magistrates and anyone else who wishes may propose names,
taking them from those who are recorded as eligible to be chosen as consecrated{"
The secretary of the councillors is to administer the oath which is sworn by the
Consecrated. Those appointed are to be responsible for everything which must
be done during the Mysteries, and must· consider everything that !is necessary
324 SANCTUARIESII
for them to be properly performed. They are also to propose from among the
consecrated men ·those most suitable to be rod-bearers, and also mystagogues.
They are to propose colleagues for Mnasistratos who may be taken from those
not c;:onsecrated, if they find any suitable. Those who are proposed are to obey
and to discharge whatever is assigned to them. They are to fine anyone who
does not do so twenty drachmas and to give his name to the polemarchs. The
rod-bearers are to scourge whomever the Ten command, and the appointed Ten
are to be judges of [every accusation]. If [it is necessaiy for] a decision to be taken,
the Ten all together are to summon the consecrated men, an<l the majority opin-
ion is to prevail. During the Mysteries, the Ten are to wear a purple headband.
Matters not covered. If there are any matters not covered in the schedule relat-
: ing to the performance of the Mysteries and the sacrifices, the councillors are
to discuss and deal with it, without changing, to the detriment of the Mysteries,
: anything in the schedule. If they do so change anything, the decree is to be
invalid. The schedule is to be· in force for all time. i
The inscription dates either from 92/91 BCE or from 24 CE, a later period than
most of our sources, but it is included here because of its extremely detailed
nature and because the Andanian Mysteries themselves date back in some form
to at least the fourth century. Pausanias, the travel writer of the Roman period,
explains that the Mysteries were brought to Messenia in the Peloponnese from
Attica in very early times, but that during the period when the Messenians
were enslaved to the Spartans they fell into disuse. When Messenia was freed
after the Spartan defeat at Leuktra in 371 BCE, a jar was found (after a prophetic
dream) containing a tin scroll with the rite (telete) inscribed on it. Those of
a sceptical bent might assume that this was in fact the first origin of the
Mysteries; at all events, their (re)institution was closely bound up with
Messenian national identity, as expressed in the people's regained freedom
and the foundation of the new city Messene.
Evidently a second reorganisation of the cult had occurred shortly before
the date of our inscription, with the Mnasistratos of our text in the starring
role. From an inscription of the previous year, we learn that Mnasistratos
had the title of hierophant and had received an oracle concerning the 'great
Karneian gods' and the Mysteries (Syll.3 735). It may be that the result, as
represented here, was in effect the amalgamation of two cults, one of
Demeter and Hagna, the other of Apollo Karneios and his associates. Although
the stone we have is complete, there is no overall heading and it is likely
that the text began on another stone, which would have contained the method
of appointment of the consecrated men and women. Even so, from the long
text we do have (it is not given in its entirety here) we can see the meticu-
lous detail of the organisation involved, and the intimate connexion to the
political institutions of the Messenians. What is most remarkable is the pro-
minent role given to 'the consecrated', both men and women. Evidently a
certain number of already initiated people were drawn by lot from each 'trtbe'
SANCTUARIESII 325
(phyle, division of the citizen body) to serve conspicuous roles in the order-
ing and conduct of the celebration. This method of appointment is typically
civic and democratic, and indicates how deeply embedded in the political
structure the Mysteries were, for we can hardly imagine that this whole pro-
cedure is a new product of the first century Qr later; the basic structure will
go back to the fourth century reform or institution.
Relatively little is said of the priestly officials of the Mysteries. In part this
will be because the inscription is a public document, and so cannot refer to
the teleteproper, the secret parts of the ritual, where no doubt the main priestly
role lay. It is none the less interesting that there seems to be only one priest
and priestess 'of the Gods for whom the Mysteries are celebrated'. This is a
remarkable contrast with Eleusis, where many priests and officiants had a role
in the Mysteries, but which had nothing corresponding with 'the consecrated'.
who have been consecrated: although the method of 'being consecrated'

is not described (it may have been given on another stone) it is clear from
a few lines further down that the Consecrated were chosen by lot, a certain
number from each phyle (see above). Obviously they had to be already initi-
ated, and there may have been other restrictions on those eligible (see the
penultimate paragraph). The numbers were quite large, as a subgroup of twenty
among the men are to be rod-bearers. The men are to take the oath imme-
diately on selection, the women only at the beginning of the celebration;
this indicates that whereas the men's duties began well before the Mysteries
themselves, as the inscription shows, the women's lasted only for the dura-
tion of the Mysteries.
sacrificial victims: oaths were taken on a sacrifice. 'If I keep my oath ...
but if not ... ' was the normal conclusion of an oath. On oaths, see 4.3.4-8.
to the detriment of the Mysteries: a strong word, meaning properly
'destruction', 'dissolution'.
the schedule: refers to the document itself.
the fifty-fifth year: either of the Achaian era, dating the inscription to 92/1
BCE, or the Actian era, in which case the date is 24 CE. The schedule here
provides for the procedure in the current year, the consecrated men and women
having already been selected.
the box and the books: evidently this is new equipment just given by
Mnasistratos, who is honoured as chief benefactor in the procession.
undergoing the first initiation: this is the probable meaning of protomystai,
unless possibly it indicates a 'first rank' among the initiates.
laurel: or bay, normally sacred to Apollo, who is one of the deities honoured.
Clothing: some sanctuaries stipulate items which may not be worn (see
5.1.3-4; later inscriptions give more detail), and this is part of the intent here:
326 SANCTUARIES II
for instance, the prohibition on shoes made from animals which have not
been sacrificed is found fairly frequently in sanctuary entry regulations. Also
likely to be present is the wish to mark out those participating in a solemn
and important occasion by special clothing - most obvious in the case of the
men, to whom alone the first sentence must refer. Women's dress (basically
consisting of a dress or tunic reaching to the ground and partly covered by
a robe or cloak) is a more complex matter, and here the aim seems to be to
prohibit clothes associated with hetairai or prostitutes and also to curb exces-
sive display of wealth and status, while permitting 'good' clothing and a mod-
erate display. Contrast the Eleusinian custom, above, 6.4.2.
laywomen: idioties, women participants who are not among the Consecrated.
girls: parthenoi, virgins, have a completely different ritual (and indeed,
social) status from married women (gynaikes). It is interesting that there are
girls, as well as women, selected among the Consecrated.
female slaves: an attendant generally accompanied a free woman when she
went outside the house, including visits to sanctuaries (see 5.1.2). These slaves
were probably initiated with their owners, as we know was permitted at Eleusis,
despite their ineligibility in many ritual activities.
an Egyptian dress or a cloak: the inscription seems to have accidentally
omitted a few words. Presumably it should read 'an Egyptian dress or a linen
dress and a cloak ... ', since female wear consists of a tunic or dress with a
cloak worn over it; dress and cloak are not alternatives.
the representation of gods: the text as written indicates things, not people,
which are prepared to represent gods, perhaps aniconic statues or logs or even
storage-jars (compare 4.1.3). Some scholars have proposed that the stonecutter
omitted a letter (thus they read hosa<s> for hosa), which would mean that
it was women, not objects, who represented deities. Here we seem to be
approaching what was actually done in the Mysteries, so it is a great pity
that we cannot be more certain.
women's supervisor: gynaikonomos, a male official usually appointed to over-
see the public aspects of women's gatherings for religious purposes.
to inflict punishment: the Greek could also mean 'to spoil the item', but
this is less likely if the offending object is then to be consecrated.
the procession: the grandest and most public display of the celebration.
Perhaps on the analogy of the Eleusinian procession from Athens to Eleusis
it went from the 'capital' Messene to the site of the Mysteries (Andania or
Oichalia). For the officials in the procession, compare the list of those
involved in the festival of Zeus Polieus on Kos, 5.3.2.
organiser of the games: thus the celebrations included observances of a less
esoteric nature. ~
SANCTUARIESII 327
Sacrificers: hierothytai; these may have been priests or magistrates. Their

prominent position in the procession suggests that they were not simply
slaughterers (mageiroi).
Mistress of the Feast: thoinarmostria, an , official also referred to in a
Messenian inscription of some hundred years previously (or more, in the later
dating). Presumably her role was to preside over a women's banquet.
Demeter at the Hippodrome: it is uncertain which sanctuary is referred to
or even whether it is local or further afield.
Demeter at Aigila: apparently in Lakonia, this sanctuary had a role in the
traditional stories of the Messenian 'freedom-fighter' and national hero
Aristomenes (Pausanias 4.17 .1).
the Ten: the constitution of this group is explained in the penultimate
paragraph.
a pregnant sow: pregnant animals were commonly offered to Demeter;
see 5.3.1.
the Great Gods: this was their title, like that of the deities of Samothrace,
with whom they may sometimes have been identified. However, they were
closely connected with Apollo Karneios (Syll.3 735, see above) and were pos-
sibly more often thought of as the Dioskouroi, who were said to have aban-
doned their former anger against the Messenians at the time they recovered
their lands and autonomy from the Spartans (Pausanias 4.26.6).
Apollo Karneios: a deity characteristic of, and important to, the Dorians of
the Peloponnese, shared by the Messenians with their old adversaries the
Spartans.
Hagna: 'the pure (female) one', said by Pausanias in this context to be a name
of, or equivalent to, Kore/Persephone, but it is also the name of the spring in the
sanctuary of Karneios, where the Mysteries seem now to have been celebrated.
tents: since the celebrations took several days, and Andania was not a
significant settlement at this date, the participants had to make arrangements
for staying. (Compare Xenophon's sanctuary at Skillous, below, 6.5.4) The
regulations show a concern to limit ostentatious display (although 300
drachmas worth of silver is not nugatory), while the prohibition of couches,
whether for eating or sleeping, presumably indicates that those participating
were required for ritual reasons to sleep on the ground.
water-vessels: the context shows that this is water for purification, before
entering the temporary sacred space.
Provision of sacrificial victims: compare the procedure in Kos, 5.3.2.
in the theatre: this may have been a 'viewing-area' for the dromenaor 'things
done' in the Mysteries, rather than a place for ordinary dramatic performances.
328 SANCTUARIES
II
suitable for sacrifice: naturally, animals for sacrifice had to be without per-
ceptible defect; see section 5.2 and especially 5.3.2.
Offences: compare the provisiort for the priest to judge offences committed
in the sanctuary of Amphiaraos, 5.4.1. Here, typically, it is the consecrated
men who are to take cha'rge.
On those who cut wood, etc.: the details of the following sections are of
somewhat less religious interest, and only the rubrics are given here. Many
are concerned with the administrative matters concomitant on a large gather-
ing of people.
damiorgoi: In other forms of Greek, demiourgoi,these were evidently some
kind of officials.
twice in the same year: it is a surprise to find that the Mysteries were cel-
ebrated more than once annually.
mystagogues: or 'leaders of the mystai/initiands'. This makes clear one func-
tion of the Consecrated - to guide the new initiates through the ceremony.
polemarchs: originally, officials concerned with war. Here their remit must
be wider.
headband: strophion,often worn by priests and notably by the hierophant at
Eleusis. Again this indicates the major and pivotal status of the Consecrated.
6.5 Founding a New Sanctuary
Religious life in the classical period could proceed quite happily without the
creation of new sanctuaries; indeed, such was the approval given to actions
done 'in accordance with ancestral custom' (kata ta patria) that it might almost
be said the ideal was lack of innovation. However, polytheistic systems tend
to be hospitable to new cults, and in practice new sanctuaries, large or small,
were springing up all the time. And of course, even the oldest and most
venerable cult centres must have had some beginning, which tradition often
attributed to the actions of some mythical figure. Sometimes these tales involved
the consultation of an oracle, which as we have seen (above, 6.2) was one
of the obvious - and certainly. the most prestigious - sources of advice on
religious matters. Consequently, we frequently find an oracle mentioned as
the legitimator of a new foundation in historical times (as passages 6.5.4, 6.5.6).
However, there must be some reason for consulting the oracle in the first
place. The impulse might be completely political, as in the case of the
founders of colonies who necessarily had also to found sanctuaries in their
new homes (6.5.7-8). It might just be the wish to introduce a cult known
elsewhere but new to one particular state, as apparently in the arrival of
Asklepios at Athens (6.5.5). Or it might be prompted by some strange . '
SANCTUARIES II 329
occurrence suggesting divinity - or so at least the story might suggest - as

when the same god arrived in Halieis (6.5.6). Xenophon's sanctuary of
Artemis Ephesia (6.5.4) may also be in this category, as he is keen to point
out the resemblance of the land where the sanctuary was founded to that of
its original in Asia Minor. Sometimes, of course, these strange occurrences,
notably dreams and epiphanies (see 3.2), are enough to prompt the founda-
tion even without a confirming oracle. Here Plato's 'Athenian', in the Laws,
seems to have a somewhat inconsistent attitude: when such events happened
in the distant past, they must be respected, but he is disparaging of present-
day examples and will not permit them in his ideal state (6.5.1-2).
Part of the resolution of this paradox concerns the distinction between
'public' and 'private'. Plato wishes to ban private worship altogether in his
Magnesia, partly because of the wrong beliefs it encourages. The old estab-
lished sanctuaries which he approves are overwhelmingly likely to be 'public',
in the sense that they are effectively funded by the state and belong to all
the citizens (even if, in many cases, the priesthoods are confined to certain
kin groups). In more recent times, the state is almost certain to have obtained
oracular approval before a new sanctuary is founded; this is much less easy
for private individuals unless, like Xenophon, they enjoy a high status.
While we can be fairly clear that Xenokrateia's foundation (6.5.3) repre-
sents a 'private' sanctuary, though one open to all comers, and Plato testifies
that these were frequent (there are other likely examples at 3.4.3-4), it may
be that some cases are less susceptible to a strict classification as public or
private. It is often assumed, partly on the basis of 6.5.5, that the Asklepios
cult in Athens was at first private, the property of Telemachos who claims to
be the sanctuary's founder. It is indeed possible that the cult was not yet under
the financial control of the state, as it was by the mid-fourth century. But in
other ways the state is almost certain to have been involved: how else could
an individual introduce his god with such pomp and circumstance, having
him lodge in the Eleusinion at the time of the Mysteries and settle perman-
ently on the south slope of the acropolis? It is likely that in fact the founda-
tion of this sanctuary had more in common with that of the Asklepieion
at Halieis than at first appears: in this (somewhat mythologising) account,
both an individual and the city have a part to play.
On the other hand, when Greek cities formed new cities by sending out
'colonies' (apoikiai),new sanctuaries would obviously be founded on an official,
public basis, and the cults of these sanctuaries would naturally reflect those
of the mother city. Indeed, objects would be taken from the original holy
place to consecrate the new sanctuary and preserve the link with the original.
The message here was that the cult and sanctuary were new only in a very
limited sense.
But in general terms, the founding of new sanctuaries naturally suggests
the establishment of new cults and new deities. While some of these cults
remain in the 'private' sphere (see 3.4.3-4), others were taken up by the state.
Passages 6.5.5, 6.5.6 and 3.2.7 are examples of gods who are part of the Greek
330 SANCTUARIESII
system (Asklepios and Pan) and well grounded in cult in some Greek cities,
whose cults we can observe being formally established in others - after some
encounters between the god and citizens of the 'receiving' city have already
taken place. Non-Greek gods also arrived; we have seen Sabazios and Adonis
in 3.4.5-6, but others were given more official recognition, often in relation
to foreign communities within the city. Almost all our information for the
fifth and fourth centuries is from Athens. In 6.5.9, we see that 'the Egyptians'
had been allowed to purchase land, not normally permitted to non-citizens,
in order to build a sanctuary of Isis - for their own use, but in this way
sanctioned by the polis itself. Passage 6.5.10, backed up by epigraphic evid-
ence, presents us with a deity worshipped both by the original and the 'host'
community, and with some magnificence; with Bendis, we move beyond
the sanctuary itself to a celebration which seems temporarily to take over
Peiraieus. And this passage is perhaps a suitable note on which to end; it not
only looks forward to the hellenistic world, but exemplifies and symbolises
the constant ability of Greek religion - indeed of polytheism in general - to
absorb new influences and renew itself.
6.5.1 The wrong way to found sanctuaries
Source: Plato, Laws 10 909e-910a
It is not easy to establish sanctuaries and gods. It needs a lot of thought to do

this properly. But the usual pattern is for all women especially, and those suf-
fering from every kind of illness; and in danger and difficulty of any sort - and
those in the opposite circumstance, who have had some good luck - to con-
secrate whatever is. a.t hand at that .moment, and to vow sacrifices and foun-
dations to gods and to daimones and to the children of gods. Because of the
fears they experience in waking appearances or in dreams, as they remember
their many visions arid look for a remedy for each of them, they fill up all the
houses and all the neighbourhoods and the open spaces by founding sanctuaries
wherever such an event occurred.
Plato's conclusion - or rather that of the Athenian in his second large-scale

work on the state - is that no sanctuaries and therefore no worship should
be permitted in private houses. The proper worship of the gods is too import-
ant to be left to the categories of people he describes here, who should rather
meekly fall in with the kinds of worship prescribed by the lawgiver and
sanctioned by the magistrates. This public worship will be done in the right
spirit, whereas Plato connects the kind of actions he criticises with the belief
that the gods will pardon injustice if they are appeased with sacrifice and
offerings.
The picture given here is no doubt somewhat exaggerated. It is not obvious,
for instance, that women predominate in the foundations of priva'te c~lts,
SANCTUARIESII 331
but they are certainly present, and this unusual visibility in life beyond the
oikos was no doubt enough to create the impression of their preponderance.
However, it does suggest that in practice, in Athens and no doubt most other
cities, there was plenty of religious life which was not regulated by the polis.
It is also borne out by the evidence we have that very many dedications and
some foundations were made as a result of a dream or waking vision, though
it is not obvious that fear was always the predominant motive; to give it this
role is another way of discrediting the practice.
a lot of thought: or perhaps 'a powerful intellect'.
6.5.2 Respecting tradition
Source: Plato, Laws 5 738b-c
As for gods and sanctuaries, which ones must be established in the city and. to
which gods or daimones they should belong, no one with any sense will try to
change anything that has come· out of Delphi or Dodona or from Zeus Ammon,
or whatever ancient traditions have. been ·influential {where they have been
influential), when epiphanies have occurred or there is said to have been divine
inspiration, through the influence of which sacrifices and rituals (teletai) have
been established, whether they are local in style, or derived from Etruria, or Cyprus,
or anywhere else. Such traditions have been responsible for the consecration of
oracles, statues, altars and temples, and for the allotment of lands (temene) to
each of them, and in all these cases the lawgiver must change not the slightest
detail.
Plato is here discussing two kinds of sanctuary foundation. The first he locates
in 'ancient' times, and the founding impulse comes either from the most
famous and reputable oracles (see above, 6.2.1, 6.2.2) or from some appar-
ently divine occurrence such as a dream, epiphany or even a coincidence sug-
gesting a divine purpose at work. These are all channels through which the
divine communicates its will, and must be respected. The second kind is the
work of his hypothetical lawgiver, who had some real counterparts over time
in some Greek cities. The lawgiver's task is to ensure that all the deities are
properly worshipped in the city. However, in doing this he must not design
a scheme from scratch, but respect and work around old foundations. By and
large this is how polytheistic societies work; new cults arrive in addition to
old, rather than actually replacing them, though Herodotus records the
attempt of one tyrant, Kleisthenes of Sikyon, to suppress the cult of the hero
Adrastos (1.2.5, Herodotus, Histories 5.67-8).
derived from Etruria or Cyprus: like Herodotus (passages 1.3.5, 6.2.2), Plato
considers that some Greek religious elements derive from other civilisations.
332 SANCTUARIESII
6.5.3 A new sanctuary of a river-god
Source: Inscription from Echelidai (New Phaleron),

Attica, about 400 (JG ri 987)
Xenokrateia, daughter of Xeniades and mother of Xeniades from Cholleidai,

founded the sanctuary of Kephisos and dedicated this gift to the gods who share
the altar, in return for (?) instruction. Anyone who wishes may sacrifice for the
accomplishment of good things.
The inscription accompanies a relief (Figure 18) found in what must have
been a sanctuary of the river-god Kephisos at the river's mouth in the district
of Echelidai. Another stele found in the same place gives the names of the
gods who shared the sanctuary: Hestia, Kephisos, Apollo Pythios, Leto, Artemis
Lochia, Eileithyia (or possibly 'Artemis Lochia Eileithyia'), Acheloos, Kallirhoe,
the Geraistian Nymphs of Birth, and Rhapso. Hestia was a frequent first recipi-
ent of offerings; the other deities are mostly concerned either with rivers or
with childbirth. The translation 'founded the sanctuary' has been challenged,
but seems likely to be right.
Figure 18 Dedicatory relief from an Attic sanctuary of the river-god Kephisos,

showing the dedicator Xenokrateia facing Kephisos, who appears to be communicating
with her by a gesture, while her son Xeniades clutches the divinity's robes. Around
them are the other divinities worshipped in the sanctuary, including Pythian Apollo,
seated on his oracular tripod on the left, and the river-god Acheloos on the right,
shown as a bull with a man's head. About 400. Athens, National Archaeologica'I '
Museum (EAM) 2756.
SANCTUARIES II 333
It is probable that Xenokrateia is making the dedication in thanks for instruc-

tion given to her son Xeniades, and it has been suggested that the relief, which
seems to show the river-god communicating to Xenokrateia herself, indicates
that she was the intermediary of this instruction. But in any case the depic-
tion of Kephisos, Xenokrateia and Xeniades carries an emotional charge and
suggests a close relationship.
The final sentence of the inscription stands apart, being in prose where the
rest of the inscription is metrical. It illustrates how this sort of 'private' cult
worked: set up and financed by an individual, it was open to a wider group
for worship. It was not 'public' in the sense that it was not financed by the
state. Clearly, however, Plato would not have approved (above, 6.5.1).
The last phrase may also, but less probably, be translated 'on the appro-
priate terms', that is 'on payment of the appropriate fee'.
6.5.4 Xenophon founds a sanctuary of Artemis
Source: Xenophon, Anabasis 5.3.7-12
When Xenophon was in exile and was already living in Skillous near Olympia,
where he had been settled_by the Spartans, Megabyzos .came to the festival at
Olympia, and returned the deposit to him. When Xenophon received this, he
bought some land for the goddess at the place where the god decreed. It hap<
pened that there was a river called Selinous flowing through this land, and there
is also in Ephesos a river Selinous which tlovys past the temple of Artemis. Both
t rivers have fish and shellfish, and in the land at Skillous there is also hunting,
[ offering every animal that can be hunted. He also put up an altar and a temple
from the sacred money, and every year afterwards dedicated a tithe from the
produce of the land and made a sacrifice to the goddess, and all the citizens and
those who lived nearby, both men and women, participated in the festival. For
those who put up their tents there the goddess provided barley-meal, bread, wine
and side-dishes, plus a portion of what was sacrificed from the sacred pasture
and of what had been caught in the hunt. For there was a hunt at the festival,
in which Xenophon's sons and the sons of the other citizens took part, and those
older men who wished joined in the hunt with them. They caught animals from
the sacred land itself, but also some from Pholoe, wild boar, roe and deer.
The place is on the road from Sparta to Olympia, about two and a half miles
from the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia. Within the sacred plot there is also a
meadow and mountains covered with trees, capable of sustaining pigs, goats,
cattle and horses, so that even the draft animals belonging to those attending
the festival are well fed. Around the temple itself a grove of cultivated trees has
been planted, which produce every kind of fruit in season. The temple, though
on a small scale, is similar to the huge one at Ephesos, and the statue of cypress-
wood is like the golden one there. Beside the temple is a stone with an inscrip-
tion: 'The land is sacred to Artemis. He who owns it and enjoys the produce
must sacrifice a tenth part every year. From the excess he must keep the temple
equipped. If anyone does not comply, it will be the concern of the goddess.'
334 SANCTUARIESII
In the preceding paragraph, Xenophon explains the background to the foun-

dation of his sanctuary - the description of the sanctuary being, in fact, a
digression from the main narrative. On the march back to Greece, the mer-
cenaries whom Xenophon and others were commanding sold their plunder
and prisoners and dedicated a tenth part to Apollo and the Ephesian Artemis,
giving each general a portion of the reserved money. With his portion,
Xenophon first made an offering to Apollo at Delphi, but left the money for
Artemis with Megabyzos, who was neokoros (see 5.1.2, note, and 5.4 intro-
duction) of Artemis, presumably at Ephesos, to be given back if he returned
safely to Greece, and to be used for some suitable dedication to Artemis if not.
The Spartans had settled their Athenian protege Xenophon in a politically
convenient place, and the sanctuary's proximity to Olympia would also lend
it a certain cachet. Like Xenokrateia, but on a larger scale, Xenophon was
establishing a sanctuary from his own funds and under his own control, but
open to a wider group - citizens of Skillous and others. He is careful to observe
the proprieties by consulting an oracle about his foundation - this is shown
by the use of the word aneilen, translated above as 'decreed', which is used
regularly of oracular responses. But he also implies that the place itself indi-
cates its suitability for the enterprise, by its similarity to the landscape of the
Ephesian Artemision. This kind of 'branch cult', deriving from a particularly
well-known original sanctuary, is found in several contexts: in the founda-
tion of colonies (see below, 6.5.7-8), and also within the same polis, as for
instance in Athens where the city Eleusinion stands in a similar relation
to the sanctuary of the Two Goddesses at Eleusis. But a closer parallel to
Xenophon's foundation is to be found in the establishment of Asklepieia (see
passages 6.5.5-6), where the cult has spread between unconnected cities, and
here - though one can never entirely rule out political elements - it is likely
that the main motive is the particular appeal of the cult. This is a phenomenon
which increases in the hellenistic period and later, with Asklepios and
Artemis Ephesia among the most popular deities so honoured, as well as the
Samothracian Gods (see 6.4.5-6).
6.5.5 Asklepios arrives in Athens
Source: Athens, early fourth century (JG Il2 4960)
Telemachos was the first to found the sanctuary and the altar for Asklepios
[and.Health), the Asklepiads, the daughters of Asklepios, and ... Coming up from
Zea at the Great Mysteries, he arrived at the Eleusinion (?), and Telemachos,
having sent for an attendant (or, a snake) from home, led him here on [a
carriage?] .in accordance (?) [with oracles?]. Health came with him. And thus
was founded all this sanctuary, in the archonship of Astyphilos of Kydantidai.
In the archonship of Archeas, the Kerykes disputed the site and prevented
(?) some things from being done. In the archonship of Antiphon [... ] In the
"·
SANCTUARIESII 335
archonship of Euphemos [... ] built and equipped (?) In the archonship of Charias:
the enclosure from the wooden gate. In the archonship of Teisandros: the wooden
gates were added and the rest of [the sanctuary) was dedicated. In the archon- ,
ship of Kleokritos: it was planted (?) and he beautified (?) the [whole] precinct
at his own expense. "
This annoyingly fragmentary inscription belongs on the so-called 'monument

of Telemachos', which the founder put up to commemorate his action and
which also features a double-sided relief depicting the sanctuary. Some
things are quite clear from what we have: for instance, the date of the first
Asklepieion in the city of Athens, dated here to 420/19. This was just a year
after the Peace of Nikias restored friendly relations with Epidauros, and it seems
that the god arrived from this sanctuary, first reaching Attica at Zea, on the
coast at Peiraieus. Telemachos may even have been an Epidaurian rather than an
Athenian. We can also see the location of the sanctuary, on the south slope
of the acropolis, and the identity of most of its occupants - Asklepios' usual
family circle, Health (Hygieia), and his sons and daughters (see 5.5.1, 6.3.2-3).
We can deduce, too, that there was at the least a degree of co-operation
from the state and the Eleusinian priesthood (see above).
But other aspects are far Jess certain. Was it an 'attendant' (an Epidaurian
priest?) or a snake that was sent for? Where was 'home'? Is an oracle men-
ticmed? And what was the dispute in which the Kerykes - the Eleusinian gcnos
who provided the dadouchos, the secon~ most important priest in the
Mysteries - were involved? It is usually assumed that they were opposed to
Asklepios' use of the site, but this is not the only possible interpretation: they
could have been defending the site against a third party. And was there already
a sanctuary of Asklepios at Zea, as there was in the fourth century, or (more
likely) was this founded at the same time, or shortly afterwards?
6.5.6 Asklepios arrives in Halieis
Source: From the Iamata of Epidauros, fourth century

(JG IVl.122.13, LiDonnici B13)
Thersandros of Halieis, consumption. This man saw no vision when he slept in

(the sanctuary) and so went back to Halieis on a cart. One of the sacred snakes
had settled on the cart and spent most of the journey coiled around the axle.
When they reached Halieis and Thersandros lay down at home, the snake came
down from the cart and cured him. The city of Halieis looked into (?) what had
happened and were uncertain what to do about the snake, whether to take it
back to Epidauros or to keep it in their own land. They decided to send to Delphi
and ask the oracle what they should do. The god replied that they should leave
336 SANCTUARIESII
the snake there and found a precinct of Asklepios, making an image of him and
dedicating it in the sanctuary. When the response was reported, the city of Halieis
founded a precinct of Asklepios there(?) and carried out the things the god had
advised in the oracle.
From the point of view of the iamata (see above, 6.3.2), this episode falls into
a group where a cure is effected unexpectedly, not during incubation but at some
other time. It pushes the genre to its limits, as Thersandros' visit to Epidauros
is apparently a failure when he leaves. The fact that he is cured at home by a
snake from Epidauros can be seen as an indication that Asklepios will now
pursue his activities at Halieis, but it is understandable that the strange occur-
rence prompts official interest and Delphi is consulted. This sets the new founda-
tion on the firmest possible ground, as well as reflecting glory on Epidauros, the
origin of such 'branch cults' (see above) and the location of the inscription.
The historicity of the story is impossible to judge.
6.5. 7 Sanctuaries in a new settlement 1
Source: Herodotus, Histories 1.164.3
The Phokaians launched their large ships., placing in them their children and
wives and all their movable property, and also the statues and other dedications
from the sanctuaries, everything except items of bronze or stone and paintings,
and then they embarked themselves and sailed to Chios.
The founding of a colony necessitates the founding of sanctuaries, and often

those which will recall the holy places of the mother city. Here, after Cyrus'
defeat of Croesus in 546 (see 6.2.3), the Phokaians are abandoning their city
wholesale, and looking for another place to settle. The implication of what
Herodotus tells us is that the items removed from the Phokaian sanctuaries
will be used in the creation of new sanctuaries where they finally settle.
6.5.8 Sanctuaries in a new settlement 2
Source: Straho 4.1.4 (179c)
It is said that when the Phokai.ans were leaving their homeland, they received
an oracle which told them to take as leader of the voyage a guide received from
Artemis of Ephesos. So some of them put in at Ephesos and asked how they
could receive what they had been told to from the goddess. The goddess had
SANCTUARIES II 337
stood beside Aristarche, one of the most esteemed women, in a dream and told
her to sail with the Phokaians, and to take from the holy things a certain
aphidryma. When this had been done and the colony was founded, they estab•
lished the sanctuary and gave special honour to Aristarche by appointing
her as priestess, and in their colonies everywhere they give the highest honours
to this goddess, and keep the same appearance of the cult statue and the other
cult features the same as in the mother city.
Strabo, whose source may have been the fourth/third-century writer Timaios,
is writing about an earlier episode in the history of the Phokaian colonies,
in about 600. Here the new sanctuary which is founded at Massalia (Marseilles)
does not derive from Phokaia at all, but from Ephesos, some way to the south
along the coast of Asia Minor: it is thus as much a 'branch cult' (compare 6.5.4)
as it is a product of the colonisation process. We see that in order to found
such a sanctuary, it is necessary, or at least very helpful, to take something from
the original sanctuary: aphidryma means literally 'something founded away'.
In this case it has been plausibly conjectured that the aphidryma was a wooden
statue or xoanon, and an Ephesian woman was required as priestess in order
to wash and dress the goddess. It is implied that the cult of Artemis Ephesia
spread from here to the other Phokaian colonies, and that as in Xenophon's
sanctuary (6.5.5) care was taken to reproduce features of the original.
6.5.9 A Cyprian sanc~uary in Attica
Source: LSCG 34 (JG Il2 337)
Gods. In the archonship of Nikokrates, in the first prytany, that of Aigeis,

Theophilos of Phegous, one of the proedroi, put the matter to the vote. A decree
of the Council: on the proposal of Antidotos son of Apollodorns ofSypalettos,
concerning what the Kitians say about the foundation of the sanctuary of
Aphrodite, it has been voted by the Council that the proedroi who are allotted
into office at the first Assembly are to introduce them, and to discuss and decide
on the matter, and to report the decision of the Council to the People, that the
People should listen to the Kitians about the foundation of the sanctuary, and
to any other Athenian who wishes to speak, and decide what seems best to them.
In the archonship of Nikokrates, in the second prytany, that of Pandionis,
Phanostratos of Philaidai, one of the proedroi, put the matter to the vote. A decree
of the People: on the proposal of Lykourgos son of Lykophron of Boutadai,
concernlng what the traders of Kition resolved to request lawfully, asking the
people for the right to possess a plot on which they might establish a sanctuary
of Aphrodite, it has been decided by the People to give to the traders. of Kition
the right to possess a plot on which they might establish the sanctuary of
Aphrodite, in the same way as the Egyptians have established the sanctuary of Isis.
338 SANCTUARIESII
This decree of 333/2 is given in its entirety because it shows the full procedure
which was followed in order for a group of foreigners to set up a sanctuary
for one of their own deities in Athens. The inscription records in detail the
normal procedure in the democracy; first discussion in the council (boule)
and a decision to refer the matter to the Assembly for a vote, and then a
debate and vote in the Assembly itself. The proposer of the motion in favour
of the Kitians was the most prominent politician of the day, Lykourgos, whose
motive was perhaps to increase the attractiveness of Athens as a trading-post
for foreign merchants; it is none the less interesting to find this member of
the traditional priestly family, which provided the priestess of Athena Polias,
who was himself priest of Poseidon Erechtheus, supporting the construction
of a sanctuary to a foreign deity.
Kition was a city in Cyprus, a meeting-place of Greeks and Phoenicians,
and an island closely associated with Aphrodite across the Greek world. The
Cyprian Aphrodite was a type often surnamed Ourania, 'Heavenly', with
affinities with goddesses from further east (see 1.3.3); Aphrodite Ourania was
known in many Greek cities, but that is not to say that everything about the
Kitians' Aphrodite and her cult would have been familiar to Athenians. It is
not clear whether Athenians would have ventured into this sanctuary, or been
welcomed if they did; one might hazard a guess that it was not an everyday
occurrence. Almost the most interesting thing in the inscription is the infor-
mation that the Egyptians in Athens had already established their own sanc-
tuary of Isis, an even more clearly 'foreign' deity, though often identified as
Demeter. This too will have been primarily a sanctuary for the benefit of for-
eigners in Athens; the Greek cults of Isis and other Egyptian deities really
took off somewhat later than this.
It is important to note that what is being granted to the Kitians is not the
right to build a sanctuary as such, but the right to own land in a polis not
their own. Their wish for a sanctuary is presented as a reasonable motive for
the request.
6.5.10 A new celebration in Peiraieus
Source: Plato, Republic l 327a, 328a
(Socratesis the narrator)

I went down to Peiraieus yesterday ¼ith Ariston son of Glaukos, to pray to the
goddess, artd also because I wanted to watch the festival which they were observ-
ing for the first time and see how they would conduct it. I thought that the
procession of the local people was well done, but that of the Thracians was no
less impressive. When we had finished our prayers and seen the sight, we set
off towards town ... (They meet some friends,who try to persuilitethem to stay longer.)
'But don't you know that in the evening there's going to be a torch-race on
horseback for the goddess?' said Adeimantos,
SANCTUARIESII 339
'On horseback? That's something new', I said. 'Do they hold torches and com-
pete to pass them on to each other while riding, or what do you mean?'
'Yes, that's right', said Polemarchos. And they'll have an all-night celebration
as well, which will be worth seeing - we can get up after dinner and watch it
I ~
The famous opening of the Republic sets the dialogue in the context of a
festival, that of the Thracian goddess Bendis, whose cult had been adopted
by the Athenian state along with that of the Phrygian Adrasteia at some time
before 430/29; both were therefore 'new gods', and non-Greek gods, but whose
state sponsorship guaranteed that they were neither obviously risible nor threat-
ening. A fragmentary decree probably dating from 413/12 (JG 13 136) records
an 'upgrade' in the cult which regularised its priesthood and established the
magnificent festival which is here spoken of as being performed for the first
time. The two processions may well represent - in carefully regulated form
- a paradigm for the worship of 'foreign' gods, worshipped both by their
original ethnic group and by the 'local people', but in two separate styles.
Why particularly Bendis was given such an elaborate cult is unclear, but Athens
had certainly a lot of interest in Thrace throughout the fifth century.
Though Bendis was not a-traditional Athenian deity and her festival was
excitingly new, the response of Socrates and his friends is shown very much
in the traditional mould. They wish to pay their respects to the goddess and
pray to her (Plato is keen here, as often, to vindicate Socrates' piety), and
also to see a good show; the two are not clearly separated, just as visitors to
a sanctuary combine prayer and sacrifice with sightseeing, without any sense
of incongruity.
torch-race: a relay running-race with torches for batons was quite a com-
mon (and of course spectacular) feature of Athenian festivals. The Thracians
were renowned for their horsemanship, and this version goes one better.
Commemorations of torch-races held for Bendis have been found in the
archaeological record.
all-night celebration: pannychis, a popular feature of some festivals: com-
pare 5.3.3.
Note
1 _F.T.van Straten, 'Votives and votaries in Greek sanctuaries', in R. Buxton, ed., Oxford
Readings in GreekReligion. Oxford, 2000: 191-223 at p. 200.
Suggestionsfor Further
Reading
This is a very far from exhaustive bibliography on pre-hellenistic Greek religion,

confined (to my regret) to works at least partly in English. The aim has been
first to list a few of the most important general works on the subject, along
with others of an introductory nature, and second, to provide further orien-
tation on the subjects tackled chapter by chapter. Further bibliographical
material may be found in Bremmer, GreekReligion, and Ogden, A Companion
to GreekReligion,which also covers the hellenistic period (both listed below).
Reference Works
Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae c/assicae, 8 vols. Zurich and Munich, 1981-97.

Thesaurus cultus et rituum antiquorum, 5 vols. Los Angeles and Oxford, 2005-6.
General Introductions
J.D. Mikalson, Ancient Greek Religion, second edition. Malden, Mass. and Oxford, 2009.
S. Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks. Cambridge, 1999.
General Syntheses
J. Bremmer, Greek Religion (Greece & Rome New Surveys in the Classics 24). Oxford
1999 (reissue of 1994 edition with addenda).
W. Burkert, Greek Religion. Oxford, 1985 (German original, 1977; updated Italian ver-
sion, 2003).
J. Ferguson, Among the Gods: An Archaeological Exploration of Ancient Greek Religion.
London, 1989. '
SUGGESTIONSFOR FURTHERREADING 341
R. Parker, Athenian Religion: A History. Oxford, 1996.

R. Parker, Polytheism and Society at Athens. Oxford, 2005; corrected reprint 2006.
L. Bruit Zaidman and P. Schmitt Pante!, Religion in the Ancient Greek City. Cambridge
1992 (French original 1989).
General Collections
R. Buxton, ed., Oxford Readings in Greek Religion. Oxford, 2000.

D. Ogden, ed., A Companion to Greek Religion. Malden, Mass., and Oxford, 2007 (attempts
a systematic coverage; individual contributions to this work are not noted separately).
Chapter 1
C. Antonaccio, An Archaeology of Ancestors: Tomb Cult and Hero Cult in Early Greece.
Lanham, Md, 1995.
H. Bowden, 'Xenophon and the scientific study of religion', in C. Tuplin, ed.,
Xenoplwn and His World: Papers from a conference held in Liverpool in July 1999 (Historia
Einzelschriften 172). Stuttgart, 2004: 229-46.
W.R. Connor, 'Seized by the nymphs: nympholepsy and symbolic expression in clas-
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Index of pa~sages
References in bold type refer to the numbering of the passage in this book.
A Literary
Aeschylus, Eum. 1033-47 (1.2.2), Empcdocles fr. 1 Inwood (112 DK)

16-17 (3.4.10), 133
Pers. 607-22 (3.3.7), 113-14 fr. 11 Inwood (115 DK) (3.4.11), 134
PV (Prometheus) 199-21 (2.1.2), 41-2 fr. 128 Inwood (137 DK) (3.4.12), 135
PV 484-99 (4.2.6), 168-9 Euripides, Bacchae 274-85 (1.3.7), 34-5
Aischines 1.23 (4.3.1), 175 Ba. 286-97 (2.5.10), 85-6
Alcaeus fr. 129 (6.1.1), 277 Bellerophon (TrGF 5.1) fr. 286 (1.1.5),
Antiphon 6.45 (4.3.2), 176 10-11
Aristophanes, Birds 959-91 (4.2.5), Cretans (TrGF 5.1) fr. 472 (3.4.13),
166-8 135-7
Clouds 814-31, 1476-84, 1506-9 Helen 744-57 (4.2.7), 169-70
(3.5.2), 143-5 HF (Madness of Herakles) 1314-21,
Frogs 324-53, 372-413, 440-59 1340-6 (2.5.7), 80-2
(6.3.3), 313-17 Hippolytus 73-87 (3.4.2), 121-3
Lys. 387-98 (3.4.5), 126-7 Ilipp. 161-9 (4.4.5), 189
Peace 276-9 (6.4.6), 320 Hipp. 451-61, 473-6 (2.5.6), 79-80
Thesm. 625-35 (5.3.5), 238-9 Ion 102-53 (3.4.2), 121-3
Wealth (Ploutos) 653-748 (6.3.3), Ion 184-232 (5.1.1), 195-9
308-11 Ion 876-921 (2.2.3), 55-8
fr. 322 (1.2.3), 18 Iphigeneia among the Taurians 947-60
Aristotle, Politics 6 1322b (4.3.3), 176-7 (2.4.2), 69-70
Autokleides FGrH 353 F 1 (4.1.3), 157-8 Sisyphus, see Kritias
Demosthenes 18.259-60 (3.4.6), 127-9 Suppliant Women 531-6 (3.3.8),
24.149-51 (4.3.5), 178 114-15
43.66 (6.2.4), 293-4 Trojan Women 1-9, 23-7, 45-86
47.68-71 (4.2.8), 170-1 (2.3.3), 65-7
59.73, 74-9 (5.3.8), 241-4 Hekataios, FGrHl F 19, 27 (2.5.8), 82-3
348 INDEX OF PASSAGES
Herodas, Mimiamboi 4 (5.1.2), 199-204 Odyssey 1.28-43 (1.1.3), 9-10

Herodotus 1.46-50.1, 53-56.1, 71.1, 3.429-64, 470-2 (5.2.1), 216-18
87.1-2, 90.4.:..91 (6.2.3), 289-93 4. 795-841 (3.2.3), 97-8
1.50.2-52 (5.6.4), 272-4 13.102-12, 357-60 (1.2.9), 23-4
1.59.1-2 (6.1.6), 283 13.287-333 (2.3.2), 64-5
1.62-3 (4.2.2), 164 20.345-70 (4.2.1), 163-4
1.131 (1.3.3), 29-30 Homeric hymns: Aphrodite 181-201,
1.143.3-44.1, 148.1 (6.1.2), 278 218-58, 276-91 (2.2.5), 58-61
1.15 7.3-159 (6.2.8)., 299-301 Aph. 256-73 (1.2.10), 25
1.164.3 (6.5.7), 336 Apollo, 146-50, 165-72, quoted
1.171.6 (6.1.3), 279 (6.1.4), 279-81
2.50, 52-3 (1.3.5), 31-3 Athena (28) (5.5.5), 262-3
2.51.1 (4.1.4), 158-9 Demeter 188-90, 250-7, 276-91
2.51 (6.4.5), 319-20 (3.2.6), 99-100
2.52.2, 54.5 (6.2.2), 288-9 Dem. 473-82 (6.4.1), 312-13
5.67 (1.2.5), 20-1 Isaios 3.80 (5.3.6), 239-40
5. 72 (5.1.6), 208-9 5.41-2 (5.6.5), 274-5
5.114 (1.2.6), 21-2 8.15-16 (4.1.2), 157-8
6.61.2-5 (5.1.10), 211-12 Isocrates, Panegyricus 28-9 (6.4.3),
6.8613 (4.3.7), 180-1 317-18
6.105 (3.2.7), 100-1 Pan. 30-3 (2.5.5), 77-9
6.117 (4.4.4), 188-9 Kleidemos FGrH 323 F 14 (3.3.6),
7.189 (2.2.6), 61 112-13
9. 33.1-2, 36-37.1, 37.4-38 (4.2.3), Kritias (?), Sisyphos fr. 1 (TrGF 1.43
164-5 fr. 19) (1.3.8), 35
Hesiod, Theogony 155-82 (2.1.1), Menander, Dyskolos 407-18 (3.2.2), 96-7
40-1 Pausanias 7.21.11-13, 22, 2-4 (6.2.9),
Theog. 411-52 (3.4.1), 119-21 301-2
Theog. 535-7 (5.2.2), 218-19 Pindar, Isthmians 4.52-68 (1.2.4), 18-19
Theog. 927-9 (2.1.5), 49 Olympians 7.33-51 (2.4.1), 68-9
Works and Days 336-41 (3.1.2), 91 01. 8.1-11 (6.1.5), 281-3
fr. 1 (2.2.1), 50-1 0/. 9. 29-39 (2.5.2), 73-4
frr. 7, 9 (2.4.3), 70-1 01. 10.23-8, 43-76 (6.1.5), 281-3
rmppocratesL On the Sacred Disease Pythians 2.50.3 (1.1.6), 11-12
1.10-21 (4.2.9), 172-4 Py. 9.1-128 (2.2.2), 51-4
1.27-32 (1.3.2), 28-9 fr. 75 Maehler (5.3.5), 237-8
1.39-45 (3.3.4), 109-10 Plato, Euthyphro 14b-15b (1.3.1), 26-8
1.46 (5.1.9), 210-11 Hipparchus 228d-229b (4.1.4), 158-9
Homer, Iliad 1.1-5 (3.3.8), 114-15 Laws 5 738b-c (6.5.2), 331
1.37-42, 451-6 (3.1.1), 90-1 Laws lO 884b-885d, 888a-d,
6.21-6 (1.2.8), 23 889b-c, 889e-890b (3.5.4),
8.73-82 (6.2.1), 287 146-50
9.496 (1.1.1), 7-8 Laws 10 909e-910a (6.5.1), 330-1
14.327-30 (= 19.296-9) (6.2.1), Laws 11 932e-933b(3.4.14), 137-8
287-8 Laws 12 948b-e (4.3.8), 181-2
15.4-8, 18-52 (2.1.3), 43-5 Politicus (Statesman) 290c (5.4.8), 254
16.220-32 (3.1.3), 92 Republic 1 327a, 328a (6.5.10), 338-9
16.233-6 (6.2.1), 286-7 Rep. 2 364b-c, 364e-365a (3.4.7),
19.95-125, 132-3 (2.3.1), 62-3 129-30
19.249-68 (4.3.6), 179-80 Rep. 2 377b-378c (2.5.3), 74-6
24.527-33 (1.1.2), 9 Timaeus 40d-4 la (2.5.4), 77 • '
INDEX OF PASSAGES 349
Plutarch fr. 178, Sandbach (6.4.4), 6.27 (3.5.1), 142-3

318-19 6.32 (4.4.1), 184
Prodikos DK 84 B 30 (1.3.4), 30-1 Xenophanes DK 21 B 1 (4.1.5),
Protagoras DK 80 B 4 (3.5.3), 146 159-60
Sophocles, Electra 634-40, 642-59 11 (2.5.1), 73
(3.1.4), 92-3 23-{i (1.1.7), 12
Oedipus at Colonus 33-40, 118-33 Xenophon, Anabasis 3.1.11 (3.2.1),
(5.1.8), 209-10 95-6
oc, 1648-55 (1.2.1), 16 Anab. 5.3.7-12 (6.5.4), 333-4
Strabo 4.1.4 (179c) (6.5.8), 336-7 Anab. 6.4.12-6.5.2 (4.4.3), 186-8
Theognis 372-82 (1.1.4), 10 Hellenica 4.7.4-5 (4.4.6), 190-1
Theophrastos, Characters 16 (4.1.1), Lac. Pol. (Constitution of the
153-6 Lakedaimonians) 13.2-5, 8
Thucydides 1.9 (2.5.9), 83-5 (4.4.2), 184-6
2.47.5, 52.3-4, 53.5 (4.4.7), 190-1 Memorabilia (Memories of Socrates)
3.104 (6.1.4), 279-81 1.3.2 (3.1.5), 94
5.11 (l.2.7), 22-3 Mem. 1.3.3 (5.2.7), 223
5.18 (6.1.7), 284 Mem. 1.4.10-18 (1.1.8), 12-14
B Inscriptions and papyri
CEG 326 (5.6.1), 267-8 4334 (5.6.1), 267-8

860 (3.2.5), 99 4960 (6.5.5), 334-5
Decourt, Inscriptions de Thessalie 73 496.? (5.2.5), 221-2
(3.4.4), 125-6 4969 (5.4.5), 251
Derveni Pap. col. 13 (2.5.11), 86-7 IG IV2 121-3 (6.3.2), 304-8
col. 22 (1.3.6), 33-4 iZZ.13 (6.5.6), 335-6
DTAud 50 (3.4.15), 138-9 131 (5.5.3), 259-61
Eidinow p. 102 n. 6 (6.2.5), 294-6 IG V 1.1390 (6.4.7), 320-8
Fouilles de Delphes III.1.560 (6.2.6), IG XII 1.677 (5.1.3), 204-6
296-8 XII 3.1075 (5.6.1), 267-8
lll.2.1 (5.6.3), 270-2 XII 5.183 (5.1.5), 208
III.2.192 (5.5.4), 261-2 XII 5.593 (3.3.5), 110-12
Furley-Bremer 1.1 (5.5.2), 257-9 XII.8. 358 (5.2.3), 220
2.3 (5.5.4), 261-2 JG XIV 643 (5.6.1), 267-8
6.1 (5.5.1), 256-7 Inschri(ten van Knidos 1.131 (3.2.5), 99
6.2 (5.5.3), 259-61 Inschri(ten von Priene 196 (3.2.4), 98-9
Graf-Johnston 1, 5, 27 (3.4.9), 131-3 Inscr. Cret. III.ii.2 (5.5.2), 257-9
JG I3 35-6 (5.4.3), 249-50 Lhote 3, 8, 11, 14, 23, 41, 46, 49, 68,
728 (5.6.1), 267-8 73, 75, 80, 114, 121 (6.2.5),
953 (5.6.1), 267-8 294-6
977, 980 (3.4.3), 123-4 LSAM 23 (5.4.6), 252-3
987 (6.5.3), 332-3 24 (5.5.1), 256-7
1330 (5.4.4), 250-1 LSCG 12 (5.1.4), 206-7
JG II2 334 (5.3.3), 235-7 21 (5.2.5), 221-2
337 (6.5.9), 337-8 33 (5.3.3), 235-7
1177 (5.4. 7), 253-4 34 (6.5.9), 337-8
1184 (5.3.7), 240-1 36 (5.4.7), 253-4
1514 (5.6.2), 268-70 65 (6.4.7), 320-8
350 INDEX OF PASSAGES
LSCG (cont'd) 22, 28 (S.6.3), 270-1

69 (5.4.1), 247-8; (6.3.1), 303-4 44, 71 (5.4.3), 249-50
97 (3.3.5), 110-12 74 (5.6.3), 271-2
109 (5.1.5), 208 NGSL 1 (5.3.1), 225-30
114 (5.2.3), 220 27 (3.3.2), 107-9
136 (5.1.3), 204-6 Olyrnpia-Bericht 5.252 (5.6.3), 270-2
151 (5.3.2), 231-5 5.259, (5.6.3), 271-2
152 (5.2.6), 222-3 Rhodes-Osborne 62 (5.3.2), 231-5
LSS 20 (4.1.6), 160-1. 81 (5.3.3), 235-7
22 (5.2.4), 220-1 88 (4.3.4), 177-8
115 (3.3.1), 103-7 97 (3.3.1), 103-7
120 (3.4.8), 130 SEG 1. 248 (3.4.4), 125-6
128 (5.1.7), 209 16.193 (4.2.4), 166
129 (5.4.2), 220-1 43.434 (3.4.16), 139
ML 19 (5.6.3), 270-2 43.630 (3.3.2), 107-9
30 (4.3.9), 182-3 49.320 (3.4.17), 140
General Index ,,
Page numbers in bold type indicate the most important discussions.
Abai (oracle), 289 Agesipolis, king of Sparta, 189-90

Abarbaree, 23 Agis, king of Sparta, 190
abaton, 304-7 Aglaia, 256-7
abstinence (from certain foods), 104-5, Aglauros, 177-8, 226, 230
107; from sex, see chastity agnosticism, 141-2, 146
abstractions, worship of, 1 agora, 20, 22-3, 139, 159, 174, 231,
Achaia (northern Peloponnese), 301-2 237,301
Achaians (in Homer), 43-5, 62, 64, Agrai (Attica), 230
66-~ 114,161,174,179,208, 28~ agriculture, 72, 78, 120, 313, 317-18
(subgroup of Greeks), 71, 208-9 Aias (Ajax), Lokrian, 62, 66-7; son of
Achaios, 71 Telamon, 67
Acharnai (Attica), 164, 166, 177-8 Aigeus, 297-8 and Fig. 15
Acheloos, 332 and Fig. 18 Aigina, 180, 184, 212 Fig. 9, 310
Achilles, 7-9, 44, 47, 54, 63, 71, 92, 94, aigis, 18-19, 45, 47, 50-1, 59-60, 262
114, 179, 287-8 Aigisthos, 9
Acropolis, of Athens, 100, 208, 230, Aigle, 156-7
236, 251, 267, 274-5, 284, 310, 335; Aigyptos, 82-3
of Ialysos, 206 Aineias (Aeneas), 25, 59-60
Adonis, 116, 126-7, 225, 330 Aiolians (Aeolians), 71, 277, 299-300
Adrasteia, 339 Aiolos
Adrastos, 20-2, 331 aiora, 243
adultery, divine, 73, 81 Aischines, 127-30, 166, 175, 252
adyton, 199, 208-9, 285, 299, 301 Aisepos, 23
Aelius Aristides, 95, 99 aither, 85-6
Aeschylus, 15, 16-17, 41, 67, 76, 82, Aitolia, 209
111, 113-14, 166, 168 Akamantia, 103, 105-6
aetiologies, 38, 68-70, 79, 218-19 Akeso, 221-2
afterlife, 103, 114-15, 117-18, 129-33, Akragas, 133
311, 313-19; see also soul alastor, 110; see also elasteros
Agamemnon, 8, 9, 15, 45, 63, 69, 83-5, alazon, alazones, 167, 172-3
90, 93, 114, 174, 179, 287 Alcaeus, 34, 277
352 GENERALINDEX
Alcibiades, 142-3, 175, 312 154-5, 167, 181-2, 184, 195-8, 199,
Alektrona, 204-6 201, 213 Fig. 10, 220, 221-2, 225-7,
Alkaidai, 19 229-30, 251, 255-7, 261-3, 267-8,
Alkmene, 18, 63, 81, 226 270-5, 279-80, 284-7, 289-93,
allegory, 24, 33-5, 72, 75-6, 86-7, 296-301, 302, 334; Agyieus, (of
168 streets), 152, 197, 293; Apotropaios
Alpheios, river, 281-3 (of aversion, the averter), 103-5,
altars, 8 Fig. 1, 18-19, 29-30, 103, 108, Genetor (father), 215; Ismenios,
157, 159, 161, 172, 185, 192, 199, 273-4; Karneios, 321-3, 327;
201, 203, 212-13, 218, 220-2, 231, Lykeios, 93; Nymphagetes (leader
235-6, 241, 244, 249, 253, 257, 259, of the nymphs), 220; Prostaterios
261-2, 282-3, 303,308, 331-3 (of protection, protector), 93; Pythios,
Altis, 281-2 226-7, 240-1, 332 and Fig. 18
ambrosia, 59-60, 100, 157-8 (see also Delphi); Soter (saviour), 293;
Ammon (Amun), 286, 288-9, 331 Thyrxeus, 301; Triopios, 278; Homeric
Amphiaraos, 166, 247-8, 273-4, 286, Hymn to, 279-91; see also Loxias,
289-90, 292, 297-9, 302-4 and Maleatas, Paian, Phoibos
Fig. 16, 308 apunimma, 109, 112-13
amphiktiones, 276 Arabians, 30
Amphilochos, seer, 164 Arcadia, Arcadians, 6 1 83, 85, 100-1,
J\mphiones, the, 193-4 186-7
Amphipolis, 22-3 Archedamos (Archedemos) of Thera,
amulets, 140-1 123-4 and Fig. 3, 246
Amyklai, 284 archegetes,293-4
Anakes, 226, 230; see also Dioskouroi Archinos, 303 Fig. 16
Anaxagoras, 14, 36, 145, 149 archontes,see officials, civic
ancestral custom, 77-9, 109, 170, 175, archuusai,240
177-8, 225, 241-3, 253-4, 284, Areopagos, 160
294-5, 328-9 Ares, 45-8, 81, 177-8
Anchises, 25, 50, 59-60 Arexion of Parrhasia, seer, 186-7
Andania, 117, 175, 312, 320-8 Argives (in Homer), 66, 179
Andromeda, 84 Argolid, 296
animals, carriage and pack, 187, 205-6; Argos, 20-1, 43, 63, 82-4, 97-8,
pasturing, 158-9, 205-6 189-90
animals, sacrificial, see victims Ariadne, 50
Antaios, 18 Aristaios, 52-4
J\ntheia, 226-7 Aristarche, priestess, 337
Anthesteria, 69-70, 182-3, 225, 241-4 Aristodikos of Kyme, 299-300
Antigone, 209 Aristomenes, 327
Antiphon, 157, 176 Aristonous, 261-2
aparchai (firstfruits), 78-9, 265, 267-8, Aristophanes, 18, 116, 126-7, 130, 141,
274 143-5, 166-8, 238-9, 253, 308-11,
aphidryma, 329, 337 313-17, 319-20
Aphrodite, 25, 30, 34, 41, 45-7, 50-1, Aristotle, 128, 153, 176-7, 214, 294
53, 56, 58-61, 79-81, 122, 126-7, arkteia, 269-70
155, 220, 295, 337-8; Ourania armour, 206-7, 265
(Heavenly), 30, 34, 338; Homeric art and archaeology, as evidence for
Hymn to, 58-61, 80 religion, 3
Apis, 301 Artemis, 46-9, 57-8, 62, 69-70, 104,
Apollo, 14, 33, 35, 46-9, 50-7, 62, 67, 107, 121-2, 155, 189, 220, 245,
71, 73-4, 90-1, 115, 121-3, 125, 152, 268-70, 280,293,298, 336~7; ol
GENERALINDEX 353
Ephesos (Ephesia), 141, 329, 333-4, atomists, 149

336-7; Lochia, 332; Mo(u)nychia, 226 Atreidai, 93; see Agamemnon, Menelaos
Artemision, 61 Atreus, 83-4
artworks in sanctuaries, 194-8, Attica, 61, 68, 72, 78, 80, 83-4, 96, 121,
199-203, 264-6, 271 Fig. 14 123-4 and Fig. 3, 126, 140, 159, 164,
asebeia, see impiety 202, ..224-30, 241, 245 Fig. 11, 247,
Asia (Asia Minor), 34, 53, 83-4, 246, 268-9, 298, 312, 317, 324, 332, 337;
252,260, 278-9, 294,300,329; see also Athens, demes
see also Lydia, Lykia, Phrygia Attis, 128, 260
Asklepios, 54, 56, 125, 155, 170, autochthony, 243
199-204, 220-2, 224, 250-1, 255-7, Autokleides, exegete, 157-8, 170
260,302, 304-11, 328-30, 334-6 Autolykos, 230
Assembly (Athens), 175-6, 178, 235-6, Auxo, 177-8
249, 298-9, 309, 337-8; (Messene),
323 bacchic cults and initiations, 116,
Assyrians, 30 130-3, 312; see also Orphic cults and
Asterie, 119 initiations
asylum, 62, 66, 323 bacchoi (initiates), 130-2, 135-6
ate, 63 Bacchylides, 255
atheism, 7, 10-11, 14, 31, 35-6, Bakis, 162, 166-8
141-50, 181-~ 183-4 barbarians, see non-Greek peoples and
Athena (Athene, Athenaia), 5, 6, 14, 17, traditions
24, 32-3, 39 Fig. 2, 45-7, 49, 58, 62, barley, 153, 177-8, 187-8, 215-17, 221,
64-7, 68-9, 97-8, 153, 155, 163, 171, 232-3, 235, 240, 244, 333; see also
176, 185, 193 Fig. 7, 194 Fig. 8, 195, grains, pankarpia
198, 208-9, 216-17, 225-6, 235-6, basileus, 170-1, 177, 233, 241-3
262-3, 267-8, 300, 305, 307; Areia basilinna, 241-3
(of Ares), 177-8; Boulaia (of the basket, in sacrifice, 216-17, 233, 236-7,
Council), 176; Ergane (Worker, of 241, 244, 268, 270
crafts), 267-8; Hygieia (Health), battle, 95, 102, 183, 187-9; see also
23_5-6; Hypate (Highest), 293; Nike war
(Victory), 235-6, 249-51; Polias (of Battos, 22, 103, 106
the city), 230, 232, 234-5, 235-6, bay, see laurel
244-5, 248, 251, 294, 338; Pronaia (in 'bear' priestess, 104
front of the temple), 197; Tritogeneia, bebelos, bebii/os (profane, secular), 102,
262-3; Homeric Hymn to, 262-3; see 105, 200, 203
also Pallas bees, 21, 24
Athens, Athenians, 13-14, 17, 22-3, begging-priests (agyrtai), 128-30,
36, 50, 56, 61, 69-70, 71, 76, 78-9, 172-3
82, 84, 85, 93, 96, 100-2, 111-12, 'beginning' of sacrifice, 216, 231, 234,
116, 123, 126-9, 136-7, 142-3, 145, 244,249
147-9, 153, 158-60, 161, 166-8, belief, 88-9; lack of, 190-1, see also
170-2, 174-8, 180-1, 184, 188-9, atheism
190-1, 194 Fig. 8, 195, 197-8, Bellerophon, 10-11, 142, 198
208-10, 217, 221-2, 227, 229-30, Bendis, 330, 338-9
233, 235-45, 248, 249-51, 256, bfja-mantras, 140
261-2, 267-70, 272, 274-5, 277-80, binding spells, 137-40; see also tying
283-4, 293-5, 298-9, 302, 312, the body
317-18, 319, 328-35, 337-9 Bion of Miletos, 270
athletes, athletics, 15, 19, 51-3, 119-20, birds, 94, 122-3, 153, 161, 168-9, 187,
165, 194, 217, 277, 279, 281-5, 326 286, 288-9, 295, 299-301
354 GENERALINDEX
birth, 48, 50, 52, 54-8, 62-3, 88, 101-5, Chaos, 41

135-6, 153, 155! 183, 189, 195, charis (favours, reciprocity), 14 1 24,
205-7, 269, 279-80, 283, 296-8, 26-8, 83, 85, 89-91, 191, 204,
304,332 213-14, 262,266,291,293
Bithynia, Bithynians, 187 Charites (Graces), 31, 178, 220
black, 172-3 chastity, 121-3, 232, 234, 242; see also
blood, 23, 102, 106, 108-9, 183, sex
214-16, 218,232,320 cheese, 159, 240
bloodless offerings, see sacrifice childbirth, see birth
boar, see pig childlessness, 55, 197, 295-8
Boeotia, 274, 286, 292, 303 children, 75, 104, 106-7, 123, 211, 229,
bones, heroic, 20-1 244, 246-7, 267, 269-70, 294-8,
books, 127, 161-2, 166-7, 321, 325 304-5, 318, 333 and Fig. 18
borders, boundaries, 177-8, 184-5; of Chilon, 283
sanctuaries, 208-9 Chimaira, 198
Boreas (North Wind), 43-4, 50, 61 Chios, 248-9, 280, 300, 336
boukoleion,243 Chiron, 52-4, 125
bovines, as sacrificial victims, 187, 199, Chloi:a, 226-7
216-20, 225-6, 228, 230-6, 333; choai, 17, 110-14
other, 55 Choes, chous, 69-70, 242
'branch cult', 'branch sanctuary', 269, Cholargos, 240-1
333-4, 336; see also Eleusinion choruses, 20, 238, 256, 257, 260, 274,
Branchidai, 289, 292, 299-301 279-80, 314-16
Brasidas, 22-3 chresmologoi,162, 164-8
Brauron, 189, 265, 268-70 Christian sources, 133, 312
bread, 30, 159, 215, 232 1 235, 240, 333; Christianity, 6 1 19, 202-3, 265
see also cakes Chryse, 90
Brimo, 131, 133 Chryses, 90
Briseis, 179 Chrysippos, 83-4
Bromios, 196, 198, 237-8 chthonian/chthonic gods, 15, 19,
buckthorn, 102, 106 92, 113-14, 118, 131-3, 204,
Buddhism, 140 210, 214-15, 229; see also earth,
Burkert, Walter, 213, 234 underworld
Byzantium, 187-8 'chthonian' sacrifice, 108-9, 214-15,
234; see also enagismos,entemnein
cakes and sweetmeats, 91, 127, 129, Cicero, M. Tullius, 183-4
152-3, 155, 200, 215, 221-3, 231, city, see polis
240, 249, 308, 310 city-founders, founding, 15, 188, 166-8,
Calabria, 131, 267 328-9
calendars, sacrificial, 3, 15, 121, 214, Cleland, Liza, 270, 275
224-32 cloth, 24, 110, 175, 309-10; see also
Carians, 279 ribbons
Carthaginians, 271; see also Phoenicians clothing: catalogues, 189, 268-70;
castration, 39-41, 207 offered to deity, 264-5 and Fig. 12,
caves, 16, 23-5, 52, 55, 96-7, 123-6 268-70; regulations, 135-6, 195, 231,
and Fig. 3, 246, 258 234, 321, 325-6; old, worn at Eleusis,
cemeteries, 130, 133; see funerals, 314, 316
tombs Clytemnestra, see Klytaimestra
centaurs, 52, 54, 125, 159 cockerel, as sacrifice, 199-204
Chairephon, 144 colonies (apoikiai), 328-9, 336-7
Chalkis, 20, 61 comet, 294 '
GENERALINDEX 355
consecrated (hieroi)men and women, 251, 261-2, 270-5, 276-7, 281,

320-8 284-301, 331, 334-5; see also oracles
contests, 53 1 119-20 1 165, 182, 194, Delphinion, 225, 227
217, 265, 274-5, 279-84, 315, 322, demarch (demarchos),253
326; see also athletes, athletics demes, of Attica, 158-60, 177, 210, 220,
corruption, bribery, of oracles, seers, 224~30, 236-7, 238-41, 253-4, 268
etc., 162-3, 186, 188, 285-6, 298-9 Demeter, 15, 30, 33-4, 54, 57-8, 78, 95 1
council (boule), 176 1 178, 235-6, 249, 99-100, 178, 180, 225-7, 253, 260,
323-4, 337-8 267-8, 284--5, 296, 301-2, 312-19,
country places, 16, 23-5, 96-7, 100-1 322-4 1 327 1 338; Homeric Hymn to, 54 1
Crete, Cretans, 135-6, 148-9 1 172, 56, 99-100; see also Thesmophorian
257-9; see also Knossos Goddesses, Two Goddesses
Croesus (Kroisos), 115, 272-4, 285, demiourgos,77; (official), 323 1 328
289-93, 336 democracy, 142-3, 178, 241, 243, 246,
crossroads, 137, 153-6 325, 338
crowns, see garlands Demokritos, 36, 149
cult: founding, 95, 98-101, 123-6, Demon son of Demomeles, 251
328-39; meaning of word, 2 Demophon, 54, 99-100, 313,318
curses: curse-tablets, 118-19, 138-40; Demosthenes, 93, 116, 127-30, 136,
public, and in oaths, 171, 174-5, 176, 178, 241-2, 252, 293-5
177-83 Deo, Deio, 33-4, 267-8; see Demeter
Cyclops, see Kyklops Dcrveni Papyrus, 29 1 33-5 1 118
Cyprus, Cyprians/Cypriots, 21-2, 98-9, Deukalion, 70-1
331, 337-8 'devotion' to deity, 115-16 1 119-26
Cyrene, 22, 51-4; cathartic law of, diabateria, 185
102-7, 203, 211 Diagoras of Melos, 145, 183-4, 312
Cyrus (Kyros), 290-1, 293, 300, 336 Diasia, 225, 227, 229-30
Cyrus the younger, 187 Didyma, see Branchidai
dietary prescription, 101 1 105, 107,
Darius, 101, 113 172-3 1 207; see also food, impure
Dawn (Eos, Heos), 57-8, 79-80, 120 Dindymene Mother, see Mother of the
death, the dead, 15, 17, 58, 88 1 101-3, Gods
110-15, 136, 150, 153, 155, 170-1, dining, 103, 112, 126, 130, 135, 152,
190-1, 195, 205-7, 243, 279-80, 293, 17~ 189, 193-4, 204-5, 214-1~
311; and initiation, 129-33, 313-19; 218-19, 228, 239-40, 323, 327,
of Adonis, 126---7;oracle of dead, 286; 333-4
see also afterlife, funerals, underworld Dinos, 144-5
decrees, 194, 204-6, 221-4, 235-6, 245, Diodorus Siculus, 205, 271
249, 253-4, 337-8 Diokles, 312
dedications, 24, 78, 95, 99, 125, 178 1 Diomedes, 45, 47, 62
183-4, 189, 193-4, 199-203, 207-8, Dione, Diona, 286, 294-6
246, 264-75, 280,297,301,303 Dionysia, 156-7, 225, 229 1 237-8
Fig. 16, 304-8, 321, 332-4, 336 Dionysos, 20, 25, 30-1, 34-6, 50, 70,
deer, sacrificial victim, 212 Fig. 9 80, 85-6, 117, 128, 132, 135-6, 183,
deisidaimi5n,deisidaimonia, 102 1 112, 196, 198, 225-6, 229, 237-8, 245,
115, 128, 152-6 255, 262-3, 268, 274-5, 277, 294,
Delos, 54-5, 57-8, 102, 215 1 263, 314-15; 'in the Marshes', 209 1 241-4;
278-81 in Orphic rites, 130-3; Skyllites, in
Delphi, 20, 52, 55-7, 78-9, 93 1 103 1 Kos, 232-5
105-6, 115, 122-3, 152, 158, 162-3, Diopeithes, 167-8
165, 170, 180-1, 184, 195-9, 238, Dioskouroi, 31 1 185, 230, 327
356 GENERALINDEX
disease, 18, 28-9 1 58, 90-1, 101 1 103, eiresione,229

105, 109-10, 172-4 1 184 1 190-1; see elasteros, 102, 107-9; see also alastor
also healing elective religion, 115-41
dithyramb, 229 1 237-8 1 255 . Elektra, 92-3, 114
divination, prophecy, 13-14, 161-70, elements, 114-15, 134, 148
190-1, 216, 281-2, 284-302; see also Eleusinion, 267, 329, 334
seers Eleusis, 19, 72, 76, 78-9, 95, 99-100,
Dodds, E.R. 86-7
1
115, 117,. 128, 130, 133, 143, 170,
Dodona, 31, 72, 83, 92 1 285-9, 294-6, 175, 208, 246-7, 252, 265, 268,
331; sec also oracles 311-19, 326, 328 1 334-5; Eleusinian
dogs, 82-3, 153, 156 1 221-2, 307 war, 166; see also mysteries
'do-it-yourself' ritual, 109, 138, 151 1 Elis, 164-5, 190, 255; see also Olympia
156-7, 214, 222-3, 244-5, 247-9 Empedocles, 117, 132-5
dolls, 137-8 and Fig. 4 enagismos/enagizein,23 1 103 1 215;
Dorians, non-Dorians, 20, 68 71,
1 see also 'chthonian' sacrifice
208-9, 233, 276, 327; 'Dorian war', Enkelados, 195
191; Hexapolis, Pentapolis, 278; entemnein, 22-3, 215; see also
tribes, 68 231, 233
1 'chthonian' sacrifice
Dorotheos, 109 entrails, in sacrifice, 109, 168, 183,
doves, 286, 288-9, 295 216-1~ 22~ 231,234
dramatic contests, see poetic contests Enyalios, 177-8
dreams, 88 1 93 1 94-9, 153, 156, 298-9, Enyo, 177-8
302-8 and Fig. 16, 324, 329-31, 337; Eos, see Dawn
dream interpreters, 153, 156 Epeiros, 286
drums (tympana), 126-7 1 259-60 ephebes, 177-8
drunkenness, 126, 141-3, 310-11; Ephesia (festival), 279, 281
see wine Ephesian letters, 119, 140-1
Dymanes, 68, 231, 233 Ephcsos, 278, 336; Artemis of, 141, 329,
333-4, 336-7
earth, 15-17, 30, 148; Athenians born ephors, Spartan, 185-6
from, 243; Delphi midpoint of, 196, epic, 37, 76; see also Homer
198; in tripartite universe, 43-5, Epic Cycle, 67 1 84
119, 259-60, 263; location of dead, Epicurus, 14, 142
113-15 (see also underworld); role in Epidauros, 120 1 199, 220-2, 247, 257,
purification, 110, sacrificial blood to 259-60, 297-8, 302, 304-8, 310,
flow into, 108-9, 214-15; see also 335-6
chthonian gods, underworld epilepsy, 30, 109-10, 153, 172-3
Earth, as goddess, 16, 30, 33-4, 39-42, epimeletai, 176-7
51, 52, 54, 68, 76-7, 121, 210, 228, Epimenides, 172
301; in oaths, 43-5, 179-80; in Epio, Epione, 199, 201, 256-7
Orphic belief, 131-1 epiphanies, 88, 94-5, 99-101, 183,
earthquakes, 48, 184, 189-90, 255 188-9, 211-12, 329-31
east, 113, 303 · epithets, divine, 6, 15, 31, 45, 48, 49,
Echetl(ai)os, 189 65, 14~ 231,249,263,268,277,
ecstasy, trance, 127, 136, 163-4, 207, 296, 298 1 302, 318; see also under
238, 252, 285 individual gods
Egypt, Egyptians, 13-14, 30, 82, 169, Epizelos, 188-9
256, 286, 301; in Athens, 330, 337-8; eponyms, eponymoi, 68 1 70-1, 228,
Herodotus on, 6-7, 31-2 1 117, 134, 279, 293-4
158, 197, 288-9, 319 Erchia (Attica), 227, 230, 238
Eileithyia, 63, 332 Erechtheion, 236 ,
GENERALINDEX 357
Erechtheus, 54, 61, 166, 171, 228, 243 fire, 35, 68-9, 95, 99-100, 101, 168-9,
Eresos (Lesbos), 206-8 185,193, 21~ 218-1~ 261-~ 31;
Erichthonios, 243 see also altars, elements, sacrifice
Erigone, 243 (divination), thunderbolt
Erinyes, 16-17, 45, 47, 102, llO, ll8, firstfruits (aparchai,akrothinia), 78-9,
179-80 265,.,267-8, 270, 272, 274
Erythrai, 128, 252, 255-7 fleece, 104, 107, 252-3; see also skins,
eschatology, ll4-15, 129-134; see wool
afterlife flock~ 158-9, 205-6
Etruria, 331 flood, 71
Euboia, 61, 66 flowers, 159, 237, 312
Euboulcus, 131-2 foods, pure and impure, 101, 105, 107,
euhemerism, 30-1, 149 172-3, 207
Eukles, 131-2 footwear, 205-6, 321, 326
Eumenides, 17, 210 foreign gods, 115-16, 126-9, 330, 337-9
Eumolpidai, 170, 313 Fortune, Good (Agathe Tychc), 1, 294-6
Eumolpos, 312-13 founding cities, 15, 166-8, 188, 328-9;
eunuchs, 206-7 cults/sanctuaries, 95, 98-101, 123-6,
euphemia, 234; see also silence 329-39
Euripides, 10-11, 34-6, SO, 55-7, 62, fountains, see springs
69-70, 72-3, 79-82, 85-6, ll4-16, funerals, 105, 110-12, 170-1, 190, 293;
121-3, 135-7, 142, 169-70, 189, see also death
195-200, 237, 239, 260, 269, 276, Furies, see Erinyes
315
Europa, 135, 181 Gaia, see Earth
Eurystheus, 68, 82-4 galloi, 206-7
Euthydemos of Eleusis, priest, 170, 221 Ganymedes, 60
Euthyphro(n), 26-8, 76, 89 garlands (wreaths, crowns), ll3, 121-3,
Euxenippos, 298-9 1S2-5, 159, 185-6, 215, 220-2, 231,
evil, problem of,. 10, 218-19; see also 282,293
justice and injustice, divine garlic, 153, 156, 240
exegctes (cxegetai), 109, ll2-13, 151, Ge, see Earth
153, 157-8, 170-1, 173 Gelon of Syracuse, 270-1
experts, see practitioners (religious) Genetyllis, 126
genital organs, 86-7, 158-9; removal of,
fabrication, 101; see also corruption 40-1, 76, 86; see also phallus
fate, 9, 17, 89, 131, 291 genre, importance in evaluating source,
Fates (Moirai), 199, 203, 281, 283, 3
297-8, 314, 316 Geraistian nymphs, 332
fertility, 158-9; see also childlessness Gerarai (Honouring Women), 225,
festivals, 68-70, 129-30, 156-7, 161, 241-2, 244
175, 180-2, 194, 223-44, 247-8, geras, 233, 245, 248-9; see also priests,
253-4, 257-8, 273, 278-84, 333, sacrifice
338-9 Giants, gigantomachies, 39 Fig. 2, 75-6,
figs, 240, 308 159-60, 195, 197-8
figurines, 137-8 and Fig. 4 Glaukos (Iliad), 48; (of Sparta), 174,
finance, 3, 220-1, 226-7, 231, 234-6, 180-2, 300
239-41, 251, 333-4; see also money Glaukothea, 128
(paid by worshippers) goat, as sacrificial victim, 103, 166,
fines, 205-6, 209, 247-8, 304-5, 321, 185, 220, 225-6, 229-30, 232, 253,
323-4; see also penalties 333
358 GENERALINDEX
god, gods, 5-17, 26-36, et passim; Harmony (Harmonia), 34, 274

anthropomorphic or otherwise, 12, headband (strophion), 311, 324, 328;
29-30, 71; callerl theoi, 31-3; concern see also ribbons, stemmata
for humans, 12-14, 142; conflict healing, healers, 6, 26, 28-9, 133-4,
among, 38-49, 73-6, 81-2, 159.:.60; 151, 172-4, 199-202, 247-8, 264-5,
epithets of, 61 15, 91; euhemeristic 286,295,297,299, 302-11, 335-6
view of, 30-1; favourite places of, Health (Hygieia), 125, 199, 201, 222,
90-1; 'foreign' 1, 115-16, 126-9, 235-6, 256-7, 334-5
330, 337-9; 'god(s)' as auspicious health, prayers for/divine involvement
beginning, 1, 294.:...6;heavenly bodies, inj 93, 95, 125, 156-7, 160, 200, 268,
as natural or visible gods, 30-1, 77, 293-5, 301-2; see also healing
147-9; immortality of, 5, 101; in hearth, city, 20, 177-8, 232 (see also
mythology, 37-67, 71-87, 159-60; prytaneion); cult-place, 262, 301;
justice or injustice of, 10-11, 55-7, private, 111-12, 152, 180, 261
129-30, 141, 146-9, 223, 299-300; Hebe (Youth), 18-19
live in sky, 35-6, 92; names of, 26, hecatomb, 215
31-4, 91; 'new' gods, 85, 89, 115, Hector, 43, 62, 65, 169, 215
126-9, 143-5, 329-30, 334-6, 337-9; Hegemone, 177-8
Olympian and chthonian, 6, 15-17; Hegesistratos of Elis, 165
omniscient or otherwise, 13, 93; Hekate, 110, 119-21, 139, 152-3,
punish human wrongdoing, 35-6, 70; 155-6, 212 Fig. 9, 220
purity of, 101-2, 110; terminology Helen (Helene), 83-4, 169, 211-12, 226,
for, 5, 11; unknowability of, 5, 146 230
Goddesses, Two, 253, 265, 267, 312, Helenos, 161, 163, 169-70
315, 334; see also Demeter, Kore, Heliadai, 69
Thesmophorian Goddesses Helike, 238
Gods, Great (Megaloi Theoi), 320, Helios, see sun
322-4, 327, 334 Hellanikos, 60
Gods, Twelve, 235, 238, 281-3 Hellas, 32, 97-8, 159
gold, 94, 108, 122, 184, 215-17, 271-3, Hellen, 71
290; gold leaves, 131-3 Hellenes, 209
goose, as sacrificial victim, 212 Fig. 9 hellenistic period, 1, 30, 119, 200, 205,
Gorgons, 196, 199 207, 221, 252, 255, 265, 295, 330,
Graces (Charites), 31, 51 334
grains, 204; see also barley, pankarpia Helloi, see Selloi
Gyges, 291 Heos, see Dawn
gynaikonomos, 225, 321, 326 Hephaisteion, 194 Fig. 8
Hephaistos, 30, 44, 47, 49, 68, 75-6, 86,
Hades (god), 56, 73-4, 82-3, 114, 194 Fig. 8 1 198, 308
131-2, 139, 261, 313, 318; (place), Hera, 14, 18-19, 31, 33-4, 38, 40,
36, 97, 114, 131, 138; see also 43-50, 56, 62-3, 66, 73-6, 81, 84-6,
underworld 185,225,267,277,295
Hagna, 322-4, 327 Heraclitus, 102, 211
Hagnon, 22-3 Herakles, 15, 18-19, 44, 54, 62-3, 68,
hair, animal, cut from victim, 179, 216, 73-4, 80-4, 125, 152, 177-8, 182,
244; human, female, loose, 259-60; 195, 197-8, 281-3, 293; children of,
female, regulations for, 321; children's 18-19, 83-4, 226
or male, cut, as offering, 54, 296-8 heralds, 161, 175, 179, 184, 199, 225,
Halieis, 335-6 231-4, 241
Halikarnassos, 278 Herda, Alexander, 224, 275
Haloa, 254 Hermaphroditos/oi, 153, 155 , ,
GENERALINDEX 359
Hermes, 9-10, 25, 46-9, 52, 57-8, Hippolytos, 79-80, 121-2

73, 99, 113-14, 125, 139, 144, 152, Hippomachos of Leukas, 165
155, 158-9, 220-2, 230, 263, 301-2, Hipponion (Calabria), 131
319, 322-3; Agoraios, 319, 322-3; holocaust, see sacrifice
Argeiphontes (Slayer of Argos), 48-9; Homer, 5, 15, 20-2, 25-6, 31-3, 38-9,
Dolios (Deceitful), 140; Eriounios, 51, "13-4, 83, 85, 94-5, 130, 133, 141,
140; Katochos (Possessor), 138-40; 150, 161, 163, 190, 213-14, 216, 219,
Homeric Hymn to, 56, 73, 155 259, 279-81; Iliad, 7-9, 39, 43-9, 60,
Hermion, Hermione, 295-6 62-3, 65, 67, 71, 73-4, 85-6, 90-2,
berms, 152, 158-9, 197, 302, 319-20; 114-15, 174, 179-80, 198, 201-2,
mutilation of, 142-4 215, 255, 261-2, 286-7, 295; Odyssey,
Herodas, 1, 161, 199-204 1 246, 264-6 9-11, 23-4, 57-8, 60, 62, 64-5, 94,
Herodotus, 6 20-1, 26, 29-34, 37-8,
1 141, 163-4, 216-18, 286-7, 300
50, 61, 72, 79, 83, 85, 94, 100-1, 105, Homeric hymns, 25, 95, 99-100, 160,
117, 130, 134, 146, 158-9, 163-5, 256, 262-3; to Aphrodite, 58-61, 80;
180-1, 188-9, 197, 208-9, 211-12, to Apollo, 279-81; to Athena, 262-3;
272-4, 278-9, 283, 285-6, 288-93, to Demeter, 312-13, 315, 318-19; to
299-301, 306,317, 319-20, 331,336 Hermes, 155; to Hestia, 262; to the
heroes, 6, 15-16, 18-23, 31, 92, 95, Mother, 261
98-100, 102-3, 105, 110, 152, 160-1, homicide, 102, 104, 107-9, 170-1,
183, 189, 204, 212, 214-15, 225-30, 206-7
243, 255, 269, 281, 286, 293-4, 302, honey, 21, 24, 35, 92, 113, 159, 204,
313, 331; in epic and myth, 37-8, 50, 215, 231, 235, 240
62, 71, 72, 80, 114 Honouring Women (Gerarai), 225,
heroines, 160-1, 212, 225-6, 228, 269 241-2, 244
heroon, 153, 155 Horai (Seasons), 52, 54, 178, 237
Hesiod, 31-3, 38-42, 44, 49, 50-1, hosiii/hosion/hosiotes,26-8, 103, 105-6,
57-8, 70-1, 73-7, 80, 82, 87, 91, 116, ,78, 207
119-21, 126, 130, 155, 198, 218-19, household cult, 111-12, 152-8, 170;
223, 259-61, 263 see also hearth, private
Hestia, 31, 33-4, 35, 152, 177-8, 231-3, Hundred-Handed, the (Hekatoncheires),
262-2, 332; Homeric Hymn to, 262; 41
see also hearth hunting, hunters, 48, 58, 221-2, 228,
hestiatorion, 193-4, 205; see also dining 333
hieromnemones,240, 246 hybris, 10, 79, 125-6, 160; see also
hieron (holy), 28 178, 262; (sanctuary), violence
192, 204-6; hieroi ('consecrated') in hydra, 195, 197
mysteries, 320-8 Hygieia, see Health
hierophant, 143, 313, 324, 328 Hylleis, 68, 231, 233
hierophylakes,231, 233 hymns, 16-17, 33, 90,113,134,
hieropoioi,176, 231-4, 235-6, 246 159-60, 237-8, 255-63; see also
hierotamiai, 204-5; see also treasurers dithyramb, Homeric hymns, Orphic
hierothytai, 327 writings, paian
hiketes/hikesios, see suppliants Hypatos, 208; see also Zeus Hypatos
Himera, 140, 271 Hypereides, 298-9
Hinduism, Indian religion, 6, 126-7, Hyperion, 68, 263
140, 158 Hyperpedios and heroines, 226, 230
Hippocratic writers, 26, 28-9, 102, hypophetai, 286-7
109-10, 118, 172-4, 210-11
Hippodameia, 84 Iacchos, 313-15, 316 Fig. 17
Hippokrates (father of Peisistratos), 283 Ialysos, 204-6, 278
360 GENERALINDEX
iamata, 297, 304-8, 310, 335-6; see also Isyllos, 257

Epidauros, healing Italy, Greek cities in, 117, 130-1, 264
Iambe, 316 · Fig. 12, 267; see also Sicily
Iamids, 165 Ithaca, 23-4, 287
Iapetos, 42, 218 ivy, 237
Iasion, Iasios, 5 7-8
Jaso, 199, 221-2, 256-7, 309, 311 jars, 157-8, 326
iatra, 202 Jewish law, 56
Ida, mountain, in Crete, 135-6; in Julian (emperor), 255
Troad, 43 justice and injustice, 10-11, 258; divine,
Idaian Daktyls, 320 10-11, 129-30, 141, 146-9, 223,
identity, religious observance marking, 299-300; human, 27, 35-6, 75,
32, 276-81 148-50, 159-60
Ikarios (father of Erigone), 243; (father
of Penelope), 97 Kabiroi, Kabeiro( 319-20; see also
Iliad, see Homer Megaloi Theoi (Great Gods),
Ilion, 46, 66-7; see Troy Samothrace
Ilissos, 61 Kadmos, 18, 62, 315
images, cult, 6, 192-3, 209, 230, Kalamaia, 253-4
269-70, 301-2, 307; see also statues Kalchas, 161, 165, 169
immortality, 5, 16, 25, 52, 54, 58-60, Kallias, dadouchos, 128
100, 101, 125, 133, 313 Kallichoron, Kallichoros, 99, 317
impiety, 13, 26, 28-9, 36, 89, 109-10, Kalypso, 25, 50, 57-8, 60
115, 141-50, 181-2, 205, 299-300 kanephoroi,217, 233, 235, 237, 244
incense, 152-3, 155, 157, 159, 215, 231, Kassandra, 66-7
233, 235, 237, 249, 301; incense- Kastalia, 122-3
bearer, 231, 233 Kastor, 185, 230; see Dioskouroi
incest, divine, 82 Kekrops, 69, 178, 230
incubation, 298-9, 302-11, 336 Kcleos, 100, 312-13
initiations, 37, 87, 89, 116-19, 127-33, Keos, 110-12
135, 184, 208, 246, 252-3, 265, Kephalos, 58, 79-80, 171, 196-7, 298
311-28; see also mysteries Kerberos, 82
injustice, see gods, justice key, temple, 245 Fig. 11
intention, 180-1, 299-300 king, Spartan, 184-5; magistrate at
lo, 49, 62 Athens, see basileus
Iobaccheia, 242-3 Klcidemos, 112-13, 170
Iolaos, 195, 198 Kleisthenes of Athens, 243, 250
Ion, 55-7, 71, 116, 121-4, 195-9, 298, Kleisthenes of Sikyon, 20-1, 331
301 Kleoboulos, 166
Ionians, 56, 71, 209, 276, 278-81, Klymene, 42
299-300; Ionian Dodekapolis, 278, Klytaimestra, 9, 92-3, 114
280; Ionian revolt, 21 Knidos, 99, 278
Ioulis, 110-12 knife, used in sacrifice, 179, 217, 244,
Iphigeneia, 69-70, 135, 269 245 Fig, 11
Iphikles, 198 Knossos, 147; see also Crete
Iphikrates, 128 Kolias, Cape, 126
Iris, 44 Kolonos, 209-10
Isaias, 156-7, 239-40, 274-5 Konon, 230
Isis, 330, 337-8 Kore, 99, 253, 267, 301-2, 312-13,
Isocrates, 77-9, 317-18 317-18; see also Persephone
Isthmia, Isthmos, 154 Fig. 5, 277, 284 Korybantcs, Kyrbantes, 128, Z52, ,20
GENERALINDEX 361
Kouretes, 135-6, 252, 258, 320 lightning, 80, 95, 209, 227; see also
Kouros, in Crete, 257-9 thunderbolt
Kourotrophos, 120-1, 225-6, 228, Limnaion, 241-4
297-8 Lindos, 106, 278; Lindian Chronicle,
krater, see mixing-bowl; kraterismos,252 106
Kreon, 18 Lloyd, .G.R., 173, 191
Kreousa (daughter of Erechtheus), 55-7, Lochia, 297-8, 332
71, 196-7, 298 Lokroi Epizephyrioi, 264 Fig. 12
Kreousa (Naiad), 51 lot: in oracles, 285-6, 289, 295; to
Kritias, 35-6, 149; see Sisyphos select the Consecrated, 324-5;
Kroisos, see Croesus priests, 246, 249-51
Kronos, 38-42, 74, 76-7, 81-2, 136, Loxias, 195, 197, 291, 293; see also
145, 258, 261-2; hill of, at Olympia, Apollo, Delphi
281, 283; Zeus son of, 47, 63, 119, Lupu, Eran, 227, 275
257-8, 270 Lydia, Lydians, 84, 272-3, 279, 285,
Kteatos, 281 289-93, 299-300
Kybele, 128, 136, 173; see Mother of the Lydos, 279
Gods Lykia, Lykians, 22, 48, 301
Kyklops, 41, 62 Lykourgos of Boutadai (Athens), 174-5,
Kyrbantes, see Korybantes 299, 337-8; of Sparta, 185-6
Kyrene, Kyrana, see Cyrene Lysias, 175
Kyros, see Cyrus Lysimache, priestess, 251
Kythereia, 59, 61; see Aphrodite Lysistrata, 126-7
Lakedaimonians, see Sparta, Spartans Macedonia, 71, 139, 256

Lakonia, 327 Machaon, 199, 202, 256-7
Lampon, seer, 161, 167-8 madness, 17-18, 59, 63, 73, 80-1, 153,
lamps, 301 163, 168
Laomedon, 23, 48,199 mageiros,96, 244, 249, 327; see also
Lapiths, 51, 54 slaughterer
laurel (bay), 55, 121-3, 153-4, 231, 235, magic, 28-9, 89-90, 118, 129-30,
261, 321, 325 137-41, 173
lawsuits, 140, 144-5, 156-7, 170-1, Magnes, 70-1
174-5, 181-2, 293 Magnesia, 61, 71
lead, 108, 138-40, 286, 195 magoi, 118, 172-3, 244
Lemnos, 138 Maia, 25
Lenaia, 275 Makedon, 70-1
Leotychidas, 180 Maleatas, Maleates, 221-2, 302
Lesbos, 206-7, 277; see also Mytilene Maniai, 17
Lethe, 131-2 mantis, manteis, see seers
Leto, 46-7, 49, 55, 62, 120, 226, 332; mantras, 140
son of Leto (Apollo), 51, 55, 122, Marathon, 84; battle of, 188-9, 270,
195 272
Leukippos, 149 Mardonios, 165
Leuktra, battle of, 324 marriage, 104, 107, 139, 229, 239, 241;
libations, 7-8, 17, 34-5, 91-2, 152, 157, sacred, 225, 229, 241-3
159, 176, 179, 183-4, 189, 215, 222, marshes, Dionysos in the, 241-4
231-2, 234, 262, 264, 268, 320; for Massalia (Marseilles), 337
dead (choai), 17, 110-14 meadows, 121-2, 131, 313-15, 319,
Libya, 18, 31-2, 52-3, 103-5, 263, 286, 333
288-9; see also Cyrene meals, see dining
362 GENERALINDEX
meat, sacrificial, 160-1, 193, 200-1, moon, 30, 91, 129, 144-5, 147-8,
204-5, 214-18, 227-8, 232, 234-7, 282-3
247-8, 283; other, 172-3 Mother of the Gods, 33-4, 128, 135-6,
Medes, 270, 272, 290, 292; see also 173,207, 25~ 259-61
Persians mountains, 23, 25, 29, 43-4, 45, 100-1,
medical writers, see Hippocratic writers 110, 135-6, 249; Mountain Mother,
Megabyzos, 333-4 see Mother of the Gods
Megaloi Theoi (Great Gods), 320, mourning, 110-11; for Adonis, 126-7;
322-4, 327, 334 . see funerals
Megara (wife of Herakles), 18 Mousaios, 33, 77, 129-30, 162
Megarid, 230 murder, see homicide
Mekisteus, 20-1 Muse(s), 50-1, 71, 79, 129-30, 260, 281
Mekone, 218-19 music, musicians, 8 Fig. 1, 35, 55-6,
Melanippos, 20-3 159, 185-6, 217, 232-3, 237, 257-8,
Meleagros, 71 261-2, 264, 279-81, 282-3, 314,
Melos, 144-5, 267 322-3
Memory (Mnemosyne), 51, 132, 221 Mycenae, 83-4
Menander, 18, 96-7, 204 Mykale, 278
Menclaos, 169, 212 Mylasa, 279
menstruation, 101 Myrrhine, priestess, 250-1
Messenia, Messenians, 271-2 and myrtle, 122-3, 153, 155, 251, 313, 315
Fig. 14, 312, 324, 327 Mysians, 279
Metaneira, 99-100, 313 Mysos, 279
metempsychosis, see rebirth mystagogues, 324, 328
Meter, see Mother of the Gods mysteries, 37, 117, 119, 175, 208, 246,
Metis, 263 311-28, 329; Eleusinian, 19, 76, 78-9,
Meton, 167 100, 115, 130, 142-3, 145, 175, 252,
metragyrtes, 128 311-19, 334-5; of Andania, 175,
Miletos, Milesians, 180, 224, 278, 289, 320-8; of Samothrace, 184, 319-20
299 mythology, 5, 14-15, 19, 20-1, 32-5,
military contexts, see armour, ephebes, 37-87, 262, 279, 317-18; aetiological,
war, weapons 67-71, 218-19; bacchic-Orphic, 116;
milk, 35, 92, 113, 131-2, 215, 231, 235 criticism of, 71-6, 79-82; in art,
Mimas (giant), 195, 198 39 Fig. 2, 195-8; in initiations, 37,
Minos, 136, 182 76, 116-17, 131-23, 319-20; Near
Minotaur, 136 Eastern, 41; succession myths, 38-42,
mirror, divination by, 301-2 261; see also allegory, rationalisation
miscarriage, 104, 107 Mytilene, 277, 300
misunderstanding, 287, 290-3, 307
Mitra, 30 naiads, 23-4, 51
mixing-bowl (krater), 23-4, 70, 127-8, names, of gods, 26, 31-4, 91;
159-60, 184, 213 Fig. 10, 252, 272-3, significant, 59, 251, 297
293 naophylakes, 176
Mnasistratos, 321-5 Naulochos, 98-9
Mnemosyne, see Memory Naupaktos, 271-2
Mnesimachos, 137 Fig. 4 Nauplios, 67
Molpoi, of Miletos, 224 Nausikaa, 65
money, paid by worshippers, 128-30, Neaira, 241-2
173,200,204, 247-8, 303,333 Neanias (Young Man), 225, 229
month(s), 153, 155, 160, 225-6, 283; Near Eastern myths, 41
see calendars nectar, 60; see also ambrosia '
GENERALINDEX 363
Nemea, 277 Oinomaos, 281-2

Neokleides, Athenian politician, 308-10 Okeanos (Ocean), 42, 51, 54, 59-60, 77
neokoros, (attendant/sacristan), 122-3, Olbia, 117
200-1, 203-4, 246-8, 303-4, 334 ololygmos (ululation), 17, 127, 129,
Nereids, 31, 65, 67 216-17
Nestor, 216-17 Olympia, 162, 270-2, 276-7, 281-4,
Night (goddess), 16-17, 86 333-4
night, cult performed at, 18-19, 214, Olympian and chthonian, 6, 15-17,
236-7, 314-16, 338-9; see also 92, 108-9; sacrifice, 214-15; see also
pannychis sacrifice
Nike (Victory), 235-6, 249-51, 270-2 Olympian Gods, 17, 39, 44, 92, 120,
and Fig. 14 180, 237-8, 293
Nikias, Athenian general, 280; Peace of, Olympos, 11, 16, 18-19, 43-4, 45-6,
284,335 75-6, 80, 82, 86, 59, 261-3; in
Nile, 30, 256 human geography, 70
Ninnion, dedicator, 316 Fig. 17 omens, portents, 21, 127, 138, 142, 153,
Nisos, 226, 230 155-6, 161, 164-6, 208-9; in general
non-citizens, 237, 241-2, 247, 276, 330 sacrifice, 200, 203; in war, 183-8
non-Greek peoples and traditions, 26, omphalos (navel), 57, 196, 198-9, 238,
29-30, 31-3, 38, 41, 61, 69-70, 91, 262; see also stones, sacred
182, 186-8, 276, 279, 286, 330; Onesilos, 21-2
see also Egypt, Lykia, Pelasgians, oracles (oracular sanctuaries), 13-14,
Persians, and other names of 21-2, 31-2, 55-7, 61, 63, 93, 162-3,
individual peoples 165, 180-1, 190-1, 207,251, 273-~
North Wind, 43-4, 50, 61 280-1, 284-302 and Fig. 15, 328-9,
nympholepsy, 123-4 331-2 and Fig. 18, 334-6; see also
nymphs, 6, 8 Fig. 1, 15-16, 23-5, 59, Delphi, Dodona
61, 123-5, 220, 222, 258; Geraistian Oreithyia, 61
Nymphs of Birth, 332 Orestes, 9, 17, 69-70, 93, 102, 276
orgeones,160-1, 253; see also thiasoi
oaths, 43-5, 63, 83-5, 118, 134, 170-1, Orion, 57-8
174-5, 177-82, 225-7, 231, 241-2, Oropos, 247-8, 273-4, 297-9, 302-4
244, 320-1, 325 and Fig. 16, 308
Oceanids, 42 Orpheus, 33, 77, 86-7, 129-30
Odysseus, 23-4, 50, 57-8, 62, 94, 163, Orphic systems and practices, 115-17,
263, 287 129-33, 141, 153, 156, 252, 312, 320
Odyssey, see Homer Orphic writings, 33-4, 39, 77, 86-7, 129
Oedipus, 16, 21, 23, 209-10, 285, 291 Ortygia, 57-8; see Delos
offerings to dead, 110-14 Ourania (Heavenly Aphrodite), 30, 34,
offerings to gods, 89-93, 196, 199, 202, 338
215, 217, 221-2, 229-55; see also Ouranos (Sky), 38-42, 43-5, 68 1 74,
dedications, sacrifice 76-7, 86, 119, 121, 131-2
officials, civic (archontes,etc.), 174, owls, 153, 155
176-7, 182, 185-6, 205, 226-7, ox, see bovines
231-2, 235-6, 246, 253; specifically
concerned with sacred matters, paian (hymn), 56, 122-3, 183-4, 204,
176-7, 204-5, 231-4, 234-6, 240, 220, 255-7; to Poseidon, 190-1, 255
246,322,326 Paian, Paion (deity, epithet), 199, 201,
Ogygia, 5 7, 60 255
oil, 113, 153, 155 157-8, 204, 215, 240 Paiania (Attica), 96, 251
Oileus, 67 Paionios of Mende, 271-2 and Fig. 14
364 GENERALINDEX
Paktyes, 299-300 Penelope, 94, 97-8

Palamedes, 67 Pentheus, 35, 85
Palladion, 171 perfume, 112, 159
Pallas (= Athena), 17, 45, 66-7, 70, 97, Perikles, 161
163, 195, 198, 262-3; see also Athena perirrhanterion,153-4 and Fig. 5, 174,
Pamphyloi, 231, 233 195, 210-11, 272-3
Pan, 16, 25, 95-7, 100-1, 124-5, 263, perjury, see oaths
329-30 perquisites, see priests, sacrifice
Panake, Panakeia, 1_99,221-2, 256-7, Persephone, 56, 117, 131-2, 138-9,
309-11 318, 327; see also Kore, Two
Panathenaia, 17, 78, 224, 234, 235-7, Goddesses
280 Perseus, 63, 83-4
Pandion, 230 Persians, 21, 29-30, 61, 94, 95-6, 113,
Pandora, 166, 168, 219 118, 165, 173, 187, 189, 244, 270,
Panionion, Panionia, 278, 280 272, 289-93, 299-300; Persian Wars,
pankarpia, 93, 157-8 61, 100-1, 270-~ 285
pannychis, 19, 236-7, 316, 339 Persuasion (Peitho), 34, 52
Pantalkes, 125-6 Phaiakians, 64-5, 287
Paris, 169 Phaidra, 79-81
Parmenides, 81 Phaleron, 332
Paros, 208-9 phallus, 158-9, 319-20; see also genital
parthenoi (virgins), 107, 326 organs
Parthenon, 76 Phanes, 86
Pasiphae, 136 Phanodemos, 70
passwords, 131-3 Pharai, 301
Patara, 22 Pharsalos, 125-6
Patrai, 284-5, 302 Pherai (Thessaly), 97, 131
Patroklos, 92 Pherrephatta, see Persephone
Pausanias, travel writer, 20-1, 76, 189, Philios, 98-9
209,212,272,283, 301-2, 324,327 Philippides, 95, 100-1
Peace (Eirene), 17, 258 Philonis, 226, 230
Pegasos, 11, 198 Phoenicians, 288, 338; see also
Peiraieus, 138, 221-2, 225, 240, 245, Carthaginians
253-4, 311, 330, 335, 338-9 Phoibe, 211-12
Peisistratos, tyrant of Athens, 159, 164, Phoibos, 46, 48, 65, 73, 93, 121-3, 196,
279, 283 262, 267, 279, 287, 296-7; see also
Peitho (Persuasion), 34, 52 Apollo
pelanos, 199-200, 204 Phoinix, guardian of Achilles, 8, 71;
Pelasgians, 31-2, 158-9, 286-8, 319; family of Europa, 135
Pelasgian Zeus, 92 Phokaia, 336-7
Pelinaios, 248-9 Phokis, 289, 292
Pelion, 51, 53 Phrygia, Phrygians, 60, 66, 187, 339
Pella, 139 Phyle (Attica), 96; phyle, see tribes
Peloponnese, 83-4, 102, 180, 206, 209 Pieria, 70
Peloponnesian War, 22, 126, 142-3, piety (eusebeia),26-9, 78-9, 141,
168, 191, 272 197, 223, 241, 280, 339; see also
Pelops, 83-4, 281-2 'devotion'
penalties, 35, 103-4, 146, 205-6, 209, pig, piglet (sacrificial victim), 74, 76,
214, 236, 247-8, 253, 321-4, 326, 108, 160, 199, 220, 225-6, 228, 230,
328 231-2, 234, 266 Fig. 13, 313, 315,
Peneios, river, 52, 54 322-3, 333; forbidden, 205L6, !20
GENERALINDEX 365
pinax (tablet), 8 Fig. 1, 199, 201-2, Praxiteles, 199, 202

264-5 and Fig. 12, 316 Fig. 17 prayer, 11, 23-4, 26-8, 31, 35, 89-94,
Pindar, 7, 11, 18-19, 21, 29, 50-6, 159-60, 183-4, 189, 199-204, 222,
68-9, 72-4, 76, 105, 117, 150, 237-8, 231, 254-5, 266 and Fig. 13, 281,
255-6, 281-3, 313 290, 292-4, 301, 314-15, 320, 338-9;
Pisa (district of Olympia), 281-2 at sanifice, 216, 244, 247; in temple,
plague, see disease 193-4 and Fig. 7, 208-9, 211; to
Plataia, battle of, 164-5 dead, 114
Plato, 8, 14, 26-8, 37, 61, 72-7, 79, '81, precinct (temenos), 20-1, 123, 192,
91, 117, 119, 129-30, 137-8, 141-2, 204-6, 308,331,333, 335-6
144-50, 156, 158-60, 175, 181-2, Prerosia, see Proerosia
198, 204, 223, 252, 254-5, 294, 317, Presocratics, 35, 149; see also
319, 329-31, 333, 338-9 Anaxagoras, Demokritos, Empedocles,
Plerosia, see Proerosia Heraclitus, Parmenides, Pythagoras,
Pliny (the Elder), 251 Xenophanes
Plouton, see Hades (god) Priam (Priamos), 9, 64, 161, 170, 180
Plutarch, 21, 143, 175, 189, 255, 280, Priene, 98-9
286, 318-19 priestesses, 31, 70, 78, 83, 104, 127-9,
Plynteria, 226, 230 153, 156, 175, 203, 240, 252-4, 281,
Podaleirios, 199, 202, 256-7 288-9, 322-3, 337
poetic contests, 182, 194, 217, 265, priests, priestesses, 31, 65, 70, 83,
274-5, 279-81, 315,322 89-91, 102, 104, 122-3, 127-9, 143,
poetry, as transmitter of myth, 37, 147, 151, 161, 170, 176-8, 199-200,
73-6, 79-81, 147 203, 206-7, 208-~ 214,217,225,
polemarchs, 186, 328 228, 231-5, 240, 244-54, 266, 300,
polis, role in religion (including 304, 306, 308-9, 311, 321-3, 325,
subgroups of polis), 15-17, 19-23, 72, 328, 335; acquiring priesthood, 246,
74-5, 78-9, 115-16, 129-30, 142-3, 249-52; age of, 246-7; authority of,
146, 151-2, 161, 167-8, 173, 174-8, 246-8, 253-4; dedications by, 248,
182-6, 213-14, 220, 223-44, 246, 266-8; Egyptian, 288; of Eleusis, 143,
252-4, 253__:9,261-2, 265, 284-5, 175, 247; gender of, 235, 245, 286;
294-6, 311-12, 317-18, 324-5, self-constituted or unofficial, 127-9,
329-31, 338-9 153, 156, 246; payments to, 240,
pollution, 15, 20, 70, 88-9, 101-12, 249-50; perquisites of, 104, 201,
135-6, 153-6, 170-4, 206-7, 210-11, 203-4, 245, 247-9, 252, 311; see also
214, 223, 242-3, 280, 294; see also sacrifice, perquisites
purification, purity private cult, see public and private,
Polybos, 20-1 unofficial cult
Polydeukes, 185, 230; see Dioskouroi procession, 8 Fig. 1, 16-17, 212 Fig. 9,
Polyphemos, 62 223-4, 234-7, 255, 315, 316 Fig. 17,
popanon, 221; see cakes 322, 326, 338-9
portents, see omens Proclus, 259
Poseidon, 18-19, 30, 31, 34, 43-5, Prodikos of Keos, 26, 30-1 1 35, 149
46-8, 62, 64-7, 73-4, 120, 154 Fig. 5, Proerosia, 225, 227, 253-4
178, 180, 184, 190, 217, 225, 229, profane, secular (bebelos,bebiilos), 102,
255, 261, 281; P. Erechtheus, 54, 338; 105, 200, 203
P. Helikonios, 278 Prokris, 80, 171, 225-6, 228
practitioners, religious, 26, 28-9, 102, Prometheus, 41-2, 168 1 218-19
109-10, 117-18, 127-30, 133, 138, prophecies (spoken or written oracles),
141, 153-6, 161-74, 312 162, 164, 166-8; see also divination,
Praxidikai, 118 oracles, seers
366 GENERALINDEX
prophet, see seers Rhodes, 68-9, 106, 204-6, 278

prophetai, 285 Rhogios, 226
prophetess, 206-7, 288; see also Pythia ribbons, 305, 309-11; see also stemmata
prosodion, 255 . Right, see Themis
prosperity, prayers for, 156-7, 159-iSO ritual, passim; centrality of, 2, 88-9
prosphagion,see sphagion river gods, 52, 54, 332-3 and Fig. 18
prostitutes, 326 rivers, 30, 281-3, 332; see also water
prostrations, 91 ruler-cult, 1
Protagoras, 142
Protogonos, 86 Sabazios, 126-8, 153, 155
protumystai, 325 sacrifice, 7-8 and Fig. 1, 18-19, 26-30,
prytaneion, 20, 23, 107, 261; see also 31, 61, 62, 65, 68-9, 74, 76, 90-1,
hearth, city 100-4, 115, 117, 119, 121, 125-6,
prytaneis, 176-7, 235 129, 135, 137, 146-7, 153, 155-7,
prytany, 176, 249, 337 160-2, 166-8, 174-7, 190, 192-4,
public and private cult, 199-204, 196, 199-204, 211, 212-23 and
329-30, 333; see polis, role in Figs. 9 and 10, 224-37, 240-1, 243,
religion; unofficial cult 247, 252-4, 255, 264-5, 266 Fig. 13,
purification, 26, 28-9, 92, 102-10, 272, 280-4, 290, 292-5, 305-7, 315,
116, 118, 127-8, 153, 171, 171-4, 321-5, 328, 330, 332-3; bloodless
175, 205-~ 210-11, 25~ 253, 29~ sacrifice, 69, 91-3, 155, 199, 215,
309-10, 322-3, 327; of a sanctuary, 221-2, 229, 309-10; 1 chthonian'
103-7, 205-6, 222-3; of Delos, sacrifice, 22-3, 108-9, 214-15,
279-81; see also pollution 234 (see also enagismos, entemnein);
purity, 88, 91, 92, 101, 111, 116, 123, divination and omens, 164-5, 168-9,
153, 159-60, 173, 192-5, 206-7, 211, 200, 203, 212 Fig. 10, 216, 281-4;
242, 322; moral criteria for, 207; see foundation sacrifice, 166-8; god's
also pollution portion, 203-4, 218-19, 234, 244,
purple (-red), 24, 175, 290, 310, 321, 249; holocaust sacrifice, 214-15,
324 225-8, 231, 234; human sacrifice,
Pyanopsia, 225, 229 69-70, 135, 178, 183; in initiations,
Pylochos and heroines, 226, 230 76, 252-3, 315; oath-sacrifice, 177-80,
Pylos, 73, 217 320-1, 325; perquisites in sacrifice,
Pythagoras, 135 104, 200-1, 204, 228, 231-3, 235,
Pythagoreans, 115, 136, 173 245, 247; political bodies, 175-6;
Pythia, 20, 78, 163, 165, 180-1, 285, priests and others, 176, 244-7;
289-92, 294, 300 preliminary sacrifice (prothyma),
Pythion, 230, 240, 274-5 220-2, 305, 308; purificatory sacrifice,
Pytho, 52, 287, 290, 292; see also Delphi 103-4, 108-10, 175, 252-3, 315;
'private' sacrifice, 96, 199-204;
Rarian field, 315 'slaughter- sacrifice' (sphagion),
rationalisation: of cult prescription, 173; 110-11, 183, 188; thank-offerings
of myth, 72, 82-6, 288 (charisteria),305; war, 183-8, 190
rebirth, 115, 118, 131-2, 134-5 sacrilege, 62, 66-7, 141-3; see also
reciprocity, see charis impiety
Rhadamanthys, 181-2 Salamis (Cyprus), 98
Rhamnous, 245 Fig. 11 salt, 108; salt water, 102, 110-12, 153,
Rhapso, 332 156, 308, 310-11
rhapsodes, 256 Samas, 222, 278
Rhea, 33-4, 39, 77,258, 260-2 Samothrace, 117, 184, 208, 312,
Rheneia, 279 319-20, 334 ~
GENERALINDEX 367
sanctuaries, 88, 90-1, 101-6, 110, sickness, see disease

122-3, 146, 160, 174, 176, 185, 190, Sikyon, 8 Fig. 1, 20-3, 166, 219
192-339; caves, 123-6; common, Silanos of Ambrakia, seer, 186
276-85; founding, 98-101, 264, silence, 17, 184, 231, 234, 322
281-3, 285, 328-39 (see also cults, silens (seilenoi),25
founding); guides to, 197; healing, silver, 94, 184, 272-3, 290, 322, 327
302-11; not to be entered, 209-10; Sisyphos (play), 35-6, 142, 149
panhellenic, 276-7; oracular, see Skillous, 327, 333-4
oracles; purification of, 103-7, 205-6, skins, animal, 127, 172-3, 206, 321; in
222-3; regulations for entry, 88, sacrifice, 104, 204, 206, 232, 247-9,
195-9, 205-11, 276-9, 322 321; see also aigis, fleece
Sappho, 277 Skira, 253-4
Sardis, 289, 291-2 sky, 35-6, 45, 92, 103, 114-15, 148,
satyr play, 36 179, 259-6~ 263,293
satyrs, 25 Sky (Ouranos, god), 38-42, 43-5, 68,
scepticism, 26, 166-8, 307 74, 76-7, 86, 119, 121, 131-2
Scherie, 65 slaughterer, 232-4, 244, 327; see also
Scythia, Scythians, 69-70 mageiros
sea, 179, 308, 310-11 (see also salt slaves, 96, 122-3, 128, 138, 142, 144,
water); in tripartite universe, 259, 156, 159-61, 171, 200-2, 211-12,
263; seafaring, 120, 183-4, 258 253, 295-6, 305-7, 308-10, 315, 323,
Seasons (Horai), 52, 54, 178, 237 326
secrecy, 116-17, 198, 238-9, 241-3, Sleep (god), 43
267, 307, 311-13; see also Eleusis, Smintheus, 90-1
initiations, mysteries, Orphfc systems smoke, fragrant (knise), 7-8, 18-19, 217,
and practices 293
seeds, sprouting, 126-7 snakes, 6, 82-3, 127, 129, 153-5, 200,
seers (manteis), 129, 138, 147, 151, 153, 204, 229, 303 Fig. 16, 306-10
161-70, 173,191,254, 281-~ 284, Socrates: in Aristophanes, 144-6, 150;
287; in war, 183, 186-8 in Plato, 26-8, 73-7, 79, 204, 338-9;
seilenoi (silens), 25 in Xenophon, 7, 12-14, 90, 94, 204,
Selinous, 107-10, 141 215, 223, 294
Sellai, 286 Solemn Goddesses (Semnai Theai),
Semcle, 6~ 79-8~ 85,117, 237-8 16-17
Semnai Theai (Solemn Goddesses), Solon, 111, 294
16-17 Sophocles, 16, 23, 79, 92-3, 191,
service to god(s), 27, 121-3, 250-1, 254, 209-10, 255, 313
267 Sosineos, 226, 230
sex, 12-13, 16, 23, 25, 33-4, 38, 40, soul, 103, 113-15, 131-3, 149; see also
49-61, 73, 79-82, 10], 103-5, 122-3, afterlife
126, 195, 205-7, 232, 232, 234, 280; Sounion, 225, 227, 229
see also chastity Sousa, 113
Sextus Empiricus, 30 Sparta, Spartans, 101, 147-9, 164-5,
sheep, 258; as sacrificial victim, 8 Fig. 1, 180-1, 183-6, 188, 189-90, 208-9,
166, 128, 187, 196, 220, 225-6, 228, 211-12, 270, 272-3, 277, 283-4, 295,
230,232,253, 322-3 324,327, 333-4
shouts, 17, 243, 315 (see also o/olygmos); spells, 119, 129, 137-40; see also magic
to call priest, 315 sphagion,prosphagion, 110-11, 183,
Sicily, 13-14, 76, 107-9, 130, 133, 188
140-1, 266 Fig. 13, 270-1; Sicilian spitting, 153, 156
expedition, 126-7, 184 spondai, see libations
368 GENERALINDEX
springs, 30, 122-3, 131-2, 153-4, Telliadai, hereditary seers, 165

222-3, 301, 304-5, 323, 327; see also temenos (precinct), 123, 192, 204-6,
water 308,331,333, 335-6
squill (plant), 102, 106, 153, 156 temples, 29-30, 90-1, 106, 113, 122-3,
statues: cult statues of gods, 29-30, · 135, 192-3, 195-9, 201, 206-7, 209,
90, 106, 171, 193-4 and Fig. 7, 201, 211, 245 Fig. 11, 249-50, 261, 271,
211, 217, 255, 269-72, 301-2, 326, 272-3, 284-5, 299,301,331,333
331, 333, 336-7 (see also images); as Teos, 182-3
dedications, 264-5, 267, 270-1 and Tethys, 77
Fig. 14, 336 Thalk>, 177-8
stemmata, 196, 198-9, 309; see also Thasos, 220
headband, ribbons theatre, 322-3, 327; see also poetic
Stesichorus, 169 contests
Sthenelos, 63, 84 Thebes, 18-19, 20-1, 63, 85-6, 237-8,
Stoa Poikile, 189 247, 267, 274-5, 294; Egyptian
stones, sacred, 5 7, 153, 155, 158-9, 197; Thebes, 288; Seven against Thebes,
see also omphalos 20-1, 274
Strabo, 336-7 Themis (Right, goddess), 31, 42, 44,
Straten, F. van, 308, 339 198, 258, 297 Fig. 15
Styx, 43, 45 themis (ritual prescription), 122, 197-8,
succession myths, 38-42, 261 220
sulphur, 92, 102, 106, 108 Theodoros of Samos, 272-3
sun (Helios), 30, 33, 86-7, 91, 145, Theogamia, 225, 229
147-8, 179-80, 205,221,263 Theognis, 10
superstition, see deisidaimonia theogonies, 31-3, 38-41, 76-7, 86-7,
suppliants, supplication, 104, 107-9, 116; of Hesiod, 44, 51, 57-8, 76, 80,
172, 190-1, 299-301, 304-6 119-21, 198, 218-19, 258, 261, 263
sweetmeats, see cakes Theoinia, 242-3
symposion, 92, 159-60 Thcoklymenos, 163-4
syncretism, 33-4 theology, 3, 6-7, 11-14, 33-5, 81-2
synoecism, 224, 232, 241, 243 Theophania, 272-3
Syracuse, 270-1 Theophrastos, 102, 112, 128, 152-6,
214
table, for offerings, 160-1, 215, 225-6, theoria, theoroi, 277, 279-81, 283-4;
228, 308, 311 see also travel
tablet, see pinax theoxenia, 215, 272-3
Tainaron, 82--3 Thera, 53, 123-4
Talthybios, 179 Theseus, 16, 80-2, 114, 241, 243, 298
tamiai (treasurers), 176, 235; see also Thesmophoria, 126, 224, 238-41, 253
hierotamiai Thesmophorian Goddesses, 98-9, 318;
Tantalos, 135 see also Demeter, Kore, Two
Tartaros, 39, 42, 44 Goddesses
Teiresias, 34-6, 85-6, 315 Thesmophorion, 245, 253-4
Teisamenos, seer, 164-5 Thessaly, 53-4, 125-6, 131, 199, 202,
Telchines, 320 302
Telemachos, in Odyssey, 97-8, 163, Thctima, 139
216-17 Thetis, 44, 92
Telemachos, introducer of Asklepios to thiasos (worshippers' group), 127, 129,
Athens, 329, 334-5 152, 160, 208, 252, 253-4; see also
telete, teletai, 130, 311, 319, 324-5, 331; orgeones
see also initiations, mysteries thoinarmostria,327
GENERALINDEX 369
Thorikos (Attic deme), 214, 224-30 Trophonios, 286, 289

Thorikos (hero), 225, 228 Troy (Ilion, Troad), 46, 48, 59, 62, 64,
Thourioi, 131 66-7, 69, 85, 90, 169, 179, 202, 287
Thrace, Thracians, 22, 338-9 Twelve Gods, 235, 238, 281-3
threshold, at Delphi, 198, 287-8, 291-3 Two Goddesses, 253, 265, 267, 312,
Thucydides, 22-3, 83-5, 127, 141-3, 315, 334; see also Demeter, Kore,
150, 184-5, 190-1, 229-30, 250, 277, Theimophorian Goddesses
279-81, 284,296,317 Tydeus, 20-1
thunderbolt, 46, 57, 59, 63, 66-7, 85, tying the body, 173-4, 206; see also
95, 117, 131, 133, 190, 195, 198, binding-spells
259-60, 281; see aLsolightning Tyndareos, 83-5
thy(e)a, 248-9
Thyestes, 84, 135 ululation, see ololygmos
Thyia, 70 underworld, 15, 45, 82-3, 113-15, 129,
thyrsos, 132, 198 131-2, 182, 313-17, 319; see also
Timaios, historian, 337 Hades
Timaios, philosopher, 77 underworld gods, 92, 131-2, 138-40,
Titans, 39, 41-2, 44, 76, 117, 119-21, 214-15; see also chthonian gods,
132-3, 159-60 Hades, Persephone
tithes (dekatai, dekateiai), 103, 105-7, 'unofficial' religion, 26, 28-9, 117-18,
265,267,271, 333-4 127-41, 153-6, 252, 312; see also
Tithonos, 58-60 public and private cult
tokens, 131-3
tombs, 15, 20-3, 110-14, 119, 135, 137, Vari (Attica), 123-4
146, 153, 279, 281; see also death vegetarianism, 116-17, 135-6
torches, torch-race, 17, 100, 135, 195, Vernant, Jean-Paul, 212-13
240, 314-15, 316 Fig. 17, 338-9 victims, sacrificial, 8 Fig. 1, 185-7,
tradition, 329, 331, 339; see ancestral 192, 199, 212-20 and Figs 9 and 10,
custom 224-36, 240-1; 320-3, 325; colour
trance, see ecstasy of, 214-15, 225-6; 'full-grown', 220,
transmigration, see rebirth 225-6, 229; hairs cut from, 216, 244;
trapezoma, see table inspection and choice of, 214, 228,
travel, 165, 194-5, 276, 278-84, 302 231-3, 236, 323, 328; killing of, 179,
treasurers, 176, 204-5, 235 216-17, 231-4, 244,249 (see also
treasuries, at Delphi, 272-3 mageiros,slaughterer); multiple, 215,
trees, 16, 25, 193, 205, 286-9, 295, 226, 230 (see also hecatomb, trittoa);
333 pregnant, 226, 230, 232, 234, 322-3,
tribes (phylai; divisions of citizen body), 327; provision and prices of, 3, 215,
2~ 68,146,176,231,233, 25~ 29~ 223, 226, 231, 234, 322-3; skins of,
299, 321 324-5 see skins; willing?, 233; see also
Trikka, 199, 202, 302 bovines, cockerel, deer, goat, goose,
Triopion, 278 pig, sheep
tripods, 262, 265, 270-1, 274, 285, 332 Victory (Nike), 235-6, 249-51, 270-2
Fig. 18 and Fig. 14
Triptolemos, 312-13, 318 violence: among gods, 39-49, 73-6,
Tritopatores, Tritopateres, Tritopatreis, 81-2, 117, 119; human, 146, 148
103, 106, 110, 152 (see also hybris); in sacrifice, 213,
trittoa, trittoia, trittya, 230 217
Trojans, 23, 43, 46-7, 59-60, 62, 287; votives, 199, 201-2, 217, 265, 267-8;
Trojan War, 38-9, 69, 83-5, 169, 243; see also dedications
see also Homer, Iliad vows, 89, 146-7, 265, 267-8, 330
370 GENERALINDEX
war, military affairs, 15, 20-2, 95-6, 202-3, 264; Orphic tablets, 117,
102, 119, 161-2 and Fig. 6 1 164-5, 131-3; public curses, 182; questions
183-9, 206-7, 255,265, 270-2 for oracle, 294-6; written texts used
washing, 92, 101-3,' 108-13, 153-4, in cult, 116, 127, 129-30, 321, 324-5
206-7, 216, 304-5, 308; sacrificial.
intestines, 231; statue, 230, 337 Xeniades, 332-3 and Fig. 18
water, 16, 24-5, 30, 92, 102, 104-5, Xenokrateia, 329, 332-3 and Fig. 18
108-9, 110-11, 113, 153-4, 157, Xenophanes, 7, 12, 72-3, 75, 81, 135,
159, 195, 210-11, 215-16, 235, 301, 146, 159-60
322, 327, 333; in underworld, 131-2; Xenophon, 7, 12-14, 90-1, 94-6, 144,
see also rivers, salt water, sea, springs, 183-8, 189-90, 215, 223, 229, 294,
washing 327,329, 333-4, 337
Wealth (Ploutos), 309-11 Xerxes, 61, 285
weapons, 206-7, 265 xoanon, 337
west, 112-13, 175, 303 Xouthos, 55-6, 71, 196, 199, 298
West, M.L., 41, 87, 219, 259, 275
winds, 20; North Wind (Boreas), 43-4, Young Man (Neanias), 225, 229
50, 61
wine, 34-5, 69-70, 92, 113, 153, Zagreus, 135-6
159-60, 184, 187-8, 204, 213 Fig. 10, Zanker, Graham, 201, 275
215, 221-2, 231-2, 234-5, 240, 242-3, Zea (Peiraieus), 311, 334-5
258, 268, 310-11; forbidden, 221-2; Zethos, see Amphiones, the
liked by women, 238-9 Zeus, 5, 9, 10, 14, 17, 18-19, 24, 29-30,
women: cult favoured by, 126-9; 32, 38, 52, 54, 57-61, 62-7, 70, 73-7,
cult founded by, 329-30, 332; 79-81, 85-6, 92-6, 108, 117, 119-21,
cult restricted to, 116, 208, 224-5, 133, 143-5, 152, 176-80, 182, 184-5,
238-43, 253-4; exclusion from cult, 190, 195, 198, 215, 218-19, 225-7,
197, 208; lifestyle of, 196-8; portions 229, 231-5, 237-8, 249, 252, 257-63,
in sacrifice, 160-1, 227; regulator of 267-8, 270,272, 277,281-4, 286-8,
(gynaikonomos),225, 321-2, 326; 313; epithets of, 6; Agetor (Leader),
reproductive life of, 104-5, 107, 269 184; Ammon, 286, 288; Antiaios,
(see also birth, marriage); restrictions 277; Basileus (King), 95-6; Boulaios
in cult, 206-7; role in death rites, (of the Council), 176; Diktaios,
110-12; role in mysteries, 314-16, 257-9; Dodonaios, 92; Eleutherios
320-3, 325-6; role in sacrifice, 217 (of freedom), 6; Herkeios (of the
(see also kanephoroi) enclosure), 6, 152, 225; Horkios (of
wood, 103,105,192,215, 220-1, oaths), 6; Hypatos (Highest), 208,
253-4, 323 293; Idaios, 135; Karios (Carian), 279;
wool, 157, 196, 234, 309, 311; see also Kataibates (who comes down), 209,
fleece 225, 227; Ktesios (of property), 6 1 152,
worship: see cult, libation, prayer, 156-8; Meilichios, (Kindly), 6, 225,
sacrifice; refusal to worship, 141, 229-30; Nai:os, 286, 294-6; Olympios,
see impiety 92, 143, 270; Pelasgios, 92; Pelinaios,
worshippers' group, see orgeones,thiasos 248-9; Polieus (of the city), 224, 225,
writing: curse tablets, 119, 138-40; 231-5, 326; Soter, 92; Olympios, 92,
decrees, 240, 241, 243; hymns, 143, 270; Xenios (of guests), 70; in
256-62; in sanctuaries, 195, 204-9, Crete, 257-9; underworld Zeus, see
303-4, 322; on dedications, 199, Hades (god)

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Ancient Greek Religion

Blackwell Sourcebooks in Ancient History

The Ancient Near East

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PublicationData:

Set in 10/13pt Stone Serif by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong

1 Gods and Religion 5

3 Closeness and Distance 88

4 Ritual Contexts 151

4.1 The House and Neighbourhood 152

4.3 Political ~ife, Oaths and Curses 174

5.1 Visiting a Sanctuary 195

6.1 Common Sanctuaries 276

Suggestions for Further Reading 340

1 'Sacrifice and soothing offerings' 8

The author and publishers gratefully acknowledge permission to reproduce

11 9, 11, 16, 17, 18 National Archaeological Museum, Athens; copyright,

CEG P.A. Hansen, Cannina epigraphica graeca. 2 vols.

GODS GOOD FORTUNE

1.1 About the Gods

Not every aspect which strikes us today as interesting or distinctive about

1.1.1 The gods can change their minds

Source: Iliad 9 .496

Figure 1 'Sacrifice and soothing offerings': a sacrificial procession. The female

1.1.2 The jars of Zeus

Source: Iliad 24.527-33

1.1.3 It's not the gods' fault

Source: Odyssey 1.28-43

Source: Theognis 373-82

A succinct statement of the problem of evil. 'Theognis' (the name covers a

violence: hybris, unjustified and insulting behaviour usually involving phys-

1.1.5 There can be no gods

Source: Euripides, Bellerophon (TrGF 5.1 fr. 286)

1.1.6 The power of god

Source: Pindar, Pythians 2.50-3

1.1.7 One god greatest among gods and men

Source: Xenophanes, ·frr. 23-6 (PK 21 B 11, 23-6)

1.1.8 The gods care about humans

Source: Xenophon,. Memorabilia 1.4.10-18

Xenophon is concerned both here and elsewhere in his Memories of Socrates

1.2 Other Gods; Gods and Others

1.2.1 Worshipping earth and Olympos

Source: Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1648-55

A messenger reports the disappearance of the aged Oedipus who, realising

1.2.2 The Solemn Goddesses are established in Athens

Source: Aeschylus, Eumenides 1033-47

1.2.3 Watch out, heroes at work

Source: Aristophanes,.fragment from Heroes (fr. 322 Kassel-Austin)

1.2.4 Herakles and his sons

Source: Pindar, Isthmians 4.52-68

Although Herakles is something of a special case among heroes, being some-

1.2.5 Exchanging heroes

Source: Herodotus, Histories S.67

(Guide to Greece 9.18.1). Pindar mentions the games of Adrastos at Sikyon

rhapsodic contests: rhapsodes competed at festivals in the recital of Homer

1.2.6 An oracle decrees heroic cult

Source: Herodotus, Histories 5.114

comb. vVhen this happened, the Amathousians made an oracular consultation

1.2.7 Changing the city's founde_r hero

Source: Thucydides 5.11

offer victims: entemnein, a form of sacrifice emphasising the spilling of blood

1.2.8 A nymph's sons