Historical sources on ancient Greek religion
Ancient Greek religion, for many common people, centred around powerful gods, sacred places, heroic figures, and ideas about life after death.
These sources show how Greek writers described Olympus, Tartarus, Elysium, demi-gods, temples, statues, and rituals.
Together, they reveal a religion in which gods looked and behaved like humans, controlled different parts of the universe, punished enemies, rewarded heroes, and received worship through temples, offerings, hymns, and sacred rules.
Source 1
Extract A
"So saying, the goddess, flashing-eyed Athena, departed to Olympus, where, they say, is the abode of the gods that stands fast forever. Neither is it shaken by winds nor ever wet with rain, nor does snow fall upon it, but the air is outspread clear and cloudless, and over it hovers a radiant whiteness. Therein the blessed gods are glad all their days, and thither went the flashing-eyed one, when she had spoken all her word to the maiden."
Extract B
"But for thyself, Menelaus, [one who is looked after by] Zeus, it is not ordained that thou shouldst die and meet thy fate in horse-pasturing Argos, but to the Elysian plain and the bounds of the earth will the immortals [carry] thee, where dwells fair-haired Rhadamanthus, and where life is easiest for men. No snow is there, nor heavy storm, nor ever rain, but ever does Ocean send up blasts of the shrill-blowing West Wind that they may give cooling to men; for thou hast Helen to wife, and art in their eyes the husband of the daughter of Zeus."
Contextual information:
Homer was an ancient Greek poet credited with composing the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two oldest surviving works of Western literature, written around the 8th century BCE. The first extract comes from Book 6 of the Odyssey, in which the goddess Athena returns to Olympus after visiting the princess Nausicaa. The second extract comes from Book 4, in which the sea-god Proteus delivers a prophecy to the hero Menelaus, telling him he will go to the Elysian plain after death as a reward for being the husband of Helen, the daughter of Zeus.
Bibliographical reference:
Homer. The Odyssey (A. T. Murray, Trans., 1919; Vol. I, Book 6, ll. 41–47; Book 4, ll. 561–569). Harvard University Press; William Heinemann. (Original work composed ca. 8th century BCE)
Copyright: Public domain.
Source 2
"We were three brothers whom Rhea bore to Kronos — Zeus, myself, and Hades who rules the world below. Heaven and earth were divided into three parts, and each of us was to have an equal share. When we cast lots, it fell to me to have my dwelling in the sea for evermore; Hades took the darkness of the realms under the earth, while air and sky and clouds were the portion that fell to Zeus; but earth and great Olympus are the common property of all. Therefore I will not walk as Zeus would have me. For all his strength, let him keep to his own third share and be contented without threatening to lay hands upon me as though I were nobody. Let him keep his bragging talk for his own sons and daughters, who must perforce [do as he says and] obey him."
Contextual information:
This passage comes from Book 15 of the Iliad, in which the god Poseidon is angry that Zeus has ordered him to stop helping the Greeks in the Trojan War. Poseidon explains the agreement the three brothers made when they divided control of the world after defeating their father Kronos. The Iliad is set during the Trojan War and is attributed to the poet Homer, composed around the 8th century BCE.
Bibliographical reference:
Homer. The Iliad (S. Butler, Trans., 1898; Book 15, ll. 187–199). Longmans, Green, and Co. (Original work composed ca. 8th century BCE)
Copyright: Public domain.
Source 3
"And amongst the foremost Cottus and Briareos and Gyes [three giant beings with one hundred hands each] insatiate for war raised fierce fighting: three hundred rocks, one upon another, they launched from their strong hands and overshadowed the Titans with their missiles, and hurled them beneath the wide-pathed earth, and bound them in bitter chains when they had conquered them by their strength for all their great spirit, as far beneath the earth as heaven is above earth; for so far is it from earth to Tartarus. For a brazen anvil falling down from heaven nine nights and days would reach the earth upon the tenth: and again, a brazen anvil falling from earth nine nights and days would reach Tartarus upon the tenth. Round it runs a fence of bronze, and night spreads in triple line all about it like a neck-circlet, while above grow the roots of the earth and unfruitful sea. There by the counsel of Zeus who drives the clouds the Titan gods are hidden under misty gloom, in a dank place where are the ends of the huge earth."
Contextual information:
Hesiod was an ancient Greek poet who composed the Theogony around 700 BCE, a poem that describes how the gods and the universe came to be. This passage describes the Titans, a race of earlier gods, being hurled into Tartarus as punishment after losing a great war against Zeus and the other Olympian gods. In Greek belief, Tartarus was the deepest and most terrible place beneath the earth. It received the Titans after their defeat, and in later Greek accounts it also received humans who committed the worst crimes against the gods.
Bibliographical reference:
Hesiod. Theogony (H. G. Evelyn-White, Trans., 1914; Vol. 57, ll. 713–731). William Heinemann. (Original work composed ca. 700 BCE)
Copyright: Public domain.
Source 4
"But when earth had covered this generation also, Zeus the son of Cronos made yet another, the fourth, upon the fruitful earth, which was nobler and more righteous, a god-like race of hero-men who are called demi-gods, the race before our own, throughout the boundless earth. Grim war and dread battle destroyed a part of them, some in the land of Cadmus at seven-gated Thebe when they fought for the flocks of Oedipus, and some, when it had brought them in ships over the great sea gulf to Troy for rich-haired Helen's sake: there death's end enshrouded a part of them. But to the others father Zeus the son of Cronos gave a living and an abode apart from men, and made them dwell at the ends of earth. And they live untouched by sorrow in the islands of the blessed along the shore of deep swirling Ocean, happy heroes for whom the grain-giving earth bears honey-sweet fruit flourishing thrice a year, far from the deathless gods, and Cronos rules over them; for the father of men and gods released him from his bonds."
Contextual information:
Works and Days is a poem by Hesiod, composed around 700 BCE, in which he describes the history of humanity through five successive ages of humans. This passage covers the fourth age, the age of the hero-men, whom Hesiod calls "demi-gods." In Greek, the word for demi-god is hemitheoi, meaning "half-gods," and it referred to the great heroes of myth who had one god parent and one human parent. The passage also describes the Islands of the Blessed, where the most worthy of these heroes went after death, a place of perfect happiness at the far ends of the earth, which the Greeks also called the Elysian Fields.
Bibliographical reference:
Hesiod. Works and Days (H. G. Evelyn-White, Trans., 1914; Vol. 57, ll. 156–173). William Heinemann. (Original work composed ca. 700 BCE)
Copyright: Public domain.
Source 5
Extract A
"The god sits on a throne, and he is made of gold and ivory. On his head lies a garland which is a copy of olive shoots. In his right hand he carries a Victory, which, like the statue, is of ivory and gold; she wears a ribbon and — on her head — a garland. In the left hand of the god is a sceptre, ornamented with every kind of metal, and the bird sitting on the sceptre is the eagle. The sandals also of the god are of gold, as is likewise his robe. On the robe are embroidered figures of animals and the flowers of the lily. The throne is adorned with gold and with jewels, to say nothing of ebony and ivory. Upon it are painted figures and wrought images. There are four Victories, represented as dancing women, one at each foot of the throne, and two others at the base of each foot. On each of the two front feet are set Theban children ravished by sphinxes, while under the sphinxes Apollo and Artemis are shooting down the children of Niobe."
Extract B
"In the front part of the temple, for it is built in two parts, is an altar of Eileithyia and an entrance for the public; in the inner part Sosipolis is worshipped, and no one may enter it except the woman who tends the god, and she must wrap her head and face in a white veil. Maidens and matrons wait in the [outer part of the] sanctuary of Eileithyia chanting a hymn; they burn all manner of incense to the god, but it is not the custom to pour libations of wine. An oath is taken by Sosipolis on the most important occasions."
Extract C
"The sacred [area of] Hades and its temple (for the Eleans have these among their possessions) are opened once every year, but not even on this occasion is anybody permitted to enter except the priest. The following is the reason why the Eleans worship Hades; they are the only men we know of so to do."
Contextual information:
Pausanias was a Greek travel writer of the 2nd century CE who recorded detailed descriptions of religious buildings and holy sites throughout Greece. The first extract describes the great gold and ivory statue of Zeus at Olympia, made by the sculptor Pheidias and counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It shows that the Greeks depicted their gods in fully human form. The second and third extracts describe two temples with restricted entry, which Pausanias explicitly singles out as unusual. His comment that the Eleans are "the only men we know of" who restrict entry to the sanctuary of Hades makes clear that the standard rule for Greek temples was open access for any worshipper.
Bibliographical reference:
Pausanias. Description of Greece (W. H. S. Jones, Trans., 1918; Vol. II, 5.11.1–2; 6.20.3; 6.25.2). Harvard University Press; William Heinemann. (Original work written ca. 143–176 CE)
Copyright: Public domain.
Source 6
"But mortals suppose that the gods are born (as they themselves are), and that they wear man's clothing and have human voice and body."
Contextual information:
Xenophanes of Colophon was a Greek philosopher and poet who lived around 570–475 BCE. He was one of the first thinkers to comment critically on the religious beliefs of his fellow Greeks. This fragment is notable because it describes, from an outsider's perspective, the standard Greek assumption that the gods looked and behaved exactly like human beings, an assumption clearly visible in Greek sculpture and art of the period.
Bibliographical reference:
Xenophanes. Fragments (A. Fairbanks, Trans., 1898; Fragment 5, p. 67). In A. Fairbanks (Ed.), The First Philosophers of Greece. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, and Co. (Original work composed ca. 6th–5th century BCE)
Copyright: Public domain.
Source 7
"Hence the way leads to that Tartarean stream of Acheron, whose torrent fierce and foul disgorges in Cocytus all its sands. A ferryman of [frightening] guise keeps ward upon these waters — Charon, foully garbed, with unkempt, thick gray beard upon his chin, and staring eyes of flame; a mantle coarse, all stained and knotted, from his shoulder falls, as with a pole he guides his craft, tends sail, and in the black boat ferries o'er his dead — old, but a god's old age looks fresh and strong."
Contextual information:
Virgil was a Roman poet who composed the Aeneid around 19 BCE, an epic poem about the Trojan hero Aeneas and his journey to found the city that would eventually become Rome. Book 6 describes Aeneas's descent into the underworld, where he encounters Charon, the ferryman responsible for transporting the souls of the dead across the river Styx. Virgil drew heavily on earlier Greek accounts of the underworld, and his description of Charon follows the Greek tradition established by Homer and Hesiod.
Bibliographical reference:
Virgil. Aeneid (T. C. Williams, Trans., 1910; Book 6, ll. 295–304). Houghton Mifflin. (Original work composed ca. 29–19 BCE)
Copyright: Public domain.
Source 8
"But before Amphitryon reached Thebes, Zeus came by night and prolonging the one night threefold he assumed the likeness of Amphitryon and bedded with Alcmena and related what had happened concerning the Teleboans. But when Amphitryon arrived and saw that he was not welcomed by his wife, he inquired the cause; and when she told him that he had come the night before and slept with her, he learned from Tiresias how Zeus had enjoyed her. And Alcmena bore two sons, to wit, Hercules, whom she had by Zeus and who was the elder by one night, and Iphicles, whom she had by Amphitryon."
Contextual information:
Apollodorus was a Greek scholar, probably writing in the 1st or 2nd century CE, who compiled The Library, a detailed summary of Greek myths and genealogies. This passage records the birth of Hercules (the Greek Heracles), the most famous of all Greek demi-gods. Hercules was a demi-god because his father was the god Zeus and his mother was the mortal woman Alcmena, making him a being with one god parent and one human parent.
Bibliographical reference:
Apollodorus. The Library (J. G. Frazer, Trans., 1921; Vol. I, 2.4.8). Harvard University Press; William Heinemann. (Original work composed ca. 1st–2nd century CE)
Copyright: Public domain.