Comments on: When did they stop worshiping the Greek gods?

Question: When did they stop worshiping the Greek gods?

ikkyu2 — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 17:02:56 -0800

AncientHistoryFilter: When did the worship of the gods of the ancient Greeks - Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, and so on - die out? (+)

It appears to me that no longer do men accomplish proper hecatombs to Zeus, nor do they singe the rich thigh pieces, edged with fat, in his name - nor do they scatter white barley to placate Poseidon the Earth-Shaker -

but I could be wrong?

By: skallas

skallas — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 17:24:43 -0800

When the Christianity meme took over the Pagan meme in a political move in ancient rome.

I dont think you can pinpoint it, but stuff like removing the altar of victory can be used as decent approximations.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 17:25:29 -0800

Depends on whether you consider the Roman gods to be the same as the Greek ones. (I would.) If so, worshipping the Roman gods was finally banned by Emperor Theodosius in AD 391. It was probably on the fringe by then, with most of the populace converted to Christianity.

By: kenko

kenko — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 18:28:40 -0800

But might it not have survived in isolated communities anyway? There are still Zoroastrians, a religion I thought had died out long ago, and I remember hearing in a class about members of some very small ancient religious community attending a conference about their religion (wish I could remember the name of the group. Apparently they had to ritually transform the Boston river into a river in whatever part of the world they came from every night for the duration of the conference.)

(Probably) unrelated—what religion are the Pontian Greeks?

By: Sidhedevil

Sidhedevil — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 18:31:05 -0800

Mithraism survived into the fifth century in various places around Yerp; this source says the Alps, and I feel that I have read that it survived at least that long in Dacia (today's Romania) as well.

By: digifox

digifox — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 20:10:12 -0800

I love this question. It always bothered me that they didn't talk about this after we studied Greek and Roman mythology in school.

By: QIbHom

QIbHom — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 20:31:12 -0800

The worship of the Greek and Roman gods died out, but it is back.

For Roman Reconstructionism, see Nova Roma. For Hellenic, there are a lot of links at Temenos's place.

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 01:05:02 -0800

I hope somebody with more knowledge about this subject than I will chime in.

It is more or less a fact that all Asian/African/Middle Eastern religions have been based in the same stories. Consider that the Epic of Gilgamesh has a flood story, or that Hercules is the son of God by mortal woman.

Christianity absorbed the beliefs the people already had. It has been obscured because people want to believe there was a historical Jesus, and because early Christians destroyed a lot of literature that would have raised uncomfortable questions.

By: misteraitch

misteraitch — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 02:21:48 -0800

This article about the continuation of the ancient Olympic Games under Roman rule touches on this question. A professor Ulrich Sinn is quoted in the article as saying the people who lived in the Alpheios plain in the first half of the 5th century AD decided, by majority, to withdraw their confidence in Zeus and offer it to Christ...

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 03:56:24 -0800

I guess I was hoping to hear about the Last Hecatomb.

That'd make a good story, I think.

By: Doohickie

Doohickie — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 07:05:12 -0800

There are online communities of Zoroastrians, Pantheists, etc., at BeliefNet

By: Doohickie

Doohickie — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 07:07:23 -0800

I knew they also had a board for Greek/Roman religion; here it is- Hellenismos and Religio Romana

By: mygothlaundry

mygothlaundry — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 12:48:59 -0800

I thought it was when Pan died. Reading that wiki entry though, it says that it was Plutarch who reported that story and I thought it was Herodotus? Still, I've seen a lot of references using that story as the kind of baseline point of the end of the Greco-Roman gods era.

Good question - brings up all kinds of interesting thoughts!

By: turbodog

turbodog — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 14:06:05 -0800

In 529 Byzantine/East Roman Emperor Justinian closed the schools of philosphy in Athens, which IIRC were pagan.

Also, didn't Heinrich Schliemann believe in/worship Zeus?

By: QIbHom

QIbHom — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 15:13:22 -0800

It is more or less a fact that all Asian/African/Middle Eastern religions have been based in the same stories. Consider that the Epic of Gilgamesh has a flood story, or that Hercules is the son of God by mortal woman.

Erm, actually, no, Chuckles. That is one theory, fairly discredited, put forth by some who misunderstood Dumezil, and took his ideas too far.

By: turbodog

turbodog — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 16:17:58 -0800

QIbHom: You may have just outlined Dan Brown's next book...

By: QIbHom

QIbHom — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 18:49:35 -0800

Which Dan Brown, turbodog? And should I be looking for this book? I'm very much a dilettante in this field, but do try to keep up a bit.

By: turbodog

turbodog — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 13:51:10 -0800

This Dan Brown, the one who parleys discredited religious theories into books that sell by the pallet at Wal Mart.