Pagan Believers in Greek gods Demand Rights
January 22nd, 2007 by Stephen
Ganymede and the Eagle. The story in which the Olympian god, Zeus, steals a young boy to be his consort. A story that legitimised such practices in the classical world
There is a trend for reviving old religions by various groups. The latest one to hit the headlines is a group claiming to have revived the ancient Greek worship of the olympian deities. But like all groups that claim to be reviving ancient religions, they appear to be reviving an image of their misconceptions rather than the historical reality.
After successfully staging a landmark ceremony at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, their leader pledged to fight for the right to conduct baptisms, marriages, and funerals according to the rites of the ancient religion.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6285397.stm
Baptisms?
What Olympian tradition was that then?
Now if they had argued for the right to ritually disembowel animals, and to sell the meat in the marketplace, or to prostitute their women and children to “worshippers”, then there might be some degree of authenticity here (although we would rightly object to their practices on legal, moral and ethical grounds).
But what they want is to act in a “christianised” religious manner, but to call their rituals something else.
Interesting take– and a clear presentation about these ancient religions. I find it fascinating that people want to practice these things, deny the roots and say that it’s fine. The Wicca movement in the U.S. is one such beast– trying to make magic palatable to Christianity and deny where their “power” really comes from.
I didn’t realise that Wiccans actually wanted to make their movement palatable to Christians, but it is indeed just another example of an invented paganism.
Thanks for the comment.
Actaully, many Christianized rites, were taken and adapted from pagan ones.
Michelle, whilst there is some truth in this, I note that the Christian rites took on a whole different manner and significance. For instance, the Lord’s supper involves Christians sharing a common meal together, which was also something done in the pagan religions. However, in the pagan religions these common meals were associated with drunkenness and debauchery. The Christian version stressed Christian love for one another, and when (in the Corinthian Church) it started to emulate the pagan practices, Paul brought the Church quickly to heel.
Now what is being stressed in the piece above is that these people are not actually arguing for a return to the actual pagan practices for which they are claiming the name. They are arguing for a religion that takes Christian practice and gives it a pagan name. This is mere invention. As with so many “revived” pagan religions, what you get is not a revival of the original practice but an invention of simething new.
It has been said that God made man in his own image, and now man is attempting to return the favour!
And that won’t do. Because if God is God, then He is who He is. If a religion is invented rather than revealed, then it is a waste of time.
Thanks for stopping by.
Stephen
Yes, it is very true that Christian rites did in fact take on a whole different significance.
However, pagan celebrations not always involved drunkenness, there was a time and place for everything (pagans too had/have their morals). And not all pagans participated in these “drunkened rites†rites either. There are a few revived pagan religions, that although cannot revive every single detail of ancient practice, are trying to revive what has not been lost.
~Michelle~
Pagan greeks had morals, but they are not morals we would particularly recognise now. If you take a Christian based morality and give it a pagan veneer then you have an invented religion. If you really wish to revive pagan religion, then there are certain laws that you will probably have some difficulty with.
But I suppose the real question is: do you really believe that there is a Zeus inhabiting mount Olympus?
Why?
Thanks for your comments.
Stephen
Some ancient Greek laws were not religious based, such as slavery and the suppression of women. We would not “recognize” these virtues now? In what way do you mean? The three main Greek virtues were reciprocity, hospitality, and moderation. You may look at this last virtue and laugh, but even worshipers of Dionysus believed that there is a limit to things…how much sex you have, how much you eat, even how much wine you drink (too much of a good thing is a bad thing). That doesn’t mean that all Greeks followed these “rules of conduct”…The pagans of ancient Greece loved to party, many of them saw these as opportunities to release the stress and tension of everyday life.
Now, it is true that probably many people believed that Mount Olympus was indeed a dwelling place for the gods however, not everyone believed in this. Possibly due to that fact that a temple dedicated to Zeus himself dwelled at the very top, and celebrations were and still are conducted there. The Greeks were not that arrogant. Mount Olympus could have made the ancients believe that by standing on this tall mountain, that they became closer to the gods. All ancient (primitive) civilizations shared the belief that mountains or even tall hills, gave them some a sort of closeness with the divine.
~Michelle~
Stephen, give us some examples of pagan morality that we would disagree was moral today.
Michelle, are you talking about Greek culture, or pagan religious practices??
Meg
Greek culture was in some ways influenced by their religious practices.
~Michelle~
Meg,
One example is indicated at the top of this page. The story of Zeus taking Ganymede as his consort was used as a religious justification for the domination of weaker men or boys by stronger men. Consider Alexander the Great’s affairs with the eunuch Bagoas for example (although Alexander, being a Macedonian, was seen as something of a barbarian to the Greeks). Such relationships were considered quite normal amongst the Greeks.
Greek gods knew no sexual restraint. Mars took Vulcan’s wife. Zeus (and others) worked their way through all the gods and many humans too. However, Greek religion did not always follow them in this laxness. But rather, the religion often expressed mystery rites.
For instance, one of these rites acted out the rape of Persephone and her mother’s arrival at Eleusis to search for her, and culminated in a ritual in which torches employed to illuminate the proceedings were thrown in the air.
Temple prostitution was practiced in some elements (particularly the cults) – both homosexual and heterosexual.
Greek religion also infected Christian morals. Many of the problems in Corinth arise from an early form of gnosticism, and gnostic systems led to all kinds of heresy in the 2nd century.
I could say more, but the point was that Greek religion was quite alien to Christianity (or vice versa).
Sex and sexuality wasn’t seen in the same ways as it is today…
Michelle,
Yes, I agree with you. But the way that sex and sexuality were perceived were an integral part of their religion, just as sexuality was often linked into other pagan religions from animism onwards.
This is why I said that, whilst there clearly were moral values in the Greek religion, they are not morals we would now necessarily recognise. (some moral values would be shared of course, but it seems to me that if you pick and choose what part of the deceased religion you will ressurect, then what you have left is not a revived religion, but a new one).
Thanks for your comments.
Stephen
Reconstructionism does not plan nor desire to “ressurect” the patriarchal aspects of an anceint civilization. Very often or not, the Greeks being a little sexist (ect.) had nothing to do with their religion. Also, it is not a deceased religion…and it never was. There is some proof to suggest that many kept practicing their old ways…in private of course; because the church gave harsh punishments on anyone found in the act of practicing any form of paganism, which christians deem as heresy.
You also shouldn’t look at a few wild Greek pagans from thousands of years ago and think that ALL Greeks were like that, or that ALL pagans are like that. Thats like pagans, thinking that all Christians or Catholics are these evil, “holier-than-thou”, murderer’s, just because of a few curropted (yet powerful) clergy men. It’s not fair, and it isn’t right. Just because we aren’t “people of the book” dosen’t mean that we are immoral.
The Greek gods new no sexual restraint? I can see where you are coming from, and indeed it would seem that way…with how the gods would take advantage…right? However, there are/where many deities who knew restraint, and a few such as Hestia, Artemis, and Athena chose to remain virgins forever.
Hellenimos does not desire to make the same mistakes as our pagan ancestors.