What kept the Greeks faithful to their religion?

I think it was just a standard religious thing. People just believed in the Gods. I think it did help that each city usually had a patron god or at least a minor God that they felt helped them.

The biggest thing that jumped to my mind was that the Gods were viewed as amoral jerks. It didn't shatter anyone's faith when a disaster happened...because the Gods were jerks to prove a point. Pretty easy to stay in line with that.

The final aid was that religion still heavily permeated science. Most of their scientific thought was based around the idea that the heavens were perfect, the perfection of shapes, etc. Most of their theories didn't exactly challenge the religious structure.

Just my two cents though. My memory on Greek history is pretty fuzzy.

I vaguely remember that it had something to do with bards and storytellers. I thought the foundation was similar to Norse mythology. People telling stories to explain things, teach lessons, and pass the time.

That was a theory for why Zeus was such a womanizer. As the mainstream strong version spread, it swallowed up the small local religions. The best way to settle the disconnect was to have Zeus hook up with the god or hook up with someone and have them give birth to the god (or a swan, or grass, or anything...they basically just hooked up and drank wine...pretty close to standard elite debauchery).

I also think that their ceremony must have helped too. They didn't really do a whole lot that was too bad. Most of the ceremonies were fairly festive. The sacrifices were just big barbecues. They ate all the good meat and "sacrificed the fat to the fire."

*I think...I remember it in the Odyssey, but that may have been heavily influenced by Roman tradition...hard to split them up at times.

With all this in mind, it's pretty easy to see how they held onto it. It was a popular and vague religion without much to offer as a substitute.

I don't think that they had a stranglehold on it though. There were a number of cults and foreign religions that took hold on a smaller scale. A few philosophers also formed what amounted to atheists groups that got together and partied because life was too short (The Followers of Dionysus did the same thing though).

Akuma said:

From my understanding, Greece was at one point very religious due to all the statues and literature about the Greek Gods they believed in such as Zeus and so on.

But what kept them so religious? I don't recall reading about that, I know they feared the Gods but there had to be more than that.

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It was just a deep rooted mythology. They didn't have scientific knowledge like we did, so they didn't understand how the world worked. To them, it was all mysticism and magic, so it was basically fear that kept them going.

omeythehomie said:

so it was basically fear that kept them going.

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It's amazing what fear does isn't it? look at the world we live in, everyone afraid of mystical terrorists, just like the greeks were concerned Zeus would strike them down. I'm pretty sure it also has something to do with the zodiac if I'm not mistaken. All the ancients were huge star gazers, somewhere down the track we forgot that and all the knowledge they had.

Actually we built on their knowledge of the stars.

"If I have seen so far it is only because I have stood on the shoulders of giants". A beautiful quote by Newton...even if he was just making fun of a short stature opponent.

Akuma said:

From my understanding, Greece was at one point very religious due to all the statues and literature about the Greek Gods they believed in such as Zeus and so on.

But what kept them so religious? I don't recall reading about that, I know they feared the Gods but there had to be more than that.

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Same thing that keeps the people of today religious. It becomes so ingrained in society that it is passed on through the generations.

At the time they had no other explanations for natural phenomena like lightning and storms. Once science explained these things, gods were phased out and new ones created to explain more things that science has yet to discover, e.g. the creation of life.

Akuma said:

From my understanding, Greece was at one point very religious due to all the statues and literature about the Greek Gods they believed in such as Zeus and so on.

But what kept them so religious? I don't recall reading about that, I know they feared the Gods but there had to be more than that.

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I was once amazed by the Greek Mythology when I was still on elementary because of Hercules and makes me want to study it by reading mythological books. I was pretty impressed back then that each thing, element, feeling, and happening has their own god which supports and help them.

Well... I think you're right about that their fear is the cause of being religious. They tend to offer things to their god, sometimes ones life, if they need something from them.

I can also say that when one needs something from their god, they tend to be religious so that their wishes will come true.

Most ancient religions had gods that were considered to be responsible for all the unexplainable things in the world. They were creatures who caused earthquakes and droughts and disease, and made the sun rise and set. All the religious rites were geared toward appeasing them so that they wouldn't cause a flood or something. The religions didn't require that people be moral or behave well, just that they cater to the gods whims.

A lot of this worshipping was pretty easy too. It usually just involved throwing an orgy and burning the fat from the meat. Pretty fair deal if you ask me .

I think what kept them faithful was fear. The people thought of the gods as people who would punish them if they weren't made happy. This caused them to be scared all the time and tried to please the greek gods.