Religion

- Xenophanes, c. 500 BCE

To the ordinary Greek, religion was more than a matter of ritual practice than of morality. The community believed in the importance of good manners, in accordance with high moral standards, but the motives for such conduct were primarily social; one behaved well for the sake of one's family and reputation, rather than for the sake of gods and goddesses themselves. Worship and sacrifice were undertaken almost as a binding contract with the gods. Correct performance of ritual to achieve the desired effect was therefore a dominant feature of Greek religion. Many ceremonies were conducted not in a temple or sanctuary by a priest or priestesses but by ordinary people in the privacy of their homes.

Hestia, as goddess of the hearth, was believed to protect the very center of the home. Keeping the home fire burning was therefore a religious act in iteslf. Many houses also had a herm - a stone pillar with a human head and phallus. This was dedicated to the god Hermes and was placed at the entrance to the house to ensure his protection. In the courtyard there was often an altar to Zeus and Apollo, on which offerings of food were set each day by the head of the household. In the countryside, deities such as the goat-legged Pan were worshipped and each locality, fountain or stream had its own guardian nymph. Prayers for a good harvest of olives were offered to Athene; grapes were in the gift of Dionysus, while Demeter ensured a supply of corn. All these deities were believed to live on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece, whose peak was thought to touch the sky. Yet although they set their gods and goddesses in this remote mountain home, the Greeks still saw them as influencing human affiars, often intervening in the lives of cities and individuals.