Parker12


Jenay Clark


Athenian Religion: A History


By: Robert Parker


Chapter 12-Beyond the Death of Alexander


 


1) Who is Alexander and why is he so important?


2) Why was his death significant?


 


Newly created tribes sprang up


Cults appeared


Statues were dedicated to “everyone”


“Heroes” were given religious honors


Leaders were given cults


People beginning to disassociate themselves from the gods, but associate
themselves with real “heroes”


 


Went from democracy to oligarchy


Honors were given to Alexander’s dead servant Hephaistion


Alexander’s people were allowed to build temples, desecrate sacred buildings,
have cults, and join the Eleusinian Mysteries.


 


Harpalus


Demetrius of Poliorcetes


Antigonos Monophthalmus


 


Alexanders heirs were granted honors like sainthood or were likened to
the gods


 


They had no regards for sacred honor or religion. They did not have
any order.


 


Cults


Cults were revived under the new rulers


Ruler Cults


Personality Cults


 


 


Tribes and Demes


 


Tribes and Demes began to have more and more prominence with the new
leaders


They managed to survive without the guidance of Alexander, but they did
however, take on new meanings.


 


Disappearance


 


In the later part of the second century tribes, shrines, cults, etc.
began to lose their prominence


“Tribal decrees became rare after about 250, and one may wonder
whether sacrifices that bought together all the members to feast in honour
of the eponymous hero still occured” (265)


“Demes and Phratries and tribes vanish as active entities from
the epigraphic record, so other bodies rise into prominence.” (265)


 


 


Private Associations


Non-Citizen associations became more common. Underwent a boom in enrollment.


(Most worshipped foreign gods)


 


Orgeones


Society of citizen orgeones was founded


 


 


Hellenistic Athens still remained a city of festivals


Organization of these festivals however, did affect the relationship
between the rich cults and those of the city cults.


 


Priesthoods


Mostly wealthy and prominent figures were granted the title of priesthood


Priests were required to help pay for tribal expenses


Supervised the mysteries


Cult of Demos and the Graces


 


Vanishing Symbols


Private sculpted dedications on the acropolis disappeared in the third
century


Elaborate grave-monuments in Attica disappeared


Marble votives disappear


New cults arise and others disappear further


The new gods that began to appear in Athenian religion were now confined
to non-Greek societies of worship.


Festivals such as Delian Apollo and Amphiaraus of Oropus now were outside
of Athens control


 


Surviving festivals became more elaborate


Ptolemaea


Panatheanaea


Dionysia


Eleusinia


 


Hero-Cults


 


Eptitaphia


Theseia


Aianteia


 


These cults continued to survive


 


Hostilities between the Athenians and the philosophers of the regions
were still contested


 


Aristotle


Stilpon the Megarian


 


After the death of the great Athenian ruler Athens as a great region
began a rapid period of decline and resurrection. The times after Alexander
were sometimes harsh if not cruel to people as suggested by the rule of
Demetrius. Many ideas or themes that were popular during Alexander’s reign
were beginning to die out. Although some ideas and themes were “resurrected”
they still didn’t have the prominence that they had when Alexander was the
ruler. The period after Alexander’s death is essentially the decline of
the gods and Athenian religion altogether.


 


RETURN TO MAIN PAGE: CLST 4003H. Spring, 2002.
Greek Religion