The Formation of Christendom, Volume IIAllies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Religion
The Formation of Christendom, Volume II
Allies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Christianity; Christianity -- Miscellanea
numbered Theseus, Codrus, Academus, Solon, the tyrant-slayers Harmodius
and Aristogeiton; and Hercules, originally a hero, but here and elsewhere
widely honoured as a god.(4)
Athens, if the most superstitious as well as the most intellectual of
cities, may be taken as the type of a thousand others of Hellenic race
scattered over the Roman empire from Marseilles to Antioch. Say that she
had twice as many deities and festivals as her sister cities, enough will
remain for them wherewith to occupy the soil with their temples and to
fill the year’s cycle with their rites.
The lively Grecian imagination impregnated not with stern notions of duty,
nor with reverential devotion to those whom it worshipped, but regarding
them as objects of æsthetical satisfaction,(5) and yearning for a serene
and confidential exchange of relations with them, had in process of time
spun out a complete web of idolatrous worship which encompassed heaven and
earth, the whole domain of nature, every state and act of human life. Rain
and sunshine and the weather stood under the ordering of Zeus; the
fruitfulness of the soil was Demeter’s care; countless nymphs of field, of
fountain, and of river, offered to men their gifts; the vine and its juice
was under the protection of Dionysos, and Poseidon was lord of the sea.
The flocks had their defenders in Hermes and Pan; the Fates ruled the lot
of men. Kings and magistrates had in Zeus their prototype and guardian.
Athené held her shield over cities; the hearth of each private home and
the public hearth of the city were in Hestia’s charge. Marriage was secure
under Heré’s care. Demeter was entrusted with legislation; the pains of
childbirth were recommended to Eileithyia, or Artemis. Music, archery,
divination, were Apollo’s attributes; the art of healing claimed him and
his son Æsculapius as patrons. Athené and Ares swayed the issue of war;
the chase was the domain of Artemis; smiths and all workers in fire saw in
Hephæstus their patron; whilst Athené the Worker protected the gentler
trades, and Hecate watched over the roads.(6)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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