In approximately what century did the Greeks quit worshiping the ancient Gods?

Question

I realize that they were conquered, and therefore basically could no longer worship them.

I suppose this could be rephrased to: when did the Romans quit worshiping them?

Answer 1

Romans actually incorporated many gods from the Greek pantheon as well as other deities from around the Mediterranean and Near East regions. Imperial Rome didn't have a problem with foreign religions so long as you worshiped at the cult of the emperor. Jews and then the Christians were persecuted periodically because of their refusal to worship the Roman emperor as a god. Monotheism was a peculiarity to most in the classical pagan world as well as a danger and convenient scapegoat for others.

Julian the Apostate, the last pagan Roman emperor(361-363AD), tried to reinvigorate the traditional paganism of the Mediterranean, but his efforts were cut short by his death. Would Julian have succeeded if he was able to rule as long as an Augustus? Unlikely. Many emperors before him had tried unsuccessfully to eliminate the perceived threat of Christianity.

By the 4th century, Christianity, with its egalitarian message and promise of an afterlife, was too firmly entrenched in Roman society. Successive emperors after Julian continued in the tradition of Constantine the Great by financially supporting the Christian church and promoting Christian policies. In 391 AD, Theodosius canceled many of the remaining pagan feasts, sacrifices, and temples. In 529 AD., the emperor Justinian closed Plato's academy, one of the last of the great centers of pagan learning. Many pagan philosphers fled to the Sassanian Empire in the east to avoid persecution.

To answer your question(finally), its not really certain when paganism died out or even if fully did. Christianity co-opted many local pagan ceremonies, traditions, and temple sites to increase the devotion and participation of peoples throughout the Mediterreanean and beyond. Slowly, but surely paganism was suppressed and replaced by Christianity in the 4th century onwards and in the 7th century, by a new religion from the East called Islam.

Answer 2

d greeks were taken over by the romans then they worship a mix of roman n greek gods n goddesses, after d fall of the roman empire,they stopped worshiping gods n goddess n cont. pagan worship while some among them converted to christianity,it's quite hard 2 b sure as not many doc. record this dark era.

Answer 3

Sometime around the beginnings of the Romans' building of their empire, the Greeks began to be more interested in the dying godman mythologies known as the mystery religions. Though we call Christianity an outgrowth of Judaism, it really isn't---it is merely yet another GREEK religion in toto. It was written down in Greek, it spread mostly among Greeks, who were then colonists in areas north of Judea, descendants of Alexander's conquering armies, and it was spread mostly by Greeks. Read Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy's The Jesus Mysteries (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1999).

Answer 4

Kudos to the other answerers. I would greatly encourage you to read Will Durrant's "Ceasar and Christ".

Although Constantine is credited with being the first Christian Emperor, he didn't convert until his deathbed, long after the famous battle (ca. 329 AD) where he saw the name of Jesus in the sun's rays. The writing he saw was Greek. Soon after Constantine's death the Roman popes embarked on changing all they considered religious to be translated into Latin. No telling what was lost.

Answer 5

Actually, there are some Greeks who still worship the ancient gods today.

Answer 6

when the emperor constantine converted the Roman empire to christianity, it meant all of the empire converted. including Greece