What did the Ancient Greeks call their religion?

Question

I know about the Pantheon, but what did they call the religion itself?

Answer 1

Great question! I got my BA in Classics. Like most ancient peoples' the Greeks did not really have one word for their "religion". It was their native religious customs, including worship of their Gods, participation in festivals, and the like. Like most ancient peoples, they did not think of there as being different religions. They believed that people in other cultures worshipped the same Gods they did, only under different names.

In the West, people did not really distinguish different religious customs as separate "religions" until the Roman Emperor Constantine declared himself a Christian. That's also when the word "Pagan" was coined. Emperor Julian (who came after Constantine), who was devoted to Neoplatonic spirituality and to the ethnic religious customs of the Romans as opposed to Christianity, was once asked what "religion" he was, since it was only then that the Romans (and other ethnic groups that were part of the empire) had come to think of there as being separate religions. He thought about it and said his religion was the religion of the fields (or "paganus", which meant "fields" in Latin at that time).

Anyway... to refer to the religion of the ancient Greeks, you might use a term like, "ancient Greek religiosity".

Answer 2

In the wide variety of myths and legends that constitute ancient Greek mythology, the deities that were native to the Greek peoples are described as having essentially human but ideal bodies. Although each god's physical appearance is distinct, they have the power to take on whatever form they choose. The few composite or chimerical beings that occur, such as the Sphinx, had their origins in Anatolia or the Near East and were imported into the Greek culture.
Perseus with the head of Medusa.
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Perseus with the head of Medusa.

Regardless of their underlying forms, the Greek gods have many fantastic abilities: they can disguise themselves or make themselves invisible to humans, they can instantly transport themselves to any location, and are able to act through the words and deeds of humans, often without the knowledge of the human through whom the gods act. Most significantly, the gods are not affected by disease, can be wounded only under highly unusual circumstances, and are immortal. Even though each of the gods was born, most of them growing from infancy to adulthood, once they reach their physical peak of maturity they do not age beyond that point.

Answer 3

"In the first place, the Greeks did not have a term for "religion" in the sense of a dimension of existence distinct from all others, and grounded in the belief that the gods exercise authority over the fortunes of human beings and demand recognition as a condition for salvation."

Answer 4

The Greeks did not have a term for religion.

Answer 5

I'm sure they simply called it 'religion' in Greek. There was little knowledge of diverse religion back then, so they'd no need to give it a special name.

Answer 6

I dont know what they called their religion but there are still people in Greece who worship the Greek Gods Here is a link about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Council_of_Ethnikoi_Hellenes
and here is another link that should be helpful
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenic_polytheism#Modern_revivalist_movements

Answer 7

back then it WAS the religion. they didn't need to give it a name cause there was virtually nothing to differ from. i mean there were other minor religions but almost all of them jsut adopted the greek's.

Answer 8

Zeus

Answer 9

It was called paganism, coined by Permenides.

Answer 10

Onasis?