Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander

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10. Athenian Religious and Cultural Life in the Golden Age

Unprecedented changes occurred in many areas of the lives of the Athenians in the Golden Age, but at the same time central aspects of Athenian society remained unchanged. The result was a mix of innovation and continuity. The most conspicuous continuity was in traditional Greek religion, which permeated public and private life. For most people, their religious beliefs and practices remained largely the same as they had always been. One of the most striking cultural changes of the period, on the other hand, come with the development of tragic drama as a publicly supported art form performed before mass audiences. Artists as well as dramatists were experimenting with new techniques and approaches in this period, too, and artistic developments in free-standing sculpture provide the clearest demonstration of the innovation and variety in the depiction of the human form that characterized Greek art in the fifth century.

10.1. The Outlines of Greek Religion in the Classical Period

The Athenians' attitude in the mid-fifth century B.C. about their fortunate relationship to the gods corresponded to the basic tenet of traditional Greek religion: humans both as individuals and as groups paid honors to the gods to thank them for blessings received and to receive blessings in return. Those honors consisted of sacrifices, gifts to the gods' sanctuaries, and festivals of songs, dances, prayers, and processions. A seventh-century B.C. bronze statuette, now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which a man named Mantiklos gave to a (now unknown) sanctuary of Apollo to honor the god, makes clear why individuals gave such gifts. On the statuette's legs Mantiklos inscribed his understanding of the transaction: “Mantiklos gave this from his share to the Far Darter of the Silver Bow [i.e., Apollo]; now you, Apollo, do something for me in return.” This idea of reciprocity between gods and humans underlay the Greek understanding of the divine. Gods did not love human beings, except sometimes literally in mythological stories of gods taking earthly lovers and producing half-divine children. Rather, gods supported humans who paid them honor and avoided offending them. Gods whom humans offended sent calamities in response, such as famines, earthquakes, epidemic diseases, or defeat in war.

• free-standing sculpture: Artemision Zeus [View]; Sculpture [Browser]; Stewart Sculptor Survey [Essay]
• paid honors to the gods: Lys. on why gods receive honors [Text]; Hdt. on establishment of Pan precinct [Text]; Plut. on divine honors [Text]

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OCLC: 33900145
ISBN: 0300069561

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