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Greek religion
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the gods on Olympus Zeus hurling a thunderbolt, bronze statuette from Dodona, Greece, early 5th century bc; in the Collection of Classical Antiquities, National Museums in Berlin. Hera Dionysus Broken marble columns and stone bases stand on a large paved area at the Sanctuary of Eleusis, Greece, with green hills and scattered trees in the background. Athena Parthenos Delphi: theatre and Temple of Zeus
Examine the ways in which mythology functioned for the ancient Greek population
Aphrodite and Eros, gilt bronze mirror with incised design, Greek, 4th century bce; in the Louvre, Paris. Exekias: Greek amphora depicting Achilles slaying Penthesilea
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Greek religion summary
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Marble bust of Alexander the Great, in the British Museum, London, England. Hellenistic Greek, 2nd-1st century BC. Said to be from Alexandria, Egypt. Height: 37 cm.
Ancient Greece
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the gods on Olympus
the gods on Olympus The gods on Olympus: Athena, Zeus, Dionysus, Hera, and Aphrodite. Detail of a painting on a Greek cup; in the National Archaeological Museum, Tarquinia, Italy.

Greek religion

ancient religion
Written by
John Richard Thornhill Pollard
Former Senior Lecturer in Classics, University College of North Wales, University of Wales, Bangor. Author of Birds in Greek Life and Myth; Helen of Troy; and others.
John Richard Thornhill PollardAll
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

Greek religion, religious beliefs and practices of the ancient Hellenes. Greek religion is not the same as Greek mythology, which is concerned with traditional tales, though the two are closely interlinked. Curiously, for a people so religiously minded, the Greeks had no word for religion itself; the nearest terms were eusebeia (“piety”) and threskeia (“cult”). Although its origins may be traced to the remotest eras, Greek religion in its developed form lasted more than a...

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