Let not the religions of old remain a mystery. O, Greece and Egypt, give up the secrets of your faiths. [Summoning]
The conglomeration of ancient religions deserves to be sorted out, and the ancient faiths remain to be examined in the light of modern day science. The remains of idols and sacred texts, the stories passed down through generations of families, and the landscape designs of the temples are waiting to be understood and appreciated.
\"The Mysteries of Eleusis...were connected not only with Athenian and Greek existence but with human existence in general\" 1 Religion is the blood of humanity. Humans come out of the cradle exploring the world and eventually begin to ask the questions that plague humanity daily. Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? These questions have been in the heart of men since creation. Philosophy's diverse branches lend man many different answers. Human kind has looked for truth and found answers ranging from \"there is no meaning\" to \"find your own meaning\" to \"what this holy book says is meaning.\" Humanity's reaching for the stars in search of answers is reflected in her many religions.
\"The name of Eleusis appealed to the throngs of those who strove for a happy arrival [in the afterlife] and gave itself to be recognized as the goal of human life\" 2 People revered the diety, Eleusis, so much that they sought for happiness and meaning within her personality. Her followers formed a secret society to guard Eleusis's secrets. The story of her life was kept within the walls of the temple. \"Thus an inequality was created between the initiate and the profane, a division here and now, by virtue of which one group is blessed while the others go to their death in imperfection and uncertainty\" 3 Those on the outside had no hope, but, on the other hand, what did it matter if they had no idea of what they would be missing in the afterlife?
1 C. Kerenyi. Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Page 12
2 Kerenyi, 23.
3 Kerenyi, 14.
Sophokles, in Triptolemos, went so far as to say this about the Eleusinian mysteries, \"Thrice blessed are those men who, after beholding these rites, go down to Hades. Only for them is there life; all the rest will suffer an evil lot\"
This sentiment resounds in the doctrines of Christianity in regards to some going up to heaven and others down to hell. \"Beyond a doubt the \"Greeks\" are here contrasted with the Christians\" 4 An interesting side note is that, from people's desire to know more about the underworld, there came about secret ways to contact it. \"The tubular clay idols, or sacrificial tubes, assuredly served for communication with the subterranean realm\" 5
The beliefs about the creation of the universe also affected how people felt about their diety. The question of whether the diety was benevolent or malevolent arose. \"Among archaic peoples there are myths and rites based on the belief that plant nourishment and procreation first came into being through the violent death of a divine being\" 6 It can be thought that a being that gave its life and offers food and reproduction to its subjects is worthy to be worshiped. But one must beware.\"No field of human experience is excluded from scientific investigation, and this also goes for religious experience\" 7 If the world is accurately explained with no need for a god, we must not multiply our entities.
Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
The feeling of belonging to a group has long provided comfort to lonely humans. This happiness can be attributed to the joy of the diety, the cathartic release of emotion in the sacrifice, or simply the congeniality shared amongst initiates.
4 Kerenyi, 12.
5 Kerenyi, xx.
6 Kerenyi, xxv.
7 Kerenyi, xxii.
8 Georege Converse Fiske, \"Review,\" Classical Philology, Vol. 9, No. 3 (July, 1914): 337
\"It has long been known that cult played a crucial within women's lives in ancient Greece\" 9 Men were involved in some of these cults as high priest or servant to the high priestess.
Arguements have been made that Athens and Egypt had completely distinct faith systems.
\"There is far more evidence in Hellenistic Athens for, say, the (obligatory) devotion of ephebes to traditional cults than for the worship of Isis, which simply cannot bear the necessary weight of comparison\" 10 And yet others say that because of the work required to find out about the period, we must make conclusions without haste. For \"Greek inscriptions are difficult to deal with for many reasons, not the least of which is that the places in which inscriptions are published can be as difficult to find (more so in some cases) as the stones themselves were when they were in the ground, or wherever else they might have been\" 11 It takes the work of men of old, men of renown to clear up the confusion. \"contributions made by Homer, Hesiod, the Orphics, Plato, and the rest, [contributed] to the slowly advancing and gradually purified stream of religious thought and experience\" 12
Looking back into history, one finds interesting correlations. Ideas such as that of \"the whole course of Greek religion appears as a sort of paratio evangelica, and the author well emphasizes the fact that the fundamental beliefs of early Christianity -revelation, faith, mystic union with the divine,and salvation -were presented to a Graeco- Roman world to which, partly through Greek religion and partly through Oriental cults established in the West, these ideas were already familiar and welcome\" 13 It seems that all the philosophy, knowledge, and faith had to be brought together.
9 Richard Hawley. \"Review,\" Folklore, Vol. 108. (1997): 127.
10 R.C.T. Parker. \"Review,\" The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 48, No. 2. (1998): 511.
11 Linda Collins Reilly. \"Review,\" The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 103, No. 4. (Winter, 1982): 457.
12 Arthur Stanley Pease. \"Review,\" The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 11, No. 4. (Oct., 1918): 437.
13 Ibid.
\"The final step was for the new religion to be embodied in the garb of Greek philosophical thought, and thus Christianity was not merely the death, but in a larger sense the consummation, of Greek paganism\" 14 A historical overview would be recognized in the following:
\"For more than six centuries, during the last 300 years before the turn of the millennium and for some 300 years after, Egypt was ruled by foreigners-first by the Greeks after the conquest of Alexander the Great, then by the Romans. Graeco- Roman culture mixed with that of ancient Egypt and even supplanted it. Pagan themes derived from long exposure to Greek education predominated over Christian ones and continued in ever more abstract form even after the Arab conquest of Egypt\" 15
This process was in no way immediate. Only gradually did Christian themes appear in Coptic art. At first a Christian could be identified by the ancient Egyptian ankh sign, the earliest form of cross used in Egypt. Later, Christians were shown carrying more traditional crosses, while small pendant crosses were made to be worn, and cross motifs were woven into ecclesiastical cloths\" 16 Evidences include \"Papyrus leaves of Biblical and hagiographic texts [that]represented the earliest type of Coptic writing\" 17 In regards to the gradual decline of the faiths into another system, \"We have a good deal of information on more or less minor rearrangements of the administration of old festivals such as the Dionysia and Panathenaia, but see no diminishing in their actual practice\"18
The focus on Egypt must be readjusted. Scientists and historians claim that
\"Although we admit the reality of the supernatural, we must be careful not to place all unexplained phenomena into the supernatural category\" 19 These intellectuals realize that
\" There is a certain mystery about the occult which appeals to our curiosity\" 20
14 Ibid.
15 Susan Auth. \"Myth and Gospel: Art of Coptic Egypt,\" African Arts, Vol. 11, No. 3. (April, 1978): 82.
16 Ibid.
17 Auth, 83.
18 Emma J. Stafford. \"Review,\" The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 120 (2000): 183.
19 Josh McDowell and Don Stewart. Understanding the Occult (San Bernardino: Here's Life, INC., 1982):12.
20 McDowell and Stewart, 20.
The religious practices of the Egyptians were intricate and complex:
\"The rituals for installing the storm god's high priestess. When a former high priestess died, the daughter of a local family was chosen by lot to replace her. This young woman was anointed with sacred oil and, on the next day, followed festive singers and sacrificial animals to the storm god's temple. At the entrance to the temple courtyard her head was shaved and all of the city's numerous gods reconsecrated\" 21
The use of animal images to centralize their worship of the god was used. Certain animals came to represent certain attributes of the god.
\"Several religious cults in Egypt (that of Apis being the most prominent) worshiped the bull and the calf. Deification of a live, \"sacred\" bull was initiated during the First Egyptian Dynasty and continued throughout ancient Egypt's long history. Bull cults of the Nile delta, which existed at the same time and location as the Israelites' sojourn in Egypt, were dedicated to Horus, 'the god of heaven'\" 22
Back in the area of the middle east are the Canaanites who also held in esteem gods turned into representable objects.
\"The Canaanites also venerated bulls. El, the chief god of the Canaanites pantheon, was referred to as \"the heavenly bull.\" Baal, the storm god, was likewise associated with the bull on account of that animal's fertility. Artistic traditions from Canaan depict gods as riding on bulls, which had become living pedestals emblematic of kingship and power over nature\" 23
Tieing up all the loose ends about Egypt, the following is conclusive:
\"Egypt was a land of many gods and religious concepts. Each locality seems to have emphasized its local diety. Over the centuries, several emerged as primary gods: Re, the sun god; Ptah the patron of craftsmen; Osiris, god of the underworld; and his wife, Isis. Yet there were dozens of others, representing the powers of nature, such as fertility, illness, the rise and fall of Egypt.\"
Often the gods of Egypt were represented as half-human, half-beast, such as Anubis, who had the head of a jackal, and Sobek, with that of a crocodile.
21 Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION รข.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
The pantheon of Egypt was further confused by the fact that over the centuries the gods and goddesses traded attributes and functions, making a religion so complex that no one today really understands ancient Egypt's faith. Worship of the gods of Egypt was actually conducted by the priests. They alone, with royalty, had access to temples. There the idols representing Egypt's gods were awakened in the morning, bathed and dressed, fed their morning sacrifice, consulted, fed again, and finally put to bed. 25
The consummation of all religions might bring about a final answer to the questions of existence, unless only one religion contained the truth. It seems that to discover reality in religion, one must sort and sift slowly and logically through the pile. It seems evident that a \"god\" that a person has to take care of can by no means take care of that person. This is common-sense, yet many are lured into having religious statues of such entities as saints or angels or their conception of God. It should be thought that God is beyond physical representation. Many religions have practices that try to contact the dead to find out about the after life. It is interesting that Christianity prohibits this sort of action. Maybe, the answers will only come once the door of death has been stepped through.
24 Richards, Lawrence O. Richards Complete Bible Dictionary. Iowa Falls: World Bible INC., 1973. 328.
25 Ibid.
Bibliography
Auth, Susan. “Myth and Gospel: Art of Coptic Egypt.” African Arts, Vol. 11, No. 3 (April 1978): 82-83.
Drummond, A. “Review of The Worship of the Goddess Roma in the Greek World by Ronald Mellor.” The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 28, No. 1 (1978): 93-94.
Fisher, N. R. E. “Review of Womanhood. The Feminine in Ancient Hellenism, Gnosticism, Christianity and Islam by Raoul Mortley.” The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 34, No. 2 (1984): 343.
Fiske, George Converse. “Review of The Cults of Ostia by Lily Ross Taylor and Cretan Elements in the Cults and Ritual of Apollo by Mary Hamilton Swindler.” Classical Philology, Vol. 9, No. 3 (July, 1914): 335-337.
Hawley, Richard. “Review of Greek Heroine Cults by Jennifer Larson.” Folklore, Vol. 108 (1997): 127.
McDowell, Josh, and Don Stewart. Understanding the Occult. San Bernardino: Here's Life, INC., 1982.
Parker, R. C. T. “Review of Interpreting Early Hellenistic Religion: A Study Based on the Mystery Cult of Demeter and the Cult of Isis by P. Pakkanen.” The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 48, No. 2 (1998): 511-512.
Pease, Arthur Stanley. “Review of The Religious Thought of the Greeks from Homer to the Triumph of Christianity by Clifford Herschel Moore.” The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 11, No. 4 (Oct., 1918): 436-437.
Reilly, Linda Collins. “Review of Cults of Boiotia by Albert Schachter.” The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 103, No. 4 (Winter, 1982): 457-458.
Shimkin, D. B. “Review of Cults and Creeds in Graeco-Roman Egypt by H. Idris Bell.” American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 57, No. 1, Part 1 (Feb., 1955): 152.
Stafford, Emma J. “Review of Religion in Hellenistic Athens by J. D. Mikalson.” The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 120 (2000): 183.
[I] Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ‚. Copyright „ 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Archaeological Study Bible Edition
[J] Richards, Lawrence O. Richards Complete Bible Dictionary. Iowa Falls: World Bible INC., 1973. 328.";"Let not the religions of old remain a mystery. O, Greece and Egypt, give up the secrets of your faiths. [Summoning]
The conglomeration of ancient religions deserves to be sorted out, and the ancient faiths remain to be examined in the light of modern day science. The remains of idols and sacred texts, the stories passed down through generations of families, and the landscape designs of the temples are waiting to be understood and appreciated.
The conglomeration of ancient religions deserves to be sorted out, and the ancient faiths remain to be examined in the light of modern day science. The remains of idols and sacred texts, the stories passed down through generations of families, and the landscape designs of the temples are waiting to be understood and appreciated.
\"The Mysteries of Eleusis...were connected not only with Athenian and Greek existence but with human existence in general\" 1 Religion is the blood of humanity. Humans come out of the cradle exploring the world and eventually begin to ask the questions that plague humanity daily. Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? These questions have been in the heart of men since creation. Philosophy's diverse branches lend man many different answers. Human kind has looked for truth and found answers ranging from \"there is no meaning\" to \"find your own meaning\" to \"what this holy book says is meaning.\" Humanity's reaching for the stars in search of answers is reflected in her many religions.
\"The name of Eleusis appealed to the throngs of those who strove for a happy arrival [in the afterlife] and gave itself to be recognized as the goal of human life\" 2 People revered the diety, Eleusis, so much that they sought for happiness and meaning within her personality. Her followers formed a secret society to guard Eleusis's secrets. The story of her life was kept within the walls of the temple. \"Thus an inequality was created between the initiate and the profane, a division here and now, by virtue of which one group is blessed while the others go to their death in imperfection and uncertainty\" 3 Those on the outside had no hope, but, on the other hand, what did it matter if they had no idea of what they would be missing in the afterlife?
1 C. Kerenyi. Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Page 12
2 Kerenyi, 23.
3 Kerenyi, 14.
Sophokles, in Triptolemos, went so far as to say this about the Eleusinian mysteries, \"Thrice blessed are those men who, after beholding these rites, go down to Hades. Only for them is there life; all the rest will suffer an evil lot\"
This sentiment resounds in the doctrines of Christianity in regards to some going up to heaven and others down to hell. \"Beyond a doubt the \"Greeks\" are here contrasted with the Christians\" 4 An interesting side note is that, from people's desire to know more about the underworld, there came about secret ways to contact it. \"The tubular clay idols, or sacrificial tubes, assuredly served for communication with the subterranean realm\" 5
The beliefs about the creation of the universe also affected how people felt about their diety. The question of whether the diety was benevolent or malevolent arose. \"Among archaic peoples there are myths and rites based on the belief that plant nourishment and procreation first came into being through the violent death of a divine being\" 6 It can be thought that a being that gave its life and offers food and reproduction to its subjects is worthy to be worshiped. But one must beware.\"No field of human experience is excluded from scientific investigation, and this also goes for religious experience\" 7 If the world is accurately explained with no need for a god, we must not multiply our entities.
Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
The feeling of belonging to a group has long provided comfort to lonely humans. This happiness can be attributed to the joy of the diety, the cathartic release of emotion in the sacrifice, or simply the congeniality shared amongst initiates.
4 Kerenyi, 12.
5 Kerenyi, xx.
6 Kerenyi, xxv.
7 Kerenyi, xxii.
8 Georege Converse Fiske, \"Review,\" Classical Philology, Vol. 9, No. 3 (July, 1914): 337
\"It has long been known that cult played a crucial within women's lives in ancient Greece\" 9 Men were involved in some of these cults as high priest or servant to the high priestess.
Arguements have been made that Athens and Egypt had completely distinct faith systems.
\"There is far more evidence in Hellenistic Athens for, say, the (obligatory) devotion of ephebes to traditional cults than for the worship of Isis, which simply cannot bear the necessary weight of comparison\" 10 And yet others say that because of the work required to find out about the period, we must make conclusions without haste. For \"Greek inscriptions are difficult to deal with for many reasons, not the least of which is that the places in which inscriptions are published can be as difficult to find (more so in some cases) as the stones themselves were when they were in the ground, or wherever else they might have been\" 11 It takes the work of men of old, men of renown to clear up the confusion. \"contributions made by Homer, Hesiod, the Orphics, Plato, and the rest, [contributed] to the slowly advancing and gradually purified stream of religious thought and experience\" 12
Looking back into history, one finds interesting correlations. Ideas such as that of \"the whole course of Greek religion appears as a sort of paratio evangelica, and the author well emphasizes the fact that the fundamental beliefs of early Christianity -revelation, faith, mystic union with the divine,and salvation -were presented to a Graeco- Roman world to which, partly through Greek religion and partly through Oriental cults established in the West, these ideas were already familiar and welcome\" 13 It seems that all the philosophy, knowledge, and faith had to be brought together.
9 Richard Hawley. \"Review,\" Folklore, Vol. 108. (1997): 127.
10 R.C.T. Parker. \"Review,\" The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 48, No. 2. (1998): 511.
11 Linda Collins Reilly. \"Review,\" The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 103, No. 4. (Winter, 1982): 457.
12 Arthur Stanley Pease. \"Review,\" The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 11, No. 4. (Oct., 1918): 437.
13 Ibid.
\"The final step was for the new religion to be embodied in the garb of Greek philosophical thought, and thus Christianity was not merely the death, but in a larger sense the consummation, of Greek paganism\" 14 A historical overview would be recognized in the following:
\"For more than six centuries, during the last 300 years before the turn of the millennium and for some 300 years after, Egypt was ruled by foreigners-first by the Greeks after the conquest of Alexander the Great, then by the Romans. Graeco- Roman culture mixed with that of ancient Egypt and even supplanted it. Pagan themes derived from long exposure to Greek education predominated over Christian ones and continued in ever more abstract form even after the Arab conquest of Egypt\" 15
This process was in no way immediate. Only gradually did Christian themes appear in Coptic art. At first a Christian could be identified by the ancient Egyptian ankh sign, the earliest form of cross used in Egypt. Later, Christians were shown carrying more traditional crosses, while small pendant crosses were made to be worn, and cross motifs were woven into ecclesiastical cloths\" 16 Evidences include \"Papyrus leaves of Biblical and hagiographic texts [that]represented the earliest type of Coptic writing\" 17 In regards to the gradual decline of the faiths into another system, \"We have a good deal of information on more or less minor rearrangements of the administration of old festivals such as the Dionysia and Panathenaia, but see no diminishing in their actual practice\"18
The focus on Egypt must be readjusted. Scientists and historians claim that
\"Although we admit the reality of the supernatural, we must be careful not to place all unexplained phenomena into the supernatural category\" 19 These intellectuals realize that
\" There is a certain mystery about the occult which appeals to our curiosity\" 20
14 Ibid.
15 Susan Auth. \"Myth and Gospel: Art of Coptic Egypt,\" African Arts, Vol. 11, No. 3. (April, 1978): 82.
16 Ibid.
17 Auth, 83.
18 Emma J. Stafford. \"Review,\" The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 120 (2000): 183.
19 Josh McDowell and Don Stewart. Understanding the Occult (San Bernardino: Here's Life, INC., 1982):12.
20 McDowell and Stewart, 20.
The religious practices of the Egyptians were intricate and complex:
\"The rituals for installing the storm god's high priestess. When a former high priestess died, the daughter of a local family was chosen by lot to replace her. This young woman was anointed with sacred oil and, on the next day, followed festive singers and sacrificial animals to the storm god's temple. At the entrance to the temple courtyard her head was shaved and all of the city's numerous gods reconsecrated\" 21
The use of animal images to centralize their worship of the god was used. Certain animals came to represent certain attributes of the god.
\"Several religious cults in Egypt (that of Apis being the most prominent) worshiped the bull and the calf. Deification of a live, \"sacred\" bull was initiated during the First Egyptian Dynasty and continued throughout ancient Egypt's long history. Bull cults of the Nile delta, which existed at the same time and location as the Israelites' sojourn in Egypt, were dedicated to Horus, 'the god of heaven'\" 22
Back in the area of the middle east are the Canaanites who also held in esteem gods turned into representable objects.
\"The Canaanites also venerated bulls. El, the chief god of the Canaanites pantheon, was referred to as \"the heavenly bull.\" Baal, the storm god, was likewise associated with the bull on account of that animal's fertility. Artistic traditions from Canaan depict gods as riding on bulls, which had become living pedestals emblematic of kingship and power over nature\" 23
Tieing up all the loose ends about Egypt, the following is conclusive:
\"Egypt was a land of many gods and religious concepts. Each locality seems to have emphasized its local diety. Over the centuries, several emerged as primary gods: Re, the sun god; Ptah the patron of craftsmen; Osiris, god of the underworld; and his wife, Isis. Yet there were dozens of others, representing the powers of nature, such as fertility, illness, the rise and fall of Egypt.\"
Often the gods of Egypt were represented as half-human, half-beast, such as Anubis, who had the head of a jackal, and Sobek, with that of a crocodile.
21 Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION รข.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
The pantheon of Egypt was further confused by the fact that over the centuries the gods and goddesses traded attributes and functions, making a religion so complex that no one today really understands ancient Egypt's faith. Worship of the gods of Egypt was actually conducted by the priests. They alone, with royalty, had access to temples. There the idols representing Egypt's gods were awakened in the morning, bathed and dressed, fed their morning sacrifice, consulted, fed again, and finally put to bed. 25
The consummation of all religions might bring about a final answer to the questions of existence, unless only one religion contained the truth. It seems that to discover reality in religion, one must sort and sift slowly and logically through the pile. It seems evident that a \"god\" that a person has to take care of can by no means take care of that person. This is common-sense, yet many are lured into having religious statues of such entities as saints or angels or their conception of God. It should be thought that God is beyond physical representation. Many religions have practices that try to contact the dead to find out about the after life. It is interesting that Christianity prohibits this sort of action. Maybe, the answers will only come once the door of death has been stepped through.
24 Richards, Lawrence O. Richards Complete Bible Dictionary. Iowa Falls: World Bible INC., 1973. 328.
25 Ibid.
Bibliography
Auth, Susan. “Myth and Gospel: Art of Coptic Egypt.” African Arts, Vol. 11, No. 3 (April 1978): 82-83.
Drummond, A. “Review of The Worship of the Goddess Roma in the Greek World by Ronald Mellor.” The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 28, No. 1 (1978): 93-94.
Fisher, N. R. E. “Review of Womanhood. The Feminine in Ancient Hellenism, Gnosticism, Christianity and Islam by Raoul Mortley.” The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 34, No. 2 (1984): 343.
Fiske, George Converse. “Review of The Cults of Ostia by Lily Ross Taylor and Cretan Elements in the Cults and Ritual of Apollo by Mary Hamilton Swindler.” Classical Philology, Vol. 9, No. 3 (July, 1914): 335-337.
Hawley, Richard. “Review of Greek Heroine Cults by Jennifer Larson.” Folklore, Vol. 108 (1997): 127.
McDowell, Josh, and Don Stewart. Understanding the Occult. San Bernardino: Here's Life, INC., 1982.
Parker, R. C. T. “Review of Interpreting Early Hellenistic Religion: A Study Based on the Mystery Cult of Demeter and the Cult of Isis by P. Pakkanen.” The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 48, No. 2 (1998): 511-512.
Pease, Arthur Stanley. “Review of The Religious Thought of the Greeks from Homer to the Triumph of Christianity by Clifford Herschel Moore.” The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 11, No. 4 (Oct., 1918): 436-437.
Reilly, Linda Collins. “Review of Cults of Boiotia by Albert Schachter.” The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 103, No. 4 (Winter, 1982): 457-458.
Shimkin, D. B. “Review of Cults and Creeds in Graeco-Roman Egypt by H. Idris Bell.” American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 57, No. 1, Part 1 (Feb., 1955): 152.
Stafford, Emma J. “Review of Religion in Hellenistic Athens by J. D. Mikalson.” The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 120 (2000): 183.
[I] Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ‚. Copyright „ 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Archaeological Study Bible Edition
[J] Richards, Lawrence O. Richards Complete Bible Dictionary. Iowa Falls: World Bible INC., 1973. 328.";"Let not the religions of old remain a mystery. O, Greece and Egypt, give up the secrets of your faiths. [Summoning]
The conglomeration of ancient religions deserves to be sorted out, and the ancient faiths remain to be examined in the light of modern day science. The remains of idols and sacred texts, the stories passed down through generations of families, and the landscape designs of the temples are waiting to be understood and appreciated.
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