A READER IN COMPARATIVE INDO-EUROPEAN MYTHOLOGY

GREEK
Many people think that Greek religion is thoroughly known and researched. After all, we
have so many preserved temples from classical antiquity, we have detailed accounts of
Greek mythology not only from Greek, but also from Roman sources, and we are familiar
with the way the Greeks depicted their gods from thousands of preserved statues and
pictures on Greek vases. Homer gave us vivid stories about the relationships of Gods and
humans in his «Iliad» and «Odyssey», and the whole history of the gods and the universe
is presented in Hesiod's «Theogony». We can also learn a whole lot about Greek's attitude
to religion from the early lyrics and drama, especially from the solemn hymns of Pindar
and the plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles.
However, none of the works mentioned were actually recited or otherwise used in Greek
temples during religious services. There is no Greek equivalent of the «Rig Veda», and we
know virtually nothing about how the priests addressed their gods. Many ceremonies are
known only from depictions on vases and scarce references in works of ancient authors.
Indeed, many of the ceremonies were intended to be secret, so it is no wonder we can only
guess what was actually going on during the «Eleusyne Mysteries», dedicated to
Persephone. Only the initiated could participate in the mysteries, but the initiated at some
point included the majority of the citizens of Athens. Other ceremonies are better known,
especially those organized in Athens, such as the “Thesmophoria”, dedicated to Demeter,
in which only women could participate, or the «Lenaia», dedicated to Dionysus.
Moreover, the Greek mythology was transmitted to us mostly in late sources, especially in
works of Hellenistic authors who sought to systematize and preserve ancient and halfforgotten
traditions, such as Pseudo-Apllodorus' «Bibliotheca». We also have some
accounts of Greek customs – including religious festivities – in the works of such authors
as Herodotus (in his «Histories» from the 5th century BC) and Pausanias (in his
«Description of Greece» from the 2nd century AD). We also have thousands of
inscriptions, including laws and contracts carved into stone monuments, public decrees
and decrees of religious associations. These documents often record names of ceremonies,
priests and priestly families.
Of all the cultic texts, we only have some fragments used in the Orphic mysteries, which
became very popular in Greece in the 5 th centuyr BC and after. Especially numerous are
short instructions to the soul of the dead, written on gold leafs, and fragments of Orphic
poems. In this field there have been some interesting new discoveries, such as the famous
Derveni Papyrus, found in 1962 but published only in 1997. It contains a commentary on
a mythological Orphic poem.
Our first written sources for the history of Greek religion are the tablets written in the
syllabic Linear B script. These are almost exclusively lists of offerings to various
sanctuaries (such as the sanctuary of Pa-ki-ja-ne near Pylos) and gods. Many theonyms
found on the tablets are known from the classical period, e.g. Zeus, Hera (who appears to
have been already worshipped as Zeus’s consort), Ares, Enyalios, Artemis, Paian (later
Apollo), and, interestingly, Dionysos. There are, however, some theonyms that are
unknown in later periods, e.g. the mysterious Drimios, son of Zeus, or the various female
deities called po-ti-ni-ja (= pótnia ‘lady’), of which A-ta-na po-ti-ni-ja (the lady of Atana
= Athḗnē) and Da-pu-ri-to-jo po-ti-ni-ja (the lady of the Labyrinthos) are prime examples.
Items offered to the gods do not differ from those used in sacrifices in the classical period,