Thursday 7 March 2013

Religion and politics- the conclusion.


In these past weeks, if I’ve learnt anything it’s that religion in ancient Greece was embedded deeply into the people’s lives. There wasn’t a notion of ‘religion’ as we see it today. This means that its relationship with politics is something completely different to what we would expect. I started to explore this way back in week one, lightly touching the surface of such a fascinating subject. And I think it is quite fitting that my final post will be investigating this in further detail.

In modern society religion and politics still arguably go hand-in-hand. The Catholic pope can go on either a religious or state visit, the Islamic religion has a moral sharia law and the US president is always a practising Christian. These relationships show that the ‘church’ (representing religion as a whole) and the state still use one another to manipulate the masses. Look at the uproar when America thought Obama was a Muslim.

Athens was a mono-centric city, meaning the key cult and key political buildings are both situated in the centre of the city. This contrasts with a bi-polar city such as Argos, which has the key political central and the major sanctuary in the countryside. Athens was atypical and unusual to be mono-centric. Perhaps this is why we see the acropolis and therefore Athens to be the epitome of Greek religion? A vital event regarding the rise of Peisistratus is significant in showing the relationship between religion and politics.

Herodotus (perhaps unreliably) tells us that after Peisistratus was ousted from power, he came across Phye.

  “In the deme of Paiania, there was a well-formed woman called Phye, who was nearly six feet tall, whom they fitted out in full armour, and put in a chariot.  Getting her to pose in a way to generate the greatest spectacle, they drove into the city, where messengers who had proceeded them were already proclaiming, as they had been instructed, that the people should welcome Peisistratus, because the goddess Athena herself was showing him exceptional honour, and was bringing him back to her own Acropolis. They spread this message around, and soon the report reached the demes.  Believing that the woman was Athena herself, the people worshipped this person, and welcomed Peisistratus” (Herodotus 1.60.4-5)


This is a clear example of manipulating religious for political benefits.

Firstly, why Athena? Well Peisistratus already has tied with the cult of Athena, before this event he is accredited with the reorganisation of the Panathenaia, which marks Athena’s birthday. Peisistratus made it a much bigger and extravagant event, introducing the Panathenaic games. This festival not only elevated Athena’s role to the whole Greek world but that of Athens too. Peisistratus drew from this festival by using Athena and elements from the festival (procession through Athens) however; the Panathenaic procession didn’t contain any images of Athena, as she didn’t need to be ‘taken’ to her own acropolis. So by using Athena’s image, Peisistratus is showing how Athena is taking him to the acropolis. He isn’t being impious. Along the same lines of Athena leading Peisistratus to the city centre, he is also calling upon her as a Pompos conveyor/helper of heroes. As Athena has ‘chosen’ to help him, he is getting the same treatment and other heroes, such as Theseus, Hercules and Odysseus. Peisistratus (by not dressing up as one of the said heroes) isn’t being impious once again, he is being clever and putting himself on the same level as the heroes that are known and loved by the people of Athens.
Why the chariot? Erichthonios is attributed as the Panathenaic festival founder, as well as the creator of chariots alongside Athena. He is her protégé and as Peisistratus re-invented the games and rode in a chariot, he is showing himself to be an equal protégé. It is also important to note the role of chariots in processions. On vases it is often the gods that travel in a chariot and in real life mortals that are using chariots do so in order to elevate themselves. For example, a newly wed couple, game victors or departing warriors. It is blurring the boundaries of the immortals and the mortals. Setting them apart from the rest. And so Peisistratus entered Athens in a way that transcends other humans in the masses.

Why the people believed this is another thing. It can be argued that they didn’t literally believe the Phye was Athena, but they acted as though it was. This is because of how the audience participates in worship. Ritual involvement was active rather than passive. The people in the masses are also elevated. This is not dissimilar to Christian mass, where the bread and wine become the body and blood rather than just being symbolic. There is a distinct shift between symbolism and realism. The worshippers are elevated and taken to participate in the late supper. And so this means that it wasn’t just Athena on earth in this procession- all of the audience are elevated and taken to a place where gods and mortals can interact. The Athenians are known to be rational people, but they are also known to be very devoted. This act demonstrates piety and the relationship of Athena as patron. It confirms and solidifies the religiosity of Athenians.

The story is packed with divine messages. On one hand the people are being tricked by Peisistratus’ manipulation of religious activities and on the other hand they are allowing themselves to be tricked by him. As they would when other people impersonate the gods on stage etc. The ‘actors’ become the embodiment of the gods.

I feel like this is a good end to my little journey through Greek religion. A story of how a politician used religion to elevate the gods, himself and the masses. I'm not sure if I believe the story fully, but for the sake of this blog I do. I think that perhaps our Christianised goggles should be embraced when we are trying to understand how the culture differed and perhaps it is just easier to forget about the problem of 'what is a god?' I will be added further posts to this blog in the future and don't forget to check out my bibliography at the top of the page to see a list of all the books that I've used to form my arguments. 

Thanks for reading!  



3 comments:

  1. Hi I like your blog there is an intriguing subtext to your entries, would be interested to hear if you've been doing any comparative reading.

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  2. No just found this coin and would like to know if this coin is worth any money, if so where to trade this

    ReplyDelete