The Gods
The many gods of the Greeks were both the vivid characters of Homer's poems and a puzzle that philosophers spent centuries trying to rationalize or replace.
'The gods' (theoi) covers the whole Greek conception of divinity — from the quarreling, all-too-human Olympians of Homer and Hesiod (c. 8th c. BCE) to the very different gods of the philosophers. Xenophanes mocked gods made in human shape, Plato insisted the gods must be perfectly good, and Aristotle and the Epicureans reimagined them as serene and remote — all while popular worship carried on unchanged. This tension between traditional myth and philosophical theology runs through nearly all of Greek thought, and later framed monotheistic critiques of paganism.
How it traveled
- IliadIos · -700explains
- OdysseyIos · -700explains
- TheogonyAscra · -650explains
- Works and DaysAscra · -650explains
- AgamemnonAthens · -458explains
- HistoriesThurii (Magna Graecia) · -425explains
- EuthyphroAthens · -395explains
- BusirisAthens · -390explains
- RepublicAthens · -375explains
- CratylusAthens · -375explains
- HelenAthens · -370explains
- Fragmenta— · -370redefines
- CritiasAthens · -360explains
- MemorabiliaAthens · -354explains
- SymposiumAthens · -354explains
- CyropaediaAthens · -354explains
- LawsAthens · -348explains
- EpinomisAthens · -345explains
- Against CtesiphonAthens · -330explains
- In C. VerremFormiae · -70explains
- In CatilinamFormiae · -63explains
- Gallic WarRome · -51explains
- de Natura DeorumFormiae · -43explains
- Ab urbe conditaPadua · -27explains
- AeneidRome · -19explains
- MetamorphosesTomis (Constanța) · 8explains
- FastiTomis (Constanța) · 17explains
- GeographyAmaseia · 24explains
- De Iside et OsirideChaeronea · 120explains
- Quaestiones RomanaeChaeronea · 120explains
Key passages(20)
Avodah Zarah · Anonymous (Stammaim, redactors of the Bavli) · 450 CE
וְשֶׁבְּמָדוֹר הַתַּחְתּוֹן מִי שְׁרֵי? וְהָתַנְיָא: ״אֲשֶׁר בַּשָּׁמַיִם״ — לְרַבּוֹת חַמָּה וּלְבָנָה כּוֹכָבִים וּמַזָּלוֹת, ״מִמַּעַל״ — לְרַבּוֹת מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת!
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Avodah Zarah · Anonymous (Stammaim, redactors of the Bavli) · 450 CE
מַתְנִי׳ שָׁאֲלוּ אֶת הַזְּקֵנִים בְּרוֹמִי: אִם אֵין רְצוֹנוֹ בַּעֲבוֹדָה זָרָה, לָמָה אֵינוֹ מְבַטְּלָהּ? אָמְרוּ לָהֶן: אִילּוּ לְדָבָר שֶׁאֵין צוֹרֶךְ לָעוֹלָם בּוֹ הָיוּ עוֹבְדִין — הָיָה מְבַטְּ
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Avodah Zarah · Anonymous (Stammaim, redactors of the Bavli) · 450 CE
גְּמָ׳ תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: שָׁאֲלוּ פִלוֹסוֹפִין אֶת הַזְּקֵנִים בְּרוֹמִי: אִם אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֵין רְצוֹנוֹ בַּעֲבוֹדָה זָרָה, מִפְּנֵי מָה אֵינוֹ מְבַטְּלָהּ? אָמְרוּ לָהֶם: אִילּוּ לְדָבָר שֶׁאֵין הָעוֹלָ
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Vita Barlaam et Joasaph · John of Damascus, Saint
Contra Orationem Symmachia · Prudentius
Ad Nationes Libri Duo · Tertullian
Protrepticus · Clement of Alexandria
Homiliae [Sp.] · Clemens Romanus (Clement of Rome)
Protrepticus · Clement of Alexandria
Protrepticus · Clement of Alexandria
Historia Ecclesiastica · Evagrius, Scholasticus