myths and cults remained undeveloped relative to those of the more complex
Olympians and the more numerous local gods.
The nineteenth-century concept of the ‘‘vegetation god’’ does not correspond to
any individual member of the Greek pantheon; instead, many Greek gods, including
the nymphs, included growing things among their spheres of influence. Similarly,
many gods regulated the animal world. Among these, Pan will be treated because he
alone is a Master of Animals who himself partakes of animal form and nature as a
regular part of his panhellenic persona.
Landscape and Religion
Of course, ‘‘the Greeks’’ express differing views of the natural world in different
times, places, and genres. One recurrent theme is a Hobbesian struggle between
hostile natural forces and fearful humans. The natural world is inhuman and therefore
without pity or compassion. We see this idea in the similes of theIliad, which tend to
focus on the fearsome aspects of nature, such as the terrible powers of stormy sea, fire,
and flood, or the depredations of wild animals. Achilles’ battle with the river Xanthus
is said to mythologize ‘‘the essential antagonism between man and nature’’ (Hurwit
1991:35). Yet this literary theme should be balanced by a look at Greek religion in
practice, which takes the more hopeful view that the powers in the land, especially in
one’s native land, are potentially dangerous yet willing to be appeased. Often they
are celebrated as ancestors who guide the development of the community’s most
important asset, the young. In Greek literature, the mention of a river evokes the
affective ties between a hero and his homeland, and the gods of the land naturally
favor and protect the native-born. For his part, Xanthus is eager to defend the Trojans
against the pitiless invader, and offended at the slaughter of youths (Iliad21.1–161).
Achilles’ battle against Xanthus can be compared to his relationship with the river of
his homeland, Spercheus. Peleus vows that if Achilles returns home, he will sacrifice a
hundred oxen and fifty rams, while Achilles will cut his hair, grown long for the
purpose, and dedicate it to the river (Iliad23.140–51). Spercheus is a powerful
symbol of the homecoming Achilles will never enjoy.
Another important issue in the relationship between nature and Greek religion has
to do with the environment of worship, the context in which people encountered
their gods. While every city had its intramural sanctuaries, the Greeks never stopped
visiting and building places of worship in the countryside, often in remote and
inaccessible locations. The panhellenic construct of Olympus as the home of the
gods existed in tension with cult practice, which located the gods in their sanctuaries
and viewed the altar and the cult statue as the places where the gods were most
predictably manifest and present. Yet the gods are present in the landscape even
before an altar is built; the construction of an altar or sanctuary is conceived as a
response to the pre-existent holiness of a place (Cole 2004:37–8). How did the
Greeks determine which places were holy? Often, the holy places were the most
beautiful. John Ruskin, among many others, contended that the Greeks lacked a
strong aesthetic response to the natural world. While it is true that we find no
Constables or Wordsworths in ancient Greece, the responses and emotions that
Nature Deities 57