Perhaps the most intriguing instance of an imported being is the eastern (possibly
Cypriot) Adonis, a young lover of Aphrodite who had been gored to death by a bull
when out hunting. First attested in Athens in the mid-fifth century, his cult became
highly popular with women, who would gather noisily on the rooftops in midsummer
to mourn his death. Here they would grow little ‘‘gardens of Adonis’’ in broken
baskets consisting of fast-growing plants such as lettuce and fennel that would
develop quickly only to wither and die in the heat. One thing that is curious about
the festival is its location: on rooftops temporarily transformed into sacred space
rather than at a designated sanctuary. Another strange feature concerns the partici-
pants. Although the cult remained outside the framework of state religion, it had
wider appeal than other privately organized cults, with worshipers including citizen
women as well as their non-citizen counterparts.
The presence of a large, varied, and ever-growing pantheon begs the question as to
whether the Athenians were more religious than other Greeks. Certainly this was
their reputation in antiquity, where they were distinguished for being, in the words of
the second century AD visitor Pausanias, ‘‘far more zealous than other people in
matters concerning the gods [ta theia]’’ (1.24.3). Alternatively, it may simply be the
case that a city with a large territory and population was inevitably going to possess a
greater number of cults. In the following paragraphs, we will investigate the nature of
the Athenians’ religiosity in order to test how far they were distinctive among the
peoples of the Greek world.
We will begin with the aspect that gave the Athenians the greatest claim to a special
relationship with the divine. Although, as we have seen, they stood out because of the
number of gods they worshiped, they were also renowned for an exceptional bond
with one deity in particular: Athena. In the first ever reference to Athena by an
Athenian, for example, Athens is seen to be beset by civil strife but, nonetheless:
Our city will never be destroyed by the decree of Zeus, nor by the wish of the blessed
immortal gods, for such is she, our great-hearted goddess, mightily fathered, who
protects us, Pallas Athena, who holds out her hands over us. (Solon fr. 4.1–4 West)This special relationship makes our task of discussing the pantheon a little easier. Rather
than attempting to cover the full range of gods and heroes in the space of a single
chapter, our focus will be in large part Athena: her main place of worship (the
Acropolis), her role in local myth, and the place of her cult in the city’s ceremonial
life. It should be emphasized that she is not being singled out as a case study; rather, she
will be central to our discussion because she is central to the religious system in Athens.
Gods are human inventions. It is necessary to keep asking what desires or require-
ments led to the creation or development of their roles and functions. In the case of
Athena in Athens we have an opportunity to trace developments in perceptions of the
deity and in her significance for the community. Indeed, we are even able to trace her
own role in the history of the city, for as we shall see, her worship evolved as her city
grew in power and prestige.
It would be beyond the scope of this chapter to address the complex and contro-
versial question of why Athena’s cult came into existence in first place (whenever and
wherever that was). Instead, our starting point will be an early development that
provided the conditions to enable her to become the major deity of the whole state.
The Religious System at Athens 223