This
week we looked at Anthropomorphism in Ancient Greek Religion. Anthropomorphism
means looking at something that is not a human or personal thing as a human or
personal thing. Many of the Greek deities have been depicted in a human form
(anthropomorphic), animal form (zoomorphic), natural elements and their
attributes. The Greeks would have given their gods ‘forms’ to make them easier
to worship, make the god seem more like mortals, it gave the gods a
personality, if the gods looked like humans it would enable the immoral actions
from the stories and it was an easy way for mortals to comprehend the gods. The
Greeks would depict their Gods as humans so that went they committed immoral
actions it made them seem more like mortals and make them feel closer to the
human people. The immoral actions were likely to be adultery or crimes etc.
Making the Gods seem human while doing these actions meant two things. One
that the Mortals could do it because the Gods did it and two that even the Gods
made mistakes showing nobody was perfect.
Another way Greeks depicted their Gods or Goddesses were statues. This would normally be the God in human form; the statues would be used for decoration, shrines and worship. These statues could be found in many places such as temples, houses, shrines and on the road side. People would make offerings or sacrifices to these statues that were for the God the statue depicted. The image above is a roman copy of a statue of Hecate; it depicts the Goddess three times, this type of statues is called a triformis. Statues like this could be found at a cross roads and would be a shrine to the God or Goddess they depicted or used as decoration of pillars in temples or homes.
Some Greeks believed that deities did not have a form or image and they would just be suggested this is called aniconism. The Athena Polias statue was a piece of olive wood that was not carved or shaped in anyway but was dressed in a woven peplos in a special ceremony every four years; it was housed in the Erechtheion on the acropolis in Athens. It was believed that this piece of olive wood and fallen from the sky and so was a direct gift from the Gods in Mount Olympus. This would have meant the olive wood was sacred and if the Greeks believed that it had fallen from Mount Olympus it could be a direct link to the deities and that would be the reason the Greeks made offerings and sacrifice to the olive wood in hope to please the Gods.
Bibliography
Books
Cleland,L. and
Stears,L.(ed.2004). Colour in the Ancient Mediterranean World, BAR
International Series. Oxford: John and Erica Hedges.
Journals
Kroll, J. (1982) ‘Studies in Athenian Architecture, Sculpture and Topography’,
Hesperia supplements 20: 65-76
Website
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aniconic
Images
http://www.rmo.nl/english/collection/highlights/roman-collection/hekate-triformis
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