Chapter 9

• Greece desired the remaining large islands in the eastern Aegean Sea, as well as Crete, which were liberated by the peace agreement with Turkey
• Bulgaria and Turkey had joined the Central Powers in World War I and were on the losing side when the war ended in 1918


  1919
• Greece finally entered World War I in May 1918, and participated in the final assault in the Balkans
• The prize for Greece's efforts was the Aegean-fronting area between Kavalla and the Evros River, gained from Bulgaria by the Treaty of Neuilly signed November 1919
• Italy attacked Turkish possessions in Libya


  1911
• Italy occupied the Greek-populated Dodecanese islands then part of the Ottoman-held territories, strategically located for her expected grab of southwestern Anatolia, should Turkey be partitioned
• The Italo-Turkish war resulted, and though a peace agreement was signed, Italy was able to retain these islands
• Italy had joined the Entente Cordiale in World War I, and Turkey had joined the Central Powers, so there was no chance of the Entente forcing Italy to give the Dodecanese islands to Greece
• In World War II, Italy had joined the Axis and Greece the Allies. The British occupied the islands in 1944 after the Germans, Italians, and Bulgarians retreated from Greece, and they remained there until 1946
• In a formal agreement with Italy, the Dodecanese islands were turned over to Greece, becoming the last territory added to make up the Greek state as we know it today


  1947
• The development of Greek religion follows a complex path over a period of 2000 years, from polytheism to the Olympic deities, through the "mystery religions," and the less dramatic but spiritually very important philosophical monotheism, arriving finally at Christianity
• Polytheism


  The worship of many gods
• Mycenaean clay tablets discovered at Knossos in Crete and at Pylos in the western Peloponnese, dating from about 1300 BC, contain the names of many of these Greek gods, so it is obvious that some of these had existed from even before that early date
• Greek religion involved more than the simple worship of statues. Through their religion the Greeks attempted to understand the natural mysteries of the world in which they lived, or to appeal to the supernatural for help in events beyond their own control
• They honored their deities by placing statues depicting them in temples and shrines. But very often these statues were erected as a matter of civic adornment and pride rather than for the purpose of religious worship
• Over the centuries, certain gods became more important than others, and a hierarchy of gods began to emerge
• Homer


  Poet who lived in the first half of the eighth century BC and was responsible for creating a more clear and common understanding and acceptance of the cultist religions, and especially what came to be popularly known as the "Olympian family"
• Hesiod


  Poet who lived in the second half of the eighth century BC and was responsible for creating a more clear and common understanding and acceptance of the cultist religions, and especially what came to be popularly known as the "Olympian family"
• Homer's Iliad and Odyssey became the first texts widely disseminated by being copied by hand over and over again, that helped to guide the masses into a more uniform concept of their cultist religion based on anthropomorphic gods, that is, those that had the form of man
• The gods were said to live on Mount Olympos, the highest peak in Greece, and their rulers were king Zeus and queen Hera. The pantheon consisted of twelve principal gods and some lesser ones; each was associated with a particular responsibility
• The gods were given human personalities. They had nobility and pettiness, they had passions, and they played tricks on each other. They helped certain mortals or brought them to grief; they took sides and they competed with each other
• In the mythical cosmos there were nymphs and nereids, demigods of whom one parent was a god and one a mortal, such as the hero Achilles in Homer's Iliad. There were the half-god-half-animal figures such as satyrs and centaurs, combining human and animal characteristics; and some mortals who had divine powers
• Hesiod's Theogony is a book where the author sets out his concepts of the mythological origins of the world, the geneology of some 300 gods, and he describes the events that led to the rule of the Olympian kingdom by Zeus
• The human need to understand events, and, especially, to seek guidance for future actions, very early led to the development of oracles housed in beautiful shrines, the most famous of which was that at Delphi dedicated to Apollo, the god of light
• Down the centuries, the Romans adopted and developed a polytheistic religion similar to that of the Greeks they would eventually dominate politically beginning in the second century BC
• The character and actions of the gods as described by Homer were intended to interest and amuse and not to cause fear. Though what they stood for helped explain the mysteries of nature, people in the ancient world began to need something more from which they could derive spiritual satisfaction
• The results were the creation of a number of "mystery religions." These grew into prominence during classical times and were popular during the long Roman period, until Christianity was formally accepted by the Roman Emperor in AD 392
• Principal mystery deities


  • Demeter, goddess of grains and especially corn, of the harvest, mother-earth
  • Persephone (Kore), goddess of vegetation
  • Dionysos (Bakchos, Bacchus), god of the trees and the grapevine and wine-making, and therefore also of fertility
  • Apollo, god of light and therefore the sun, of inspiration, of music and song
• The mysteries themselves consisted of secret rites, held annually such as in the spring or at harvest time, or when the wine was ready for drinking. The ceremonies might begin with purification of the devotees, such as by a ritualistic bath in the sea, then in procession bearing figures and relics they would proceed to the temple of the god where the secret rites would be held
• The main mystery sites were at Eleusis near Athens, dedicated to Demeter and her daughter Persephone (Kore); at the island of Delos, dedicated to Apollo; at Delphi, dedicated to Apollo and later also to Dionysos; and at the island of Samothrace, dedicated to the "Great Gods," the Kabeiroi (in Latin the Cabiri), later to Demeter also as mother-goddess all associated with fertility
• Also popular, and dating from archaic times, were religious celebrations that involved formal athletic and cultural contests. The Olympic Games are well known, having been resumed in modern times as purely athletic contests
• Other such games and festivals were held the best known of which included the Pythian festival at Delphi; the Isthmian at the eastern side of that narrow neck not far from Corinth; the Nemean games, at a site near Mycenae on the Peloponnese; the Delian festival on Delos island
• Also popular, and dating from archaic times, were religious celebrations that involved formal athletic and cultural contests
• The Olympic Games are well known, having been resumed in modern times as purely athletic contests
• The Olympic Games also were religious rites in ancient times
• Other such games and festivals in ancient Greece

  • Pythian festival at Delphi
  • Isthmian at the eastern side of that narrow neck not far from Corinth
  • Nemean games, at a site near Mycenae on the Peloponnese
  • Delian festival on Delos island
• Unscheduled athletic contests were held in thanksgiving or to honor an important event, such as victory in battle
• Homer wrote about such contests held by the Greek warriors at Troy in the thirteenth century BC
• Historians accompanying Alexander the Great during his conquests in Persia nearly a thousand years later also recorded athletic contests associated with religious ritual
• Pre-Christian polytheistic beliefs had lasted 2000 years and had taken a very strong hold on the minds of the people, in various forms