Godless Greece : atheism in Greek society

Abstract

Was atheism in the ancient world really ‘scarcely imaginable’? This thesis confronts the notion that religion was embedded in the environment and mentality of the ancient Greeks to the extent that atheism became cognitively impossible. Instead this thesis proposes that if atheism, rather than atheists, is made the focus then it is possible to examine atheism in the ancient world through a set of different thematic lenses. Atheism in ancient Greece was a highly contextual, varied, and flourishing set of phenomena. Understanding the form and evolution of atheistic ideas and atheism in Greek society is invaluable in helping us more fully understand Greek religion, not least because it was in response to and through opposition to atheism that Greek religious beliefs evolved and Greeks developed their own sense of collective and individual religious identity.