Greek Popular Religion by Martin P. Nilsson

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS 167 reviewer. The completeness and clarity of the discussion, the variety of subjects brought under the general thesis, the wealth of illustration and documentation, the independence and originality of view-aU these contribute to the importance and value of the volume. Where the reader does not agree with positions stated, the author's candor and conviction still exert their instructive and persuasive power. The Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. JoHN K. RYAN Greek Popular Religion. By MARTIN P. NILSSON. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940. Pp. 166, with 39 illustrations and index. $2.50. This is the first book in a new series of lectures sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies. The author, one time rector of the University of Lund, Sweden, has in his long career made many notable contributions to the study of religions, particularly that of Greece. He is, consequently, treading on what is for him familiar ground in the present volume, whose seven papers deal with every aspect of the religious life in ancient Greece. Briefly, Mr. Nilsson's thesis· is this: Greek popular religion (which he takes to mean the religion of the ordinary man) suffered a gradual evolution which culminated in a complicated set of beliefs. The zenith of this development occurred in the Golden Age, and it was something artificially imposed upon the simple belief of a simple people. It does not, therefore, adequately represent or reflect the actual state of their religious feeling, but was quite simply a base attempt of the great artisans of Greek literature to impose a higher level (artificial, of course) of religious ideas upon the man of the street and of the field. The attempt was foredoomed to failure, for the lofty, intricate speculations of the great thinkers were too far removed from the life-giving sap of the popular religion. They flourished briefly, then languished and died. But the sound, sturdy, popular religion still exists. I Since the present discussion must inevitably use unfamiliar technical expressions, one must admire the sagacity of the author in devoting his first chapter to a definition of terms. The~e we learn what is meant by herms~ water-spirits, demons, nymphs, heroes,1 etc. Man travelled, and the berms (tall stones or heaps of stones haunted by the god Hermes) provided him with guidance. Water was scarce and so beneficial to land and herds that 1 The author here displays a simple naivete in regard to Catholic belief that is nothing short of amazing. Coming from a scholar like Mr. Nilsson, the remark that " The power of the saints, like that of the heroes, is bound to their relics... and the pope canonizes a saint for similar reasons " (p. ~0) is astonishing, to say the least. 168 BOOK REVIEWS the Greek considered rivers and brooks and springs to be inhabited by a god or gods; watered-places, groves, and forests were invested with helpful beings. In a sense the first chapter of this book is the most important of all. The Greek was essentially religious. Living as he did so close to nature, upon whose generosity it depended whether or not he would starve or live in abundance, it was only to be expected that his religion be expressed in a manner which reflected his life. The Greeks were an agrarian folk,, and peopled nature with vague, misty spirits who wielded a considerable influence upon crops. The bad spirits among this number were periodically rendered impotent by vario-qs rites of purification and first-fruits. It is a point to be noted that the religious calendar followed that of nature, and the feasts with their accompanying magical rites, marked the coming of the different seasons. There were many festivals: those of fruit-offering, wine, flowers, swinging, new wine, etc. At some of them (those of Dionysius, for example) the great tragedies and comedies were first produced. However, Mr. Nilsson, inexorably clinging to his point, declares that scarcely a single festival was associated with a particular god until later times. The gods have vanished, but many of the festivals remain even in modern Greece. II Of all the religious rites of ancient times, there is...