How did Greeks talk to their gods?
Friday, September 11th, 2009 at
12:37 pm
I'm writing a myth for my latin class, and I'm trying to write about how this woman tries to get in contact with Hera. But I'm not sure of the Greek rituals/customs that they performed when they tried to speak/contact their gods. I want my story to be accurate and reflect Greek culture. Can someone explain please?
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Tagged with: customs • greek culture • greek rituals • hera • latin class • myth
Filed under: Greek Language
Ancient Greeks would talk to their Gods through Oracles. This was not taken lightly. It would cost them a Sacrifice, and it would have to be as good an animal as they could afford. The Male Priests would intercede for them, and Sacrifice the Animal on behalf of the Party seeking advice of the Gods. They would interpret the way the entrails spilled upon the Temple floor, or the Pattern the blood spatter made, and convey the Gods answer, often in the form of a cryptic verse, or riddle. This answer would,quite often have a twist to it, or contain some warning, not immediatly apparant. People would quite often consult the Oracles before a Wedding, and if the omens were unfavourable, they would rethink the whole thing, or seek a more favourable interpretation of the Prophecy. To dis-regard the Oracles advice, would be to risk incurring the wrath of the God or Goddess associated with said Oracle, and much care would be taken in the wording of the question, to lessen the chance of Ambiguity in the answer. After the Sacrifice, the Animal was often eaten, as a feast to honour the God.
Greek ceremonies and rituals were performed at altars. These typically were devoted to one, or a few, gods, and contained a statue of the particular deity upon it. The communicate would bow or make some ritual gesture and speak their prayer aloud or the priest would do it for them. See the descriptions of burnt offerings in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Libations, often of wine, would be offered to the gods too, not only at shrines, but also in everyday life. Many homes have small altars for the personal use of the owners.
Here are some other descriptions from the Web
Votives were gifts offered to the gods by their worshippers. They were often given for benefits already conferred or in anticipation of future divine favors. Or they could be offered to propitiate the gods for crimes involving blood-guilt, impiety, or the breach of religious customs. They could be given either voluntarily or in response to demands by the cult’s priesthood that the donor fulfill a religious vow or honor some religious custom. Votives were kept on display in the god’s sanctuary for a set period of time and then were usually ritually discarded. Bronze tripods, prize cauldrons and figurines, terracotta tablets and figurines, lamps, and vases are typical examples. Armor, weapons, jewelry and other more personalized items were dedicated in large numbers, along with marble statuettes and reliefs. Some of the healing sanctuaries housed replicas of body parts donated in thanks for or in hope of cures. Large sculptural monuments in bronze, marble and other costly materials were routinely dedicated by either private donors or individual city-states in the great Panhellenic sanctuaries like Olympia and Delphi.
Sacrifices were also thought of as gifts to the gods. They took the form of bloodless offerings such as grasses, roots, cereal grains, fruits, cheese, oil, honey, milk and incense, or were blood-offerings like wild and domesticated animals, birds and fish. The foodstuffs and liquids were either burnt on raised altars so that their aroma could rise heavenward or dropped or poured into wells, holes or tombs. What was left was usually consumed by the sacrificers.