As I continue the task of rewriting my religion book I come to a file long ignored and incomplete. The Olympian gods. Now I want to be somewhat historically accurate here. I have delved sources as cheeky as godtracker.com, and as scholarly as a book that was quoting Greek every other paragraph, well above my educational pay grade. (No, I don’t remember the title, sorry Greek scholars)
Trying to track the practices of the ancient religions is like trying to wrestle a half filled giant water balloon that has been greased. You have your work cut out, and you will get dirty.
The problems are several fold:
- The practice of ancient religion differed greatly from today. Rather than the show up weekly and do a praise thing, it was the god-mall. You went to the god that covered what you needed and struck a bargain. It was very personal, and not very organized. outside to huge festivals like the Olympic games every four years.
- Because communication between places was sparse, everyone did it differently. There was no Pope of Apollo that set out the lurgy. How things happened in Ephesus was not how it happens in Athens.
- There are a dearth of ancient sources. Books were rare and hand copied. The priests of a temple might protect their secrets to death. When monotheist religion took over they burned ancient pagan books. A hideous crime.
So I, if I wish some measure of ancient accuracy, must delve about and flog the internet. Many times it comes down to what do I want to present. I will have Olympian gods, but they will be my version, just like everyone else.