Sourvinou-Inwood propagates a conception of religion as an identityfunction which is at the heart of the conception of ancient Greek recohesive force of polis religion, however, is not limited to aspects ofcantly, perhaps, it extends to the relationship between the individualwhich s/he

evel.39 She states that '[t]he Greek polis articulated religionit; religion became the polis' central ideology, structuring, and givingthat made up the identity of the polis, its

religiontempting to associis that the oikos ,provided a s

particular the Greek conception of daimones, whichalways remained under-defined insofar as it encompassed a broad spectrum of beings, partly over-lapping with the gods, proved suitable for personal adaptation as Plato's Socrates attests.22 He

The pleasantest things that men enjoy are festal days and banquets at the temples, initiations and mysticrites, and prayer and adoration of the gods. Note that the atheist (ho atheos) on these occasions givesway to insane and sardonic laughter at such ceremonies, and remarks aside to his cronies that peoplemust cherish a vain and silly conceit to think that these rites are performed in honour of the gods ... Onthe other hand the superstitious man (ho deisidaimõn), much as he desires it, is not able to rejoice or beglad . . . When the garland is on his head he turns pale, he offers sacrifice and feels afraid, he prays withquavering voice, with trembling hands he sprinkles incense . . .2

individual level.19 The idea is that individbeliefs and practices and to some extent adopt them; or the

onal religion'? In the interdisciplinary studyfeatures as a second dimension besides the community around whichselv

n the beginning, the cults centred upon the sanctuaries of the godswere under private control, in the hands of certain families; but in his-toric times they belonged to the communities, whose welfare was thoughtto depend upon the

Here we have the origin of the sacrifices that were a cen-tral feature of the Greek religion of historical times. Greek armiesalways made a divinatory sacrifice before going into battle, and thegeneral took the omens after a sacrifice before deciding to go into

There was no heaven to which the departed spirits of the goodmight find admittance; after death all men except a few privilegedheroes descended from the gods led the shadowy half-life below theeart

During the fourth century the cult of the healing god Asclepius, ason of Apollo by a mortal woman, became important. At his shrinesand those of other healing divinities the patient might sleep in the pre-cinct and then have a dream that helped him to recover; his shrines,notably the great ones on the island of Cos and at Epidaurus in thePeloponnese, were also centres of scientific medicine.

, the ethics of a people are closely bound up with its relig