Marx once profoundly pointed out: "Greek mythology is not only the arsenal of Greek art, but also its soil and the material of Greek art." Myth has become the most important feature of Greek art, and the two superstructures, religion and art, are the emotional enlightenment of human beings. In religious ceremonies, artistic images are used to arouse the strong religious feelings of the propagandists and to render a solemn and mysterious religious atmosphere. Greek mythology endows religion and art with rich connotations, and myths and religions provide artists with broad imagination and creative space. In a word, the organic combination of Greek mythology, religion and art is unforgettable.

The ancient Greeks made great contributions to the development of human culture and art, and their mythology, religion and art were unique compared with other cultures. In ancient times, immigrants from West Asia, indigenous people and achaean, the ancestor of the Greeks, merged for thousands of years, forming three major ethnic groups in Greece. Before the reunification of Greece, all ethnic groups had their own deities. After a long process of integration, especially Homer, an imaginative Greek poet, weaved a lot of gods of eastern and western nationalities into fairy tales in the form of clans with myths, and determined that the main worship object of Greeks was the God of Olympus.

At first, the universe was chaotic. Later, from the chaos came Gaia, the mother, and Uranus, the god. Uranus combined with Caia and 12 titans were born. Among the titans, Prometheus is the great god who created mankind. The rule of Titan protoss was overthrown by Zeus, and Zeus became the master of the universe. Later, he established the rule of the gods of Mount Olympus (northern Greece) headed by him. There are 12 gods on Mount Olympus: Zeus, the father of the gods (the god of thunder and lightning), Hera, the wife of Zeus (the goddess of marriage), Poseidon, Athena, the god of wisdom, Apollo, Hades, Aphrodite, the god of love and beauty, Ares, hephaestus who received the dead, Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, and Hestia, the kitchen god.

The earliest Greek religion was a kind of nature worship. Homer is a religious tutor of the Greeks. The early Greek religion did not guide people to cultivate good manners and character.

Homer's epic is a history of war and heroes, and it is also a Greek religious classic. Homer is a Greek religious teacher. At that time, the Hebrews could only understand their gods through the description of their parents, and Homer's epic has vividly presented the gods to the Greeks. However, like Hebrew religion, the development of Greek religion has gone through a long process, from a shallow and low-level religion to a higher and more noble belief. The Greeks had their own religion long before Homer.

The religion before Homer's epic is primitive religion. At that time, the Greeks, like all primitive people, thought that trees, springs, rocks, peaks and birds and animals all had mysterious powers and called them elves. They believe that every elf, good or bad, needs gifts, especially food, to win their favor and not make them angry. The Greeks slaughtered sheep and let blood flow to the ground to please the spirit of the earth; Burn the leg of lamb, let its fragrance float into the air, and please the gods in the sky. Later, these gods became gods and goddesses, and a new religious worship rose.

After the Greeks entered the Aegean world, their religion continued to develop. Here, they found that what the Aegean people worship most is the spirit of the earth-that is, the mother earth or the great mother god, who makes the earth grow rich and let people survive. This goddess was introduced into their religion, including other gods, which was similar to the Hebrew absorption of the Canaanite sun god they found in Palestine.

In the early Greek religion, the avatar often had the image of an animal. This statement has also appeared in Homer's epic. For example, Hera has a "cow face", Athena's face is like an owl, and Achilles' teacher Kay Long Xing is the head of a horse. These natural elves have the image and quality of human beings, but they have infinite magic and will never die.

[The emergence of ancient Greek religion]

A man named hesiod wrote The Divine Spectrum to explain how these gods came into being. The contributions of Homer and hesiod provided the ideological basis for the formal formation of all Greek religions. Greek mythology is not only fable, revelation and primitive reason, but also includes historical, natural, moral, social and religious factors. In mythology, the gods of Olympus are more like people than gods. Like human beings, they have their own personalities, hobbies, strengths, weaknesses, reason and lust. Even Zeus, the king of the gods, rarely has the majesty of heaven, but is more like a cunning lothario who loves to make love everywhere.

Greek religion was not created by missionaries, prophets or saints, but developed by poets and artists with myth as the main content. The concept of gods in fairy tales has become the core of Greek religion and established a systematic belief system for Greek religion. Greek religions are mainly composed of three religions: Olympus, Dionysus and orpheus, among which Olympus is the main religion. The origins, worshippers and religious ceremonies of Greek religions are varied, and various elements are mixed in the integration of the three major ethnic groups. Historian Herodotus claimed that he could find his foreign name for every Greek god. The mythical hunting goddess themis and Aphrodite both originated from eastern religions. The mythical banshee Sphinx is very similar to the Egyptian Sphinx. Greece has a superior geographical environment, facing the sea on three sides, and developed navigation technology enables them to establish business contacts with other countries. The open commodity economy made the ancient Greeks open-minded, accepted many foreign cultural achievements, and were good at learning from others for their own use; In ancient Greece, more than 200 city-states established their own gods of faith, and religions, temples and priests only engaged in religious activities without asking about city-state politics. The mythical gods are not protected by the polis regime, nor do they fight for a certain god. The activity places that can best reflect the Greek religious characteristics are religious shrines, temples, altars, shrines and statues erected in temples. Greeks often choose sacred places where God's breath can be revealed, such as scenic peaks and rocks, lush woodlands and some kind of forests, as special symbols of the continuity of generations.

[Religious forms and works of art in ancient Greece]

In fact, the holy land has gradually developed from an ancient natural place into a man-made building in the civilized period-a temple. Some important personified gods have their own independent temples and are named after themselves. The God's Custody is a place for issuing oracles, divination and sacrificial activities for the gods. The priest directly possessed the gods, spoke Oracle or divination, and then explained. Myths are closely related to these places, and religious activities are concentrated on festivals in the form of celebrations, which are further fixed through the city-state calendar. Some representative festivals are national, such as the Pan-Athena Festival and the Olympic Games. Celebrations and activities year after year have strengthened the unity of Greek religions and adjusted the rhythm of social life in ancient Greece. Myth and religion themselves have some eternal problems, which are passed on to future generations through art forms. Under the influence of myths and religious concepts, artists spread their imagination wings and created a large number of vivid artistic images with the theme of expressing the spiritual world, especially architecture and sculpture, which reached the peak and made people in this world amazed and unforgettable. Ancient Greek art can be divided into Homer period, Antique period, Classical period and Hellenistic period. This paper introduces the stories of three gods in hesiod's Divine Spectrum, and the corresponding religious forms and artistic works.

1, about Zeus:

The gods of creation in ancient Greece were Gaia, the mother of the earth, and Uranus, the god of creation. They gave birth to 65,438+02 children, including Rhea and Cronus. Rhea was forced to marry Cronus, who has become the Lord God, and gave birth to five excellent children for him. Cronus swallowed every child when he was born, because he learned from his parents that although he was strong, he was doomed to be overthrown by one of his sons. His wife, Rhea, was deeply saddened by this incident. Zeus, the father of gods and mankind, is about to be born. Rhea begged her parents to send her youngest son Zeus to a rich village in Crete and hide. After that, Rhea wrapped a big stone in swaddling clothes and gave it to the powerful Cronus. He picked up the baby and swallowed it ... after that, the strength and physique of the prince increased rapidly. Cronus was deceived by the clever proposal of the goddess of the earth, and raised his son again. ..... He spit out the last stone he swallowed first. Zeus put this stone on a wide road and gave it to mortals as a symbol and miracle. Zeus released his father's brothers, and he untied their terrible ropes. They didn't forget to thank Zeus for giving him lightning and thunderbolt. Before that, the great land god had hidden them. Zeus relied on them to rule gods and mortals. In the Greek concept, he is a spiritual god and the ruler of mankind. He can win his favor through sacrificial ceremonies. If he is offended, he will be killed and struck by lightning. An altar shrine was built where Zeus appeared, that is, where it often thundered. The largest and most magnificent altar in the Hellenistic period, the altar of Zeus, was originally located in Mengcheng, Pergas, Greece. The city of Pergasmon was one of the famous political, economic and cultural centers in the Hellenistic world from the 3rd century BC to 1 century BC. It was built during the reign of Omnis II to celebrate the victory of defeating Gauls. Its base is 5.24 meters high, with no internal space at all, and its plane is concave. The high relief ribbon "Gods Fight Giants" is similar to a circular sculpture around the base, and is composed of 1 15 large marble. The artist pursues a strong dramatic effect. It describes a myth that the sons of the goddess of the earth fought fiercely because of their resistance to the image of the Olympian god and giant. The clumsy giant was knocked down by the gods and looked up in pain and madness. Group images are closely interspersed, emphasizing frequent distortions in sports and subtle emotional changes in the face. In order to strengthen the effect, the relief figures seem to flock to the altar steps, as if they don't care where they should stand. Those thrilling scenes make the whole altar look different.

2. About Athena:

Zeus, the king of gods, married Metis, the cleverest man among gods and mortals, for the first time. When she was about to give birth to Athena, at the suggestion of Uranus and Rhea, Zeus tricked Medes into swallowing her. Because he was afraid that she would give birth to a child more powerful than herself. However, the father of the gods gave birth to this daughter with his own thoughts on the Toliton River. Athena received aegis in that place, and with it, her strength surpassed all the gods who lived on Mount Olympus. When Zeus gave birth to Athena, she was armed with aegis and full-body weapons. In mythology, she not only appeared as a girl Sivir, but also invented seedlings, drums, pottery, plows, rakes, ox yokes, horses, carriages and boats. As the patron saint of castles and polis, Athena is widely worshipped in the Greek world. Many city-states have built her temples, and her sacrifices are often located in castles with important guarding significance. Athens is the center of Athena's worship. The Athenians built a magnificent temple for their protector Athena-the Parthenon in the Acropolis of Athens. The Parthenon is a masterpiece of classical Greek temples. All the temples are made of white marble, and the appearance is simple and harmonious. It is about 70 meters long and 40 meters wide, with 46 Doric circular arch columns and a height of 10.43 meters, supported by a heavy herringbone eaves gallery. The artists carefully handled the shape of the column, making the middle part slightly thicker and the top gradually thinner. Like elasticity, the pillars easily support the heavy eaves gallery. In the center of the hall stands the statue of Athena carved out of gold and ivory. The height of the statue is12.8m, including the pedestal. She is dignified, wearing a helmet crown, holding a big shield in her left hand and the god of victory in her right hand, symbolizing Athens' victory in the Greek-Persian war. Sculptures are mainly distributed in the frontal wall of the East and West Triangle, outside the temple, cornice decorative boards in the east, west, north and south, and decorative belts around the temple. The facade of the western triangle is "Athena and Poseidon strive to be the patron saint of Athens", and the facade of the eastern triangle is "the birth of Athena". There are banded reliefs around the temple, with a total length of160m. The content is that the Athenians give gifts to the patron saint of their city every four years. There are 500 portraits, 100 horses and other group portraits in the whole ribbon relief, which form a continuous motion composition with extraordinary momentum and full of festive atmosphere. The Parthenon is a miracle in the history of world art.

3. About Poseidon:

Poseidon is the god of the sea, second only to Zeus in strength and power. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, after overthrowing the rule of their father Cronus, divided the sky, the sea and Hades into their own ruling territories, and the earth was the same place for the gods. Zeus ruled the sky, Hades ruled the underworld, and Poseidon became the sea king. Armed with a trident, he patrolled the sea in a golden chariot driven by a white horse with a golden mane and copper hoof. 1928, the first bronze statue was found on the seabed near Ubeia Island. His feet are apart, his arms are spread out, one hand seems to be holding the trident for throwing, and the other hand points in the direction of throwing. This "open" circular sculpture perfectly solves the problem of center of gravity and shows Poseidon's majestic spirit of despising everything and turning back.

[Characteristics of Ancient Greek Religion]

In the course of its development, ancient Greek religions gradually formed some characteristics, which can be summarized as the following.

First, polytheism. Due to the extremely extensive religious origin of ancient Greece and the influence of many city-states, it is difficult to unify different political systems and economic forms, so the sources of gods are extensive and numerous, the stories of gods are rich and complicated, and the systems of gods are also diverse. Although there are some gods worshipped in Greece, such as Zeus, the king of gods, people do not worship them absolutely, so that these gods have never reached the supreme position of national gods like the three sun gods in ancient Egypt, Marduk God in ancient two river basins and Assyrian God, let alone enjoying the exclusive privilege of Jehovah and Allah. So ancient Greece became a place of pantheism. Monotheism has never been formed. Consistent with polytheism, temples in ancient Greece can be seen almost everywhere, and there are many worship centers, and the number of religious festivals has reached a surprising level. In the Greek world, there are as many as 80 temples of Artemis alone. This is probably different from the Origin of the Gods, which is related to the rich stories and different admirers. Some gods, such as Thursday, have about 50 aliases. Many worship centers have been formed in various places, among which the most famous ones are the Temple of Zeus, the Temple of Apollo at Delphi and Tirol, the temple of poseidon at Tanalon Point in the Isthmus, the Temple of Excalibur at Epidavros and the Secret Instrument Center of Elvis.

Secondly, the similarity between God and man in ancient Greece is very obvious, which can be reflected in its colorful myths and legends. Greek gods are actually the improvement of people in reality, and some gods themselves are transformed from people. Compared with people, the main difference between God and people is that people have a certain number of years, while God is immortal, more powerful and more prominent in advantages and disadvantages. Greek gods have human body, mind, character and behavior. God, like people, has worldly desires, vanity, jealousy and revenge, and will show their respective behaviors such as courage, timidity, kindness, treachery, generosity, meanness, elegance, vulgarity and meanness. God will make mistakes and even commit crimes. Just like Zeus, the king of God, people can't help but feel that he is really a typical tyrant and slut. Because God and man are the same, the kingdom of God is as full of contradictions and crises as the polis on the earth.

Third, there were frequent religious activities in ancient Greece, but the sacrificial ceremonies were quite simple and simple. Generally speaking, only wine, grain, fruit, oil, garlands or other decorations are needed. However, this does not harm the solemnity and enthusiasm of some large-scale religious activities.

Fourth, although there were many temples and complicated religious affairs in ancient Greece, there was no special priestly class. All men, women and children belonging to the category of citizens can be elected priests for a term of only one month, but most of them are for life. In ancient Greece, priests were purely honorary and had no real power. Their job is to serve the gods and guard the temple, which is tantamount to a disguised slave. The main reason is that polytheism makes it difficult for priests to unify their thoughts and pace. The Greek democratic politics and aristocratic Republic have influenced the priests to form a special interest class to a certain extent, and their work is unprofitable and not valued.

[The influence of ancient Greek religion on cultural development]

The above-mentioned religious characteristics have the following effects on cultural development.

First of all, because pantheism or polytheism had less constraints on people's thoughts and behaviors than monotheism, the ancient Greeks lacked a sense of identity in their thoughts and beliefs, and their thoughts were much more active than those in ancient eastern civilized areas. This is related to the prosperity of ancient Greek aristocrats, countries and democratic politics. It can be said that many religious festivals in ancient Greece, especially the above-mentioned famous pan-Greek festival celebration games, provided places and opportunities for all ethnic groups and States in Greece to communicate ideas and exchange emotions, which was conducive to the political stability, economic development and cultural prosperity of ancient Greece.

Secondly, ancient Greece pursued polytheism, without the control and intervention of the special priestly class, without the bondage of the unified religious creed that must be observed, and with the better construction of democracy and legal system, people had a considerable degree of freedom of thought and political rights, so philosophy and natural science were separated from religion earlier. Greek religion is not as strict, mysterious and horrible as eastern religion, and there is no strictly conservative monk class trying to monopolize the interpretation of teachings, control people's thoughts and even persecute so-called "heretics". Artists can give full play to their imagination and satisfy their desire for self-expression, and will never be interfered and persecuted by priests or temples. Marx once said: "Egyptian mythology must not be the soil and mother embryo of Greek art". When observing life or creating ideas, ancient artists did not have to follow God's revelation or arbitrary authority, but observed the world with their own eyes from real life, thus creating brilliant cultural achievements.

Third, Greek religious thoughts and customs have a great influence on the development of culture. They believe that gods are the embodiment of the most perfect people. God is not only the image of people, but also their feelings and experiences. This is different from the "deification of human beings" in autocratic monarchy countries. They promoted the emperor to the realm of God, who is the supreme master of the universe. On the other hand, the Greeks believed that there was no insurmountable boundary between God and man. This view of God, with the increasing strength of legal philosophers in democratic politics, not only believes in God, but also believes in people's own wisdom and strength and attaches importance to the real world. Myth is only a reflection of real life. So many Greek gods are typical perfect images of human beings. Many literary works are based on myths and express history and reality. This makes Greek literary artists embark on the road of people-centered realism. Greek religious consciousness is a transitional link between eastern religion and Christian spirit. Eastern religious consciousness is considered to be a religious consciousness lacking self-awareness, while Christian spirit is a religious spirit with self-awareness, while Greek religious consciousness is manifested in the combination of divinity and humanity, thus forming a unique polytheism spiritual system in Greece and an ideal art based on it. William Fox, a famous scholar, described the uniqueness of Greek religion and the personification of gods: "The close relationship between gods and people's secular interests has obviously been branded with Greek religion, which makes gods descend to earth with people's appearance and lust. Therefore, worshippers can touch the god who helps them when they need it. "

In this way, the religion in ancient Greece was greatly beneficial to the development of culture, and often determined the special form of culture.

In the field of literature, Greek mythology is an inexhaustible theme in ancient Greek literary and artistic works. Marx said: "Greek mythology is not only the arsenal of Greek art, but also its soil." As one of the highest achievements of ancient Greek literature, Homer's epic describes the story of "heroes", that is, people, but it has given them deep roots. Most of the heroes in epics are born from the copulation between gods and men. For example, Agamemnon, the great hero, had his father Atreus, king of Mycenae, and Atreus, son of Ross, son of Tatan Ross, king of Little Lydia, and his father was Zeus. Because of this, people always describe Agamemnon in the image of Zeus. Another example is theseus, the founder of Athens, who is the son of Axe, the son of Cleopatra, the ancient Attica god, and so on. Thanks to the participation of God and the unique imagination of literature, the real and simple epic came to life, bizarre, colorful, interesting and fascinating. So Homer's epic became a treasure of all Greece, known as the eternal swan song.

Drama also originated from myths and legends. Long Fang said: "When celebrating the wine festival, a grape grower with distiller's grains on his face sat in a big car and joked with his fellow villagers, so comedy was born. When offering sacrifices to Dionysus, priests and others played the role of Dionysus's resurrection from suffering, which led to the tragedy. "At this time, God and grapes, wine and people, people and tragicomedy are closely linked and inseparable. We feel this relationship not only from the Greek economic and social life, but also from the name of the annual Dionysus Festival. In Epidis's Dionysus, we can also enjoy touching ceremony scenes. It is in gratitude to God and extravagant hope for a bumper harvest in the coming year that the play was born. Among the excellent plays, we have seen a series of scripts with the theme of God, such as Prometheus in prison, Oedipus the King, Medea and so on. In the script, God often becomes the protagonist, and the protagonist has never defeated the incarnation of God, leading to a tragic ending, but the entity in God is the author's soul, which expresses the author's active resistance to fate.

Ancient Greece also reached a high level in architecture, which had a far-reaching impact on the west in later generations. The architectural art of ancient Greece is mainly embodied in temple architecture, which is characterized by circular colonnades around the temple. In the late 7th century BC, Greece successively formed two cylinders, namely Doric and Ionia. The creator of Ionia was a man called his own son by Delphi-Io Oracle. It seems that the architectural order in ancient Greece is still full of divine flavor. In ancient Greece, people were very enthusiastic about building temples, and even made masons "become a major labor department" during the emergence and prosperity of polis. It is this enthusiasm and piety that makes Greek architectural art reach its peak in temple architecture, and its exquisite architecture, gorgeous decoration and ethereal, clear and harmonious artistic conception have left a deep impression on people. In contrast, residential buildings have been left out. No wonder a writer at that time wrote when describing the downtown area of Athens: "It is full of dust and is very short of water. Due to the age, it is a mess, most of the houses are dilapidated, and only a few are intact. "

Greek sculpture art is also related to religion. The Greeks are most proud of the human body sculpture, which is an artistic language full of complex thinking. Nude sculpture originated from the four-year competition in ancient Greece and has a strong religious color. In this sport, contestants sang hymns to Apollo accompanied by stringed instruments. Therefore, the sports meeting became a sacrifice offered by the Greeks to God. In order to show their piety, the Greeks dedicated their most beautiful and pure bodies to God, so they were all naked at the sports meeting. In fact, "the competition was originally to know who God gave the blessing of victory; The winners entrusted the most prestigious artists at that time to make their own statues, either to commemorate or to preserve these blessings from heaven forever. " On the other hand, it is precisely because of these "entrustment" that sculptors have fully mastered the knowledge of human body proportion and dynamics, and a series of masterpieces such as discus thrower and spear bearer have been born.

Ancient Greek philosophy and religion are both antagonistic and interrelated. On the one hand, ancient Greek philosophy distinguishes man from nature, and explains nature, society and life on the basis of observing facts and rational thinking, which is essentially different from the perceptual and intuitive religious worldview. On the other hand, because philosophy is separated from religious myths, it is still inextricably linked with religion. The Greeks had a strong concept of soul, and even philosophers who were at the forefront of rational thinking at that time could hardly get rid of the influence of religion. Thales, regarded as the first philosopher in ancient Greece, believes that water is the starting point of all things, and the world is alive and full of gods. Pythagoras believes that numbers are the essence of things. "A religion has been established, and its main teachings are the reincarnation of the soul and the evil nature of eating beans." Later, Socrates also took pains to demonstrate the existence of the soul. His disciple Plato developed Pythagoras' mysticism and soul theory, and his thoughts had a great influence on Christian philosophy and theology.