Gods, Cults, Sanctuaries & the Sources
Longer reads from the editorial team - on the gods and their worship, the sacred sites, oracles and fortune, and the texts that let us reconstruct how Greek religion worked.
High in the Arcadian mountains stood the shrine of a goddess whose real name was never spoken. A surviving sacred law shows us exactly how a worshipper was to approach her.
Where should you begin with Greek religion, and in what order? A guide to the handbooks, sourcebooks and primary texts that reward reading first - and how to use them together.
The Greeks personified luck as a goddess, drew lots to fill their offices, and read the future in dice and oracles. Their long argument with chance still has something to teach us.
A goatherd digging a cistern uncovered dozens of ancient statues on a small Dodecanese island - buried, it seems, as the old gods gave way to a new faith.
Square pillars topped with the head of Hermes once guarded every Athenian doorway and crossroads. On one night in 415 BC they were mutilated - and the scandal helped wreck a war.