Religious Calender from Thorikos

This Greek inscription from the Athenian region of Thorikos is one of the most comprehensive ancient Greek religious calendars in existence. Written in the late 5th century BC, it details the sacrifices to be made by the population for various gods; for example: “for Zeus, at Automenai, a select lamb.” This artifact indicates a distinctly Greek intertwining of bureaucracy and religion. Much like the axones and large tablets on which laws were displayed for public awareness, this inscription’s size indicates that it was written in a manner intended to be read by multitudes. 


There is endless evidence of the existence of an ancient Greek religious bureaucracy, often intertwined with the official government of a given region. In his court speech “Against Colon,” Demosthenes addresses the Gods multiple times while standing in front of the Athenian assembly. Many laws, including this 374 BCE tax law from the islands of Lemnos, Imbros, and Skyros, are addressed not to the people, but to the Gods. Ancient Greeks saw little separation between the world in which they lived and the world of the gods. Thus, it is reasonable that they would have done things like address laws to the gods and make calendars for sacrifice as though religious practice was on par with simple household chores; religion, it seems, was not safe from bureaucratization. 


Href=. “Demosthenes 54, against Conon.” Topostext, Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, Piraeus, Greece, 1 Jan. 1970, topostext.org/work/454.


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