Religion and Art in Ancient Greece | Page 2

and while they
accept its services to decorate the buildings and apparatus connected
with divine worship, forbid any attempt to make a visible
representation of the deity. Modern Christianity, while it does not, as a
rule, repeat this prohibition, has varied greatly from time to time and
from country to country as to the extent to which it allows such
representations. Probably the better educated or more thoughtful
individuals would in every case regard them merely as symbolic aids to
induce the concentration and intensity of religious ideas and aspirations;
but there is no doubt that among the common people they tend to
become actually objects of worship in themselves. It is instructive to
turn to a system in which idolatry, the worship of images, was an
essential part of orthodox religious observance. It is easy and
customary with a certain class of minds to dismiss all such examples of
idolatry with a superficial generalisation such as "the heathen in his
blindness bows down to stock and stone." But it seems worth while to
devote a short study to an attempt to understand how such a system
worked in the case of a people like the ancient Greeks, who possessed
to a degree that has never been surpassed both clearness of intellectual
perception and a power to embody their ideals in artistic form. Whether
it tended to exalt or to debase religion may be a doubtful question; but
there can be no doubt that it gave an inspiration to art which
contributed to the unrivalled attainments of the Greeks in many
branches of artistic creation. We shall be mainly concerned here with
the religion of Greece as it affected the art of sculpture; but before
attempting a historical summary it is necessary for us to understand
exactly what we mean by the worship of representations of the gods,
and to consider the nature of the influence which such representation
must have upon artistic activity.
Idolatry--the worship of images--is almost always used by us in a bad
sense, owing, no doubt, chiefly to the usage of the word in the Jewish

scriptures. Mr. Ruskin, in his chapter on the subject in his Aratra
Pentelici, points out that it may also be used in a good sense, though he
prefers to use the word imagination in this meaning. There is doubtless
a frequent tendency to failure to
"Look through the sign to the thing signified,"
but there is no essential reason why the contemplation of a beautiful
statue, embodying a worthy conception of the deity, should not be as
conducive to a state of worship and communion as is an impressive
ritual or ceremony, or any other aid to devotion. This view of the
matter is expressed by some later Greek writers; in earlier times it was
probably unconsciously present, though it is hardly to be found in
contemporary literature. But it was only by slow stages that art came to
do so direct a service to religious ideas; in more primitive times its
relation was more subordinate. The worship or service of images, even
in the highest ages of Greek civilisation, was much more associated
with primitive and comparatively inartistic figures than with the
masterpieces of sculpture; and even where these masterpieces were
actually objects of worship it was often from the inheritance of a
sanctity transferred to them from an earlier image rather than for their
own artistic qualities. It does not, indeed, follow that the influence of
the great sculptors upon the religious ideals of the people was a
negligible quality; we have abundant evidence, both direct and indirect,
that it was very great. But it was exercised chiefly by following and
ennobling traditional notions rather than by daring innovation, and
therefore can only be understood in relation to the general development
both of religious conceptions and of artistic facility.
Here we shall be mainly concerned with art as an expression of the
religious ideals and aspirations of the people, and as an influence upon
popular and educated opinions and conceptions of the gods. But we
must not forget that it is also valuable to us as a record of myths and
beliefs, and of ritual and customs associated with the worship of the
gods. This is the case, above all, with reliefs and vase-paintings. In
them we often find representations which do not merely illustrate
ancient literature, but supplement and modify the information we

derive from classical writers. The point of view of the artist is often not
the same as that of the poet or historian, and it is frequently nearer to
that of the people, and therefore a help in any attempt to understand
popular beliefs. The representations of the gods which we find in such
works do not often embody any lofty ideals or subtle characterisation;
but