Genres

Hellenism

Lists

The Art of Becoming Homeless by Sara Alexi

The Necklace of Goddess Athena by Effrosyni Moschoudi

Best Books for The Greek Wives Club

74 books — 31 voters

Best non-fiction for non-Wiccan pagans/polytheists

2 books — 2 voters

The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity by Averil Cameron

The World of Late Antiquity, AD 150-750 by Peter Brown

Readings in Late Antiquity by Michael Maas

A Social-Political History of Monotheism by Jeremiah W. Cataldo

Late Antiquity: Religion And Violence

90 books — 1 voter

Hellenic Polytheism by Christos Pandion Panopoulos

Hellenic Ethnic Religion by Hellenic Council YSEE of Am...

Oracle Bones Divination by Kostas Dervenis

Best Books On Contemporary Hellenismos

50 books — 2 voters

Hellenism in Late Antiquity by Glen W. Bowersock

Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity by Peter Brown

A Chronicle of the Last Pagans by Pierre Chuvin

Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety by E.R. Dodds

The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerbe

Books On Hellenic Genocide

35 books — 1 voter

Leven als stoïcijn. Of niet? by Floris Leest

Evenveel van jou als van mezelf by Marcus Aurelius

Stoïcisme in het Nederlands

45 books — 7 voters

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“ Hebraism and Hellenism,−−between these two points of influence moves our world. At one time it feels more powerfully the attraction of one of them, at another time of the other; and it ought to be, though it never is, evenly and happily balanced between them. The final aim of both Hellenism and Hebraism, as of all great spiritual disciplines, is no doubt the same: man's perfection or salvation. ...more ”
― Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy

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“ The failure of Hellenism has been, largely, a matter of organization. Rome never tried to impose any sort of worship upon the countries it conquered and civilized; in fact, quite the contrary, Rome was eclectic. All religions were given an equal opportunity and even Isis—after some resistance—was worshipped at Rome. As a result we have a hundred important gods and a dozen mysteries. Certain rites are—or were—supported by the state because they involved the genius of Rome. But no attempt was ever The failure of Hellenism has been, largely, a matter of organization. Rome never tried to impose any sort of worship upon the countries it conquered and civilized; in fact, quite the contrary, Rome was eclectic. All religions were given an equal opportunity and even Isis—after some resistance—was worshipped at Rome. As a result we have a hundred important gods and a dozen mysteries. Certain rites are—or were—supported by the state because they involved the genius of Rome. But no attempt was ever made to coordinate the worship of Zeus on the Capitol with, let us say, the Vestals who kept the sacred fire in the old forum. As time passed our rites became, and one must admit it bluntly, merely form, a reassuring reminder of the great age of the city, a token gesture to the old gods who were thought to have founded and guided Rome from a village by the Tiber to world empire. Yet from the beginning, there were always those who mocked. A senator of the old Republic once asked an auger how he was able to get through a ceremony of divination without laughing. I am not so light-minded, though I concede that many of our rites have lost their meaning over the centuries; witness those temples at Rome where certain verses learned by rote are chanted year in and year out, yet no one, including the priests, knows what they mean, for they are in the early language of the Etruscans, long since forgotten. As the religious forms of the state became more and more rigid and perfunctory, the people were drawn to the mystery cults, many of them Asiatic in origin. At Eleusis or in the various caves of Mithras, they were able to get a vision of what this life can be, as well as a foretaste of the one that follows. There are, then, three sorts of religious experiences. The ancient rites, which are essentially propitiatory. The mysteries, which purge the soul and allow us to glimpse eternity. And philosophy, which attempts to define not only the material world but to suggest practical ways to the good life, as well as attempting to synthesize (as Iamblichos does so beautifully) all true religion in a single comprehensive system. ...more ”
― Gore Vidal, Julian

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