Olympian and Mystery Religions in Ancient Greece

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The Olympian Religion of Ancient Greece was a religion that was based on fear, whereas the many mystery religions of Ancient Greece were based primarily on hope. The Olympian Religion was based on fear due to the instability and unpredictability of the gods and goddesses; it was believed that they could change their minds whenever they pleased. This left mortals scared and willing to do anything to avoid the wrath of the gods and goddesses. However, the mystery religions were based on hope and community, offering a sense of belonging due to their classless nature. The mystery religions also offered a belief of a better life after death which was appealing to many Greeks. In addition, there were many secret rites that offered mortals a way of communicating directly to the god of the mystery religion.
Many mystery religions such as the Dionysiac religion and to Eleusinian religion offered the Greeks a sense of belonging and community. Much information is not known about the ancient Greek mystery religions due to the religions being very secret and the price for talking about them was death in ancient Greece. Due to this secrecy the religions offered a sense of belonging between the initiates. For Example, all Greek speaking people could share in the gift of initiation in the Eleusinian mysteries. The Eleusinian mysteries were open to any Greek speaker, man, woman or even slaves (Class Notes). Initially only men were allowed into the mystery, but soon enough every Athenian was allowed to be admitted into the mystery religion, though the initiates had to travel to Eleusis (‘Mystery religion’ n.d.). In ancient Greece, there was a sense of community and belonging in a Greek being able to say “I am initiated into the Eleusinian religion...

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... Britain.
Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES, n.d. Man and the Sacred, accessed 16 March 2014, .
‘Mystery religion’ n.d., in Encyclopaedia Britannica, accessed 12 March 2014, .
Orpheus, n.d., Vase, Ovid's Metamorphoses, accessed 27 March 2014, .
‘Orphic religion’ n.d., in Encyclopaedia Britannica, accessed 25 March 2014, .
‘The After-Life in Ancient Greece’ 2012, in Ancient History Encyclopaedia, accessed 16 March 2014, .
The Greek Mystery Cults, n.d. Legacy, accessed 27 March 2014, .

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