Status Updates From The Life of Greece (The Sto...

"The realization of self-government was something new in the world; life without kings had not yet been dared by any great society. Out of this proud sense of independence, individual and collective, came a powerful stimulus to every enterprise of the Greeks; it was their liberty that inspired them to incredible accomplishments in arts and letters, in science and philosophy" (233).

Religion and patriotism were bound together in a thousand impressive rites; the god most revered in public ceremony represented the apotheosis of the city; every law, every meeting of the assembly, every major enterprise of government, was surrounded by religious ceremony. In these ways Greek religion was used as a defense by the community and the race against the natural egoism of the individual man.

"Religion failed to unify Greece but athletics - periodically - succeeded. Men went to Olympia, Delhi, Corinth, and Nemea not so much to honor the gods - for these could be honored anywhere - as to witness the heroic contests of chosen athletes...Here under the rubric of athletics we find the real religion of the Greeks - the worship of health, beauty, and strength" (211).