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A libation is an offering involving the ritual pouring out of a liquid. In ancient Greece, such libations most commonly consisted of watered down wine, but also sometimes of pure wine, honey, olive oil, water or milk. [1] It was a basic aspect of religion in ancient Greece, and possibly the most common religious practice. [2]
Religious practices in ancient Greece encompassed a collection of beliefs, rituals, and mythology, in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices. The application of the modern concept of "religion" to ancient cultures has been questioned as anachronistic . [ 1 ]
Restored North Entrance with charging bull fresco of the Palace of Knossos (), with some Minoan colourful columns. The first great ancient Greek civilization were the Minoans, a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on Crete and other Aegean Islands, that flourished from c. 3000 BC to c. 1450 BC and, after a late period of decline, finally ended around 1100 BC during the early Greek Dark Ages.
It appears that the Mycenaean religion was the mother of the Greek religion [88] and its pantheon already included many divinities that can be found in classical Greece. [89] However, Greek mythology is generally seen as having heavy influence of Pre-Greek and Near Eastern cultures, and as such contains few important elements for the ...
The Lenaia (Ancient Greek: Λήναια) was an annual festival with a dramatic competition but one of the lesser festivals of Athens and Ionia in ancient Greece. The Lenaia took place (in Athens) in the month of Gamelion, roughly corresponding to January. The festival was in honour of Dionysus Lenaius.
Greek religion was influenced by the practices of the Greeks' near eastern neighbours at least as early as the archaic period, and by the Hellenistic period this influence was seen in both directions. [131] The most important religious act in ancient Greece was animal sacrifice, most commonly of sheep and goats. [132]
Ancient Greek funerary practices are attested widely in literature, the archaeological record, and in ancient Greek art. Finds associated with burials are an important source for ancient Greek culture , though Greek funerals are not as well documented as those of the ancient Romans .
Greek divination is the divination practiced by ancient Greek culture as it is known from ancient Greek literature, supplemented by epigraphic and pictorial evidence. Divination is a traditional set of methods of consulting divinity to obtain prophecies (theopropia) about specific circumstances defined beforehand.