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  2. Greco-Roman mysteries - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_mysteries

    Mystery religions, mystery cults, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries (Greek: μυστήρια), were religious schools of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates (mystai). The main characteristic of these religious schools was the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the ritual practice ...

  3. Ancient Greek religion - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_religion

    Ancient Greek theology was polytheistic, based on the assumption that there were many gods and goddesses, as well as a range of lesser supernatural beings of various types. There was a hierarchy of deities, with Zeus , the king of the gods, having a level of control over all the others, although he was not almighty.

  4. Cult (religious practice) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_(religious_practice)

    The term "cult" first appeared in English in 1617, derived from the French culte, meaning "worship" which in turn originated from the Latin word cultus meaning "care, cultivation, worship". The meaning "devotion to a person or thing" is from 1829. Starting about 1920, "cult" acquired an additional six or more positive and negative definitions.

  5. Eleusinian Mysteries - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleusinian_Mysteries

    A votive plaque known as the Ninnion Tablet depicting elements of the Eleusinian Mysteries, discovered in the sanctuary at Eleusis (mid-4th century BC). The Eleusinian Mysteries (Greek: Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια, romanized: Eleusínia Mystḗria) were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Eleusis in ancient Greece.

  6. Greek hero cult - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_hero_cult

    Greek hero-cults were distinct from the clan-based ancestor worship from which they developed, [3] in that as the polis evolved, they became a civic rather than familial affair, and in many cases none of the worshipers traced their descent back to the hero any longer: no shrine to a hero can be traced unbroken from Mycenaean times.

  7. Orgia - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgia

    Dionysian scene on a 3rd-century AD sarcophagus. In ancient Greek religion, an orgion (ὄργιον, more commonly in the plural orgia) was an ecstatic form of worship characteristic of some mystery cults. [1]

  8. Cult (disambiguation) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_(disambiguation)

    Cult following, a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific work of culture Cargo cult , a religious practice ritually mimicking another culture, popular in Melanesia in the late 1900s Cult of personality , when an individual uses mass media, propaganda, or other methods, to create an idealized, heroic, and at times, worshipful image

  9. Ceremonies of ancient Greece - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremonies_of_ancient_greece

    Unlike the rest of religious life in Ancient Greece, the rituals, practices and knowledge of mystery cults were only supposed to be available to their initiates, so relatively little is known about the mystery cults of Ancient Greece. [18] Some of the major schools included the Eleusinian mysteries, the Dionysian mysteries and the Orphic mysteries.