A group of c. 200 pagan worshippers gathered recently at the Parthenon to beg Athena not to allow material to be removed from her temple and relocated in the new, specially designed museum nearby. The goddess was obviously not impressed. One cannot blame her.

The ancient relationship between men and gods was perfectly reflected in the way prayers were offered to them. First, you identified the god, and gave him his titles (you must get the right god for the job); then you listed everything you had done for the god and the god for you in the past; then you made your request; and finally you promised that, if the prayer was granted, the god would in the future receive yet more handsome favours. Ancient gods, in other words, were biddable. But by the same logic, it was believed that, once gods no longer received prayers or sacrifice, they died. There was no point in their existence if they did not wield power.

Our modern pagans got almost all of this wrong. First, their ‘high priestess’ boasted that this was the first time prayers had been said to Athena on this site since pagan religion was banned by the Christian Roman emperor Theodosius in AD 391. That was no way to win Athena’s approval. When the first Roman emperor Augustus (emperors came to be treated as divinities) was told that a miracle had occurred on his altar in Tarragona (Spain) – a palm-tree had sprouted there! – Augustus commented sourly that it just showed how infrequently they sacrificed to him.

Again, there is no indication that the priestess had attempted to establish any formal relationship with the deity. She did not indicate how they had served Athena in the past or what blessings Athena had poured on them; nor how they would reward Athena with special offerings if she granted their prayers. Why should any ancient god respond to what was in effect a simple demand? Where was the quid pro quo in that? And their ‘offerings’ consisted of three hymns, water and some olive oil. After 1600 years one would have thought Athena worth a bit more than that.

At the end of the performance, the high priestess asked ‘Is it a coincidence that rain started falling when the ceremony started and ended at the same time as the ceremony? I think not’. But that was more usually taken as a bad omen than a good one. Athena had rained on their parade. They had all better watch their backs.

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