Cue the Lightening Bolts!

Zeus Worshippers Demand Access to Temple

Yes, you read that correctly. That is the headline for an article on the 1st Coast News website. Apparently there are still a few people in Greece who worship the ancient gods. & they want access to Zeus' temple in Athens. Greece's Culture Ministry has said no to giving them access to the 1800 year old temple. Last year, the Culture Ministry, fearing damage to monuments, blocked an initiative to hold an international track meet at Olympia. A panel of ministry experts ruled against Sunday's ancient ceremony at the ruins of the Temple of Zeus on similar grounds.

"Ancient sites are not available for this kind of event," ministry official Eliza Kyrtsoglou said. But the group isn't accepting that.

"These are our temples and they should be used by followers of our religion," said Doreta Peppa, head of the Athens-based Ellinais, a group campaigning to revive the ancient religion.

"Of course we will go ahead with the event ... we will enter the site legally," said Peppa, who calls herself a high priestess of the revived faith. "We will issue a call for peace, who can be opposed to that?"

They plan a 90 minute ceremony in honor of Zeus that would include hymns, dancers, torchbearers, and worshippers in ancient costumes. Peppa's group, dedicated to reviving worship of the 12 ancient gods, was founded last year and won a court battle for official state recognition of the ancient Greek religion.

About 97% of those born in Greek are baptised into the Greek Orthodox Church. Most of the others are Catholic (Eastern & Western Rites) or Prtestant. But not all. According to the article: Greece's archaic religion is believed to have several hundred official followers, mainly middle-aged and elderly academics, lawyers and other professionals. They typically share a keen interest in ancient history and a dislike for the Greek Orthodox Church. Ellinais is only 1 of the groups. There is at least 1 other rival group. The other group consists of ultra-nationalists who view a revival as a way to protect Greek identity from foreign influences. & according to the article the insults are flying fast & furious between the groups.

In the ancient myths the Greek gods were often jealous, insulting & fighting one another. Sounds like their modern followers are doing the same. So much for Ellinais' call for peace.

This whole story brings to mind an episode from the original Star Trek TV series, Who Mourns for Adonais? On that episode the U.S.S. Enterprise is captured near the planet Pollux IV. Their captor claims to be the ancient Greek God Apollo. He claims that he is the last of a group of beings who had visited Earth back in the time of ancient Greece. When the ancient Greeks quit worshipping them they left Earth & eventually ended up on Pollux IV. Apparently the writers of the episode were wrong about there being no more worshippers left.

UPDATE: (Posted 22 January 2007 5:31 am) I just saw an article from the AP in the paper I'm reading that reports they went ahead with their ceremony. In reading it I have come to the conclusion that the group is a revisionist environmental New Age wacko group of moonbats. In the article 1 of the high priests, Kostas Stathopoulos, talks about the ancient Greeks considering ecological awareness fundamental. Funny, but given everything I've heard or read they were anything but that. Nor do I remember anything from ancient Greek mythology or literature that implied that they were peace loving. Some of Aristophene's plays such as Lysistrata show that they were anything but. & given how 1 of the major gods was Ares, the god of savage war or bloodlust, I doubt that they would take serious of another priest's statement stressing the brotherhood of man. As for his 3rd point, that everyone has a right to an education. . . Like I said. . .