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ON IMAGES
by Kallistos Images and their use are an unmistakable part of Hellenismos. Whether we refer to the past or the present, images (eidoloi, sing. Eidolon) are omnipresent. Almost every ancient temple had images in their sanctuaries, whether a cult image (ranging from crude clay images, to carved wooden images so old their provenance was forgotten, to massive chryselephantine statues such as those built by Pheidias), or votive statuary presented by grateful worshippers. Today, most every worshipper of the Hellenic deities, like their spiritual ancestors maintains domestic shrines to with the statuettes and paintings of the gods worshipped in the household. This is such
a common phenomenon that few really think about it. But what exactly
is the role of images in Hellenismos? A casual observer may be
forgiven if they come away with the impression that we in some way worship
these images. After all, they are placed on or before our altars
and seem to receive cult from us. We seemingly pray to them, burn incense
before them, and make offerings to them. Is this truly
the case? In the ancient world, those who worshipped the actual images,
or who pay excessive attention to them were considered guilty of deisidaimonia,
literally “fear of the Gods.” We know this term in English
via the Latin translation, superstition from superstitio. Superstition
is also what we may term this today, and I will use the term henceforth.
Superstition was an excessive piety towards the gods, manifesting a
fear that the gods would take offense at minor matters or perceived
lack of devotion to the gods. Pagans
of sound mind rejected still another model of divine relations: the
servile model. The man who constantly trembled with fear at the
thought of the gods, as though they were capricious and cruel masters,
projected an image unworthy of the gods…such fear of the gods (deisidaimonia)
was what the Romans meant by ‘superstition.’1 Such people
were known to visit the images daily, and fuss with the peplos woven
as an eact of devotion to the deity, wash the image reverently, and
speak to it as if it were his friend. They abased themselves in
the hope of averting divine wrath. People
smiled when women went to the temple and told the goddess Isis their
troubles…Leave it to the Common people to spend all day in the temples
waiting on their gods like slaves, behaving like valets and hairdressers
before the statues of their deities.2 Indeed, one
philosopher asked dismissively, “What need has a god for body-servants?”
Heraclitus said: “Those who draw near to lifeless images as if they
were Gods, act in a similar manner to those who would enter into conversations
with houses.”3 This I believe,
we would agree is superstition. If excessive devotion to an image
is superstition, is an excess in the other direction, towards an aniconic
worship, also a vice? I would argue
that it is not, because the use of images was not necessary at any time
in the worship of the gods. The earliest forms of Hellenic worship
were aniconic. Worship was carried out on mountain tops or near
fissures in the earth (for the ouranian and chthonic deities respectively),
or before a tree sacred to a god, such as a palm tree at Delos (as depicted
on a Bronze Age gemstone), or at an oak tree at Dodona (per Homer and
Herodotus), or a place whose uncanny beauty or a lightning strike indicated
the presence of the numinous. Most sanctuaries, even in the Classical
Age, and later, were exactly of this type. In the medieval period,
after the acts of Theodosius, worship of the gods had to become aniconic,
as the use of images would mark one out for persecution. Yet the
worship continued for quite some time in this state. Even in sanctuaries
with cult images, most worship took place away from the cult image.
The image was housed inside the temple, off limits to most worshippers.
Worship took place outside, in the forecourt of the sanctuary where
the altar was. It was around the altar where worship took place,
just as in the aniconic sanctuaries in the hills and wilds of Greece.
No image was directly present at this worship. Today, I worship deities
for whom I have no images, and it doesn’t prevent me from saying my
prayers and offering my incense at my shrine for them. So if images
are not necessary, what are the roles of images in Hellenismos? I believe their
roles are to serve as symbolic representations of the presence of the
deities depicted. The cult images of the great temples symbolized
the presence of the deity in his or her house (the temple), and by extension
their presence and protection over the city in which or near which the
temple lay. An image in the home symbolizes the presence of the
deity in the home with their worshipper. Beyond just
this, they also serve as reminders of the presence of the deities, and
of their influence in our life. Say you have a picture of your
wife. If someone ask about your wife, you may point at her picture,
and say; "That's my wife." No one would be so feeble minded
as to confuse the picture of your wife with your wife herself. This
would be true even if you look lovingly on the picture, or place flowers
by the picture, and small gestures of affection like that. Just
as you place a photographic image of one’s wife or spouse on one’s
desk to symbolize their presence in your life, and also to remind oneself
of one’s beloved, the same goes for placing an image of a deity in
your home or on an altar. There is no superstition involved in
this use of images, to symbolize the presence of the deity and to remind
us of Them. The symbolic
nature of the image also serves as a means for us to express our devotion
to the deity. Veneration and offerings made in the presence of
the images, being symbolic of the presence of the deity, symbolically
go through the images to the deity whose likeness they are. They
are symbolically referred through to the deity. They thus serve
as a medium through which the gods teach us (through representations
of mythological scenes), and touches us. We can see
and believe this, without believing that the image themselves have some
property or virtue worthy of worship. Nor is it necessary to go
to the extreme of superstition in the adoration or veneration of the
image to achieve the benefits of the symbolic presence of (and connection
to) the deities. In summary then, ideally images in Hellenismos serve to symbolize the presence of the deity (the function of the cult image), as well as serve as reminders and conduits to the deity. |