提 要：人们通常所说的“希腊宗教”是指古希腊人从古风时期（公元前776至479年）到基督教胜利之前的宗教。它拥有前希腊宗教、印欧宗教、米诺斯-迈锡尼宗教和近东宗教等多个源头。它是黑暗时代（约公元前1100年至前776年）至古风时代初深刻的社会变革中新老宗教元素融会和革新性重组的产物。到公元前8世纪，希腊宗教成型。一直到基督教最终取代它时，其间它虽经历了持续的发展，但在性质、特征、基本内容和总体框架上却没有根本性的改变。基督教之所以能够取代希腊宗教，并不在于基督教具有优于希腊宗教的天然的优越性，而主要是由于罗马帝国官方基督教化政策对希腊宗教的强行压制和取缔。基督教取代希腊宗教并非一蹴而就，并且遭遇到了来自希腊宗教的抵抗，希腊宗教的若干因素最终仍得以保留并为基督教所吸收，这些也都证实了希腊宗教的“长时段”的生命力。

关键词：希腊宗教 奥林波斯神崇拜 英雄崇拜 秘仪 长时段

Title: Ancient Greek Religion: A Survey in A Long Term Perspective

Author:Xu Xiaoxu, Associate Professor, College of History and Culture, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China, 430079

Abstract:The so called Ancient Greek religion had its origins in pre-Hellenic religions including Indo-European religion, Minoan-Mycenaean religion, and Near Eastern religions. It was formed as a result of the convergence and evolution of traditional and new religious elements appeared during the Dark Age to the early Archaic Period. Although the Greek religion developed constantly, its nature, characteristics, basic contents, and general framework did not transform radically until it was superseded by Christianity. The triumph of Christianity was due to the coercive Roman imperial policy of Christianization against the pagans, rather than any superiority in religious terms over the Greek religion. Before Christianity achieved its dominate positing replacing the Greek religion, it had confronted resistance from the Greek religion. Some ingredients of Greek religion survived and were absorbed by Christianity. These facts proved the long term vitality of the Greek religion.

Key Words:Greek religion Olympian cults hero cults mysteries longue durée