Could Countries Today Restore the Religions They Had in Antiquity?

Most people have heard about the religions that were practiced in ancient times in places like Greece, Rome, Egypt, Persia, and Scandinavia. Some people have wondered things like, “What happened to those religions? Would it be possible to revive them today in the countries where they were once practiced? What would it be like if someone did?”

Not all ancient religions completely died out. Most notably, Zoroastrianism, the religion of ancient Iran, never completely died out and is still practiced by some people in Iran today. Other ancient religions, such as ancient Greek polytheism, did die out, but have been revived by small groups of worshippers in the modern age.

None of these ancient religions, however, are the dominant religion in the countries where they were once practiced today and it is highly unlikely that any of them will become dominant in those countries again anytime in the near future.

Greece

Christianity was first introduced to Greece in the first century AD. The religion gradually spread throughout Greece over the course of roughly the next five centuries. By the end of the fourth century AD, probably about half the population of Greece was at least nominally Christian. By the end of the fifth century AD, Christianity was the dominant religion throughout most of Greece.

Nevertheless, as I discuss in much greater detail in this article from April 2020, there were still a few people openly practicing traditional Greek religion even in major cities like Athens well into the sixth century AD. The Neoplatonic philosophers Damaskios of Syria (lived c. 458 – after c. 538 AD) and Simplikios of Kilikia (lived c. 490 – c. 560 AD) are among the last individuals in Greece who are known to have openly worshipped the classical deities in antiquity.

The form of Christianity practiced in Greece has been substantially influenced by aspects of traditional Greek religion. For instance, Eastern Orthodox Christians venerate icons of saints and holy figures, which is a holdover from the ancient practice as worshipping images of deities.

Much of the iconography that is used in Eastern Orthodox icons is derived from ancient Greek depictions of deities. As I discuss in this article from March 2020, the standard image we all have of Jesus has been greatly influenced by ancient Greek depictions of male deities such as Zeus, Asklepios, and Serapis.

ABOVE: Eastern Orthodox mosaic of Christos Pantokrator (“Christ the All-Powerful”) from the Daphni Monastery in Athens

Nevertheless, the population of Greece has remained overwhelmingly at least nominally Christian ever since the late fifth century AD. There was a schism between eastern and western Christianity that began in around the middle of the eleventh century AD. From that time onwards, Greek identity has become inextricably tied to Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

According to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center in 2017, roughly 90% of people in Greece identify as Eastern Orthodox Christians, roughly 3% identify as non-Orthodox non-Catholic Christians, roughly 4% identify as irreligious, roughly 2% identify as Muslims, and roughly 1% identify as belonging to some other religion. In other words, the overwhelming majority of Greeks see themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians.

The Eastern Orthodox Church is directly supported by the Greek government, which pays the salaries of members of the Eastern Orthodox clergy. The Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain, a relatively large autonomous region in Chalkidiki in northern Greece, is directly governed by the church.

Despite this, the same Pew Research survey that I have already mentioned above also found that the majority of people in Greece rarely or never attend church services. According to the poll, roughly 83% of Greeks do not regularly attend church services. That 83% number breaks down into two groups; roughly 61% of Greeks attend church on a monthly or yearly basis, while roughly 22% of Greeks seldom or never attend church at all.

ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of the interior of the Agios Minas Cathedral in Herakleion on the Greek island of Krete. The vast majority of people in Greece today identify as Eastern Orthodox Christians.

There are some people in Greece who do practice a form of ancient Greek religion, but those people are a very small minority of the population. There are a number of organizations in Greece dedicated to the revival of ancient Hellenic polytheism. The largest such organization in Greece is the Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes (Ύπατο Συμβούλιο των Ελλήνων Εθνικών or YSEE), which was founded in 1997. Another Hellenic polytheist organization in Greece is Labrys, which was founded in 2008.

Hellenic polytheism was officially recognized by the Greek government as a “known religion” in 2017. As a result of this recognition, practitioners of Hellenic polytheism can now legally build houses of worship in Greece and their priests can officiate weddings. This is a sign that Hellenic polytheism is gaining some degree of acceptance in Greece, but certainly not a sign that it will ever become the dominant religion in the country.

YSEE tends to be very anti-Christian. Its followers have led protests against official support for the Orthodox Church by the Greek government and many of them see Christians as violent destroyers of their ancient heritage. Meanwhile, Labrys generally tends to avoid using explicitly anti-Christian rhetoric.

ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of a Hellenic polytheist priest associated with the Greek organization YSEE performing a ritual

ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of members of the modern Hellenic polytheist organization YSEE gathered for a ritual

ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of Hellenic polytheist altar to the deities Athena and Apollon

ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of a modern Hellenic polytheist temple in Thessaloniki, Greece

ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of members of the modern Hellenic polytheist organization YSEE gathered for a ritual in honor of the goddess Persephone in the Peloponnesos

ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of members of YSEE leading a protest in Athens against support for the Orthodox Church by the Greek government

Italy

Christianity was first introduced to Italy in the first century AD. It gradually spread throughout Italy over the next few centuries. As with Greece, by around the end of the fourth century AD, probably about half the people in Italy were Christian and, by around the end of the fifth century AD, the population of Italy was overwhelmingly Christian.

Christianity as it is practiced in Italy has been influenced by aspects of traditional Roman polytheism. Notably, the Pope bears the title pontifex maximus, a title that was originally held by the head priest in the ancient Roman Collegium Pontificium in pre-Christian times. This title was later given to the Roman emperor. Eventually, it was applied to the bishop of the city Rome (i.e. the Pope).

Just as modern Greek identity is closely tied to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, modern Italian identity is closely tied to Roman Catholic Christianity. According to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center that was published in December 2018, roughly 78% of people in Italy identify as Roman Catholics.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church is the Pope, who lives in Vatican City, an independent city-state located within the city of Rome itself that is governed directly by the Catholic Church. The Pope is also the Primate of Italy and the bishop of the city of Rome. He therefore has tremendous influence and authority in Italy.

Once again, there are some people in Italy who seek to revive ancient Roman polytheism, but they are a very small minority of the population. Unfortunately, many supporters of a revival of ancient Roman polytheism in Italy have fascist political leanings. Many such people in Italy have been influenced to varying extents by the Italian esoteric writer Julius Evola (lived 1898 – 1974), a self-described “superfascist” who is known for his radical opposition to all forms of democracy and egalitarianism.

Some of the most prominent organizations in Italy dedicated to reviving ancient Roman religion include Movimento Tradizionale Romano and Curia Romana Patrum. The international organization Nova Roma is also active in Italy, as well as many other countries, both in Europe and around the world.

ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of a modern sacrifice to the ancient Roman goddess Concordia in Budapest, Hungary

Egypt

Christianity was first introduced to Egypt in the first century AD. It spread throughout the region over the course of the next few centuries. By the end of the fifth century AD, Egypt was overwhelmingly Christian. The conquest of Egypt by the Rashidun Caliphate began in 639 AD and was completed in 646 AD. Egypt remained mostly Christian for centuries thereafter, but, eventually, by maybe around the twelfth century AD or so, Muslims came to make up the majority of the population.

In 2015, the CIA World Factbook estimated that roughly 90% of Egypt’s total population was Sunni Muslim and roughly 10% was Coptic Christian. Exact numbers generally vary. Although there may be a handful of people in Egypt who want to bring back ancient Egyptian religion, they are not organized, they have very little presence in the country, and their religion is not recognized by the government.

There are many people trying to revive ancient Egyptian religion outside of Egypt. For instance, the revival of ancient Egyptian polytheism is popular among black nationalists in the United States. This movement does not really have any traction in Egypt itself, though.

I would say that, of all the countries on this list, Egypt is the one that is least likely to return to its ancient polytheistic religion anytime soon.

Persia

Persia is an exonym for Iran. The ancient religion of Iran was Zoroastrianism. Ancient Zoroastrianism was not strictly monotheistic; followers of the religion in ancient times generally believed in the existence of many yazatas (i.e. deities, seen by modern Zoroastrians as “angels”), such as Sraosha, Mithra, Rashnu, and Anahita. Nonetheless, ancient Zoroastrians universally acknowledged Ahura Mazdā as the supreme yazata, to whom all other yazatas were subordinate.

Christianity and Gnosticism were both introduced to Iran by around the second century AD. Shortly after the rise of the Sassanian Empire (lasted 224 – 651 AD), the religion of Manichaeism was founded by the Iranian prophet Mani (lived c. 216 – c. 274 AD). Manichaeism combines many aspects of Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Gnosticism, and ancient Mesopotamian religion.

After the Nestorian schism in 431 AD, many Christian followers of Nestorios, the former archbishop of Constantinople, fled to the Sassanian Empire, where they established their own churches. Neither Christianity nor Manichaeism ever became the dominant religion of the Sassanian Empire, however.

ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of a third-century AD relief carving from Naqsh-e Rostam showing Ahura Mazdā, the supreme yazata of Zoroastrianism, presenting Ardashir I, the founder of the Sassanian Empire, with the ring of kingship

The conquest of the Sassanian Empire by the Rashidun Caliphate began in 633 AD and was completed in 651 AD. Zoroastrianism remained the dominant religion of Iran for a while after the Islamic conquest, but, after being ruled for centuries by the Umayyad Caliphate (lasted 661 – 750 AD), Sunni Islam slowly became dominant.

Later, under the Safavid Empire (lasted 1501 – 1736), most of the population of Iran was converted to Shia Islam. The CIA World Factbook estimates that, today, somewhere between 90% and 95% of people in Iran are Shia Muslims, while somewhere between 10% and 5% of people in Iran are Sunni Muslims.

Despite the overwhelming predominance of Islam in Iran, neither Zoroastrianism nor Christianity ever completely died out in the country and there are still practicing Zoroastrians and Christians in the country today. According to the 2011 Iranian census, there were roughly 117,704 Christians in Iran and 25,271 Zoroastrians living in Iran at the time when the census was taken. The majority of Zoroastrians in Iran today live in Yazd Province and Kerman Province in central Iran.

Globally, Zoroastrianism is rapidly dying out because Zoroastrians do not proselytize and many Zoroastrian communities do not even accept voluntary converts because they see their religion as inextricably tied to their ethnic identity. Furthermore, in Iran in particular, under the current Iranian regime, it is illegal for a Muslim to convert to any other religion, meaning Iranian Muslims cannot legally convert to Zoroastrianism—even if they want to and the Zoroastrian community is willing to accept them.

Although it is highly unlikely that Zoroastrianism will spread in Iran under the current government, under a religiously tolerant government, it is conceivable that it could. Many young Iranians are disenchanted with the theocratic Iranian government and some are even disenchanted with Islam, which they associate with the government.

As I discuss in this article from January 2020, many young Iranians have latched onto ancient Persian cultures and argued for a return to the supposedly more tolerant policies of the ancients. The unofficial Iranian holiday “Cyrus the Great Day” and the tomb of Cyrus the Great at Pasargadae have both been used for protests against the Iranian government by activists who see Cyrus—a Zoroastrian—as an ideal ruler and who have argued for a return to his ideals.

ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of the modern Zoroastrian fire temple in Yazd as it appeared in 2004

ABOVE: Photograph from the Tehran Times of Zoroastrians celebrating the Sadeh festival in Tehran on 29 January 2017

Scandinavia

Traditional religion remained dominant in Scandinavia for much longer than in any of the other countries on this list. Christianity was first introduced to Scandinavia in around the eighth century AD. Christianity became nominally established in Denmark and Norway in around the middle of the eleventh century AD and in Sweden in around the middle of the twelfth century AD.

Traditional religion was still practiced for several centuries after this, though, and Scandinavian Christianity to this day is still colored by traditional religious ideas and practices. The Sámi people of the far north were not fully converted to Christianity until the eighteenth century.

Today, Scandinavia is overwhelmingly secular. A Gallup poll conducted in 2016 found that only 30% of people in Norway said they were religious, while 50% said they were not religious and 12% said they were convinced atheists. The same poll found that only 22% of people in Sweden said they were religious, while 55% said they were not religious and 18% said they were convinced atheists. In Denmark, the poll found that 32% of people said they were religious, 47% said they were not religious, and 14% said they were convinced atheists.

There are some proponents of Germanic polytheism in Scandinavia, but they make up a relatively small proportion of the overall population. There are a number of organizations dedicated to the revival of Germanic polytheism in these countries. For instance, in Sweden, there is the group Sveriges Asatrosamfund. In Denmark, there is the group Forn Siðr. In Norway, there is the group Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost.

In many countries around the world, the idea of a return to Germanic polytheism is often promoted by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists, who see Germanic polytheism as part of the white racial identity. Not all Germanic polytheists are white supremacists, but, unfortunately, Germanic polytheism is very popular among white supremacists. There are Germanic polytheist Neo-Nazi organizations in Scandinavia, just as there are in other countries around the world. In Norway, for instance, the German polytheist group Vigrid is explicitly a Neo-Nazi organization.

ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of the altar at the Spring Blót on 4 April 2010 at Kungshögarna in Gamla Uppsala, Uppland, Sweden by the Swedish organization Sveriges Asatrosamfund

ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of members of the Swedish organization Sveriges Asatrosamfund performing the Spring Blót at Ale stenar near Kåseberga in Österlen, Scania, Sweden on 26 April 2008

The accuracy of “religious reconstructionism”

There are further problems with the idea of reviving ancient religions in the countries where they were once practiced. One problem is that all religions naturally, inevitably change over time. The form of a religion that existed at any given point in antiquity is always going to be different from the form of a religion that existed at some other point. The form of Zoroastrianism that is practiced today, for instance, is drastically different from the form that was practiced in the fifth century BC when the Achaemenid Empire was at its height.

There are also many aspects of ancient religions that simply don’t work in the modern world. For instance, animal sacrifice was absolutely integral to nearly all forms of Greek and Roman religion that existed in antiquity. Sacrificing cattle to Zeus, though, just isn’t something that works well in the modern world.

For one thing, most people today don’t raise animals that they can sacrifice and, for another thing, people today are generally much more concerned about animal welfare than people in antiquity were. This is why even many of the most die-hard reconstructionists accept that animal sacrifice isn’t practical in the modern world and only a relatively small number maintain that animal sacrifice is still necessary.

ABOVE: Tondo from an Attic red-figure kylix dating to c. 510 – c. 500 BC, depicting two men ritually sacrificing a pig to Demeter

Furthermore, in many cases, our evidence for pre-Christian religious beliefs and practices is so limited that it is impossible to know exactly what members of an ancient pre-Christian culture believed about a certain deity, how they performed certain rituals, or how they celebrated certain festivals.

Modern Germanic polytheism in particular is reconstructed based on extremely limited evidence. As I discuss in this article I wrote in April 2020, the ancient English goddess Ēostre is attested solely from a single brief mention of her in the treatise On the Reckoning of Time, written in Latin in around 725 AD by the Christian monk Bede the Venerable (lived c. 673 – 735 AD).

All we know for certain about her is her name and that she had some kind of festival that was celebrated in springtime. Despite this, Ēostre has developed an entire modern mythology surrounding her that is not based on any kind of ancient evidence. For instance, as I talk about in the article, we have absolutely no evidence to suggest that Ēostre was ever associated with eggs or rabbits in antiquity and it has only been in much more recent times that those things have become associated with the holiday of Easter.

ABOVE: Illustration from 1884 by the German illustrator Johannes Gehrts, representing the goddess Ēostre as the artist imagined her