iest Religion--Functional Deities.--The religion the Greeks
brought with them to their country was undoubtedly that which we have
discussed in our chapter on the Aryans. The primitive elements of
Aryan religion all reappear in Greece; the combination of many small
household worships with the supra-family worship of a great god or
gods, the few great gods who are surrounded by a multitude of
spirits, some of these also growing into gods, the recognition of
spiritual presences in many a natural object, living or dead. All
this we find in early Greece. The whole nation believes in Zeus; to
all he is the Lord of heaven, the giver of rain, the fertiliser of
mother earth, the supreme ruler in earth as well as in heaven, the
father of the gods as well as of men. This is the first bond of unity
in Greek religion. But every family, every village, every town has
its own peculiar worship which is to be found nowhere else. That
worship may be addressed to Zeus with a local title; each circle of
men has its own particular Zeus, who is their protector and ruler;
and thus Zeus has many forms and names. In each community there is
also the worship of the goddess of the hearth (Hestia); each
household has its own Hestia, and carries on the worship which in
other Aryan peoples is connected with the memory of departed
ancestors. But the family or the township has also other objects of
worship. There are other gods besides Zeus who are connected with
heaven, such as Apollo and Heracles. There are gods connected with
each activity of the people. Artemis is goddess of hunting, Aphrodite
of the peaceful life of nature and of gardens, and also of love.
Poseidon, the sea-god, was also worshipped inland, and was perhaps
originally a god of horses and oxen; Hephaestus was the god of workers
in metal, Ares the god of battle. These are in their origin what are
called functional deities, that is to say, gods who are present in
the function with which they are associated, and of which they
constitute the ideal or sacred side, and who have no existence apart
from it.

The gods of Greece in fact had their origin in that view of nature as
animated in every part, which the Greeks shared with other branches
of the Aryans, and with early man generally. Like the Latins, the
Greeks at first saw a mystery, a spirit, in every part of life; each
fountain had its nymph, each forest glade its dryad; and they felt
the gods to be returning to fresh life when spring