As it was such an undertaking it is not fully completed but you can view how my view have progressed and performed justice to the indepth study of the subject; hope you enjoy.
Important as anthropomorphism is there are other ways available to represent deities. This blog will look at anthropomorphism, but will also seek to put it into a broader context of divine representation. I will begin by talking about the nature of anthropomorphism and compare it with other ways of representing Greek deities. This blog will also think about how and why the Greeks placed such an emphasis on anthropomorphism. I'll think about how gods are represented anthropomorphically and I will consider what studying this can tell us about the nature of Greek religion. It must be stressed, that anthropomorphism was not the only way for the Greeks to convey their gods. It was a means that appealed to the Greeks but far from the only way available; we have other ways of perceiving their deities. The anthropomorphic image of the gods dominates our understanding of them. The Greeks had no problem worshipping a deity anthropomorphically then in another context in a non-anthropomorphic way. This will conclude why the Greeks anthropomorphised their gods.
Key images that we have of the Greek gods are regularly represented as beings portrayed in human like ways (anthropomorphic), for example the statue of Athena Parthenos. The gods are typically represented this way on vase paintings and also in various literary sources.
In ancient Greek literature we find deities that are represented anthropomorphically. However, this is not a Greek invention; it is indicated earlier than the Homeric poems. We have traditions of humanised deities throughout Mesopotamia and Egypt source. In the Homeric poems (the earliest works that we possess of Greek poetry) we see a Parthenon of deities; a polytheistic system where each god has individual identities and characteristics. Already in Homer’s works we have gods that look and behave like humans. These various human-like characteristics that the gods display in the Homeric hymns, remain intact throughout the archaic and classical periods. One particular example is Homer’s Iliad book 5.
We have an instance of the god Aries being depicted; the war deity - whose name is synonymous with war. Aries is displaying jealousy; a key human emotion. He is jealous of his fellow deity and sister Athena. Aries has gone to complain about the favouritism that Zeus (their father) has been showing to Athena on the grounds that Zeus had given birth to the goddess. We have a nice example of anthropomorphism and have an indication of how Zeus is different; he gave birth to Athena out of his head. Artists and authors represent deities in different ways; there is no ‘One Athena’, each create Athena in a fresh way that suits their own particular purpose for gender (specific example of gendered view of Athena). However, from Homer onwards we do see that the ancient gods have a distinct personality and appearance, in broad terms.
I have already discussed the jealousy of Aries, and the alleged favouritism of Zeus. Therefore, Aries is a god of personality. We already know that he is a manifestation of war. Euripides’ Trojan Women illustrates his personification well: it describes the fall and sack of Troy; when the wooden Trojan horse was taken inside the city, warriors erupted from within the horse and sacked the city. The event that is conveyed is the sudden emergence and violence of the Warriors coming out of the wooden horse. The ‘war burst forth’ fulfilling Athena’s desires. However, Aries is manifesting in the violence the Greek warriors are now conveying, as he is war. This shows that gods can manifest in their forms within various attributes. There is duality between gods who show anthropomorphic characteristics and those who can also switch to operating in other ways as well. Gods could manifest themselves in many non-anthropomorphic ways.
Gods can also be depicted in various theriomorphic (animal) forms. For example Athena could be depicted in owl form, or, depicted holding an owl. On one hand a deity and on the other hand a deity holding that attribute. There are representations of animals that can be seen as Athena’s favourite bird or Athena's attribute, but it could also be a representation of the goddess herself. After all she is the owl faced goddess, her very gaze can be linked with the ‘Glaukopis’ Athena owl eyed. In the Odyssey book 3, Athena typically disappears in a rush of wings or, in the form of the bird of prey. ‘Glaukopis’ is a very familiar epithet of Athena in the Odyssey. In modern ornithological terms the Athena nuptua - the ‘little owl’ is the Greek Glaux. ? Argued from studying representations of owls, to Athena, he argued that the original appearance of Athena had been an owl-like one. That kind of approach to the deities assumes that anthropomorphism is assimilated later and is regarded as outmoded and rather naive. It conveys how a scholar has acknowledged anthropomorphic beings, as opposed to promoting non-anthropomorphic ways of depicting a particular deity, in this case Athena.
This image (see appendix 1) shows an archaic anthropomorphic representation on one side of the coin and then an owl on the other side, which we could see as Athena's pet bird. We could also see it as an epithet of Athena, or an attribute of Athena, or we could see it as a manifestation of the goddess. It's big gleaming eyes are one of the things that Athena and the Glaux have in common. There is also an olive shoot in the corner of the coin which is an attribute of Athena but again also it is a manifestation of the goddess. The Greek letters ‘A O E’ which correspond with our A-TH-E, the first three letters in Greek which are the name of the city and the name of the goddess- the letters themselves say Athena and (the city) Athens. This coin is stating; ‘owl-Athena-Athens’, it is given that the owl and the olive branch link to Athena, but they are not just about Athena, they are specifically about the protective goal that Athena brings to the city. Athena the warrior / protector is depicted here in her anthropomorphic representation of the deity. One other type of representing a deity is in the form of xoanon (plural xoana).
Xoanon is a particular statue type in ancient Greece, specifically representing a holy ancient state cult image of a deity. These specific holy statues that represent deities are non-anthropomorphic ones. Why are the most holy and sacred statues non-anthropomorphic ones? The wooden Athena was of crucially significant importance to the Athenian state cult, as it takes this particular form. It was so sacred that when the Athenians needed to vacate their city very quickly in 480 BC (when the Persians were coming to sack the city) and escape to the island of Salamis? (- Where they had to stay until it was safe to return to the sacked city). It was the only divine image that was notably removed by the Athenians. It was regarded as so important to them that they took it away. We do not know for sure what form it took, but, it seems to have taken the form of a piece of olive wood. The olive tree was already an important symbol of Athena and Athens; which is why it is depicted on coins along with the owl, Athena herself and the name of the city. It was a strikingly different form of olive wood standing apart from the other statues that were erected, like the Athena Parthenos, which is anthropomorphic in all its splendour. The Athenians were taking their protective deity with them, they had to leave the city but they continued to live under the protection of Athena because they had the statue with them. The city could be destroyed because Athena was not protecting Athens, but present protecting the Athenians. As far as the Athenians were concerned this object ensured their safety. It was invested in divine power that the Parthenos statue was not.
Problematically the Athenians treated the sacred non-anthropomorphic ‘wooden Athena’, without humanistic features, anthropomorphically. Annually, specific cult servants of the goddess would clothe the statue in a magnificent, intricately woven, peplos (new robe). They would also adorn it in golden jewellery. The Athenians were very concerned with the wealth fair of this holiest of all images. Once a year the Plynteria ritual took place, in which they would take the statue to the sea, to bathe it. It was with great concern that the Plynteria took place in the appropriate way; preparing the statue for its new peplos that it was about to receive. This was all completed in conditions of great secrecy. Specifically designated females only would get to look at the statue. On the day of the Plynteria, the statue would leave the city, to be bathed; it was regarded as a day of particularly ill omen. It had lost its divine patron. The Athenians believed it was the true manifestation of the goddess, in some ways it wasn't just the divine image but it was the goddess it was invested with Our. When the statue was in city, the presence of Athena was with the city, so when it was taken to bathe, the city lost its Athena. On one level it actually is Athena, treating this non-anthropomorphic statue as a person; dressing it, bathing it, adorning it. It was believed that it fell from heaven, which is another reason why it may be regarded as more sacred than the anthropomorphic statue Athena Parthenos. Unlike this statue it hasn't been made by skilled craftsmen, it was from heaven and had divine origins. There are other ways of representing deities anthropomorphically and non-anthropomorphically, or an-iconic.
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