X R E L I G I O V AND EDUCATION
among real living beings The man or the woman who
destined to save the State was called Saviour (Soter)1 That is
the name which was frequently given to Zeus or occasionally
to other gods who saved men or State.2 The mortal called by
this name did not yet enter the ranks of the gods3 but the name
indicated the first step in this direction, and further steps were
to be taken before long 3
While Aischylos, who was an initiate of Eleusis, invokes the
venerable Demeter of antiquity, Euripides has gods of his own3
though largely of Anstophanic origin 4 StiH3 there are
characters in Euripides who swear 'by the sacred ether3 the
house of Zeus', and in Aristophanes, Euripides speaks of
ether as his 'food*.5 Ether was a kind of natural father-god to
go with Mother Earth 6 The comedian's mockery, however,
was aimed at something more general — at the replacement of
the living gods by vague and abstract conceptions." When
Hekabe invokes a Zeus who seems to be a collection of different
philosophical ideas, it is a natural reaction on the part of
Menelaos to speak of her new ways of praying 8 It is said that
because Euripides denies the gods in his tragedies, a poor
widow sells only half as many wreaths for religious purposes
as before/ Every spectator must have realized that much of
this was comedy based on erroneous suppositions, for the gods
play a most important part in Euripides' plays, from the pro-
logues to the concluding scenes with the dens ex machma* But
behind the comic insinuation stood the fact, at the time no
doubt already quite obvious, that the bonds of religion and
cult had slackened, and that this was due, to a large extent,
to the views, which Euripides shared, of modern writers,
thinkers and teachers. The lawsuits brought on the ground
1 P i033fF, F 1419, 1436, 1458, 1501. —K 149, P 914!", Plterekr 187.
2Th 1009, F 378, 1433, £79, 761, 1045, 1103, P1.877, 1175, *l86> "89
Aischylos and Pindar provide earlier examples I cannot explain vt hy our evidence
from Aristophanes is confined to his later plays, unless this is because of the general
deterioration of the political and economic conditions
3 For the self-destruction of the anthropomorphic gods and the demand for
living beings instead of dead statues, cf my Aspects of the Ancient World, iSyff
4 F 889ff. 5 Eur frg 487, cf Th 272, F 100, 311 - F 892.
e Eur frg 839, 877, 941 7 Cf Eur Med. 4941"- KCCIVOC OeorjJiia.
8 Eur. Tro 884$ cf also Her 1263, frg 480 ZsOs 6crn$ 6 Zeu$» ou yap
oISoc TrAfiv Aoycp
6 Th 446^