The Greeks felt the diverse and powerful life of the secret forces around him.
- The trees grow as if by some miracle, and the soft rustle of the leaves is their speech;
- rivers flow into unknown distances, and their waters give life to fertilized soil;
- fire is born, devours its prey and dies;
- the wind rushes over the mountains, howling viciously,
- from all sides, indescribable forces come forward, before which the primitive man bends and trembles. Desiring to know them and have friendly relations with them, he calls them by names, and, in the end, ends, surrounds himself with many gods. The wretched Greek village had its deity, which often was not known in the neighboring village. Each phenomenon, almost every occupation had its patron. The names of these gods of special purposes were mostly forgotten when the Olympic gods established themselves in Greece, who took upon themselves their functions and attributes. In ancient religion, there were many evil spirits, evil spirits, which harmed a person in everyday life. They tried to defend themselves from them in all sorts of magical ways: dressing up, dancing, loud music.
A cult of the dead was associated with evil spirits, which occupied the main place in the ancient Greek religion. Burying the dead, they put jewels, weapons, various utensils, figures of domestic animals into the grave — a whole farm. They probably believed that a deceased could return to earth if he suddenly got bored with his abandoned condition. And if he takes part in it with him, he may not want to come to his house anymore.
The dead man was a terrible revengeful force, every minute he could appear as a ghost. They tried to appease him with gifts and sacrifices. The first tribute was a crazy, loud funeral cry. Mourners torn their faces with their nails pulled out their hair. Animals and slaves were killed at the grave. Not only on the day of the funeral but also later, the family of the deceased made sacrifices from time to time. The blood of slaughtered animals was poured through a pipe into the grave for food to a dead man.
After the funeral, they held a wake at home and believed that the soul of the deceased was the real owner. In Athens, during the festival of Anthesterium, in the spring, people celebrated the day of remembrance of the dead. There was a deep crack in the ground near the temple of Zeus. Through it deep into the earth, the waters of the flood escaped, and through it, on the third day, Antesterius went to the earth of the soul. The temples were locked that day so that souls could not enter there and desecrate places dedicated to the gods with their presence. Doors in the houses were smeared with resin because they believed that the resin drives away evil spirits. Each family arranged a wake for the dead. They cooked the seeds of all field plants and put them in a pot on the altar in a separate room, where no one dared to go. The commemoration ended in the evening when they opened the room, ordering: “Go, souls, at the door, Asteria has already passed!”
The Greeks believed that the soul, which is in the body, looks like a small chrysalis, and it is visible through the eye of the eye, so it was called "bark" - a girl. In art, she was often portrayed as a small winged creature. These elusive creatures could bless or harm. In the next world, the soul becomes a higher being and, appearing in a dream, conjures up prophetic dreams. And sometimes it, with an imperceptible touch, causes a sudden illness, deprives the mind or life. Especially dangerous are the souls of those who died prematurely, not by their own death.
More widely remembered the dead in battles for the fatherland. Patriotic Greeks held magnificent and exciting ceremonies in honor of this. This is how the anniversary of the Battle of Platei was celebrated. To the sound of a military trumpet, a procession advanced at dawn. They drove carts full of wreaths and myrtle branches. Then they led a black bull, followed by young men who carried pots of milk and wine, olive and odorous oils.