The religious landscape of archaic and classical Greece 1

This chapter is primarily focused on the religious landscape of archaic and classical Greece, presenting a contextual picture for the discussion of Underworld gods. The chapter begins with a brief synopsis of the study of Greek religions and presents some general considerations to contextualise the discussion in the book as a whole. Following this is a methodological discussion based around the sociological concept of ‘thin coherence’ of communities, applying this to the study of ancient Greek religion. Finally, the chapter presents an examination of ‘Olympic’ and ‘Chthonic’ gods, discussing what and who they each are, and whether they should be categorised separately or not.