Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in the Hellenic World

Abstract

Pilgrims and pilgrimage were a characteristic feature of the Hellenic world at all periods of its history, and pilgrimage was at all times a normal and an unquestioned facet of Greek religious experience. Pilgrimage, a journey to a sacred site, not necessarily a Panhellenic one, outside of the worshipper's locality, was an activity which endured for over a millennium, and is attested from the time of Homer to the triumph of Christianity. One of tilt commonest features of medieval times was to be the existence of the religious pilgrimage, and one noticeable on a truly international scale, with the faithful of the middle ages setting out to the Holy Land, as well as to regional religious centres. In classical times the Greek world, of course, was a pagan one in which a myriad of cults prospered, each for a particular reason. The inhabitants of this pagan world practised pilgrimage as a part of their beliefs long before Christianity also adopted this phenomenon as an expression of piety, and the discussion which follows examines aspects of the various pilgrimages which were undertaken in the Hellenic world, with particular emphasis on the experiences and point of view of the ordinary pilgrim. The period dealt with covers the eighth century BC through to the fourth century AD, with the main focus being, where possible, on the classical and Hellenistic periods ... This analysis is intended to give an overview of pilgrimage in the Hellenic world in general, and attempts to elucidate in depth the experiences of the Hellenic pilgrim in the context of Greek religious practices and cult ritual at the various types of pilgrimage sites which worshippers of all ranks and states might visit.