Secrets Of The Ancient Greek Treasury

Entrance To My Temple's Treasury

Over the last three years, I've spent a lot of time filming and talking about my Illinois temple, but I haven't really discussed one of its most beautiful and traditionally vital assets; the treasury, and what it means to have one in ancient Greek religion. We may assume that it's self-explanatory, but as with mostly all ancient history and modern adaptation, there's a little more to understand about it.

Before I reveal some of the secrets of my temple's treasury, it would be beneficial to discuss what a treasury is supposed to be used for. Take a visit to Delphi today and you'll see the remains of the Athenian Treasury, although I would argue that the entire City itself could have been considered one, because of all the votive gifts and financial powers that were funneled into that sanctuary and temple by the various City States. Greek treasuries found in sanctuaries or part of temples were used, of course, to house precious and valuable gifts made by the City in devotion to the God or Gods of the location. 

But it could also as well or additionally be used to store and protect the City's wealth and profit gained from war, conquest and trade. Some may have considered no better way to protect such vital necessities than to place them in the treasury of a God. Indeed, this would have been a completely accurate theory, as punishments were most harsh for stealing from a God or their sacred areas. I can but imagine the amount of money and beauty that were in those ancient safes. Today, not a spec remains, and certainly it is probably mostly because the Christians stole it, but it's also true that cities themselves would have looted one another in war. Hopefully, we Hellenists today won't have to worry about either.

Walk into my temple's treasury and you'll find everything from statues and trinkets to beautiful clothing and jewelry, and even bottled water from major rivers, given by devoted people who have traveled to my temple. Even gorgeous libation vessels have been gifted to our temple. The actual dollar amount that my treasury holds has never been calculated, but for a small country temple, I imagine it's a sustaining wealth. I keep it and the temple under heavy lock and key when I'm not there.

The Interior Of Our Treasury

But the true secrets and wealth of such a Greek wonder lie in the devoted themselves. Each treasury has its own unique character and spirit. The people who come to fill it throughout its life will also be unique in their own. This is where people will tell their stories to the Gods, to our community, to our clergy, and also to future generations. It is far more than a simple religious safe. It's a shrine to human life, and most importantly, the belief that we all matter and make a difference in this world.

In the Goodness of the Gods,

Chris Aldridge.

In Hellas, Disabled Could Still Be Devotee

Gryphon In The Nashville Parthenon

When I saw that the Greek Reporter had posted an old article recently about disabled people in ancient Greece, it made me think back to a discussion my wife and I have had over the years. The article discussed the archaeological discoveries that ancient Greeks built ramps in buildings and temples for disabled citizens. This is a stark contrast to other cultures in the ancient world where disabled people were not only thought to be cursed and impure, but were all but exiled. In Abrahamic religions, that people today assume to be the ones of love and care for all, the Jewish temples did not allow disabled or deformed worshipers to participate in their functions. There was even a case in Israel in 2015 where a mayor banned a bar mitzvah for disabled boys. Now I'm sure he came under a lot of fire from the modern Jewish community, but he still did it or tried to. In ancient Persia, where Islam would later find a foothold, there were no depictions of any people except those who were "normal" as it were. Even in Iran today, disabled people face constant discrimination and exclusion from society. Simply put, no one cares about them. In the Abrahamic field, Christainity is the only religion that doesn't think of the less physically fortunate as something taboo, although they may believe that having such conditions comes from deity, which is still a gloomy hypothesis. 

But in ancient Hellas, not only do we find depictions of disabled and elderly people, but also that they were not kept exempt from religious activities or public affairs (all of which were religious). The theological and philosophical discussion my wife and I have engaged in on the topic has to do with our son and a part of Greek myth. For those who may not know, our son Gryphon was born in 2010 at 24 weeks, severely premature. But thanks to the Gods, excellent doctors, and loving parents who never gave up on him, he survived. In fact, he started his first day of middle school last week. Of course, he does have some disabilities. He has cerebral palsy, uses very little verbal communication, and has some tightening in his left calf. But he can still walk, run and play, and live as normally as his circumstance can. The additional topic of the discussion is the ancient myth of Hephaistos having disabilities, and yet he was still a highest God and an amazingly beautiful and powerful creator. Of course, I don't think most Hellenists today believe that any God is disabled, but that part of myth shows, I think, that being disabled in the old Greek world was not a curse, an evil or an impurity, and could therefore enter the presence of the Gods like anyone else.

It has been a wonderful pleasure watching our son grow into a Hellenist. The best part is that we have never taught or told him to be. Our children can follow any religion they want, but he began visiting our Athena sanctuary on his own and praying to Her in his own personal ways. Disabled as he may be, he seemingly finds most of his patronage from Athena. The Gods do not exclude him in any way because of his uncontrollable conditions. In fact, they nursed him through the hardest parts. I've never seen a boy as happy as Gryphon, while having so many reasons he could choose to be the opposite. The Gods gave the world a very special gift in Gryphon, and I think they want people to see that.

Please take some time to read the Greek Reporter's article.

In the Goodess of the Gods,

Chris Aldridge. 

Building Your Ancient Greek Pillar Complex

Going all the way back to Mycenean and even Minoan times, the Tree Sanctuary, or as I call it, the Pillar Complex, is one of the easiest and most beautiful outside constructions for ancient Greek rites. The picture on the left is of my own, built for my temple's sanctuary to host public rites. Walter Burkert, in his book Greek Religion, page 28, describes the architecture of this precinct. 

"A large, imposing tree, almost always enclosed by a wall, and so set apart as sacred. The wall may be decorated with stucco or crowned with cult horns. A door, also embellished, leads into the interior, occasionally revealing a stone pillar. Various forms of altars are also shown, and in a number of cases a temple-like building stands opposite the tree. Open, stony ground is sometimes suggested."

My own Pillar Complex follows this basic pattern. It is built before a large tree, and the entire structure, including the tree, is encased by a brick wall (although in ancient times, the wall was probably much higher). The opening in the front leads into the interior where an altar and a stone pillar stands. The ground around it is also of small stones, but leaves in this picture are covering most of them up. The entire Complex is set apart from the rest of the surrounding area as its own sacred precinct. If you have your own property and are wanting to build religious structures, it's a far easier, more affordable alternative to a standing temple, which can take countless man hours, hard labor, and several thousands of dollars. 

Building it out of stone and brick, and having it dominated by a strong tree, is in itself an excellent way to keep the structure standing and protected for a long period of time, and it will give you the ability to hold any kind of festival, rite or sacrifice to any God, Spirit, Hero, Ancestor or Deified Mortal the occasion calls for. In my own, the central pillar acts as a shrine, upon which a statue is placed of the One who is being worshiped at that time. So for a rite of Artemis, I'd place Her statue there during the rites. Of course, the Complex can also be a place for any time one wants to do general prayer and sacrifice. It doesn't have to always be one Deity at a time. Opposite the pillar, as you can see, is the altar, also made of stone and identified by being raised from the ground above the general flooring of the Complex. Upon the altar is also an incense burner to keep incense separate from things on the stone that might extinguish it, like libations or foods.

The first step is to find ground that is suitable. You want it to be as level as possible, otherwise the bricks you lay are all going to be crooked and it will drive you insane. You can also make the ground more level yourself by moving or adding soil. Making the ground proper and ready is a very crucial part, because ones those heavy bricks and stones are laid down, it's going to be very hard, if not impossible, to do anything about it unless you tear up the entire Complex and start over. So it is dire that you make sure the ground is good.

Step two is placing the flooring, which in mine is made of flat brick. The flooring is important because it's going to give the interior balance and stability. You notice that, for example, if you walk outside and just put a pillar on the bare ground, it's going to lean or fall over. Strong flooring helps against this. The brick used for the flooring also forms the altar on the far end toward the entrance by simply stacking themselves a few feet off the ground. The tree in the picture is encased by a wall of very simple red bricks, which are simply laid down and pressed into the soil where possible, all the way around the tree, pillar and altar, leaving a front entrance. Finally, gravel or stones fill the entire interior where the ground would still be visible. All together, the project took me an afternoon, and a cost of only about $60, since the only thing I had to buy was a stone pillar which I purchased at a local craft store, and the decorative flowers which were bought at a department store. Here's the best part, everything else was found around my home. By simply doing some scavenging, I found all the bricks and stones I needed. If you own your own house and land, there are probably more things lying around the yard and basement than you think, especially if you have just purchased the property.

On an ending note, when building an outside shrine, sanctuary or temple, if you can do so near a natural spring or natural water source, that would be the icing on the cake. Many temples and sanctuaries in ancient times followed the same custom, as the natural water can be used for purification of the sanctuary and the people entering it, and even as offerings to the Gods. If you've ever been to Circle Sanctuary in Wisconsin and looked at the springs of Brighid, those are natural springs.

In the Goodness of the Gods,

Chris Aldridge.

If You Want A Temple, There's Always A Way

Pagans and Polytheists today can find themselves in a dilemma. However, it's not just our community. Millions of Americans live in apartments or other rental properties with limited space, and no yard of their own if any. In my life, I was fortunate enough to have rented a house at one time with just enough outdoor space for a physical sanctuary and an extra room in the home big enough for an official temple space. Local worshipers actually came to it and, once my religious organization was officially incorporated into the State, I became the founder of Thomasville's first Greek Polytheistic temple, but even then, I couldn't really build anything of significance that was independent of the established property itself because I didn't actually own the land. So if I had wanted to build a small Greek temple in the backyard for more official worship, I wouldn't have been allowed to do it unless I wanted to tear it down when I moved, which I would not have been comfortable doing. 

Fortunately, though, there's more than one way to get what you want out of life. There's always a way to work with what you have at present. If you live in an apartment with an extra room, the obvious course would be to convert it into a temple space. I did this myself once before when I lived in my townhouse in Greensboro, North Carolina. I actually quite enjoyed it as a temple. But one option you may not have thought of might just reside in the downstairs of your apartment building itself. Some places come with a storage unit, some of which I have seen are very nice. I've had them in the past with my own rentals, and they can be spacious, private and secure enough for a temporary temple. I'm not talking about the units you rent from a self-storage company, I am referring to the compartments that come with an apartment and are found in the lower level. I know you have stuff down there, but let's be honest, do you really need that junk? Probably not, so sell it, give it away, or trash it, and convert the space into your temple. You'll enjoy it more than you think. It may indeed be in the basement and partially underground, but in ancient times, caves and inner dwellings were thought to be sacred to the Gods and were used for religious purposes. 

You can also create a temple out of something as simple as a walk-in closet, or a closet with enough space. When I lived in my first apartment in High Point, North Carolina, we had a walk-in closet that would have been perfect. The shelves on either side could have held statues, treasures and relics of the Gods and Heroes, and the far end could have been the home of a magnificent altar. Closed off from the rest of the home by a simple locked door, it would have been a unique space all its own. With that in mind, you might ask, "Where am I going to put my clothes?" You can actually buy a portable closet organizer from somewhere like Walmart for $25. Or you can purchase dressers or an actual wardrobe cabinet. Then you'll have your temple space available.

If you live in an apartment with a balcony, no matter how small, leave the screen door open (the inside door can be shut to close off the area) and build a proper cover over your part of the platform, or you can simply set up an altar on the balcony and use it as an open air temple. The only downside with this is that you may not want to leave things of high value unattended due to the threat of thieves. Even if your balcony is high off the ground, there's still the potential threat of severe weather that could destroy things. Nevertheless, the basic structure is what matters.

Remember, a temple doesn't have to be the grand size of things like the Parthenon. We only think so because we're so used to equating them with the term. But the actual definition of a temple is simply "a place dedicated to the service or worship of Gods." I've seen people make temple spaces out of simple pantries or similar structures. A shrine could also technically fit into this definition, but a temple is significantly larger and more elaborate. A shrine can be as simple as a dresser top with the proper materials and tools, but that's not a temple. A temple allows for more expression, and is a home of the God or Gods that it represents. It is more of a housed area of holiness and even refuge. 

May the Gods give you the creativity to find your bliss in life.

Chris.