These divinities, moreover, were not manifestations of supreme power and intelligence, but were creations of the fancy, as they came from popular legends, or the brains of poets, or the hands of artists, or the speculations of philosophers.  And as everything in Greece was beautiful and radiant,—­the sea, the sky, the mountains, and the valleys,—­so was religion cheerful, seen in all the festivals which took the place of the Sabbaths and holy-days of more spiritually minded peoples.  The worshippers of the gods danced and played and sported to the sounds of musical instruments, and revelled in joyous libations, in feasts and imposing processions,—­in whatever would amuse the mind or intoxicate the senses.  The gods were rather unseen companions in pleasures, in sports, in athletic contests and warlike enterprises, than beings to be adored for moral excellence or supernal knowledge.  “Heaven was so near at hand that their own heroes climbed to it and became demigods.”  Every grove, every fountain, every river, every beautiful spot, had its presiding deity; while every wonder of Nature,—­the sun, the moon, the stars, the tempest, the thunder, the lightning,—­was impersonated as an awful power for good or evil.  To them temples were erected, within which were their shrines and images in human shape, glistening with gold and gems, and wrought in every form of grace or strength or beauty, and by artists of marvellous excellence.

This polytheism of Greece was exceedingly complicated, but was not so degrading as that of Egypt, since the gods were not represented by the forms of hideous animals, and the worship of them was not attended by revolting ceremonies; and yet it was divested of all spiritual aspirations, and had but little effect on personal struggles for truth or holiness.  It was human and worldly, not lofty nor even reverential, except among the few who had deep religious wants.  One of its characteristic features was the acknowledged impotence of the gods to secure future happiness.  In fact, the future was generally ignored, and even immortality was but a dream of philosophers.  Men lived not in view of future rewards and punishments, or future existence at all, but for the enjoyment of the present; and the gods themselves set the example of an immoral life.  Even Zeus, “the Father of gods and men,” to whom absolute supremacy was ascribed, the work of creation, and all majesty and serenity, took but little interest in human affairs, and lived on Olympian heights like a sovereign surrounded with the instruments of his will, freely indulging in those pleasures which all lofty moral codes have forbidden, and taking part in the quarrels, jealousies, and enmities of his divine associates.