The works of the outstanding researcher of ancient civilization Martin Nilsson (1874–1967) have never before been published in Russian. In this small and quite popularly written work, the author sets out his view of ancient Greek religion, the basis of which he sees in agricultural cults. Telling about the holidays and rituals, beliefs and superstitions of the ancient Greeks, Martin Nilsson draws interesting parallels between them and the folk customs and folklore of Northern Europe. The publication is accompanied by rare illustrations and the author's alphabetical index.

Table of Contents:I. Rural areas [5—30]Directions of research on Greek religion; the meaning of folk religion; agriculture and cattle breeding as the basis of life for the Greeks in ancient times; Zeus as lord of the weather; weather magic; human sacrifices to Zeus of Lycia and Zeus Laphistius; prayers for rain; stone mounds and their god Hermes; mounds as graves - Hermes Psychopomp; herms; shepherd gods - Pan; rivers and river deities depicted as a bull or horse; Poseidon - god of water and earthquakes; centaurs; strong and satyrs; nymphs; Artemis is the main nymph; Nereids in the beliefs of modern Greeks; sacred landscape; heroes; sometimes the heroes act as ghosts; the cult of heroes is associated with their graves and remains; transfer of remains; heroes help in everything, but especially in battles; the similarity of the cult of heroes with the cult of saints; the great gods are not so important for rural cults; the great gods disappeared, but rural beliefs remained.II. Rural customs and holidays [31-57]Greece was originally (and partly still is) a country of peasants, who adhere to ancient customs; Greek lifestyle, the importance of agriculture for holidays; natural calendar; Demeter, the Corn-Mother, and her festivals; the holiday of autumn sowing - Thesmophoria; harvest festivals - Falicia and Kalamaia; holiday before the start of the harvest - Fargelia and farmak; first fruits and their meaning; bucoliasts; panspermia and kernos; growing olive trees; fruit harvest festival - Galoi; holiday of flowers; Anthesteria - blessing of new wine and Athens All Souls' Day; grape harvest holidays; Dionysus and wine; phallus; May branch - Iresion; boys carrying swallows; other varieties of the May branch are thyrsus and crown; sustainability of rural customs.III. Eleusinian religion [58-88]The Eleusinian cult as the highest expression of Greek folk religion; poverty information about the rites of the Mysteries; unreliability of information reported by Christian authors; modern interpretations regarding sexual symbols; our knowledge of deities and myths; Mycenaean origin of the Eleusinian cult; two triads - Demeter, Kore and Triptolemus and "God" (Pluto), "Goddess" (Persephone) and Eubouleus; images in works of art; "Homeric Hymn to Demeter" the legend of Eubouleus and the sacrifice of pigs; the etiological character of the “Homeric Hymn” in relation to the preliminary rites; the abduction of Cora correlates with the placement of grain in underground cellars during threshing; Pluto is the god of wealth (grain reserves); extraction of grain during autumn sowing - the ascent of the Kora; Pluto as the god of the underworld - funeral vessels; the Greek Virgin of the Corn and the pre-Greek queen of the underworld; the germination of new crops is the second ascension of the Kora; the reunion of Mother and Daughter during the autumn sowing is the essence of the mysteries; spikelet of grain; Triptolemus as a hero of agriculture and civilized life; Eleusinian ideas about peace and piety; bliss in the underworld as the eternal fulfillment of mysteries; the germination of a new ear is a symbol of eternal life, carried out in succession of generations; monuments indicating that in the fourth century BC personal self-awareness was already manifesting itself; addition of Dionysian elements.IV. Home and Family [89-114]Fear of wild nature; Greek house (megaron) and its courtyard; Zeus Herkeios, Zeus Kataibat and Zeus Ctesias; Dioscuri in domestic cult; Zeus Meilichius and Zeus Soter; Zeus is the “father” (pater familias), protector of the home; snake - guardian of the house; the hearth and its holiness; rituals at the hearth; the sanctity of the meal; animal sacrifice; Hestia; community center; mixing sacred and secular in everyday life; the hearth has its own special holiness; Zeus, as the patron of the persecuted and foreigners, serves as the guarantor of the unwritten law; averters of evil and witchcraft - Hercules, Apollo Aguieus, Hecate; social aspect of ancient Greek religion; lack of professional priests; some cults are the property of certain families; democratization of family cult.V. Cities. Panegyrea [114-138]Urbanization of Greek life - crafts and trade; rule of tyrants; Athenian state religion; the secularization of religion and the rise of great gods; crafts; gods of potters; Athena and the decline of her popularity among the common people; Hephaestus; human need for deity close and accessible; borrowing foreign gods; Hecate, goddess of witchcraft; ghosts; Great Mother; Amon, Kabiri, Bendida, Cotito, Sabasius; rise of the cult of Asclepius; trials on charges of irreligion; the people turn away from their traditional gods; the popularity of mystical and orgiastic cults; religion of women; cult of Adonis; eulogies; great games; Amphictyony and truce; trade fairs; panegyria in modern Greece; the significance of panegyria for social life and “international” relations in Ancient Greece.VI. Legalism and superstition. Hell [139-164]Religious movements of the early period; mystical and ecstatic forms of religion; union with the god Dionysus: legalism and the desire to fulfill all divine instructions; mystics; laws of religious life and human behavior, according to Hesiod; Pythagorean maxims; "Days"; calendar adjustments; legalism is relegated to cult only through Delphi; The Seven Wise Men and Apollonian Piety; justice; equal rights; "hybris" and "nemesis"; "bascania" gods in general; superstition and the meaning of the word “deisidaimonia”; "deisidaimon" in Theophrastus; Hecate - goddess of witchcraft; Hippocrates' treatise “on the sacred disease”; ghost stories; Plato on Witchcraft; curse tablets dating back to the 4th century. BC; general concept of the underworld; punishment in the other world is an Orphic idea; one who has not purified himself during life will “lie in the mud”; the requirement of moral purity is supplemented; mythological sinners; the idea of punishment in the afterlife is based on the idea of fair retribution; hell in Aristophanes; spreading fear of punishment in the afterlife.VII. Seers and oracles [165-190]Religious situation in the 5th and 4th centuries. BC; faith is shaken, but not collapsed; religious hysteria and trials of atheists; the connection between ancient Greek religion and political life; states and individuals seek the advice of an oracle; the art of predicting the future is part of Greek religion; everyday questions with which people went to the oracle; the role of forecasters during war; popularity of seers; traders of prophecies and their influence on public opinion; prophecy meetings; political significance of oracles; "Sibylline Books"; Thucydides on oracles; the role of prophecies in preparing the expedition to Sicily; prophecies in Aristophanes; some seers were influential politicians; seers as protectors ancient religion; Diopif - initiator of the prosecution of atheists; the conflict between traditional interpretations of certain phenomena and the explanations of natural philosophers; in the minds of the people, sophists are confused with natural philosophers; the conflict between faith and unbelief unfolds not in theoretical discussions, but in practical life.