There are many general syntheses of ancient Greek religion, including Ogden's A Companion to Greek Religion (2007) about a decade ago. But scholarship is a fast changing discipline, and the present volume is a welcome addition that sets out ‘to offer both students and teachers of ancient Greek religion a comprehensive overview of the current state of the field’ (p. 1), from the Archaic period to the Hellenistic. Despite apparent overlaps with Ogden's Companion in themes and contents, this substantial volume, offering 43 chapters on a great range of topics, goes beyond existing handbooks in breadth and differs in focus, concentrating on historical problems and scholarly debates.

The introduction makes explicit that the handbook seeks to move beyond ‘previous paradigms’ to ‘a more broadly conceived conception of the religious in ancient Greek culture’ (p. 1). Critiques of the polis religion model associated with C. Sourvinou-Inwood are common to a number of contributions. Moving away from the polis-centred approach, various chapters explore other units of analysis both within and beyond the confines of the polis. M. Dillon (pp. 241–56) studies the category of ‘private religion’ within the oikos (on household religion, see also scholarship in R. Parker, On Greek Religion [2011], p. 247 n. 63), whereas C. Constantakopoulou (pp. 273–89) discusses regional religious networks of varying scales. In a fine analysis on ‘Religion in Communities’ (pp. 257–72), K. Vlassopoulos considers the range of communities within the polis (demes, tribes, phratries, private associations) and beyond (ethne). Like Constantakopoulou, he demonstrates that not only could religious communities give rise to cult practices, but cult practices could also give expression to new communities and allow members to negotiate their position within the group. Instead of the socio-functional approach, which saw ritual performance as a means of creating social cohesion and reinforcing communal identity, he argues that religion was an arena where social conflicts, disputes and contradictions were continually contested and negotiated (this is a variant of the anthropological debate on ‘rituals of reversal’ discussed in, e.g., H.S. Versnel, Transition and Reversal in Myth and Ritual [1993], pp. 115–21). What emerge from these discussions are the multiple-levels at which religious activities could take place other than the polis and the Panhellenic.

While demonstrating the range of ritual practices at various levels of Greek societies, the volume moves away from ritual as the core of the Greek religious complex. T. Harrison's chapter, ‘Belief vs. Practice’ (pp. 21–8), tackles the problem of the complexities of religious beliefs. Although the debate is now less controversial than it was a decade ago, and most scholars would now acknowledge that some fundamental levels of belief existed among the Greeks (e.g. H.S. Versnel, Coping with the Gods [2011]), there remains, compared to Roman religion, little literature on the topic which is available to students of Greek religion. Harrison revisits the old question of the relations between ritual and belief, and challenges the tendency to see belief as secondary or subservient to ritual. By going beyond the distinction between ‘high-intensity’ Christian usage and ‘low-intensity’ everyday usage of beliefs, he explores alternative definitions of belief and a plurality of beliefs. Cognitive studies to religion, considered as a fruitful approach by Harrison and other recent scholarship (J. Larson, Understanding Greek Religion [2016]), may merit further discussion as an approach that is relatively new to students of Greek religion.

Contrary to the tendency of early scholarship to focus on ritual practice, the gods are brought back to importance in many chapters in the present volume. Despite the ‘unknowability’ of the gods and the ‘indescribable’ nature of Greek polytheism,Footnote ¹ the chapter by V. Pirenne-Delforge and G. Pironti (pp. 39–47) explains succinctly various approaches to analysing the Greek gods and the complex working of the polytheistic system, including the limitations of analysing the gods separately as single ‘personalities’ and as interrelated powers within a larger pantheon. Developing from the structuralist approach, they propose conceptualising the gods as a ‘deity network’, that is, as a dynamic cluster of different powers, attributes and activities which may be activated depending on context. The gods again come to the fore in F. Naiden's chapter on ‘Sacrifice’ (pp. 463–76). Reiterating even more strongly the thesis in his recent book, he challenges W. Burkert's focus on slaughtering and guilt and J.-P. Vernant's and M. Detienne's emphasis on feasting and its social function, both of which in his view have undermined the fundamental place of the gods as the honorands and spectators of blood sacrifice. Though a rich and thought-provoking study, one would have liked a more balanced and nuanced view of the problem which sought to retain that which is valid in earlier scholarship. The most valuable section of his chapter is in fact his introductory remarks on the heterogeneous nature of sacrifice: blood and bloodless, food and liquid, Olympian and Chthonian, and the nuanced Greek sacrificial vocabulary. Other categories of the divine are also discussed in various chapters. G. Ekroth (pp. 383–96) reminds us that the distinction between heroes and theoi was fluid and far from watertight, and that their categorisation and denomination could vary depending on, inter alia, ancient worshippers’ perception of their stature. Making use of two illuminating case studies of Pelops at Olympia and Aleximachos at Amorgos, she demonstrates how perceptions of (even the same) Greek heroes could change over time, and to a greater degree than did perceptions of the gods.

Another evident shift in scholarly trends, as demonstrated by the last section of the volume, is the willingness to adopt a comparative perspective previously deemed inappropriate. In sharp contrast to some scholars’ earlier concern to distinguish Greek religion from other, especially Christian, forms of religion, various contributors look beyond Greece for interactions and influence between Greek and neighbouring cultures in Magna Graecia, the Black Sea, the Near East, Egypt, Bactria and India. The final chapter takes us as far as ancient China: L. Raphals’ comparison between Greek and Chinese divination is a novel undertaking (pp. 651–66), especially when existing comparisons between Greco-Roman and Chinese history have tended to concentrate on political and institutional aspects rather than the religious experience of worshippers (e.g. W. Scheidel, Rome and China: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires [2009]; W. Scheidel, State Power in Ancient China and Rome [2015]).

How far, then, have we moved away from the polis-centred approach? The polis still looms large in many aspects of Greek religion under discussion, especially those concerning organisation and control: it was the polis and its institutions which approved the introduction of new gods, defined what constituted ‘impiety’, recognised certain individuals as heroes and established cultic worship for kings. Although it has become almost trendy to denounce the polis model for privileging certain aspects of Greek religion and marginalising others, the fact remains that none of the other models proposed – be it personal religion, mesocosm or network – can sufficiently encompass the great variety and complexity of Greek religious activities that this volume has so admirably addressed. What is necessary is a multiplicity of perspectives that complement each other, one or more of which would have more potential depending on the context and aspect under analysis. Far from being a ‘previous paradigm’ superseded by new approaches, polis religion will no doubt remain central and indispensable.

Despite the great variety of topics covered in the volume, the central contentions of many chapters are remarkably coherent and consistent. What is emphasised almost unequivocally by most contributors is the rich diversity of Greek religious experience, the multiple levels on which it operated, the fluidity between different categories of the divine, the oscillation between conservatism and innovation, and the extraordinarily flexible, inclusive and open nature of Greek religion. The result is a dynamic picture of Greek religion which will no doubt fascinate students and scholars and stimulate further discussion.