When Did the Greek Gods ‘Stop Interacting’ With Humans?

Greek mythology is absolutely filled with interactions between the gods and humans. The gods regularly intervened in human affairs. They got involved in battles, spoke to people, and even had children with humans. Obviously, real Greek history was quite different from Greek mythology. Did the ancient Greeks notice the difference between the way the gods acted with humanity in their mythology and their apparent absence in real life, and, if so, when did they believe that the Greek gods stopped interacting with humans?

Greek history not the end of Greek mythology

In reality, the era of well-documented Greek history was not the end of Greek mythology. In fact, mythological events and people continued to appear through much of classical antiquity. Herodotus and Ctesias, for example, both described various fantastical peoples that properly belong to mythology.

In line with this, the truth is that the gods themselves were still allegedly interacting with humans long after the traditional era of Greek mythology. For example, Arion was a contemporary of Periander, a tyrant of Corinth who lived in the late-seventh, early-sixth century BCE. According to legend, Arion was the son of Poseidon and a nymph called Oncaea.

This is just one example, but there are many others. Theagenes, an older contemporary of Herodotus, was allegedly the son of Heracles—this being long after Heracles had became divine and gone up to the realm of the gods.

Gods interacting with humans in warfare

Claiming divine parentage could easily be dismissed as due to a desire for prestige. However, what is far more significant are the records which speak of the gods actually interacting with humans during important events.

For example, consider the famous Battle of Marathon. This battle took place in 490 BCE. It was part of the first Persian invasion of Greece. The second invasion involved the Battle of Thermopylae in which a small body of Greek troops famously held back a phenomenally large army of Persians in 480 BCE.

The Battle of Marathon was a momentous event in Greek history. The Greeks successfully managed to defeat the mighty Persians. If this had occurred during the normal age of mythology, no doubt the Greek gods would have been described as participating in the event, as they had done during the Trojan War.

Yet, as it happens, the Greek gods were described as interacting with humans at this battle despite its late date in history. According to Herodotus, the god Pan appeared to Pheidippides, a messenger sent from Athens to Sparta. This god then went on to fight on behalf of the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon.

On the Stoa Poikile, a monument erected in 460 BCE to commemorate the victory, a number of gods are shown participating in the battle and fighting with the Greeks.

Why the Greek gods stopped interacting with humans so much

From these few examples, it is clear that the ancient Greeks continued to believe that the Greek gods were interacting with humans well into the historical era. There was no obvious moment in which the gods withdrew to Mount Olympus, so to speak. They continued begetting children and participating in at least some critical wars.

Yet, it is also clear that this involvement in human affairs was nothing like it had been in the age of mythology. In that era, the Greek gods regularly interacted with humans, appearing to them and speaking to them. While they had not completely withdrawn, there was definitely a difference. What would explain this?

It appears that the answer can be perceived from Hesiod’s famous Ages of Man. Writing in the seventh century BCE, Hesiod gave an overview of the course of human history.

The absence of the gods in the Iron Age

According to Hesiod, the core era of Greek mythology was the Heroic Age. This was the era in which famous heroes such as Heracles and Theseus had lived. It was also the era of the Trojan War. Hesiod himself, on the other hand, was living in the subsequent age. Hesiod called this the Iron Age.

In his famous poem Works and Days, Hesiod described the troubles afflicting the Iron Age. He mentions that the gods “lay sore trouble upon them,” that is, upon this race of humans. This indicates that the Greek view was that the gods were less favorable towards them than they had previously been.

Perhaps by way of an explanation, Hesiod said a few lines later that this race of humans does “not know the fear of the gods.” This provides a suitable explanation as to why the Greek gods no longer interacted much with humans.

Near the end of his description of the Iron Age, Hesiod wrote:

“And then Aidos and Nemesis…will go from the wide-pathed earth and forsake mankind to join the company of the deathless gods: and bitter sorrows will be left for mortal men, and there will be no help against evil.”

In other words, Aidos and Nemesis would be the final gods to leave mankind and live among the other gods. Mankind was utterly left without “help against evil.” Evidently, most of the other gods were viewed as already having abandoned mankind. Based on the context, it seems clear that this was supposedly because of the wickedness of the time period.