The ancient Greek philosophers lived during a period when religious traditions, centered on polytheistic gods, were considered absolute and beyond challenge.
Divine power was omnipresent in the cultural context of ancient Greece. The Greeks believed that the gods were not only present in every human activity but also intervened at their whim. Furthermore, it was considered hubris to deny their existence.
Greek philosophy emerged in societies that believed in myth and multiple gods. The two poets who shaped beliefs about gods, heroes, and the divine aid heroes received to accomplish their feats were Homer and Hesiod. These 8th-century BC poets built the theological foundation on which the polytheistic religion of ancient Greece was established.
Hesiod wrote Theogony, a cosmological work describing the origins and genealogy of the gods. In Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the main characters are heroes and mortals, but the gods are omnipresent and influence the outcome of the heroes’ adventures. These stories reflect the religious beliefs prevalent in ancient Greek society, which the ancient Greek philosophers later engaged with, debated, and interpreted in their own philosophical works.
The first Pre-Socratic thinkers appeared in the 6th century BC. Later came Plato and Aristotle, followed by Hellenistic philosophical schools such as the Stoics and Epicureans. Gradually, the ancient Greek philosophers developed a new attitude toward religious beliefs, balancing reverence with natural explanations and moving between metaphorical interpretation and skepticism.
It was this skepticism that got Socrates in trouble with the authorities, leading to a trial for failing to recognize the state gods and ultimately costing him his life for the “crime of impiety.”
The ancient Greek philosophers the Pre-Socratics and their religious views on the cosmos
Some historians refer to the earliest Greek thinkers as the Pre-Socratics. These ancient Greek philosophers explored the cosmos using rational methods while engaging with the religious beliefs of their time. Thales and Anaximander of Miletus, Pythagoras of Samos, Heraclitus of Ephesus, Democritus of Thrace, and others attempted to explain the cosmos without relying solely on mythology. They examined the natural world, trying to explain its order and the causes of natural phenomena. Yet their cosmologies were not devoid of religious references.
Thales of Miletus, considered by most to be the first philosopher, is reported by Aristotle to have held that “all things are full of gods” (De Anima 411a7). He believed that divinity pervades the natural world and applied rational thinking to explain natural phenomena. It is reported that Thales predicted a solar eclipse in 585 BC.
The philosophy of Heraclitus of Ephesus was explicitly religious; he introduced the concept of Logos (Reason, in Greek), a universal principle identified with divinity through which all things are interrelated and all natural events occur. “The one, the only wise thing, does and does not consent to be called Zeus” (fragment 32, DK). For Heraclitus, religion is a philosophical concept: the gods symbolize an underlying rational order, and piety lies in understanding this universal Logos.
Pythagoras is best known for the Pythagorean Theorem in geometry, but as a philosopher, he held deep religious beliefs. He believed in reincarnation: that upon death, humans are reborn into a new body. This cycle of birth, death, and rebirth continues until the soul achieves purification and enlightenment.
Xenophanes of Colophon is known for his opposing view of anthropomorphic religion. He said, “Homer and Hesiod have ascribed to the gods all things that are shameful and disgraceful among men: theft, adultery, and mutual deception” (Fragment 11, DK). Instead, he posited a single, omnipotent god: “One god is greatest among gods and men, not at all like mortals in body or in thought” (Fragment 23, DK). This represents a rational monotheism, as opposed to traditional cults, yet still affirming the divine.
Socrates’ conception of religiosity
Socrates, who is considered the father of philosophy, had a unique, if not radical, conception of religion. He was considered an atheist by some for not participating in the Athenian religious rituals of processions and sacrifices, and was eventually condemned for “not believing in the gods of the city” (Apology 24c). However, his apology reveals a profound religiosity.
Socrates said that he was guided by an inner divinity, a daimonion, that gave him advice and directed his actions: “This began for me in childhood—a certain voice that comes, and whenever it comes, it always turns me away from what I am about to do, but never directs me to do anything” (Apology 31d). This intimate religious experience of divine guidance suggests that Socrates, like other ancient Greek philosophers, held genuine religious beliefs.
The philosopher was a pious man, deeply faithful to Apollo’s oracle at Delphi. When the oracle proclaimed that Socrates was the wisest person, he took it as a mission to examine life and seek divine truth. “The unexamined life is not worth living,” he declared (Apology 38a). For Socrates, philosophy itself was a spiritual practice, a service to divine reason.
In Apology (23a–b), Socrates says that he only trusts and obeys his god, because “the god is wise and…human wisdom is worth little or nothing.” In response to accusations of impiety by the Athenian authorities, he bravely replies, “I will obey the god rather than you” (Apology 29b).
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato continues Socrates’ religious and philosophical thought
As a disciple of Socrates, Plato deepened the connection between philosophy and religious belief. Like his mentor, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato believed that truth could only be obtained through rigorous questioning and examination. For him, the pursuit of truth was inseparable from a longing for the divine.
Plato’s philosophy centers on the Theory of Forms, the essence of things and ideas, with the Form of the Good as the highest principle that humans should follow, as it is the ultimate source of all goodness.
In the Republic, he portrays the ultimate object of philosophical contemplation as the Good, a transcendent reality beyond being: “The Good…is the cause of all that is right and beautiful” (509b). Here, the ancient Greek philosopher’s principle recalls religious language, with the Good functioning as a divine principle akin to God.
Plato also proposed a religious dimension to the soul’s destiny. In the Phaedo dialogue, in which Socrates discusses the immortality of the soul and the nature of the afterlife with his friends, he asserts that the philosopher prepares for death, for “those who practice philosophy in the right way are in training for dying” (67e). The soul, Plato argues, is immortal, and its purification leads to union with the divine.
For Plato, the soul has three parts—reason, spirit, and appetite—and they correspond to three virtues: Wisdom, Courage, and Moderation. The virtue of Justice is the bond that unites the other virtues, by which each part of the soul is confined to the performance of its proper function.
In his Socratic dialogue Symposium, we see Plato embracing mysticism. This occurs in the final stage of the philosopher’s ascent, when he reaches philosophical truth, which resembles the intense revelation at the climax of a mystery ritual. Here, Plato directly references the Eleusinian Mysteries through a dialogue between Socrates and a seer named Diotima.
While explaining her philosophy of love, Diotima uses the words “telea” when referring to the Eleusinian rites and “epoptika,” which is the ultimate revelation or “beholding” at the final stage of initiation. Thus, Plato’s religiosity is philosophical mysticism: the divine is approached through dialectic, contemplation, and moral purification.
Aristotle and the abstract deity
Aristotle was a rationalist, claiming that all our knowledge has its origins in perception, and he attached great importance to the detailed observation of relevant facts in a given subject.
The ancient Greek philosopher did not believe in the traditional gods worshiped during his time. His conception of the divine is very well expressed in Metaphysics XII. In it, he describes this principle as pure actuality, eternal, immaterial, and the cause of motion in the cosmos—the Unmoved Mover or Prime Mover—but it moves in a non-physical way:
“On such a principle, then, depend the heavens and the world of nature. And its life is such as the best which we enjoy, and enjoy for but a short time; for it is always in that state… it is a living being, eternal, most good” (Metaphysics 1072b).
Aristotle’s God is the object of desire and thought, engaging in eternal self-contemplation. Unlike the human-like gods of Homer, Aristotle’s deity is outside of this world; he is the final cause of all motion and development in nature, abstract and impersonal. Yet, Aristotle sees contemplation (“theoria) as the highest human activity because it imitates the divine. In the Nicomachean Ethics, he writes: “Such a life will be superior to man’s nature, for it is not in so far as he is man that he will live so, but in so far as something divine is present in him” (1177b).
Aristotle’s Unmoved Mover is a being perfectly beautiful, indivisible, and contemplating only the perfect contemplation: self-contemplation. Thus, Aristotle’s religious ideas, like those of other ancient Greek philosophers, lie in aligning human life with divine intellect through rational contemplation. In Metaphysics, he says, “There must be an immortal, unchanging being, ultimately responsible for all wholeness and orderliness in the sensible world.”
The Hellenistic philosophers and their religious ideas
Following Aristotle, the major schools of Hellenistic philosophy appeared, the main ones being Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Skepticism. All of these developed distinct attitudes toward religion, reflecting the pluralism of ancient Greek philosophers’ religious thought.
The Stoics: The Stoics were deeply religious, as several texts acknowledge the nature of Stoicism. Several ideas expressed by Stoics are similar to Aristotle’s conception of humans living to the highest level within nature.
Like the great ancient Greek philosophers, they identified God with the rational order of the cosmos, often referring to it as Logos or Zeus. Cleanthes, in his Hymn to Zeus, writes: “Most glorious of the immortals, many-named, almighty forever, Zeus, ruler of nature, guiding all things with law.” For the Stoics, to live in accordance with nature was to live piously, since nature itself was divine.
Epictetus believed in God and the divine and that individuals should focus on living out their human purpose rather than following traditional religious practices. At old age, he stated, “What else can I do, a lame old man, but sing hymns to God?”
The Epicureans: The Epicureans were skeptics, yet they didn’t deny the existence of god. Epicurus argued that god is a blissful and indifferent being and is not concerned with human affairs: “The blessed and indestructible being has no trouble himself and brings no trouble upon any other being” (Letter to Menoeceus 123). For Epicurus, true piety meant freeing oneself from superstition and fear of divine punishment.
Epicurus is known for the Epicurean paradox. He states that god is simultaneously omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent. However, Epicurus argues: if god knows all, is all-powerful, and good, why doesn’t he rid the world of evil? If he knows about evil but is not able to destroy it, then he is not omnipotent. If he is good and omnipotent but has limited knowledge of evil, then he doesn’t know everything.
For Epicureans, the fear of gods was a source of human suffering, and their philosophy offered a way to achieve inner peace by understanding that the gods did not control human fate.
The Skeptics: While Socrates was a skeptic, later ancient Greek philosophers like Pyrrho and Sextus Empiricus are considered the founders of the Skepticism school, also known as Pyrrhonism. Sextus Empiricus suggested that Skeptics follow traditional religious practices not out of conviction but out of custom: “We follow the way of life which is in accordance with the customs and laws of our country” (Outlines of Pyrrhonism I.24).
Skeptics rejected dogma and the notion of absolute truth. The core concepts of ancient skepticism are belief, suspension of judgment, criterion of truth, appearances, and investigation. Their goal was a state of complete tranquility of the soul that results from a suspension of judgment—a mental rest in which we neither deny nor affirm anything.
“To find the maker and father of this universe is difficult”
The relationship of ancient Greek philosophers with religion and the divine was diverse. Yet the quest for understanding the cosmos was common, though pursued in different ways. As Plato observes, “To find the maker and father of this universe is difficult, and after finding him, it is impossible to declare him to all men” (Timaeus 28c).
The definitions of ultimate truth, divinity, and piety varied, but what they shared was the philosophical quest: the never-ending search for the relationship between humans and the divine—the mystery which the inquiring mind will never cease to try to decipher.
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