Myth, cult and afterlife

Greek religion was practised through local cult, festival and sacrifice for well over a thousand years; the myths preserved in poetry and drama are one part of it, the civic and mystery cults another. The same god could be worshipped under many local titles and take a different character from city to city.

The tradition was later absorbed and renamed by Rome, and its gods became the common vocabulary of Western art and letters long after the temples closed. The entries note both the classical Greek figure and its Roman counterpart where the two were identified.