Historically humans have demonstrated a persistent attraction to the "unknown", that
which they cannot understand or attribute to natural causes. This view led to the “birth”
of supernatural entities to which are attributed not only natural phenomena but
everything one lacks or enjoys in comparison with others. Concequently, in the Ancient
Greek consciousness, the lightning was not due to the collision of the clouds, but to
Jupiter. The plague that wiped out a multitude of Achaeans in Phrygia resides in the
wrath of Apollo. In the context of explaining a phenomenon, a boon or an unfortunate
event, therefore, man invents the concept of “god” (etym. probably from v. θέω or
τίθημι, according to Babiniotis). The existence of deities is evident in cult traditions that
predate, by far, even ancient Greek. Sometimes beneficial, in a sense such, as the gods
of Olympus and sometimes “dark” and eerie like Lamia. The veneration of the divine—
often oscillating between profound reverence and an existential sense of horror—
emerges as a direct corollary of the human fascination with the indeterminate. This
ontological tension is rooted in the perceived disparity between mortal limitations and
the absolute nature of the gods, who are viewed as possessing an inexhaustible
abundance of both material goods and moral virtues. Consequently, the gods are not
merely objects of admiration but serve as transcendent benchmarks of an excellence
that, while aesthetically and ethically alluring, remains inherently inaccessible and
potentially threatening to the human condition. Since we are referring to the term
“morality” it is necessary, before delving into our subject, to clarify the correlation of
the concept with the religious system in question.
In the multitude of views expressed on the relationship between religion and ethics, I
single out as the most lucid account that of Lloyd-Jones, according to whom the
understanding of the morals of a culture must be sought within the religious framework
from which they derive. Anyone who questions the religiosity of the ancient Greek
polytheistic system because its mechanisms do not resemble those of other monotheistic
religions, such as Christianity, is far from approaching what is at stake.1 The existence
of divine intervention could not be absent from the works of Ancient Greek Literature,
especially Drama. The aim of this paper is to examine the ways and patterns through
which respect for the divine is manifested in three specific tragedies: Hippolytus,
Iphigenia in Aulis and Bacchae of Euripides, as well as the similarities and differences
among the plays in terms of how this respect is highlighted.
