Abstract
There are several reasons for choosing Herodotus as the starting point for examining the tensions between the general and the particular in the study of ancient Greek religion : 1) the abundance of material he offers on religion ; 2) the specific posture of the investigator with regard to this material compared to the poets who preceded him ; 3) the representation of Greek religion that is revealed in the descriptions of foreign customs ; 4) the recourse to the notion of " Greek gods " in a whole series of episodes of the Median Wars.
It is the notion of nomos (" custom ", " tradition ") that is first explored in order to understand its scope in Herodotus' usage, particularly in relation to the debates of his time on the opposition between nomos and phusis. The latter is understood not as " nature " (a category not yet constituted at the time), but as the complexion of that which grows and develops independently of human initiative. The nomoi are therefore sets of behaviours and uses as varied as the peoples who bear them, and among these uses are relationships with the superhuman sphere, some examples of which are analysed from the first books of theEnquête.
