Abstract
To speak of norms and authority in religious matters implies a broader consideration of the place of what we call " religion " in Greek society, beyond the generalities that emphasize its embeddedness in all areas of ancient existence, albeit with good reason, but sometimes in a rather mechanical way. And yet, in the grand narrative that makes Greece the crucible of our own civilization, religion has no place, except as a repellent to the Greek-style " Enlightenment ". - After a brief evocation of the approach to polytheisms in terms of " primitive " religions between the 19th and 21st centuries, this lecture explores the historiography of the " secularization " that archaic and classical Greece is said to have undergone, with works by Jean-Pierre Vernant on Les Origines de la pensée grecque (1962), Marcel Detienne on Les Maîtres de vérité en Grèce ancienne (1967) and Geoffrey Lloyd on Magie, Raison et Expérience : origines et développement de la science grecque (1990, or. angl. 1979).
