This dictionary proposes to venture beyond the framework of "Greek religion" to explore the notions which the Greeks formulated within the framework of their uncertain relationship with the sacred. It formally acknowledges not only the absence of the word "religion" in Classical Greek vocabulary but also the Greek's sole certainty: mortals' lack of knowledge.
Greek paganism lies at the crossroads of two complementary attitudes – one mental and the other gestural. The Greeks were certain that they were immersed in ignorance of the sacred: there was no Revelation, no credo (according to monotheistic criteria). Yet to them, existence of the gods seemed evident. They thus dealt with their ignorance through a dual and impenetrable administration: one in which that of the sacred was absolutely inseparable from that of the city-state.
In leaving the sole path of "religion" for the broader one of paganism, readers will discover many uncharted facts: it was not the Greeks' participation in cults, nor their pilgrimages to the temples of mysteries which tended to their souls, but rather philosophy.
