Hellenic Paganism

Hellenic Paganism, as of Holy Fury (Patch 3.0), can now be revived as a religion.

Hellenic Paganism, also known as Hellenism, is any of the various systems of beliefs and practices of the people who lived under the influence of ancient Greek culture during the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire (c. 300 BC to 300 AD). There was much continuity in Hellenistic religion: the Greek gods continued to be worshiped, and the same rites were practiced as before.

Basics

The Hellenistic historical religion is a polytheistic, with a pantheon of twelve major gods, the Olympians, who were Zeus/Jupiter, Hera/Juno, Poseidon/Neptune, Demeter/Ceres, Ares/Mars, Hermes/Mercury, Apollo, Artemis/Diana, Aphrodite/Venus, Hephaestus/Vulcan, Athena/Minerva and either Hestia/Vesta or Dionysus/Bacchus. It originated in ancient Greece and with the conquests of Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire, it would go on to become the dominant religion in the Mediterranean world until the rise of the Abrahamic religions, especially Christianity. In game, however, Hades/Pluto is included as an Olympian in Hera/Juno's place, although he wasn't considered one in real life.

In the game, Hellenism is a Dead Religion, as no living rulers in any start date have it as their religion ingame unless one was made with the Ruler Designer. However, since Patch 3.0 made it playable, there are a few ways to revive it:

How to revive Hellenism?

• Either find one of the few characters that have it as their religion, either a few generated courtiers from Monemvasia in start date 769, or from Incitatus, the immortal horse rival.

OR

• Restore the Roman Empire as a Christian Emperor with Greek, Italian, or Roman culture, which unlocks an opportunity to restore it.

OR

• Use the Delve into the Classics and pick to study Hellenic Religion.

Defining features in-game:

Head - None (Dead Religion, no rulers have it as a religion in game)

Holy sites - Syrakusa, Thessalonica, Athens, Rome, Alexandria

Features

• Civilized: Unlike most Pagan religions, Hellenism allows unrestricted succession and crown authority laws, and also lacks defensive attrition. However, they cannot demand religious conversions without Reforming.
• Hellenic Rulers can use the County Conquest Casus Belli, but they cannot declare Holy Wars nor subjugate other Pagans.
• Priests of Hellenism cannot marry and cannot inherit.
• Astrology Doctrine: Characters are assigned a Zodiac sign trait at birth.
• Can built temples dedicated to the Olympians, each providing different bonuses
• Can use the divination services of a Haruspex to raise army morale.

External Links

• Hellenic Paganism