By Dawn Raffel
While traveling in Italy, I visited several sacred sites—some of them archeological ruins and others active places of worship. In Paestum, south of Naples, three massive Greek temples built some 500 years BC stand largely intact; the goddesses Hera and Athena were worshipped here. A few hours north is Pompeii, an ancient city whose life was extinguished almost instantaneously when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, burying everything under lethal ash while at the same time preserving buildings, their contents, and even some bodies for thousands of years. Every day, throngs of tourists make their way through what’s left of what were once remarkably sophisticated homes and public places. Here, too, one finds temples erected for the worship of Greek and Roman gods who, unlike their ancient counterparts in the Hindu and Jewish religions, are now “extinct.”
Standing amid the remains of Pompeii's temple of Apollo—the god of music, song, dance, and poetry—I overheard a tour guide explain to her group that these pagan gods often behaved in ways that were reprehensible, and that worship of them was extremely transactional. (And yet, I thought, don't many people continue to pray in a transactional manner, requesting a particular worldly outcome, bargaining with God?)
