Greece and Rome

When it comes to religious matters, “ancient Greece did not escape the far-reaching but intense radiance of Babylonia,” notes Jean Bottéro. Professor Peter Green explains why belief in destiny was so popular in Greece: “In an uncertain world, where men were increasingly loath to be responsible for their own decisions, and indeed often felt themselves mere puppets, jerked from point to point by the requirements of a Fate as inscrutable as it was inflexible, divine oracular fiat [fate determined by the gods] was one way of having the future mapped out on the individual’s behalf. What was fixed by Fate could, given especial skills or insights, be predicted. It might not be what one wanted to hear; but forewarned at least was forearmed.”

In addition to reassuring individuals of the future, belief in fate also served more sinister purposes. The idea of fate helped to subdue the masses, and for that reason, according to historian F. H. Sandbach, “the belief that the world was entirely ruled by Providence would have an appeal to the ruling class of a ruling people.”

Why? Professor Green explains that this belief “was a built-in justification—moral, theological, semantic—for the social and political fixed order: it was the most powerful and subtle instrument of self-perpetuation that the Hellenistic ruling class ever conceived. The mere fact of anything happening meant that it had been fated to happen; and since nature was providentially disposed toward mankind, what was fated could not fail to be all for the best.” In reality, it provided “justification of ruthless self-interest.”

That fate was commonly accepted becomes evident from Greek literature. Among the ancient literary styles were the epic, the legend, and the tragedy—in which fate played a key part. In Greek mythology, man’s destiny was represented by three goddesses called the Moirai. Clotho was the spinner of the thread of life, Lachesis determined how long life was to be, and Atropos cut off life when the allocated time had expired.

The Romans and the Greeks were eager to know what their supposed destiny was to be. Thus, they borrowed astrology and divination from Babylon and developed them further.

By the third century B.C.E., astrology had become popular in Greece, and in 62 B.C.E., the earliest-known Greek horoscope appeared. So interested were the Greeks in astrology that according to Professor Gilbert Murray, astrology “fell upon the Hellenistic mind as a new disease falls upon some remote island people.”

In an attempt to know the future, the Greeks and the Romans used oracles or mediums widely. Through these the gods supposedly communicated with humans. (Compare Acts 16:16-19.) What was the effect of these beliefs? Philosopher Bertrand Russell said: “Fear took the place of hope; the purpose of life was rather to escape misfortune than to achieve any positive good.” Similar themes became the subject of controversy in Christendom.