ANTHROPOMORPHISM

The representation of God or gods under human form and with human attributes. In a broader sense it may be applied to the practice of assigning human characteristics or attributes to nonhuman beings or objects. It is a common phenomenon in primitive religion and has a practically worldwide distribution. The two forms of anthropomorphism are well illustrated by Greek and early Roman religion, respectively.

In Greek religion, the sky and earth are represented as gods, 'Oυρανός and Γαîα, and creation as a generation and a birth (cf. Hesiod, Theog. ). The Greeks always sought to get closer to their gods or to bring their gods closer to themselves. However, when Homer calls Zeus "father of gods and men," he does not mean necessarily that he considers the two races identical. The distinction is clear, e.g., in the Iliad 5.441–442, where Apollo in addressing Diomedes says: "since in no wise of the same kind is the race of immortal gods and that of men who walk upon the earth." Pindar uses almost identical language: "One is the race of men, one is the race of gods" (Nem. 6.1). Divine power is especially manifest in Apollo, but most of the other gods in Homer are almost too human to be gods in a strict sense. This "humanization" of the gods made man familiar with them. The Greek, accordingly, was without fear of his gods, and opposed to any magical conception of terror or restraint; he was able to study the nature and order of the world and to create science.

But "humanization" had other results also. In its extreme form, it set up a contrast between the gods fashioned in the image of man, with all their weaknesses and even their crimes, and the sublimity and omnipotence attributed to them by earlier faith. This contrast was exploited by the comic poets, and, in particular, by Aristophanes (Clouds, Birds, Frogs ), yet he remained strongly attached to traditional beliefs. The logic of anthropomorphism finally worked against religion. The philosophers repeatedly protested against such a gross anthropomorphic conception of the gods; e.g., Xenophon of Colophon in the 6th century, the philosopher and dramatist Euripides in the 5th, and Plato in the 4th century.

Animism, the second form of anthropomorphism, peopled all nature with numina (powers) or daemones (spirits). A formula, although one too brief perhaps, has been proposed for the religion of the Greeks, namely, that it was the resultant of a clash between two attitudes or outlooks: the dynamic animism of the Indo-Europeans, which might be defined as "anthropopsychic," and the "Aegean" and subsequent Hellenic demand for divine generating presences, which was anthropomorphism proper.

If this formula is applied to the Romans, it must be recognized that "anthropopsychism" lasted much longer among them than among the Greeks. In fact, it left marked traces of its vitality in the course of an evolution spread over 1,000 years and exercised an influence on the concept of the anthropomorphic gods themselves. The history of Vesta is a case in point. She was not given anthropomorphic form until late in Roman religion.

Anthropomorphism did not spare the basic cult of the Mother-Goddess and her male companion, whether husband or son. Even in the case of Mithras, who personified Heaven, and later the sun and light, personification signified the progress of anthropomorphism at the same time, for Mithras thus becomes an intermediary (μεσíτη) between man and the Supreme Being.

See Also: greek religion; roman religion.

Bibliography: f. b. jevons, j. hastings, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, 13 v. (Edinburgh 1908–27) 1:573–578. g. van der leeuw, "Anthropomorphismus, nichtchristlich," Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, ed. t. klauser [Stuttgart 1941 (1950)– ] 1:446–448. g. mensching, Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 7 v. (3d ed. Tübingen 1957–65) 1:424. k. prÜmm, Religionsgeschichtliches Handbuch für den Raum der altchristlichen Umwelt (2d ed. Rome 1954), esp. 42–46. c. bailey, "Roman Religion," The Cambridge Ancient History, 12 v. (London and New York 1923–39) 8:423–453. j. bayet, Histoire politique et psychologique de la religion romaine (Paris 1957).

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