Weathering the Storm: Religious Responses to Communal Crises in Ancient Greece

Crises are socially constructed, they are given meaning through communicative acts, and cultural factors can both cause and prevent crises. The project examines the complex role that religion played in crisis management, recovery, and communal resilience during and after crises in ancient Greece from the fifth to the first century BC. The project has three foci: 1) religious measures taken during and after crises and their role in promoting social stability and change; 2) the role of religion in crisis communication, including crisis narratives, the creation and alleviation of a sense of crisis, and the religious rationalisation of causes, actions, and outcomes; 3) post-crisis developments in religious worldviews and their contribution to adaptation processes. The goal is to identify the ancient Greek mechanisms of religious responses to crisis, their social logics, and the interplay between crisis and religious thought. The project will advance our knowledge of how religious and mental factors, group-specific concepts and values, and public communication influence crisis management and promote community resilience.