Page "Clement of Alexandria" Paragraph 12

The Protrepticus is, as its title suggests, an exhortation to the pagans of Greece to adopt Christianity, and within it Clement demonstrates his extensive knowledge of pagan mythology and theology.

It is chiefly important due to Clement's exposition of religion as an anthropological phenomenon.

After a short philosophical discussion, it opens with a history of Greek religion in seven stages.

Clement suggests that at first, men mistakenly believed the Sun, the Moon and other heavenly bodies to be gods.

The next development was the worship of the products of agriculture, from which he contends the cults of Demeter and Dionysus arose.

Man then paid reverence to revenge, and deified human feelings of love and fear, among others.

In the following stage, the poets Hesiod and Homer attempt to enumerate the Gods ; Hesiod's Theogony giving the number of twelve.

Finally, men proclaimed other men, such as Asclepius and Heracles, deities.

Discussing idolatry, Clement contends that the objects of primitive religion were unshaped wood and stone, and idols thus arose when such natural items were carved.

Following Plato, Clement is critical of all forms of visual art, suggesting that artworks are but illusions and " deadly toys ".