cvi.] In the case of the gods, the matter is somewhat less simple than in that of all these daemonic creatures of the popular imagination.

Gods imply a greater power of generalisation and a higher stage of religious development.

It was not thought likely that the gods would show themselves to mortal eyes, as had been their habit in the Golden Age, except perhaps upon some occasion of a great national crisis; and even then it was the heroes rather than the gods who manifested themselves.
But the ordinary Greek believed that the gods actually existed in human form, and even that their characters and passions and moods were like those of human beings.

The influence of the poet and the artist could not have been so vigorous if it had not found, in the imagination of the people, a suitable and sympathetic material.
(2) Official or state religion consisted in the main of an organisation of popular ritual.

There was no priestcraft in Greece, no exclusive caste to whom the worship of the gods was assigned, although, of course, the right to practise certain cults belonged to particular families.