In Greek mythology, the gods were anthropomorphic. They were spiteful, vengeful and capricious. People knew that they had to offer sacrifice or earn the wrath of the god they offended.
When Zeus defeated his father Kronos and the other Titans, hurling them off to Tartarus, he established himself as the king of the gods.
But sacrificing to Zeus was insufficient – the other gods had their realms and needed offerings too.
Thanks to Prometheus, mankind enjoyed the best part of the meat that is sacrificed, with the offal and blood reserved for sacrifice to the gods.
The Greeks – and other civilizations with their own gods – knew how important it was to keep the gods happy.
Now, curiously, we have a reversal. It is the god Gaia that predominates, who the Greeks knew as the grandmother of Kronos and the great grandmother of Zeus.
Our sacrifice must be an emissions trading scheme. Failure to make deep cuts in carbon emissions, we are told, will cause Gaia to be upset and woe betide those humans that offend her dignity. Read more »