What Aryan Religion Looks Like
While Indo-European societies were being Christianized, Christianity itself was being “Indo-Europeanized.” However, by the time of their encounter with Christianity, the Indo-European ideological core of the older Indo-European societies of Greece and Rome had been substantially diluted through the assimilation of the religiosity of the indigenous non-Indo-European Mediterranean inhabitants of Greece, and, following the conquest of Alexander the Great, particularly through the religiosity of many non-Indo-European immigrants. For the purpose of comparison, W.K.C Guthrie’s description of Hellenic, pre-Alexandrian, Greek religious attitudes are provided;
To appreciate the situation, we must realize how completely identified were the state and its religion. It was not a case of making the Church subordinate to the State. There was no word for church at all, nor did such a thing exist apart from the state itself. The gods were worshipped at festivals which were state occasions and participation in them was part of the ordinary duties as such. Although many gods were worshipped at Athens, the patron of the city, and the deity nearest to every Athenian’s heart was of course Athena, and the coincidence of the name is significant. Religion and patriotism were the same thing…Such a thing as personal and individual religion was unknown to the great, majority of citizens. The sects which attempted to introduce it never achieved much influence so long as the city-state held together and insofar as they had any success, were definitely subversive of the established order.
It should be noted that, despite significant differences, there existed fundamental similarities between the manifestations of Indo-European religiosity and social structure found in Hellenic Greece and the Roman Republic. Notwithstanding his criticism of comparative Indo-European studies in general, and his observation that “we cannot but be struck by a decided difference between them,” H.J. Rose acknowledges “real and considerable resemblances,” since;
Both Greek and Roman cults were polytheistic, both were creedless, neither was attached to any system of ethics, both admitted, though neither required, the use of cult images and other visible objects of worship, both had priests and priestesses, yet neither developed a powerful priesthood, which could, as such, make its influence felt in politics or even in governing the life of the individual in any great detail; and, perhaps most important of all, both were closely attached to the organization of the state, and before that existed, to the family, clan, or tribe.
Together with the social and intellectual characteristics described in the preceding paragraphs, this description of Hellenic Greece and the Roman Republic forms a model of what may be designated “traditional,” “classical,” or “authentic,” Indo-European religiosity.
-excerpted from The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity by James C. Russell (1994)