In Asia Minor the succession to the priesthood was, in all probability, hereditary (according to some principle of inheritance not as yet deter- mined) in early times. Where the Greek element entered sufficiently strongly, this principle was usually altered ; some more democratic principle of succession was substituted ; and sometimes life- tenure was changed to tenure for a period of four years, or more frequently of one year, or occasion- ally even of a shorter period. In some of the more thoroughly Greek cities of the coast, such as Erythre, the priesthoods of the numberless deities were put up to auction by the State, and sold to the highest bidder. But wherever an early or a more purely Anatolian and less Hellenized con- dition can be traced, the great priesthoods seem to be for life, and to be connected with certain families.
The number of priests, in this fuller sense, tended to increase from various causes, and to become a sacerdotal order. The possession of knowledge of the Divine law was a powerful engine, for the body of ritual was steadily growing in volume, and any mistake in it would have nullified its effect. Attention was entirely con- centrated on details, and the spirit seems to have been wholly lost. But the knowledge of the multi- tudinous details required study and teaching ; and this caused the formation of a priestly caste or order, in which the tradition was handed down. The power of that order rested on the inaccessi- bility and difficulty of their lore, and on the ignor- ance of the worshippers; and hence there was every temptation to keep up that ignorance, to multiply details of cultus and make the knowledge of it harder, and to create a bar of separation be- tween the priestly order and the people. But no details are known, though the general principle may be confidently assumed.
Moreover, as the great religious centres or Hiera grew into importance (see § IV (4), above), they required a permanent staff of priests and ministers,
* See Cities and Bish. of Pluygia, i. pp. 56, 103, 110.
RELIGION OF GREECE a 2 eee
in order that the increasing number of persons who frequented them might always find help and counsel. In turn the increase of the permanent staff at the great Hiera tended to foster the growth of the established ritual. Instead of merely aiding the individual worshipper to perform one single act of the Divine action which suited his special circumstances at the moment, the priests of each Hieron on stated occasions set the whole Divine drama before the eyes of bodies of worshippers. While this more elaborate ceremonial had_ its justification in producing a certain good effect on the spectators, and in imparting ideas to them, yet there was the strongest temptation for the per- manent priests to refrain from emphasizing this aspect of the ceremonial, and to elaborate the spectacular side in the way described above. In the simpler Anatolian system of society this strengthened their power (§ VIII (7), below) ; and in the developed Hellenic system it added to the wealth and influence of the Hieron by attracting immense crowds to the great festivals accom. panying the annual (or in rare cases biennial) ceremonies,
Thus there was, necessarily, a large establish- ment maintained at the principal religious centres : see § IV (4). Besides the great priesthoods there were required large numbers of inferior priests, ministri and ministre, to perform the details of the cultus (see § II, above) and prophecy and give attention to the worshippers and the offerings ; also hierodouloi, of whom there were many thou- sands at the greatest Hiera. The hierodouloi had become serfs or slaves attached to the Hieron in various ways, and were protected and governed by the theocratic administration of the Hieron: on the female Aierodouloi, see § VIII (2), below. Finally, there was a class of persons called hicroi : see next § (10).
It is clearly established by numerous cases, that, in later times at least, there was a college of priests in every religious centre in Anatolia. This college was a hierarchy, with distinct gradation of authority and allotted duties. At Pessinusa priest is described as occupying the fifth or tenth place in order of rank ; and in other cases where the evidence shows only that there was a chief and various subordi- nate priests, we may probably assume from the analogy of Pessinus that strict gradation extended throughout the college. Every religious act was probably the work of the priests as a body (though the chief priest would be the leader) ; and this fur- nishes some argument in favour of the Bezan read- ing lepets in Ac 14°, where Prof. Blass condemns that reading on the incorrect ground that there was only one priest for each temple. ;
(10) Hieroit.—This class of persons, mentioned at Ephesus and many other religious centres, and evidently very numerous, have been much dis- cussed, with varying results, by many modern writers. Their status is very obscure. The opinion advocated in the writer’s Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, i. 147f., is that the hierot are merely a modification of the non-Hellenic in- stitution of the hierodouloi under the influence of Hellenic institutions and spirit. The hierodouloi were serfs, but not slaves; whereas the Greek law knew only the grand distinction between freemen and slaves. The peculiar relation of the hiero- doulot to the Hieron gave a power to the latter which was alien to the Hellenic spirit ; and the old hierodoulot seem to have been transformed in the Hellenized cities into an inferior order of the city population, distinct alike from citizens and from resident strangers and from freedmen. ‘The rela- tion of the fierot to the Hieron, and their ser- vice at the Hieron, seem to have been more a voluntary matter; and violation of it was left