Hellenism (religion)

Hellenism (Greek: Ἑλληνισμός), the Hellenic ethnic religion (Ἑλληνικὴ ἐθνική θρησκεία), also commonly known as Hellenismos, Hellenic Polytheism, Dodekatheism (Δωδεκαθεϊσμός), or Olympianism (Ὀλυμπιανισμός), refers to various religious movements that revive or reconstruct ancient Greek religious practices, publicly, emerging since the 1990s.

The Hellenic religion is a traditional religion and way of life, revolving around the Greek Gods, primarily focused on the Twelve Olympians, and embracing ancient Hellenic values and virtues.

Dodekatheism originated in and is practiced in Greece and in other countries. Leaders of the movement claimed in 2005 that there are as many as 2,000 adherents to the Hellenic tradition in Greece, with an additional 100,000 who have "some sort of interest". No official estimates exist for devotees worldwide.

There are no official naming practices for this religion, but there does seem to be an informal naming convention, based on academically accepted descriptive definitions, adhered to by groups and most individual believers. Hellenism is the most common term, used chiefly as an identifier for the modern polytheistic religion by its adherents today but it can also refer to the ancient Greek religion and culture. The term originally stems from a systematization and revival of Greek religion done by the Roman Emperor Julian. Julian used the term to describe traditional religion of the Greeks (The word can also have other unrelated meanings in modern Greek.) Additionally, subgroups use a variety of names to distinguish branches focusing on specific schools of thought, or modern traditions focusing on the public practices of individual city-states. These subgroups can be described as denominations. Hellenic religion, and Hellenic polytheism can be said to be used interchangeably to refer to the religion, and are synonymous. The phrase Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism refers more to the methodology used by some practitioners to revive a version of the religion, than the religion itself. Not all Hellenic Polytheists are reconstructionists. Dodekatheism and Olympianism are other names, though less commonly used.

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