between 'ruling' and 'leading'. and a siginificant one at that.

unfortunately, the great ideas of the real leaders must filter up through the ranks until those that would be rulers begin to see the wisdom they contain, even if it is only by default it the ideas already having established themselves in the mainstream.

and now for a bit of disagreement on something that was posted re greek religion...

"They considered the outer diplays of religion to be cultual, civic entertainment, and for children."

off the top of my head i tend to question this statement as the religious (as opposed to myth and/or cult) ceremonies were aggregarian based and therefore central to things like a good harvest, etc. something essential to survivial and not likely to be thought of as childish or entertaining.

however, it is plausible that as greek thought developed and became a central part of greek society, and as the pantheon (as we know it today) absorbed and adopted the gods and goddesses of the various ethnic populations with which it came into contact, that these religious rituals did become more of a pomp and circumstance type affair.

religion is, after all, an evolving creature...just look at the origins of christian rituals. and there are countless records of the ruling group or class purposely assimilating religious practices of those with whom they come into contact as a means of assimilating the people. a sort of tactical manipulation, as it were. (hmmm....does that make the "secret cult" strategy a survival tactic? *lol*)

i think when we are talking about the study of greek religion, and talking about it separately from the study of greek myth, we are referring to what some scholars refer to as greek folk religion...pre-assimilation, of course. :-)