Doe asked:

What part did religion play in Athenian achievements during the golden age?

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A very significant part. In fact, it played a greater part in their society than religion plays in ours, and
they had their daily round of observances and sacrifices, their weekly services, their monthly and
annual festivals the same as we do, except they believed in them. This is the sort of thing we tend
nowadays simply to forget: but consider that the tragedies which we call 'plays' or 'dramas' were part
of Athenian liturgical festivals, that a great deal of their sculpture, which is 'art' to us, comprised
offerings to the gods; and so on. There is no scarcity of books on this subject, but if you want just a
short overview, an article in the Cambridge Companion to Plato, edited by Richard Kraut, will help
you get a clearer perspective on this important matter (and its obvious influence on Platonic
philosophy).

Jürgen Lawrenz

Sydney