"Wayward Shamans" tells the story of an idea that humanityOCOs first expression of art, religion and creativity found form in the figure of a proto-priest known as a shaman. Tracing this classic category of the history of anthropology back to the emergence of the term in Siberia, the work follows the trajectory of European knowledge about the continentOCOs eastern frontier. The ethnographic record left by German natural historians engaged in the Russian colonial expansion project in the 18th century includes a range of shamanic practitioners, varied by gender and age. Later accounts by exiled Russian revolutionaries noted transgendered shamans. This variation vanished, however, in the translation of shamanism into archaeology theory, where a male sorcerer emerged as the key agent of prehistoric art. More recent efforts to provide a universal shamanic explanation for rock art via South Africa and neurobiology likewise gloss over historical evidence of diversity. By contrast this book argues for recognizing indeterminacy in the categories we use, and reopening them by recalling their complex history.

"Tantalizingly rich ...this is a splendid book."--Greece and Rome "Burken relegates his learned documentation to the notes and writes in a lively and fluent style. The book is recommended as a major contribution to the interpretation of ancient Greek myth and ritual. The breadth alone of Burkert's learning renders his book indispensable."--Classical Outlook "Impressive...founded on a striking knowledge of the complex evidence (literary, epigraphical, archaeological, comparative) for this extensive subject. Burkert offers a rare combination of exact scholarship with imagination and even humor. A brilliant book, in which ...the reader can see at every point what is going on in the author's mind--and that is never uninteresting, and rarely unimportant."--Times Literary Supplement "Burkert's work is of such magnitude and depth that it may even contribute to that most difficult of tasks, defining myth, ritual, and religion. . [He] locates his work in the context of culture and the historv of ideas, and he is not hesitant to draw on sociology and biology. Consequently his work is of significance for philosophers, historians, and even theologians, as well as for classicists and historians of Greek culture. His hypotheses are courageous and his conclusions are bold; both establish standards for methodology as well as results. "--Religious Studies Review

Full of giants, trolls, heroes, and beautiful princesses, these 42 folktales include such favorites as "Dapplegrim," "Tatterhood," "Katie Woodencloak," and "Soria Moria Castle," plus many less known, such as "The Werewolf," "Such Women Are," "The Three Dogs," "Temptations," "King Gram," "The Magician's Pupil," "Legend of Tannhauser," "The Outlaw," "Toller's Neighbors," "The Widow's Son," "The Three Sisters Trapped in a Mountain," and "The Goatherd" (the origin of Washington Irving's story of Rip van Winkle). The volume also includes instructive variants of the same story, such as "The Blue Belt" and "The Blue Riband," and "The Seven Ravens" and "The Twelve White Peacocks." Another plus is a substantial critical introduction by the author.

Norse Mythology explores the magical myths and legends of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Viking-Age Greenland--outlining along the way the prehistoric tales and beliefs from these regions that have remained embedded in the imagination of the world.

The book begins with an Introduction that helps put Scandinavian mythology in place in history, followed by a chapter that explains the meaning of mythic time, and a third section that presents in-depth explanations of each mythological term. These fascinating entries identify particular deities and giants, as well as the places where they dwell and the varied and wily means by which they forge their existence and battle one another. We meet Thor, one of the most powerful gods, who specializes in killing giants using a hammer made for him by dwarfs, not to mention myriad trolls, ogres, humans and strange animals. We learn of the ongoing struggle between the gods, who create the cosmos, and the jotnar, or giants, who aim to destroy it. In the enchanted world where this mythology takes place, we encounter turbulent rivers, majestic mountains, dense forests, storms, fierce winters, eagles, ravens, salmon and snakes in a landscape closely resembling Scandinavia. Beings travel on ships and on horseback; they eat slaughtered meat and drink mead.

Spanning from the inception of the universe and the birth of human beings to the universe's destruction and the mythic future, these sparkling tales of creation and destruction, death and rebirth, gods and heroes will entertain readers and offer insight into the relationship between Scandinavian myth, history, and culture.

This title contains a selection of papers by leading scholars which were presented at a two-day conference at the British Museum in November 2010. The breadth of coverage across archaeology, anthropology, history and geo-archaeology makes this book an important source for readers seeking to understand Andean concepts of the sacred and how they were, and are, present within the landscape, at particular sites and through ritual performance. The papers focus on one of the most significant manifestations of Inca sacred space - the ushnu - a place of sacrifice, ritual and celebration, reviewing its concept from pre-Inca origins through interpretation in Tawantinsuyu, the Inca empire into its current Andean cultural context. The authors in this book examine the practical and symbolic principles underlying the construction of ushnus, the rationale for their placement, their function within the landscape and the activities that took place on them.

Eusebius's groundbreaking History of the Church, remains the single most important source for the history of the first three centuries of Christianity and stands among the classics of Western literature. His iconic story of the church's origins, endurance of persecution, and ultimate triumph-with its cast of martyrs, heretics, bishops, and emperors-has profoundly shaped the understanding of Christianity's past and provided a model for all later ecclesiastical histories. This new translation, which includes detailed essays and notes, comes from one of the leading scholars of Eusebius's work and offers rich context for the linguistic, cultural, social, and political background of this seminal text. Accessible for new readers and thought-provoking for specialists, this is the essential text for anyone interested in the history of Christianity.

Prometheus the god stole fire from heaven and bestowed it on humans. In punishment, Zeus chained him to a rock, where an eagle clawed unceasingly at his liver, until Herakles freed him. For the Greeks, the myth of Prometheus's release reflected a primordial law of existence and the fate of humankind. Carl Kerenyi examines the story of Prometheus and the very process of mythmaking as a reflection of the archetypal function and seeks to discover how this primitive tale was invested with a universal fatality, first in the Greek imagination, and then in the Western tradition of Romantic poetry. Kerenyi traces the evolving myth from Hesiod and Aeschylus, and in its epic treatment by Goethe and Shelley; he moves on to consider the myth from the perspective of Jungian psychology, as the archetype of human daring signifying the transformation of suffering into the mystery of the sacrifice."

The Evolution of Religious Doctrines From the Eschatology of the Ancient Egyptians. "In writing the explanation of the Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man, I have gone back to the foundation of the human as a beginning, and traced these signs from the first Pygmies, and their then meaning, up to the latter-day Christians, and shown the evolution and meaning of the same, back to the Primordial Signs and Symbols and Sign Language, which have never been studied or taken into account either in Freemasonry, the Christian doctrines or the Eschatology of the Egyptians." Partial Contents: Freemasonry Generally, Totemism; Hieroglyphics; Remains of Ritual found amongst the Zapotecs, Mexicans, People of Yucatan and Central America; Myths and Legends same as Egyptian; Tribes of West Africa; Birthplace of Man and various Exodes; The Pygmies; Druids and Israelites; Chaldeans; Origin of the Zodiac; Oriental Origins; The Incas; The Buddhists; Steller to Solar Mythos; Origins and Explanations of Other