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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Non-Christian religions > Pre-Christian European & Mediterranean religions
Offers an introduction to the basic beliefs, practices, and major
deities of Greek and Roman religions A volume in the Blackwell
Ancient Religions, Greek and Roman Religions offers an
authoritative overview of the region's ancient religious practices.
The author--a noted expert in the field--explores the presence of
divinity in all aspects of ancient life and highlights the origins
of myth, religious authority, institutions, beliefs, rituals,
sacred texts, and ethics. Comprehensive in scope, the text focuses
on myriad aspects that constitute Greco-Roman culture such as
economic class, honor and shame, and slavery as well as the
religious role of each member of the family. The integration of
ethnic and community identity with divine elements are highlighted
in descriptions of religious festivals. Greek and Roman Religions
presents the evolution of ideas concerning death and the afterlife
and the relation of death to concepts of ultimate justice. The
author also offers insight into the elements of ancient religions
that remain important in our contemporary quest for meaning. This
vital text: Offers a comprehensive review of ancient Greek and
Roman religions and their institutions, beliefs, rituals, and more
Examines how the Roman culture and religions borrowed from the
Greek traditions Explores the ancient civilizations of the
Mediterranean Basin Contains suggestions at the end of each chapter
for further reading that include both traditional studies and more
recent examinations of topical issues Written for students of
ancient religions and religious studies, this important resource
provides an overview of the ancient culture and history of the
general region as well as the basic background of Greek and Roman
civilizations.
This volume provides a catalogue of the ancient Egyptian imports
and Egyptianising artifacts found in 1962 during the excavation of
a cave near Tsoutsouros (ancient Inatos), Crete, Greece. The cave
was a sanctuary dedicated to the Minoan and Greek goddess
Eileithyia, the little known goddess of childbirth and motherhood
whose offerings depict pregnant women, women in labour, and couples
embracing, among other motifs. The Aegyptiaca of the Minoan and
Mycenaean eras on Crete signify the political and economic
relations between the Aegean rulers and the Egyptian royal court.
Several of the objects are Egyptian scarabs, which certainly
represent official Egyptian-Cretan affairs, especially those dating
from the reign of Amenophis III to the end of the eighteenth
Dynasty. Many of the objects catalogued come from the 10th to 7th
centuries BC, linked to veneration of the goddess of childbirth and
motherhood. The volume is illustrated with colour photographs
depicting statuettes, seals, and vessels found at the site.
Addressing the role which divination played in ancient Greek
society, this volume deals with various forms of prophecy and how
each was utilised and for what purpose. Chapters bring together key
types of divining, such as from birds, celestial phenomena, the
entrails of sacrificed animals and dreams. Oracular centres
delivered prophetic pronouncements to enquirers, but in addition,
there were written collections of oracles in circulation. Many
books were available on how to interpret dreams, the birds and
entrails, and divination as a religious phenomenon attracted the
attention of many writers. Expert diviners were at the heart of
Greek prophecy, whether these were Apollo's priestesses delivering
prose or verse answers to questions put to them by consultants,
diviners known as manteis, who interpreted entrails and omens, the
chresmologoi, who sang the many oracles circulating orally or in
writing, or dream interpreters. Divination was utilised not only to
foretell the future but also to ensure that the individual or state
employing divination acted in accordance with that divinely
prescribed future; it was employed by all and had a crucial role to
play in what courses of action both states and individuals
undertook. Specific attention is paid in this volume not only to
the ancient written evidence, but to that of inscriptions and
papyri, with emphasis placed on the iconography of Greek
divination.
A full-cast dramatisation of Neil Gaiman's magical retellings of
the Norse myths, inviting us into a world of gods and monsters,
tricks and trust, fiery endings and new beginnings Winner of The
London Book Fair CAMEO Award 2020 for Book to Audio adaptation.
'And the game begins anew...' Meet the trickster god Loki and his
astonishing children - the giant wolf Fenrir, Jormungundr the snake
that encircles the world, and Hel, the little girl who grows up to
be Queen of the dead. Here, too, is Odin the all-father, who
sacrificed his eye to see the future; Thor the thunderer, who
defends Asgard with his fearsome strength and mighty hammer; and
Freya the understandably angry, most beautiful of the gods and
always being gambled for by unwanted suitors. From the beginning of
the universe in fire and ice, to the very end of the world,
Ragnarok, these enthralling tales of gods, goddesses, dwarves and
giants bring the ancient myths to vigorous life. Diana Rigg, Derek
Jacobi, Colin Morgan, Natalie Dormer and Neil Gaiman himself are
among the stellar cast in these spellbinding stories of old
betrayals - and new hope.
This volume brings together studies on Greek animal sacrifice by
foremost experts in Greek language, literature and material
culture. Readers will benefit from the synthesis of new evidence
and approaches with a re-evaluation of twentieth-century theories
on sacrifice. The chapters range across the whole of antiquity and
go beyond the Greek world to consider possible influences in
Hittite Anatolia and Egypt, while an introduction to the burgeoning
science of osteo-archaeology is provided. The twentieth-century
emphasis on sacrifice as part of the Classical Greek polis system
is challenged through consideration of various ancient perspectives
on sacrifice as distinct from specific political or even Greek
contexts. Many previously unexplored topics are covered,
particularly the type of animals sacrificed and the spectrum of
sacrificial ritual, from libations to lasting memorials of the
ritual in art.
The first anthology ever to present the entire range of ancient
Greek and Roman stories--from myths and fairy tales to jokes
Captured centaurs and satyrs, talking animals, people who suddenly
change sex, men who give birth, the temporarily insane and the
permanently thick-witted, delicate sensualists, incompetent seers,
a woman who remembers too much, a man who cannot laugh--these are
just some of the colorful characters who feature in the
unforgettable stories that ancient Greeks and Romans told in their
daily lives. Together they created an incredibly rich body of
popular oral stories that include, but range well beyond,
mythology--from heroic legends, fairy tales, and fables to ghost
stories, urban legends, and jokes. This unique anthology presents
the largest collection of these tales ever assembled. Featuring
nearly four hundred stories in authoritative and highly readable
translations, this is the first book to offer a representative
selection of the entire range of traditional classical
storytelling. Set mostly in the world of humans, not gods, these
stories focus on figures such as lovers, tricksters, philosophers,
merchants, rulers, athletes, artists, and soldiers. The narratives
range from the well-known--for example, Cupid and Psyche, Diogenes
and his lantern, and the tortoise and the hare--to lesser-known
tales that deserve wider attention. Entertaining and fascinating,
they offer a unique window into the fantasies, anxieties, humor,
and passions of the people who told them. Complete with beautiful
illustrations by Glynnis Fawkes, a comprehensive introduction,
notes, and more, this one-of-a-kind anthology will delight general
readers as well as students of classics, fairy tales, and folklore.
Few classical stories are as exciting as that of Jason and the
Golden Fleece. The legend of the boy, who discovers a new identity
as son of a usurped king and leads a crew of demi-gods and famous
heroes, has resonated through the ages, rumbling like the clashing
rocks, which almost pulverised the Argo. The myth and its reception
inspires endless engagements: while it tells of a quest to the ends
of the earth, of the tyrants Pelias and Aetes, of dragons' teeth,
of the loss of Hylas (beloved of Hercules) stolen away by nymphs,
and of Jason's seduction of the powerful witch Medea (later
betrayed for a more useful princess), it speaks to us of more: of
gender and sexuality; of heroism and lost integrity; of powerful
gods and terrifying monsters; of identity and otherness; of
exploration and exploitation. The Argonauts are emblems of
collective heroism, yet also of the emptiness of glory. From Pindar
to J. W. Waterhouse, Apollonius of Rhodes to Ray Harryhausen, and
Robert Graves to Mary Zimmerman, the Argonaut myth has produced
later interpretations as rich, salty and complex as the ancient
versions. Helen Lovatt here unravels, like untangled sea-kelp, the
diverse strands of the narrative and its numerous and fascinating
afterlives. Her book will prove both informative and endlessly
entertaining to those who love classical literature and myth.
Was Ancient Greek religion really 'mere ritualism'? Early
Christians denounced the pagans for the disorderly plurality of
their cults, and reduced Greek religion to ritual and idolatry;
protestant theologians condemned the pagan 'religion of form' (with
Catholicism as its historical heir). For a long time, scholars
tended to conceptualize Greek religion as one in which belief did
not matter, and religiosity had to do with observance of rituals
and religious practices, rather than with worshipers' inner
investment. But what does it mean when Greek texts time and again
speak of purity of mind, soul, and thoughts? This book takes a
radical new look at the Ancient Greek notions of purity and
pollution. Its main concern is the inner state of the individual
worshipper as they approach the gods and interact with the divine
realm in a ritual context. It is a book about Greek worshippers'
inner attitudes towards the gods and rituals, and about what kind
of inner attitude the Greek gods were envisaged to expect from
their worshippers. In the wider sense, it is a book about the role
of belief in ancient Greek religion. By exploring the Greek notions
of inner purity and pollution from Hesiod to Plato, the
significance of intrinsic, faith-based elements in Greek religious
practices is revealed - thus providing the first history of the
concepts of inner purity and pollution in early Greek religion.
Andrew R. Dyck ranks among the top Latinists in Ciceronian studies.
In this new volume, he offers the first commentary on Cicero's De
Divinatione II in nearly a century. This commentary aims to equip
students and scholars of Latin with the kinds of historical and
philosophical background and linguistic and stylistic information
needed to understand and appreciate Cicero's text on Roman religion
and divination. Dyck situates Cicero's text in the context of Roman
religion in antiquity, and he traces the subsequent reception of
the text. The introduction reviews recent interpretations of De
Divinatione. Dyck rejects the view that has recently been
widespread in Anglophone studies that De Divinatione stages a
debate between roughly equal opponents and without the emergence of
a clear authorial point of view. Instead he argues that a careful
reading shows that Cicero as author is invested in the argument,
with the particular aim of countering superstition. Celia Schultz's
earlier volume in this series presented the text and commentary for
De Divinatione I. With Andrew Dyck's companion volume on the second
book of De Divinatione, students and teachers are well served with
crucial texts from one of Rome's most famous philosophers, as he
considers important Roman practices and beliefs.
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC
BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship
Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected
open access locations. At the heart of this volume are three trials
held in Athens in the fourth century BCE. The defendants were all
women and in each case the charges involved a combination of ritual
activities. Two were condemned to death. Because of the brevity of
the ancient sources, and their lack of agreement, the precise
charges are unclear, and the reasons for taking these women to
court remain mysterious. Envy, Poison, and Death takes the
complexity and confusion of the evidence not as a riddle to be
solved, but as revealing multiple social dynamics. It explores the
changing factors - material, ideological, and psychological - that
may have provoked these events. It focuses in particular on the
dual role of envy (phthonos) and gossip as processes by which
communities identified people and activities that were dangerous,
and examines how and why those local, even individual, dynamics may
have come to shape official civic decisions during a time of
perceived hardship. At first sight so puzzling, these trials reveal
a vivid picture of the socio-political environment of Athens during
the early-mid fourth century BCE, including responses to changes in
women's status and behaviour, and attitudes to ritual activities
within the city. The volume reveals some of the characters, events,
and even emotions that would help to shape an emergent concept of
magic: it suggests that the boundary of acceptable behaviour was
shifting, not only within the legal arena but also through the
active involvement of society beyond the courts.
The nineteenth century is a key period in the history of the
interpretation of the Greek gods. The Greek Gods in Modern
Scholarship examines how German and British scholars of the time
drew on philology, archaeology, comparative mythology,
anthropology, or sociology to advance radically different theories
on the Greek gods and their origins. For some, they had been
personifications of natural elements, for others, they had begun as
universal gods like the Christian god, yet for others, they went
back to totems or were projections of group unity. The volume
discusses the views of both well-known figures like K. O. Muller
(1797-1840), or Jane Harrison (1850-1928), and of forgotten, but
important, scholars like F. G. Welcker (1784-1868). It explores the
underlying assumptions and agendas of the rival theories in the
light of their intellectual and cultural context, laying stress on
how they were connected to broader contemporary debates over
fundamental questions such as the origins and nature of religion,
or the relation between Western culture and the 'Orient'. It also
considers the impact of theories from this period on twentieth- and
twenty-first-century scholarship on Greek religion and draws
implications for the study of the Greek gods today.
Sex: how should we do it, when should we do it, and with whom? How
should we talk about and represent sex, what social institutions
should regulate it, and what are other people doing? Throughout
history human beings have searched for answers to such questions by
turning to the past, whether through archaeological studies of
prehistoric sexual behaviour, by reading Casanova's memoirs, or as
modern visitors on the British Museum LGBT trail. In this
ground-breaking collection, leading scholars show that claims about
the past have been crucial in articulating sexual morals, driving
political, legal, and social change, shaping individual identities,
and constructing and grounding knowledge about sex. With its
interdisciplinary perspective and its focus on the construction of
knowledge, the volume explores key methodological problems in the
history of sexuality, and is also an inspiration and a provocation
to scholars working in related fields - historians, classicists,
Egyptologists, and scholars of the Renaissance and of LGBT and
gender studies - inviting them to join a much-needed
interdisciplinary conversation.
Gnosticism is a countercultural spirituality that forever changed
the practice of Christianity. Before it emerged in the second
century, passage to the afterlife required obedience to God and
king. Gnosticism proposed that human beings were manifestations of
the divine, unsettling the hierarchical foundations of the ancient
world. Subversive and revolutionary, Gnostics taught that prayer
and mediation could bring human beings into an ecstatic spiritual
union with a transcendent deity. This mystical strain affected not
just Christianity but many other religions, and it characterizes
our understanding of the purpose and meaning of religion today. In
The Gnostic New Age, April D. DeConick recovers this vibrant
underground history to prove that Gnosticism was not suppressed or
defeated by the Catholic Church long ago, nor was the movement a
fabrication to justify the violent repression of alternative forms
of Christianity. Gnosticism alleviated human suffering, soothing
feelings of existential brokenness and alienation through the
promise of renewal as God. DeConick begins in ancient Egypt and
follows with the rise of Gnosticism in the Middle Ages, the advent
of theosophy and other occult movements in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, and contemporary New Age spiritual
philosophies. As these theories find expression in science-fiction
and fantasy films, DeConick sees evidence of Gnosticism's next
incarnation. Her work emphasizes the universal, countercultural
appeal of a movement that embodies much more than a simple
challenge to religious authority.
Many scholars today believe that early Greek literature, as
represented by the great poems of Homer and Hesiod, was to some
extent inspired by texts from the neighbouring civilizations of the
ancient Near East, especially Mesopotamia. It is true that, in the
case of religious poetry, early Greek poets sang about their gods
in ways that resemble those of Sumerian or Akkadian hymns from
Mesopotamia, but does this mean that the latter influenced the
former, and if so, how? This volume is the first to attempt an
answer to these questions by undertaking a detailed study of the
ancient texts in their original languages, from Sumerian poetry in
the 20th century BC to Greek sources from the times of Homer,
Hesiod, Pindar, and Aeschylus. The Gods Rich in Praise presents the
core groups of sources from the ancient Near East, describing the
main features of style and content of Sumerian and Akkadian
religious poetry, and showing how certain compositions were
translated and adapted beyond Mesopotamia. It proceeds by comparing
selected elements of form and content: hymnic openings, negative
predication, the birth of Aphrodite in the Theogony of Hesiod, and
the origins and development of a phrase in Hittite prayers and the
Iliad of Homer. The volume concludes that, in terms of form and
style, early Greek religious poetry was probably not indebted to
ancient Near Eastern models, but also argues that such influence
may nevertheless be perceived in certain closely defined instances,
particularly where supplementary evidence from other ancient
sources is available, and where the extant sources permit a
reconstruction of the process of translation and adaptation.
The history and writings of the Samaritans remain an often
overlooked subject in the field of biblical studies. This volume,
which assembles papers presented at a 2010 symposium held in
Zurich, illuminates the history of the Samaritans as well as
passages that address them in biblical sources. Through a
subsequent comparison to perspectives found in Samaritan sources
concerning biblical, early Jewish, and early Christian history, we
are presented with counterpoising perceptions that open up new
opportunities for discourse.
In a moonlit graveyard somewhere in southern Italy, a soldier
removes his clothes in readiness to transform himself into a wolf.
He depends upon the clothes to recover his human shape, and so he
magically turns them to stone, but his secret is revealed when,
back in human form, he is seen to carry a wound identical to that
recently dealt to a marauding wolf. In Arcadia a man named
Damarchus accidentally tastes the flesh of a human sacrifice and is
transformed into a wolf for nine years. At Temesa Polites is stoned
to death for raping a local girl, only to return to terrorize the
people of the city in the form of a demon in a wolfskin. Tales of
the werewolf are by now well established as a rich sub-strand of
the popular horror genre; less widely known is just how far back in
time their provenance lies. These are just some of the werewolf
tales that survive from the Graeco-Roman world, and this is the
first book in any language to be devoted to their study. It shows
how in antiquity werewolves thrived in a story-world shared by
witches, ghosts, demons, and soul-flyers, and argues for the
primary role of story-telling-as opposed to rites of passage-in the
ancient world's general conceptualization of the werewolf. It also
seeks to demonstrate how the comparison of equally intriguing
medieval tales can be used to fill in gaps in our knowledge of
werewolf stories in the ancient world, thereby shedding new light
on the origins of the modern phenomenon. All ancient texts bearing
upon the subject have been integrated into the discussion in new
English translations, so that the book provides not only an
accessible overview for a broad readership of all levels of
familiarity with ancient languages, but also a comprehensive
sourcebook for the ancient werewolf for the purposes of research
and study.
In the winter of 1922-23 archaeologist Howard Carter and his
wealthy patron George Herbert, the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon,
sensationally opened the tomb of Tutenkhamen. Six weeks later
Herbert, the sponsor of the expedition, died in Egypt. The popular
press went wild with rumours of a curse on those who disturbed the
Pharaoh's rest and for years followed every twist and turn of the
fate of the men who had been involved in the historic discovery.
Long dismissed by Egyptologists, the mummy's curse remains a part
of popular supernatural belief. Roger Luckhurst explores why the
myth has captured the British imagination across the centuries, and
how it has impacted on popular culture. Tutankhamen was not the
first curse story to emerge in British popular culture. This book
uncovers the 'true' stories of two extraordinary Victorian
gentlemen widely believed at the time to have been cursed by the
artefacts they brought home from Egypt in the nineteenth century.
These are weird and wonderful stories that weave together a cast of
famous writers, painters, feted soldiers, lowly smugglers,
respected men of science, disreputable society dames, and spooky
spiritualists. Focusing on tales of the curse myth, Roger Luckhurst
leads us through Victorian museums, international exhibitions,
private collections, the battlefields of Egypt and Sudan, and the
writings of figures like Arthur Conan Doyle, Rider Haggard and
Algernon Blackwood. Written in an open and accessible style, this
volume is the product of over ten years research in London's most
curious archives. It explores how we became fascinated with Egypt
and how this fascination was fuelled by myth, mystery, and rumour.
Moreover, it provides a new and startling path through the cultural
history of Victorian England and its colonial possessions.
Based on extensive archival research, The Power of Huacas is the
first book to take account of the reciprocal effects of religious
colonization as they impacted Andean populations and,
simultaneously, dramatically changed the culture and beliefs of
Spanish Christians. Winner, Award for Excellence in the Study of
Religion in the category of Historical Studies, American Academy of
Religion, 2015 The role of the religious specialist in Andean
cultures of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries
was a complicated one, balanced between local traditions and the
culture of the Spanish. In The Power of Huacas, Claudia Brosseder
reconstructs the dynamic interaction between religious specialists
and the colonial world that unfolded around them, considering how
the discourse about religion shifted on both sides of the Spanish
and Andean relationship in complex and unexpected ways. In The
Power of Huacas, Brosseder examines evidence of transcultural
exchange through religious history, anthropology, and cultural
studies. Taking Andean religious specialists-or hechizeros
(sorcerers) in colonial Spanish terminology-as a starting point,
she considers the different ways in which Andeans and Spaniards
thought about key cultural and religious concepts. Unlike previous
studies, this important book fully outlines both sides of the
colonial relationship; Brosseder uses extensive archival research
in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Spain, Italy, and the United
States, as well as careful analysis of archaeological and art
historical objects, to present the Andean religious worldview of
the period on equal footing with that of the Spanish. Throughout
the colonial period, she argues, Andean religious specialists
retained their own unique logic, which encompassed specific ideas
about holiness, nature, sickness, and social harmony. The Power of
Huacas deepens our understanding of the complexities of
assimilation, showing that, within the maelstrom of transcultural
exchange in the Spanish Americas, European paradigms ultimately
changed more than Andean ones.
English Poetry and Old Norse Myth: A History traces the influence
of Old Norse myth - stories and poems about the familiar gods and
goddesses of the pagan North, such as Odin, Thor, Baldr and Freyja
- on poetry in English from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day.
Especial care is taken to determine the precise form in which these
poets encountered the mythic material, so that the book traces a
parallel history of the gradual dissemination of Old Norse mythic
texts. Very many major poets were inspired by Old Norse myth. Some,
for instance the Anglo-Saxon poet of Beowulf, or much later, Sir
Walter Scott, used Old Norse mythic references to lend dramatic
colour and apparent authenticity to their presentation of a distant
Northern past. Others, like Thomas Gray, or Matthew Arnold, adapted
Old Norse mythological poems and stories in ways which both
responded to and helped to form the literary tastes of their own
times. Still others, such as William Blake, or David Jones,
reworked and incorporated celebrated elements of Norse myth -
valkyries weaving the fates of men, or the great World Tree
Yggdrasill on which Odin sacrificed himself - as personal symbols
in their own poetry. This book also considers less familiar
literary figures, showing how a surprisingly large number of poets
in English engaged in individual ways with Old Norse myth. English
Poetry and Old Norse Myth: A History demonstrates how attitudes
towards the pagan mythology of the north change over time, but
reveals that poets have always recognized Old Norse myth as a vital
part of the literary, political and historical legacy of the
English-speaking world.
Sharing with the Gods examines one of the most ubiquitous yet
little studied aspects of ancient Greek religion, the offering of
so-called 'first-fruits' (aparchai) and 'tithes' (dekatai), from
the Archaic period to the Hellenistic. While most existing studies
of Greek religion tend to focus on ritual performance, this volume
investigates questions of religious belief and mentality: why the
Greeks presented these gifts to the gods, and what their behaviour
tells us about their religious world-view, presuppositions, and
perception of the gods. Exploiting an array of ancient sources, the
author assesses the diverse nature of aparchai and dekatai, the
complexity of the motivations underlying them, the role of
individuals in shaping tradition, the deployment of this religious
custom in politics, and the transformation of a voluntary practice
into a religious obligation. By synthesizing a century of
scholarship on 'first-fruits' practices in Greek and other
religious cultures, the author challenges prevailing
interpretations of gift-exchange with the gods in terms of do ut
des and da ut dem, which emphasize the reciprocal, obligatory, and
sometimes commercial aspects of the gift, and explores hitherto
neglected notions including gratitude and thanksgiving. Drawing on
current approaches to gift-giving in anthropology, sociology, and
economics, in particular the French anthropologist Godelier's idea
of 'debt', the volume offers new perspectives with which to
conceptualize human-divine relations, and challenges traditional
views of the nature of gift-giving between men and gods in Greek
religion.
The fourth century of our common era began and ended with a
miracle. Traditionally, in the year 312, the Roman emperor
Constantine experienced a "vision of the Cross" that led him to
convert to Christianity and to defeat his last rival to the
imperial throne; and, in 394, a divine wind carried the emperor
Theodosius to victory at the battle of the Frigidus River. In A
Century of Miracles, historian H. A. Drake explores the role
miracle stories such as these played in helping Christians, pagans,
and Jews think about themselves and each other. These stories, he
concludes, bolstered Christian belief that their god wanted the
empire to be Christian. Most importantly, they help explain how,
after a century of trumpeting the power of their god, Christians
were able to deal with their failure to protect the city of Rome
from a barbarian sack by the Gothic army of Alaric in 410.
Thoroughly researched within a wide range of faiths and belief
systems, A Century of Miracles provides an absorbing illumination
of this complex, polytheistic, and decidedly mystical phenomenon.
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