Euhemerism and Its Uses - The Mortal Gods (Paperback)

Euhemerism and Its Uses offers the first interdisciplinary, focussed, and all-round view of the long history of an important but understudied phenomenon in European intellectual and cultural history. Euhemerism - the claim that the Greek gods were historically mortal men and women - originated in the early third century BCE, in an enigmatic and now fragmentary text by the otherwise unknown author Euhemeros. This work, the Sacred Inscription, has been read variously as a theory of religion, an atheist's manifesto, as justifying or satirizing ruler-worship, as a fantasy travel-narrative, and as an early 'utopia'. Influencing Hellenistic and Roman literature and religious and political thought, and appropriated by early Christians to debunk polytheism while simultaneously justifying the continued study of classical literature, euhemerism was widespread in the middle ages and Renaissance, and its reverberations continue to be felt in modern myth-theory. Yet, though frequently invoked as a powerful and pervasive tradition across several disciplines, it is still under-examined and poorly understood. Filling an important gap in the history of ideas, this volume will appeal to scholars and students of classical reception, mediaeval and Renaissance literature, historiography, and theories of myth and religion.

General

Imprint:	Routledge
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Routledge Studies in Renaissance and Early Modern Worlds of Knowledge
Release date:	December 2022
First published:	2021
Editors:	Syrithe Pugh
Dimensions:	234 x 156mm (L x W)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	336
ISBN-13:	978-0-367-55701-0
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > 16th to 18th centuries Books > Humanities > History > World history > 1500 to 1750 Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > History > World history > 1500 to 1750
LSN:	0-367-55701-0
Barcode:	9780367557010

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