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Rethinks the workings of polytheism in ancient Greece through exploring the goddess Hera in her complex relationship to Zeus.
Dieser Band versammelt Beiträge von namhaften europäischen und amerikanischenAltertumswissenschaftlern und Religionswissenschaftlern, die einen repräsentativen Querschnitt der zeitgenössischen Erforschung des Mythos, seiner Erscheinungsformen und seiner Transformationen in unterschiedlichen Bereichen und Epochen darbieten.
Allegorists in ancient Greece attempted to find philosophical and physical truths in myth. Plato, who resolutely excluded myths from the sphere of truth, thought that they could express ideas in a realm he could not reach with dialectical reasoning. Freud built a science around the myth of Oedipus, saying that myths were "distorted wish dreams of entire nations, the dreams of early mankind." No body of myth has served more purposes - or been subject to more analysis - than Greek mythology. This is a revised translation of Fritz Graf's highly acclaimed introduction to Greek mythology, Griechische Mythologie: Eine Einfuhrung, originally published in 1985 by Artemis Verlag. Graf offers a chrono...
The polytheistic religious systems of ancient Greece and Rome reveal an imaginative attitude towards the construction of the divine. One of the most important instruments in this process was certainly the visualisation. Images of the gods transformed the divine world into a visually experienceable entity, comprehensible even without a theoretical or theological superstructure. For the illiterates, images were together with oral traditions and rituals the only possibility to approach the idea of the divine; for the intellectuals, images of the gods could be allegorically transcended symbols to reflect upon. Based on the art historical and textual evidence, this volume offers a fresh view on the historical, literary, and artistic significance of divine images as powerful visual media of religious and intellectual communication.
"The Wedding in Ancient Athens is the first book to reconstruct the stages of the ancient Greek wedding ceremony using a long-neglected source of information: vase paintings from the sixth through fourth centuries B.C." "In order to elucidate the entire ceremony, from the preparations for the wedding to the rituals performed on the day after the wedding night, John H. Oakley and Rebecca H. Sinos incorporate copious illustrations of Athenian vases in their analysis, supplementing evidence drawn from contemporary Greek literature. The weddings rendered on the vases evolve through time, from formal scenes of the wedding procession on black-figure vases to later red-figure scenes offering more i...
Aphrodite explores the many myths and meanings of the Greek goddess of love, sex and beauty. One of the most widely worshipped and popular deities in Greek antiquity, Aphrodite emerges from the imaginations of the ancient Greek writers and artists as a multifaceted, powerful and charismatic figure. This volume explores the importance of Aphrodite for the ancient Greeks, as well as her enduring influence as a symbol of beauty, adornment, love and sexuality in contemporary culture. In a wide-ranging investigation of the universality of Aphrodite’s power and significance, this volume illuminates the numerous intricate levels of divinity embodied by the alluring figure of Aphrodite. Aphrodite ...
This is the first systematic study of the cults of the Bosporan Kingdom, which existed in South Russia in the first centuries AD. The research is based on a variety of sources: archaeological evidence and inscriptions, largely unknown to the non-Russian readers, as well as historical and literary texts. The religion of the Bosporus is viewed in this monograph as a blend of Greek and indigenous Iranian traditions. Its first part is dedicated to the cult of Celestial Aphrodite. The second part examines the controversial cult of the Most High God and its alledged Jewish affinities. The book, illustrated with thirty figures, is an important contribution to the understanding of the religious life in Greek colonies, and the history of Eastern Mediterranean in Late Antiquity.
Who marched in religious processions and why? How were blood sacrifice and communal feasting related to identities in the ancient Greek city? With questions such as these, current scholarship aims to demonstrate the ways in which religion maps on to the socio-political structures of the Greek polis ('polis religion'). In this book Dr Kindt explores a more comprehensive conception of ancient Greek religion beyond this traditional paradigm. Comparative in method and outlook, the book invites its readers to embark on an interdisciplinary journey touching upon such diverse topics as religious belief, personal religion, magic and theology. Specific examples include the transformation of tyrant property into ritual objects, the cultural practice of setting up dedications at Olympia, and a man attempting to make love to Praxiteles' famous statue of Aphrodite. The book will be valuable for all students and scholars seeking to understand the complex phenomenon of ancient Greek religion.
This original study challenges the idea that sanctuaries in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor were fully institutionalized within the poleis that hosted them. Examining the forms of interaction between rulers, cities, and sanctuaries, the book proposes a triangular relationship in which the rulers often acted as mediators between differing interests of city and cult. A close analysis of the epigraphical evidence illustrates that neither the Hellenistic kings nor the representatives of Roman rule appropriated the property of the gods but actively supported the functioning of the sanctuaries and their revenues. The powerful role of the sanctuaries was to a large extent based on economic features, which the sanctuaries possessed precisely because of their religious character. Nevertheless, a study of the finances of the cults reveals frequent problems concerning the upkeep of cults and a particular need to guard the privileges and property of the gods. Their situation oscillated between glut and dearth. When the harmonious identity between city and cult was disturbed, those closely attached to the cult acted on behalf of their domain.
Brill's Companion to Aphrodite brings together an international and multidisciplinary team of experts in the study of Aphrodite—one of the best known, yet ambiguous and complex Graeco-Roman deities. The contributions, which reevaluate conventional approaches to this remarkable goddess, are thematically grouped in four parts according to aspects of the goddess: 'Aphrodite’s Identity’; ‘Aphrodite's Companions and Relations’; ‘The Spread of Aphrodite’s Cults’ and ‘The Reception of the Goddess.’ Each part draws on literary and visual sources, incorporates Greek, Roman, and later material, and ranges across places and periods—from prehistoric Cyprus and the Near East to the antiquities market in 19th century France. This book therefore crosses interdisciplinary boundaries, as well as the multiple aspects and characteristics of the goddess