Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible and the Ancient Near East

Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible and the Ancient Near East......Page 4
Contents
......Page 8
Preface......Page 10
Acknowledgements......Page 16
Conventions and Abbreviations......Page 18
1. Canonical versions......Page 20
2. Alternative versions......Page 30
2 Pandora or the Creation of a Greek Eve......Page 38
1. Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days......Page 39
2. Literary, iconographical and philosophical representations......Page 49
3. The genealogy of Pandora......Page 51
4. Conclusion......Page 53
3 The Birth of Paradise......Page 54
1. The early Achaemenid era......Page 55
2. The later Achaemenid period......Page 58
3. The post-Achaemenid times......Page 65
4. Conclusion......Page 71
Excursus: ‘Paradise’ in Cyprus......Page 73
4 The First Crime: Brothers and Fratricide in the Ancient Mediterranean......Page 76
1. Brothers in ancient Israel......Page 77
2. Brothers in ancient Greece......Page 78
3. Brothers in ancient Rome......Page 81
4. Tensions and fratricide in Israel......Page 82
5. Tensions and fratricide in Greece......Page 85
6. Tensions and fratricide in Rome......Page 88
7. Conclusions......Page 89
1. The Titanomachy......Page 92
2. The Titans and their origins......Page 99
3. The Titans and anthropogony......Page 107
4. The Jews and the Titans......Page 112
Appendix: A Newly Discovered Testimony of the Struggle between Zeus and Kronos......Page 117
6 Near Eastern and Native Traditions in Apollodorus' Account of the Flood......Page 120
1. Apollodorus’ account and its sources......Page 122
2. Apollodorus and the Flood......Page 125
3. Conclusions......Page 134
7 Don't Look Back: From the Wife of Lot to Orpheus and Eurydice......Page 136
1. Underworld and chthonic powers......Page 138
2. Magic......Page 139
3. Purifications......Page 140
4. Farewell......Page 142
5. Creations......Page 143
6. Preliminary conclusion......Page 144
7. Orpheus and Eurydice; Lot’s wife......Page 146
8 Balaam, Mopsus and Melampous: Tales of Travelling Seers......Page 152
9 Hebrew Lishkah and Greek Leschê......Page 172
10 The Scapegoat between Northern Syria, Hittites, Israelites, Greeks and Early Christians......Page 188
1. Northern Syria and the Hittites......Page 189
2. The Israelites......Page 191
3. The Greeks......Page 194
3.1. Who were the scapegoats?......Page 198
3.2. Voluntariness......Page 202
3.3. The plants......Page 203
3.4. Leaving the city......Page 208
3.5. The final fate......Page 211
3.6. The Thargelia......Page 213
4. The early Christians......Page 215
4.1. The New Testament......Page 216
4.2. The Jewish evidence......Page 217
4.3. Vicarious sacrifice in contemporary society......Page 222
4.3. IV Maccabees......Page 227
4.4. Conclusion......Page 232
11 Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Heliodorus in the Temple and Paul on the Road to Damascus......Page 234
1. Heliodorus in the Temple......Page 237
2. Paul on the road to Damascus......Page 243
1. The birth of magos and mageia......Page 254
13 Anaphe, Apollo Aiglêtês and the Origin of Asclepius......Page 268
1. The initial stage......Page 270
2. Apollo’s epithets and the birth of Asclepius......Page 272
3. The festival......Page 280
14 Attis: A Greek God in Anatolian Pessinous and Catullan Rome......Page 286
1. The ‘Lydian’ complex......Page 288
2. The arrival of Attis in Greece......Page 291
3. Attis in Phrygia......Page 294
4. Attis’ arrival in Rome and the poem of Catullus......Page 309
5. Concluding observations......Page 318
1. The sacrifice of the ram with the golden fleece......Page 322
2. The Hittite background......Page 329
3. The kurša and the aegis......Page 333
4. The killing of the dragon......Page 336
5. The escape......Page 339
6. The routes of transmission......Page 354
Appendix I: Genesis 1.1: A Jewish Response to a Persian Challenge?......Page 358
Appendix II: Magic and Religion?......Page 366
Appendix III: The Spelling and Meaning of the Name Megabyxos......Page 372
Bibliography......Page 376
Index of Names, Subjects and Passages......Page 420