The Blackwell Companion to Greek Religion

A Companion to Greek Religion (2007)\r......Page 1
BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO THE ANCIENT WORLD......Page 3
ISBN-10: 1405120541......Page 5
--> Contents......Page 8
Figures......Page 11
Notes on Contributors......Page 13
Acknowledgments......Page 18
Note on Authors and Translations......Page 19
Abbreviations......Page 20
Ancient Author Fragment Series Referred to by Editor’s Name......Page 22
Introduction......Page 24
PART I - In the Background......Page 42
CHAPTER ONE - Greek Religion and the Ancient Near East......Page 44
Myths, Rituals, and Cults......Page 46
The Vehicles of Cultural Transmission......Page 49
Shared Taxonomies and the Problem of Cultural Exchange......Page 55
Monotheisms, Monolatries, Henotheisms, and Polytheisms......Page 58
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 60
PART II - The Powers: The Gods and the Dead......Page 62
The Nature of Gods......Page 64
The Twelve Olympian Gods, the ‘‘Pantheon’’......Page 66
The Myths and Functions of the Gods......Page 68
The Diversity and Origins of the Gods......Page 70
Apollo......Page 72
Artemis......Page 74
Conclusion: The Invisibility of the Gods......Page 76
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 78
CHAPTER THREE - A Land Full of Gods: Nature Deities in Greek Religion......Page 79
Landscape and Religion......Page 80
Gardens of the Nymphs......Page 81
Worshiping the Nymphs......Page 83
Goat-Footed, Noise-Loving Pan......Page 86
Nourishers of the Young: The Rivers......Page 87
Wide-Bosomed Earth and All-Seeing Sun......Page 90
Gods of the Sea and Wind......Page 91
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 93
Introduction......Page 94
Epic Poetry and Archaic Personification......Page 95
Classical Personification: The Fifth Century......Page 100
Late Classical and Hellenistic Personification: The Fourth Century and After......Page 104
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 107
Honoring the Dead......Page 109
Chthonic Deities and Denizens of the Underworld......Page 113
Contacting the Dead: Katabasis and Necromancy......Page 117
Contact from the Dead: Hauntings......Page 119
ACKNOWLEDGMENT......Page 122
What Is a Hero?......Page 123
The use and meaning of the term heros......Page 124
The rise of the hero concept......Page 125
How To Become a Hero: Myth vs. Cult......Page 126
Ritual: Consumption or Destruction......Page 129
Cult-Places......Page 131
Public and Private Perspectives......Page 134
Conclusion: Heroes between the Gods and the Dead......Page 136
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 137
PART III - Communicating with the Divine......Page 138
Prayer and Hymn......Page 140
The Ritual Frame......Page 142
Naming......Page 145
Arguments......Page 147
Prayers......Page 150
Hymns......Page 152
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 154
CHAPTER EIGHT - Greek Normative Animal Sacrifice......Page 155
Before the kill......Page 156
The kill......Page 159
The Significance of Sacrifice: The Insider’s Perspective......Page 162
The Significance of Sacrifice: The Perspective of Outsiders......Page 164
History and Function of Greek Sacrifice......Page 166
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 167
Divination in the Greek Mind......Page 168
Between Truth and Lie: The Ambiguity of Oracles......Page 170
Inductive divination......Page 173
Inspired divination......Page 176
Dodona......Page 178
Divination, Daily Life, and ‘‘Great History’’......Page 179
The End of Oracles......Page 181
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 182
PART IV - From Sacred Space to Sacred Time......Page 184
A Fly on the Wall......Page 186
If Walls Could Speak . . .......Page 189
The Eyes of the Worshiper: Daytime......Page 192
The Eyes of the Worshiper: Night-time......Page 193
Servants, Mediators, Administrators......Page 195
Sanctuary and Polis......Page 198
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 199
Introduction......Page 201
Ritual Purity......Page 202
Pollution and Purification......Page 207
Epilogue: Beyond Ritual Purity......Page 211
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 212
Evidence and Reconstruction: The Athenian Diasia......Page 213
Interpreting Festivals: The Spartan Karneia......Page 216
Festival and Aetion: The Athenian Oschophoria......Page 219
The Festival Experience......Page 224
Guide to Further Reading......Page 226
The Universal Calendar: Sun, Moon, and Stars......Page 227
New Year......Page 232
Sequences and Processes......Page 233
The Reign of Cronus......Page 236
Human Time......Page 238
Conclusion......Page 239
Guide to Further Reading......Page 241
PART V - Local Religious Systems......Page 242
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - ‘‘Famous Athens, Divine Polis’’: The Religious System at Athens......Page 244
Approaching the Gods: Religion in the ‘‘Monocentric’’ City......Page 245
Myth in the City: Gods, Heroes, and the ‘‘Children of Athena’’......Page 247
Ritual in the City......Page 252
Religion and Politics: The Return of Peisistratos and the Scandals of 415......Page 254
Conclusion......Page 257
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 258
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - The Religious System at Sparta......Page 259
Initiation and communal life under the care of the gods......Page 260
Gods and cults of peacetime activities......Page 261
Gods and cults of war......Page 264
Space protected by sanctuaries......Page 266
The calendar of Lacedaemonian festivals......Page 269
The pathemata......Page 271
Royal funerals......Page 272
A hierarchy of the dead......Page 273
The protecting dead......Page 274
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 275
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - The Religious System at Alexandria......Page 276
Sources......Page 277
Demeter......Page 278
Dionysus......Page 279
Aphrodite......Page 280
Isis......Page 281
Sarapis......Page 282
Dynastic Cult......Page 284
Jews and Christians......Page 285
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 286
Three Pan-Arcadian Deities and their Cults......Page 287
Local Pantheons and Distinctive Cults......Page 292
Arcadian Myths......Page 296
Conclusion......Page 301
ACKNOWLEDGMENT......Page 302
PART VI - Social Organization, the Family, and Sex......Page 304
Introduction......Page 306
History of the Problem......Page 308
Athenian Society......Page 310
Civic Religion......Page 312
Urban versus Rural Religion......Page 315
Extra-Political Religious Associations......Page 317
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 318
Controlling Women......Page 320
AWoman’s Place......Page 322
Hearth and Home......Page 324
Festivals and Female Movement......Page 326
Women as Home: Rites of Transition......Page 329
Women and Boundaries......Page 331
Conclusions......Page 332
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 333
CHAPTER TWENTY - ‘‘Something to do with Aphrodite’’: Ta Aphrodisia and the Sacred......Page 334
Cosmogony and theogony: Hesiod......Page 335
Tragic love......Page 336
Platonic variations......Page 337
Cults in the Poleis: Who, When, and Why?......Page 338
Sacred prostitution?......Page 342
A certain image of the Orient......Page 345
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 346
PART VII - Mysteries and Magic......Page 348
Paradoxes......Page 350
Early History......Page 351
Experiencing Dionysus......Page 352
Interpreting Resistance......Page 353
The Gaze of Dionysus......Page 354
Altered States......Page 355
Ritual Performance......Page 357
Gender and Dionysiac Ritual......Page 358
Balancing Public and Private......Page 359
Dionysus and the Dead......Page 361
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 364
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - The Mysteries of Demeter and Kore......Page 365
The Sacred Drama......Page 376
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 379
Introduction......Page 380
What Did Ancient Magicians Do?......Page 384
Practitioners......Page 391
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 392
PART VIII - Intersections: Greek Religion and . . .......Page 394
The Use of Literary Texts in the Study of Greek Religion......Page 396
The Sustainability of the Religious Proposition: ‘‘All unjust acts are punished by divine intervention’’......Page 398
The Complexity of Religious Discourse in Literary Sources and its Importance......Page 403
Challenges to the Principal Tenets of Modern Scholarship on Greek Religion......Page 405
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 407
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - Greek Religion and Philosophy: The God of the Philosopher......Page 408
The Theology of Plato’s Dialogues......Page 409
Interpreting Plato’s Theology......Page 410
Constructing Plato’s Theology......Page 412
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 419
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 420
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - Greek Religion and Art......Page 421
Images at the Panathenaea......Page 422
Athenian Representations of Religious Practice......Page 432
Funerary Imagery......Page 440
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 442
PART IX - Epilogue\r......Page 444
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - Gods of the Silver Screen: Cinematic Representations of Myth and Divinity......Page 446
Jason and the Argonauts (1960)......Page 447
The Clash of the Titans (1981)......Page 448
Divine Apparatus in Homeric Style......Page 449
Olympus......Page 450
Anthropomorphism, Transformation, and Metamorphosis......Page 451
Epiphanies......Page 454
Time and Space......Page 455
Conflict, Intervention, and Immortality......Page 457
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING......Page 460
Bibliography......Page 462
Index......Page 500