Download or read book Greek Religious Terminology Telete Orgia written by Feyo Schuddeboom and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2009-10-31 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume collects and contextualizes ancient sources containing the terms τελετή and ὄργια for students of Greek religion. All the original texts, both literary and epigraphical, are accompanied by English translations.
Download or read book Divine Epiphany in Greek Literature and Culture written by Georgia Petridou and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-01-28 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In ancient Greece, epiphanies were embedded in cultural production, and employed by the socio-political elite in both perpetuating pre-existing power-structures and constructing new ones. This volume is the first comprehensive survey of the history of divine epiphany as presented in the literary and epigraphic narratives of the Greek-speaking world. It demonstrates that divine epiphanies not only reveal what the Greeks thought about their gods; they tell us just as much about the preoccupations, the preconceptions, and the assumptions of ancient Greek religion and culture. In doing so, it explores the deities who were prone to epiphany and the contexts in which they manifested themselves, as well as the functions (narratives and situational) they served, addressing the cultural specificity of divine morphology and mortal-immortal interaction. Divine Epiphany in Greek Literature and Culture re-establishes epiphany as a crucial mode in Greek religious thought and practice, underlines its centrality in Greek cultural production, and foregrounds its impact on both the political and the societal organization of the ancient Greeks.
Download or read book Initiation into the Mysteries of the Ancient World written by Jan N. Bremmer and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2014-07-28 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ancient Mysteries have long attracted the interest of scholars, an interest that goes back at least to the time of the Reformation. After a period of interest around the turn of the twentieth century, recent decades have seen an important study of Walter Burkert (1987). Yet his thematic approach makes it hard to see how the actual initiation into the Mysteries took place. To do precisely that is the aim of this book. It gives a ‘thick description’ of the major Mysteries, not only of the famous Eleusinian Mysteries, but also those located at the interface of Greece and Anatolia: the Mysteries of Samothrace, Imbros and Lemnos as well as those of the Corybants. It then proceeds to look at the Orphic-Bacchic Mysteries, which have become increasingly better understood due to the many discoveries of new texts in the recent times. Having looked at classical Greece we move on to the Roman Empire, where we study not only the lesser Mysteries, which we know especially from Pausanias, but also the new ones of Isis and Mithras. We conclude our book with a discussion of the possible influence of the Mysteries on emerging Christianity. Its detailed references and up-to-date bibliography will make this book indispensable for any scholar interested in the Mysteries and ancient religion, but also for those scholars who work on initiation or esoteric rituals, which were often inspired by the ancient Mysteries.
Download or read book Philosophy and Religion in Plato s Dialogues written by Andrea Nightingale and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-05-06 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Challenges the idea that Plato is a secular thinker, exploring the interaction of philosophy and Greek religion in the dialogues.
Download or read book Religious Individualisation written by Martin Fuchs and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2019-12-16 with total page 1058 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together key findings of the long-term research project ‘Religious Individualisation in Historical Perspective’ (Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, Erfurt University). Combining a wide range of disciplinary approaches, methods and theories, the volume assembles over 50 contributions that explore and compare processes of religious individualisation in different religious environments and historical periods, in particular in Asia, the Mediterranean, and Europe from antiquity to the recent past. Contrary to standard theories of modernisation, which tend to regard religious individualisation as a specifically modern or early modern as well as an essentially Western or Christian phenomenon, the chapters reveal processes of religious individualisation in a large variety of non-Western and pre-modern scenarios. Furthermore, the volume challenges prevalent views that regard religions primarily as collective phenomena and provides nuanced perspectives on the appropriation of religious agency, the pluralisation of religious options, dynamics of de-traditionalisation and privatisation, the development of elaborated notions of the self, the facilitation of religious deviance, and on the notion of dividuality.
Download or read book Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco Roman Antiquity written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-10-26 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book fills a gap in the study of mystery cults in Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Focusing on the visual language surrounding these cults, it aims to understand how images depict mysteries in different cults: Dionysus, Mithras, Mother of the Gods, and Isiac cults.
Download or read book Philo of Alexandria an Annotated Bibliography 2007 2016 written by David T. Runia and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-11-08 with total page 593 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume, prepared in collaboration with the International Philo Bibliography Project, is the fourth in a series of annotated bibliographies on the Jewish exegete and philosopher Philo of Alexandria. It contains an annotated listing of all scholarly writings on Philo for the period 2007 to 2016.
Download or read book Orgies of Words written by Filip Doroszewski and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2022-08-01 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nonnus’ Paraphrasis, an epic rendition of the Fourth Gospel, offers a highly sophisticated interpretation of the Johannine text. An essential means to this end is extensive use of the imagery related to Greek, and especially Dionysiac, mysteries. Doroszewski successfully challenges the once predominant view that the mystery terminology in the poem is nothing more than rhetorical ornament. He convincingly argues for an important exegetical role Nonnus gives to the mystery terms. On the one hand, they refer to the Mystery of Christ. Jesus introduces his followers into the new dimension of life and worship that enables them to commune with God. This is portrayed as falling into Bacchic frenzy and being initiated into secret rites. On the other hand, the terminology has a polemical function, too, as Nonnus uses it to present the Judaic cult as bearing the hallmarks of pagan mysteries. As the book discusses the Paraphrasis against the background of the mystery metaphor development in antiquity, it serves as an excellent introduction to this key feature of the ancient mentality and will appeal to all interested in the culture of Imperial times, especially in Early Christianity, Patristics, Neoplatonism and Late Antique poetry.
Download or read book Redefining Ancient Orphism written by Radcliffe G. Edmonds III and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a paradigm shift, this book redefines Orphism as a polemical label for extra-ordinary religion, good or bad.
Download or read book Apocryphal and Esoteric Sources in the Development of Christianity and Judaism written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-06-17 with total page 652 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Apocryphal traditions, often shared by Jews and Christians, have played a significant role in the history of both religions. The 26 essays in this volume show how such traditions were elaborated in literatures, liturgies, figurative arts and mythology, in regions ranging from Ethiopia to Italy.
Download or read book Divine Mania written by Yulia Ustinova and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-10-16 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Our greatest blessings come to us by way of mania, provided it is given us by divine gift,’ – says Socrates in Plato’s Phaedrus. Certain forms of alteration of consciousness, considered to be inspired by supernatural forces, were actively sought in ancient Greece. Divine mania comprises a fascinating array of diverse experiences: numerous initiates underwent some kind of alteration of consciousness during mystery rites; sacred officials and inquirers attained revelations in major oracular centres; possession states were actively sought; finally, some thinkers, such as Pythagoras and Socrates, probably practiced manipulation of consciousness. These experiences, which could be voluntary or involuntary, intense or mild, were interpreted as an invasive divine power within one’s mind, or illumination granted by a super-human being. Greece was unique in its attitude to alteration of consciousness. From the perspective of individual and public freedom, the prominent position of the divine mania in Greek society reflects its acceptance of the inborn human proclivity to experience alteration of consciousness, interpreted in positive terms as god-sent. These mental states were treated with cautious respect, and in contrast to the majority of complex societies, ancient and modern, were never suppressed or pushed to the cultural and social periphery.
Download or read book Empires of Faith in Late Antiquity written by Jaś Elsner and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-19 with total page 533 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the problems for studying art and religion in Eurasia arising from ancestral, colonial and post-colonial biases in historiography.
Download or read book Greek Philosophy and Mystery Cults written by María José García Blanco and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2016-02-29 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contributions to this book offer a broad vision of the relationships that were established between Greek Philosophy and the Mystery Cults. The authors centre their attention on such thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoic and the Neoplatonist philosophers, who used – and in some cases criticised – doctrinal elements from Mystery Cults, adapting them to their own thinking. Thus, the volume provides a new approach to some of the most renowned Greek philosophers, highlighting the influence that Mystery Cults, such as Orphism, Dionysianism, or the Eleusinian rites, had on the formation of fundamental aspects of their thinking. Given its interdisciplinary character, this book will appeal to a broad academic readership interested in the origin of Hellenic thinking and culture. It will be especially useful for those eager for a deeper approach to two fundamental domains that attract the attention of many Antiquity scholars: Greek philosophy and religion.
Download or read book Ludwig Klages and the Philosophy of Life written by Paul Bishop and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-20 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a unique overview of and introduction to the work of the German psychologist and philosopher Ludwig Klages (1872-1956), an astonishing figure in the history of German ideas. Central to intellectual life in turn-of-the-century Munich, he went on to establish a reputation for himself as an original and provocative thinker. Nowadays he is often overlooked, partly because of the absence of an accessible and authoritative introduction to his thought; this volume offers just such a point of entry. With an emphasis on applicability and utility, Paul Bishop reinvigorates the discourse surrounding Klages, providing a neutral and compact account of his intellectual development and his impact on psychology and philosophy. Part 1 offers an overview of Klages’s life, visiting the major stations of his intellectual development. Part 2 examines in turn nine major conceptual ‘tools’ found in Klages’s extensive writings, aiming to clarify Klages’s terminology, to demystify his discourse, and to sift through Klages’s credentials as a psychological thinker. Part 3 consists of extracts from Klages’s writings, thematically oriented; these showcase the aphoristic and lyrical, as well as psychological and philosophical, qualities of Klages’s writing, including his interest in aesthetics. Taken together, all three parts constitute a vitalist ‘toolkit’ — to build a fuller, richer life. Drawing on previous studies of Klages that have only been available in German, Ludwig Klages and the Philosophy of Life provides a non-polemical account of Klages’s life and work, with explanations and commentaries to guide the reader through extracts from his writings. The book accessibly explains the most important ideas and concepts found in Klages’s work, including soul, spirit, character, expression, will, and consciousness, and it reveals Klages to be a serious figure whose thought remains relevant to many disciplines today. It will stimulate interest in his work and create a new readership for his remarkable worldview.
Download or read book Panth e Religious Transformations in the Graeco Roman Empire written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2013-09-12 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Panthée presents a collective reflection relating to the changes that affected the Graeco-Roman Empire and over the long term altered its religious landscapes. Fifty years after the foundation of the series EPRO, the volume aims to avoid the division between the supposedly "Roman" or "Graeco-Roman" and the "Oriental" by linking the available information relating the different major areas, such as the relation between local and global, the place of emotions in relation to soteriological and initiatory aspects, strategies of integration and negotiation of identities. For the first time the leading specialists in every field bring their approaches into contact with one another, and jointly construct a picture of practices and conceptual frames, which, in their diversity and inter-action, model a religious universe whose complexity will help to understand our modern globalising world. Panthée propose une réflexion collective sur les mutations qui ont affecté l'Empire gréco-romain et ont progressivement remodelé ses paysages religieux. Cinquante ans après la création de la collection des EPRO, ce livre ambitionne de dépasser le clivage entre ce qui serait "romain", ou "gréco-romain", et ce qui serait "oriental" en articulant les données disponibles autour de quelques thèmes majeurs, comme les jeux d'échelle entre local et universel, la place du registre des émotions en relation avec les dimensions sotériologiques et mystériques, les stratégies d'intégration et de négociation des identités. Pour la première fois, les meilleurs spécialistes venus de tous les horizons croisent leurs approches et construisent ensemble un tableau des pratiques et des cadres de pensée qui, dans leur diversité et dans leur interaction, dessinent les contours d'un univers religieux dont la complexité aide à penser le monde moderne de la globalisation.
Download or read book Mystai written by Peter Mark Adams and published by Scarlet Imprint. This book was released on 2019-12-01 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I have read Mystai with admiration of both your insights and their presentation by the publisher. I have loved all these characters for years. To treat them as mnemonic solves at a stroke the intrusion of mythical beings among contemporary Romans that has stymied other interpreters." Joscelyn Godwin “A meticulous study of this book will most likely feel like a daydream transporting the reader to the ancient world of the Mysteries and their gods initiated by Adams’ eloquent writing and personal insights supported by beautiful images of the frescoes of the Villa of the Mysteries and other ancient iconographies and artefacts. The functional combination of text and imagery is what makes Mystai such a potent and inspiring book ... I wholeheartedly recommend that those interested in the Mysteries, both in theory and practice, should indulge in Mystai seeking within every page an epiphany and a celebration of the great god Dionysos immersing oneself into the ritually-centred visuality of the Villa of the Mysteries to generate a beautiful and untamed constellation of theurgic experiences” Damon Zacharias Lycourinos “Peter Mark Adams has done it again just like his prior book ‘The Game of Saturn’, Mystai is a feast for the eyes, the mind and the senses. Its a beautifully designed book: the colours, the materials, the printing, the fonts, the imagery and of course the content itself is tremendously enjoyable and extremely enlightening ... His analysis of the imagery and its meaning, how this would have been utilised in a ritual context, has given us a graduate level course in the ancient Greek mysteries. Peter Mark Adams has quickly become one of my favourite authors in this genre. His work is extremely unique and insightful he has a way of revealing historical mysteries that no one else has elucidated” Greg Kaminsky, The Occult of Personality Podcast “Peter Mark Adams has done it again just like his prior book ‘The Game of Saturn’, Mystai is a feast for the eyes, the mind and the senses. Its a beautifully designed book: the colours, the materials, the printing, the fonts, the imagery and of course the content itself is tremendously enjoyable and extremely enlightening ... His analysis of the imagery and its meaning, how this would have been utilised in a ritual context, has given us a graduate level course in the ancient Greek mysteries. Peter Mark Adams has quickly become one of my favourite authors in this genre. His work is extremely unique and insightful he has a way of revealing historical mysteries that no one else has elucidated” Greg Kaminsky, The Occult of Personality Podcast The Dionysian themed frescos of Pompeii’s Villa of the Mysteries constitute the single most important theurgical narrative to have survived in the Western esoteric tradition. No other practitioner account of the ritual process for conducting a mystery rite has survived down to today. The frescoes’ vivid and allusive imagery illuminates both the ritual activity of the participants as well as its esoteric import. The frescoes, created in the most private rooms of the extensive Roman villa, were never meant to be seen by anyone other than the members of the all-female Bakkhic thiasos who conducted their most secret rites within them. Buried and preserved for posterity by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, these stunning proto-Renaissance images guide the viewer through the consecutive stages of a theurgic rite of initiation into the mysteries of Dionysos. Arising from within the unique interface between Greek and Roman culture in Southern Italy, the frescoes attest to the survival of an unbroken initiatic tradition of Bakkhic mystery rites on the Italian peninsula stretching back to the fifth century BCE. The recent restoration of the frescoes has provided a fresh opportunity to elucidate the ritual processes hidden in plain sight. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Peter Mark Adams draws on current scholarship on dithyrambic performance; the ritual dress of Greco-Roman priestesses; classical philology and the comparative ethnography of rites of higher initiation. With the same attention to detail which he demonstrated in The Game of Saturn, Adams reveals the stages of initiation encoded and accomplished in dance, gesture, ordeal and sign. Adams interprets the frescoes through the distinct performative lens of the ritualist, throwing light, for the first time, on the significance of the ritual vocabulary and the phenomenology of ritual participation. We are pulled into the dance ourselves, and emerge transfigured by the experience.
Download or read book Pedagogy in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity written by Karina Martin Hogan and published by SBL Press. This book was released on 2017-06-30 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Engage fourteen essays from an international group of experts There is little direct evidence for formal education in the Bible and in the texts of Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. At the same time, pedagogy and character formation are important themes in many of these texts. This book explores the pedagogical purpose of wisdom literature, in which the concept of discipline (Hebrew musar) is closely tied to the acquisition of wisdom. It examines how and why the concept of musar came to be translated as paideia (education, enculturation) in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (Septuagint), and how the concept of paideia was deployed by ancient Jewish authors writing in Greek. The different understandings of paideia in wisdom and apocalyptic writings of Second Temple Judaism are this book's primary focus. It also examines how early Christians adapted the concept of paideia, influenced by both the Septuagint and Greco-Roman understandings of this concept. Features A thorough lexical study of the term paideia in the Septuagint Exploration of the relationship of wisdom and Torah in Second Temple Judaism Examination of how Christians developed new forms of pedagogy in competition with Jewish and pagan systems of education