Download or read book Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives written by David Dodd and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-05 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholars of classical history and literature have for more than a century accepted `initiation' as a tool for understanding a variety of obscure rituals and myths, ranging from the ancient Greek wedding and adolescent haircutting rituals to initiatory motifs or structures in Greek myth, comedy and tragedy. In this books an international group of experts including Gloria Ferrari, Fritz Graf and Bruce Lincoln, critique many of these past studies, and challenge strongly the tradition of privileging the concept of initiation as a tool for studying social performances and literary texts, in which changes in status or group membership occur in unusual ways. These new modes of research mark an important turning point in the modern study of the religion and myths of ancient Greece and Rome, making this a valuable collection across a number of classical subjects.
Download or read book Homer s Iliad written by Magdalene Stoevesandt and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2015-11-13 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This commentary on the 6th book of the Iliad concentrates on the interpretation of two episodes which have received a great deal of scholarly attention: the encounter between Diomedes and Glaukos, which surprisingly ends with an exchange of weapons and not a duel, and the series of scenes ‘Hector in Troy’, which reveal the hero’s conflicting roles as defender of the city and father of his family.
Download or read book Homeric Receptions Across Generic and Cultural Contexts written by Athanasios Efstathiou and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-07-11 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collective volume provides a fresh perspective on Homeric reception through a methodologically focused, interdisciplinary investigation of the transformations of Homeric epic within varying generic and cultural contexts. It explores how various aspects of Homeric poetics appeal and can be mapped on to a diversity of contexts under different socio-historical, intellectual, literary and artistic conditions. The volume brings together internationally acclaimed scholars and acute young researchers in the fields of classics and reception studies, yielding insight into the varied strategies and ideological forces that define Homeric reception in literature, scholarship and the performing arts (theatre, film and music) and shape the ‘horizon of expectations’ of readers and audience. This collection also showcases that the wide-ranging ‘migration’ of Homeric material through time and across place holds significant cultural power, being instrumental in the construction of new cultural identities. The volume is of particular interest to scholars in the fields of classics, reception and cultural studies and the performing arts, as well as to readers fascinated by ancient literature and its cultural transformations.
Download or read book Reading the Odyssey written by Jonas Grethlein and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2024-11-12 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fresh and original introduction to the Odyssey—and how it continues to shape literature, film, art and even the ways we make sense of our lives Reading the Odyssey is an introduction to Homer’s masterpiece like no other. It combines a cultural and intellectual history of the epic with an in-depth exploration of its unique and influential narrative structure and the ways it continues to inform issues of identity, meaning and experience. Reading the Odyssey begins with a broad history of the epic’s reception and interpretation, its place in cultural and intellectual history and its influence today on literature, film and art. After introducing the literary form of the Odyssey, the book turns to its main focus: the layered narrative that lies at the heart of the poem. Taking readers on a tour of the epic, Jonas Grethlein shows the nuanced ways the Odyssey uses a wide variety of narrative forms and functions. At the same time, he highlights how we all rely on narratives, first used by Homer, to form identities, forge communities and make sense of our lives. The result is a compelling guide to the Odyssey that demonstrates why it continues to speak so powerfully to so many readers today.
Download or read book A Companion to Ancient Aesthetics written by Pierre Destrée and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-04-28 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first of its kind, A Companion to Ancient Aesthetics presents a synoptic view of the arts, which crosses traditional boundaries and explores the aesthetic experience of the ancients across a range of media—oral, aural, visual, and literary. Investigates the many ways in which the arts were experienced and conceptualized in the ancient world Explores the aesthetic experience of the ancients across a range of media, treating literary, oral, aural, and visual arts together in a single volume Presents an integrated perspective on the major themes of ancient aesthetics which challenges traditional demarcations Raises questions about the similarities and differences between ancient and modern ways of thinking about the place of art in society
Download or read book Children in Greek Tragedy written by Emma M. Griffiths and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020-02 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Astyanax is thrown from the walls of Troy; Medeia kills her children as an act of vengeance against her husband; Aias reflects with sorrow on his son's inheritance, yet kills himself and leaves Eurysakes vulnerable to his enemies. The pathos created by threats to children is a notable feature of Greek tragedy, but does not in itself explain the broad range of situations in which the ancient playwrights chose to employ such threats. Rather than casting children in tragedy as simple figures of pathos, this volume proposes a new paradigm to understand their roles, emphasizing their dangerous potential as the future adults of myth. Although they are largely silent, passive figures on stage, children exert a dramatic force that transcends their limited physical presence, and are in fact theatrically complex creations who pose a danger to the major characters. Their multiple projected lives create dramatic palimpsests which are paradoxically more significant than their immediate emotional effects: children are never killed because of their immediate weakness, but because of their potential strength. This re-evaluation of the significance of child characters in Greek tragedy draws on a fresh examination of the evidence for child actors in fifth-century Athens, which concludes that the physical presence of children was a significant factor in their presentation. However, child roles can only be fully appreciated as theatrical phenomena, utilizing the inherent ambiguities of drama: as such, case studies of particular plays and playwrights are underpinned by detailed analysis of staging considerations, opening up new avenues for interpretation and challenging traditional models of children in tragedy.
Download or read book Homer Iliad Book VI written by Homer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-11-04 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first commentary in English entirely devoted to the Iliad Book 6, illuminating some of the best-loved episodes in the whole poem.
Download or read book Homer Iliad Book VI written by Barbara Graziosi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-11-04 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sixth book of the Iliad includes some of the most memorable and best-loved episodes in the whole poem: it holds meaning and interest for many different people, not just students of ancient Greek. Book 6 describes how Glaukos and Diomedes, though fighting on opposite sides, recognise an ancient bond of hospitality and exchange gifts on the battlefield. It then follows Hector as he enters the city of Troy and meets the most important people in his life: his mother, Helen and Paris, and finally his wife and baby son. It is above all through the loving and fraught encounter between Hector and Andromache that Homer exposes the horror of war. This edition is suitable for undergraduates at all levels, and students in the upper forms of schools. The Introduction requires no knowledge of Greek and is intended for all readers interested in Homer.
Download or read book Mystic Cults in Magna Graecia written by Giovanni Casadio and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2013-08-15 with total page 583 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Vergil's Aeneid, the poet implies that those who have been initiated into mystery cults enjoy a blessed situation both in life and after death. This collection of essays brings new insight to the study of mystic cults in the ancient world, particularly those that flourished in Magna Graecia (essentially the area of present-day Southern Italy and Sicily). Implementing a variety of methodologies, the contributors to Mystic Cults in Magna Graecia examine an array of features associated with such "mystery religions" that were concerned with individual salvation through initiation and hidden knowledge rather than civic cults directed toward Olympian deities usually associated with Greek religion. Contributors present contemporary theories of ancient religion, field reports from recent archaeological work, and other frameworks for exploring mystic cults in general and individual deities specifically, with observations about cultural interactions throughout. Topics include Dionysos and Orpheus, the Goddess Cults, Isis in Italy, and Roman Mithras, explored by an international array of scholars including Giulia Sfameni Gasparro ("Aspects of the Cult of Demeter in Magna Graecia") and Alberto Bernabé ("Imago Inferorum Orphica"). The resulting volume illuminates this often misunderstood range of religious phenomena.
Download or read book The Hunt in Ancient Greece written by Judith M. Barringer and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2003-04-01 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hunting and its imagery continued to play a significant role in archaic and classical Greece long after hunting had ceased being a necessity for survival in everyday life. Drawing on vase paintings, sculpture, inscriptions, and other literary evidence, Judith Barringer reexamines the theme of the hunt and shows how the tradition it depicts helped maintain the dominance of the ruling social groups. Along with athletics and battle, hunting was a defining activity of the masculine aristocracy and was crucial to the efforts of the Athenian elite to control the social agenda, even as their political power declined. The Hunt in Ancient Greece examines descriptions of hunting in initiation rituals as well as the ideals of masculinity and adulthood such rites of passage promoted. Barringer argues that depictions of the hunt in literature and art also served as striking metaphors for the intricacies of courtship, shedding light on sexuality and gender roles. Through an exploration of various representations of the hunt, Barringer provides extraordinary insight into Athenian society.
Download or read book The Sea in the Greek Imagination written by Marie-Claire Beaulieu and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Sea in the Greek Imagination, Marie-Claire Beaulieu unifies the multifarious representations of the sea and sea-crossing in Greek myth and imagery by positing the sea as a cosmological boundary between the worlds of the living, the dead, and the gods, or between reality and imagination.
Download or read book The Mysteries of Artemis of Ephesos written by Guy MacLean Rogers and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2012-11-27 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Artemis of Ephesos was one of the most widely worshiped deities of the Graeco-Roman World. Her temple, the Artemision, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and for more than half a millennium people flocked to Ephesos to learn the great secret of the mysteries and sacrifices that were celebrated every year on her birthday. In this work Guy MacLean Rogers sets out the evidence for the celebration of Artemis's mysteries against the background of the remarkable urban development of the city during the Roman Empire and then proposes an entirely new theory about the great secret that was revealed to initiates into Artemis's mysteries. The revelation of that secret helps to explain not only the success of Artemis's cult and polytheism itself but, more surprisingly, the demise of both and the success of Christianity. Contrary to many anthropological and scientific theories, the history of polytheism, including the celebration of Artemis's mysteries, is best understood as a Darwinian tale of adaptation, competition, and change.
Download or read book Instructions for the Netherworld written by Alberto Bernabé Pajares and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2008 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Orphic gold tables are key documents for the knowledge of rites and beliefs of Orphics, an atypical group that configured a highly original creed and that influenced powerfully over other Greek writers and thinkers. The recent discovery of some tablets has forced a noteworthy modification of some points of view and a review ofthe different hypothesis proposed about them. The book presents a complete edition of the texts, their translation and some fundamental keys for their interpretation, in an attempt at updating our current knowledge on Orphic ideas about the soul and the Afterlife stated in those texts. The work is improved with an appendix of iconographic annotations in which some plastic representations in drawings are reproduced related to the universe of tablets, selected and commented on by Ricardo Olmos.
Download or read book Choruses of Young Women in Ancient Greece written by Claude Calame and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2001 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking work, Claude Calame argues that the songs sung by choruses of young girls in ancient Greek poetry are more than literary texts; rather, they functioned as initiatory rituals in Greek cult practices. Using semiotic and anthropologic theory, Calame reconstructs the religious and social institutions surrounding the songs, demonstrating their function in an aesthetic education that permitted the young girls to achieve the stature of womanhood and to be integrated into the adult civic community. This first English edition includes an updated bibliography.
Download or read book Romanising Oriental Gods written by Jaime Alvar Ezquerra and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2008 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The traditional grand narrative correlating the decline of Graeco-Roman religion with the rise of Christianity has been under pressure for three decades. This book argues that the alternative accounts now emerging significantly underestimate the role of three major cults, of Cybele and Attis, Isis and Serapis, and Mithras. Although their differences are plain, these cults present sufficient common features to justify their being taken typologically as a group. All were selective adaptations of much older cults of the Fertile Crescent. It was their relative sophistication, their combination of the imaginative power of unfamiliar myth with distinctive ritual performance and ethical seriousness, that enabled them both to focus and to articulate a sense of the autonomy of religion from the socio-political order, a sense they shared with Early Christianity. The notion of 'mystery' was central to their ability to navigate the Weberian shift from ritualist to ethical salvation.
Download or read book Romanising Oriental Gods written by Jaime Alvar and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2008-07-31 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The traditional grand narrative correlating the decline of Graeco-Roman religion with the rise of Christianity has been under pressure for three decades. This book argues that the alternative accounts now emerging significantly underestimate the role of three major cults, of Cybele and Attis, Isis and Serapis, and Mithras. Although their differences are plain, these cults present sufficient common features to justify their being taken typologically as a group. All were selective adaptations of much older cults of the Fertile Crescent. It was their relative sophistication, their combination of the imaginative power of unfamiliar myth with distinctive ritual performance and ethical seriousness, that enabled them both to focus and to articulate a sense of the autonomy of religion from the socio-political order, a sense they shared with Early Christianity. The notion of 'mystery' was central to their ability to navigate the Weberian shift from ritualist to ethical salvation.
Download or read book Herakles written by Emma Stafford and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is more material available on Herakles than any other Greek god or hero. His story has many more episodes than those of other heroes, concerning his life and death as well as his battles with myriad monsters and other opponents. In literature, he appears in our earliest Greek epic and lyric poetry, is reinvented for the tragic and comic stage, and later finds his way into such unlikely areas as philosophical writing and love poetry. In art, his exploits are amongst the earliest identifiable mythological scenes, and his easily-recognisable figure with lionskin and club was a familiar sight throughout antiquity in sculpture, vase-painting and other media. He was held up as an ancestor and role-model for both Greek and Roman rulers, and widely worshipped as a god, his unusual status as a hero-god being reinforced by the story of his apotheosis. Often referred to by his Roman name Hercules, he has continued to fascinate writers and artists right up to the present day. In Herakles, Emma Stafford has successfully tackled the ‘Herculean task’ of surveying both the ancient sources and the extensive modern scholarship in order to present a hugely accessible account of this important mythical figure. Covering both Greek and Roman material, the book highlights areas of consensus and dissent, indicating avenues for further study on both details and broader issues. Easy to read, Herakles is perfectly suited to students of classics and related disciplines, and of interest to anyone looking for an insight into ancient Greece’s most popular hero.
