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Rites of Passage in Ancient Greece by Mark William Padilla Pdf
This volume reflects on liminality as it relates to initiatory themes in Greek literature and on literary works, especially tragedy, that represent heroes and heroines undergoing rites of passage. Featured works include Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound, Euripides' Ion and Iphigenia in Tauris, and Sophocles' Antigone and Women of Trachis.
Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives by David Dodd,Christopher A. Faraone Pdf
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.
A remarkable number of Greek myths concern the plight of virgins – slaughtered, sacrificed, hanged, transformed into birds, cows, dear, bears, trees, and punished in Hades. Death and the Maiden, first published in 1989, contextualises this mythology in terms of geography, history and culture, and offers a comprehensive theory firmly grounded in an ubiquitous ritual: pubescent girls’ rites of passage. By means of comparative anthropology, it is argued that many local ceremonies are echoed throughout the whole range of myths, both famous and obscure. Further, Professor Dowden examines boys’ rites, as well as the renewal of entire communities at regular intervals. The first full-length work in English devoted to passage-rites in Greek myth, Death and the Maiden is an important contribution to the exciting developments in the study of the interrelation between myth and ritual: from it an innovative view on the origination of many Greek myths emerges.
Stephen John Morewitz,Jenifer Neils,John Howard Oakley,Katherine Hart,Lesley A. Beaumont
Author : Stephen John Morewitz,Jenifer Neils,John Howard Oakley,Katherine Hart,Lesley A. Beaumont Publisher : Yale University Press Page : 360 pages File Size : 42,7 Mb Release : 2003-01-01 Category : Art ISBN : 9780300099607
Coming of Age in Ancient Greece by Stephen John Morewitz,Jenifer Neils,John Howard Oakley,Katherine Hart,Lesley A. Beaumont Pdf
What was childhood like in ancient Greece? What activities and games did Greek children embrace? How were they schooled and what religious and ceremonial rites of passage were key to their development? These fascinating questions and many more are answered in this groundbreaking book--the first English-language study to feature and discuss imagery and artifacts relating to childhood in ancient Greece.Coming of Age in Ancient Greece shows that the Greeks were the first culture to represent children and their activities naturalistically in their art. Here we learn about depictions of children in myth as well as life, from infancy to adolescence. This beautifully illustrated book features such archaeological artifacts as toys and gaming pieces alongside images of them in use by children on ancient vases, coins, terracotta figurines, bronze and stone sculpture, and marble grave monuments. Essays by eminent scholars in the fields of Greek social history, literature, archaeology, anthropology, and art history discuss a wide range of topics, including the burgeoning role of childhood studies in interdisciplinary studies; the status of children in Greek culture; the evolution of attitudes toward children from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period as documented by literature and art; the relationships of fathers and sons and mothers and daughters; and the roles of cult practice and death in a child's existence.This delightful book illuminates what is most universal and specific about childhood in ancient Greece and examines childhood's effects on Greek life and culture, the foundation on which Western civilization has been based.
Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece by Dennis D. Hughes Pdf
Numerous ancient texts describe human sacrifices and other forms of ritual killing: in 480 BC Themistocles sacrifices three Persian captives to Dionysus; human scapegoats called pharmakoi are expelled yearly from Greek cities, and according to some authors they are killed; Locrin girls are hunted down and slain by the Trojans; on Mt Lykaion children are sacrificed and consumed by the worshippers; and many other texts report human sacrifices performed regularly in the cult of the gods or during emergencies such as war and plague. Archaeologists have frequently proposed human sacrifice as an explanation for their discoveries: from Minoan Crete children's bones with knife-cut marks, the skeleton of a youth lying on a platform with a bronze blade resting on his chest, skeletons, sometimes bound, in the dromoi of Mycenaean and Cypriot chamber tombs; and dual man-woman burials, where it is suggested that the woman was slain or took her own life at the man's funeral. If the archaeologists' interpretations and the claims in the ancient sources are accepted, they present a bloody and violent picture of the religious life of the ancient Greeks, from the Bronze Age well into historical times. But the author expresses caution. In many cases alternative, if less sensational, explanations of the archaeological are possible; and it can often be shown that human sacrifices in the literary texts are mythical or that late authors confused mythical details with actual practices.Whether the evidence is accepted or not, this study offers a fascinating glimpse into the religious thought of the ancient Greeks and into changing modern conceptions of their religious behaviour.
The Eleusinian Mysteries by Charles River Editors Pdf
*Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts describing the Mysteries *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading Ancient Greece and its mythology has fascinated people for thousands of years, and few elements have intrigued people quite like the Eleusinian Mysteries, which the Greeks believed transformed the initiates and gave them knowledge that eased both the living of life on earth and allayed fears of death, allowing an acceptance of their ultimate fate. The influence of the Eleusinian Mysteries was also far reaching; for example, the Telesterion is reminiscent of the labyrinthine, symbolic structures that can be found all over pre-historic Europe, ranging from those in Ireland to Malta and Crete to the Shetlands. The larger precinct of Eleusis, combining as it did caves, terraces and buildings carved into the rock again, all echo that ancient past. The external journey of the initiate is mirrored in his internal journey, and what can be seen is that the spiritual torch of classical Greece, as exemplified in these rites, hides the much older worship of deities. It was the spirit of those older gods and goddesses that ultimately pervaded Eleusis. However, it would be unwise to see the Eleusinian Mysteries as something separate from the other aspects of the Greek belief system, or even worse, seeing them as somehow more spiritual than the others. The fact that a considerable element of the Eleusinian Mysteries suggests a tendency towards spiritual monotheism has led to many false conclusions about their nature. They were not a unique phenomenon in Greek religious tradition, and the concepts of secrecy and revelation of mysteries only to initiates had parallels in the cults of Dionysius and Cybele. Similarly, the mystical dimensions of the rites, with their emphasis on a personal encounter with the deity, can be found in other cultic activities. Nonetheless, for the ancient Greeks the vital issue was that only through the Mysteries could they escape the miserable eternal fate ascribed for them if they were not initiated. Sophocles summed it up neatly, declaring, "Oh thrice blessed the mortals who having completed the Mysteries have descended to the underworld for those only will there be a future life of happiness, for the others there will find nothing but suffering." The rites comprising the Eleusinian Mysteries formed a Panhellenic event that attracted visitors from all over the Greek world, including Sicily and Cyrene. Ultimately, anyone who spoke Greek, male, female, free or slave, could present themselves as a candidate for initiation, provided that they were free of any sacrilege or untainted by a heinous crime such as murder. The Mysteries became the most sacred of the mystical celebrations that took place in Greece, and today the rites and rituals that made up what was a huge event are still the subject of academic controversy and religious debate. What makes the Eleusinian Mysteries so important for people studying ancient Greece is that they survived for hundreds of years, well into the Christian era. They celebrated Demeter, a hugely important figure in Greece (particularly in both Athenian and Roman worship), and the whole Festival was celebrated by the state with pomp. Most of all, however, the aura of mystery that has surrounded the famous rites, and the lack of absolutely incontrovertible information about what exactly went on in some of the most secret parts of the rites, has ensured that they have remained enigmatic and have thus continued to be intriguing throughout history. The Eleusinian Mysteries: The History of Ancient Greece's Most Famous Religious Rites looks at some of the ancient Greeks' most important religious practices. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Eleusinian Mysteries like never before.
The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece by Sue Blundell,Margaret Williamson,Margaret Williamson**Nfa*** Pdf
In classical Greece women were almost entirely excluded from public life. Yet the feminine was accorded a central place in religious thought and ritual.This volume explores the often paradoxical centrality of the feminine in Greek culture, showing how out of sight was not out of mind. The contributors adopt perspectives from a wide range of disciplines, such as archaeology, art history, psychology and anthropology, in order to investigate various aspects of religion and cult. They include the part played by women in death ritual, the role of heroines, and the fact that goddesses had no childhood, at the same time posing questions about how we know what rituals meant to their participants. The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece is a lively and colourful exploration of the ways in which religion and ritual reveal women's importance in the Greek polis, showing how ideologies about female roles and behaviour were both endorsed and challenged in the realm of the sacred.
Choruses of Young Women in Ancient Greece by Claude Calame Pdf
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.
Religion in the Ancient Greek City by Louise Bruit Zaidman,Pauline Schmitt Pantel Pdf
This book is a translation into English of La religion grecque by Louise Bruit Zaidman and Pauline Schmitt Pantel, described by Dr Simon Price as 'an excellent book, by far the best introduction to the subject in any language'. It is the purpose of the book to consider how religious beliefs and cultic rituals were given expression in the world of the Greek citizen - the functions performed by the religious personnel, and the place that religion occupied in individual, social and political life. The chapters cover first ritual and then myth, rooting the account in the practices of the classical city while also taking seriously the world of the imagination. For this edition the bibliography has been substantially revised to meet the needs of a mainly student, English-speaking readership. The book is enriched throughout by illustrations, and by quotations from original sources.
Underworld Gods in Ancient Greek Religion by Ellie Mackin Roberts Pdf
This volume presents a case for how and why people in archaic and classical Greece worshipped Underworld gods. These gods are often portrayed as malevolent and transgressive, giving an impression that ancient worshippers derived little or no benefit from developing ongoing relationships with them. In this book, the first book-length study that focuses on Underworld gods as an integral part of the religious landscape of the period, Mackin Roberts challenges this view and shows that Underworld gods are, in many cases, approached and ‘befriended’ in the same way as any other kind of god. Underworld Gods in Ancient Greek Religion provides a fascinating insight into the worship of these deities, and will be of interest to anyone working on ancient Greek religion and cult.
Author : Gloria Ferrari Publisher : University of Chicago Press Page : 361 pages File Size : 54,6 Mb Release : 2002-01-15 Category : Art ISBN : 9780226244365
Over the past two hundred years, thousands of ancient Greek vases have been unearthed. Yet these artifacts remain a challenge: what did the images depicted on these vases actually mean to ancient Greek viewers? In this long-awaited book, Gloria Ferrari uses Athenian vases, literary evidence, and other works of art from the Archaic and Classical periods (520-400 B.C.) to investigate what these items can tell us about the ancient Greeks—specifically, their notions of gender. Ferrari begins by developing a theoretical perspective on visual representation, arguing that artistic images give us access to how their subjects were imagined rather than to the way they really were. For instance, Ferrari's examinations of the many representations of women working wool reveal that these images constitute powerful metaphors—metaphors, she argues, which both reflect and construct Greek conceptions of the ideal woman and her ideal behavior. From this perspective, Ferrari studies a number of icons representing blameless femininity and ideal masculinity to reevaluate the rites of passage by which girls are made ready for marriage and boys become men. Representations of the nude male body in Archaic statues known as kouroi, for example, symbolize manhood itself and shed new light on the much-discussed institution of paiderastia. And, in Ferrari's hands, imagery equating maidens with arable land and buried treasure provides a fresh view of Greek ideas of matrimony. Innovative, thought-provoking, and insightful throughout, Figures of Speech is a powerful demonstration of how the study of visual images as well as texts can reshape our understanding of ancient Greek culture.
Beliefs, Rituals, and Symbols of Ancient Greece and Rome by Dean Miller Pdf
Greek and Roman mythology is forever linked for a myriad of reasons. Historians believe this could be because many of the Roman deities were adopted from the Greek. However, there are many that were not shared and are proudly only Roman, or only Greek. This comprehensive atlas presents dictionary entries about the major gods, heroes, and imaginary creatures of Greek and Roman mythology, along with information on some key historical figures and philosophical schools of thought. In this impressive book, the entries unfold through a pictorial and illustrated journey. Through a robust glossary, sidebars, and thematic introductions the social studies content of this fascinating subject becomes easily digestible, even for the most reluctant reader, while the further reading section inspires future research.
Death and the Maiden (Routledge Revivals) by Ken Dowden Pdf
A remarkable number of Greek myths concern the plight of virgins - slaughtered, sacrificed, hanged, transformed into birds, cows, dear, bears, trees, and punished in Hades. Death and the Maiden, first published in 1989, contextualises this mythology in terms of geography, history and culture, and offers a comprehensive theory firmly grounded in an ubiquitous ritual: pubescent girls' rites of passage. By means of comparative anthropology, it is argued that many local ceremonies are echoed throughout the whole range of myths, both famous and obscure. Further, Professor Dowden examines boys' rites, as well as the renewal of entire communities at regular intervals. The first full-length work in English devoted to passage-rites in Greek myth, Death and the Maiden is an important contribution to the exciting developments in the study of the interrelation between myth and ritual: from it an innovative view on the origination of many Greek myths emerges.
The Hunt in Ancient Greece by Judith M. Barringer Pdf
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.