Divine Epiphany in Greek Literature and Culture

Description

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. Cover Divine Epiphany in Greek Literature and Culture Copyright Acknowledgements Contents List of figures List of abbreviations A note on transliteration Introduction What is an epiphany? Status quaestionis: a brief history of epiphany Scope and methodology The book at a glance The god within: divine presence and absence 1: Divine morphology Anthropomorphic epiphany: exploring the tension between the human and the divine body Enacted epiphany: humans playing gods Effigies epiphany: gods in the form of their cult images Cult statues animated by the gods Cult statues animated in the eyes of their beholders Viewing divine images entails the same dangers and challenges as viewing gods in person Phasma epiphany Pars pro toto epiphany: gods in fractions Honey is for honeysweet poetry, bees are for honeysweet Muses Dionysus is for wine, Demeter and Kore is for wheat, bread, and flour Zoomorphic epiphany: animal-like gods Avian epiphanies? Reptilian epiphanies Bovine epiphanies Amorphous epiphany: epiphanies as manifestations of power Synopsis 2: Epiphanies in crisis Battle epiphanies Trojan wars: fighting amongst and against Panhellenic gods The Persian wars: fighting among and against local heroes Marathon Artemision Salamis Plataea The Gallic wars: fighting among local gods of potential Panhellenic radiance Siege epiphanies `Whilst seeking Athena´s help, move your own hands too´ Look at the bright side of war! The illuminating epiphanies of Artemis, Hecate, and Parthenos Zeus in arms Synopsis Epiphanic stratagems or stratagematic epiphanies? Aristomenes on how to stage a Dioscuri epiphany Archidamos´ staging of a Dioscuri epiphany Aristomenes´ epiphany and Herakles´ pars pro toto quasi-epiphany Themistocles on how to stage Athena´s aphaneia Peisistratus on how to stage Athena´s epiphany Phye´s epiphany procession Cultic paradigms for Peisistratus´ kathodos Pro(s)charisteria and Pro(s)chaireteria Synopsis 3: Healing epiphanies Apollo and Asclepius: private and public aspects of disease Asclepius the divine healer, Asclepius the divine physician Asclepius´ mystic epiphanies Asclepius´ zoomorphic epiphanies Is there such thing as a paradigmatic healing incubation? Complaints about Asclepius´ misdemeanours Media of transmission: dreams or waking reality? Synopsis 4: Dei in remotis Epiphanic landscapes and interstitiality Divine pluralities in remotis Epiphanic Pan Hermes and Dionysus in remotis Epiphanies in a travelling context Midday: the hour of danger, the hour of epiphany Epiphanies initiating poetry Epiphanies moulding ars poetica Dreaming of the gods in remotis and dreaming of poetry Synopsis 5: Erotic epiphanies Erotic and epiphanic landscapes Night and dreaming Midday Temples, shrines, and festivals Form and transformation Sex stratagems Synopsis 6: Epiphanies in cult Mystic epiphanies Legomena and dromena: words and actions Ritual viewing Encountering the gods and goddesses of the underworld Theatricality The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: an insight into mystic epiphanies at Eleusis? Synopsis Epiphanic festivals: celebrating the presence of the gods, celebrating in the presence of the gods Divine epidēmia: advent festivals and divine mobility Apollo´s birth and his Theophania festival Dionysus´ and Kore´s advent festivals Playing hide and seek with the divine Divine mobility as cultic residue of an older perception of the divine Sacrifice Synopsis 7: Theoxenia festivals Twin guests and Heraklean feasts Zeus Philios: successful and twisted theoxenic rites Dionysus´ `itinerary epiphanies´ Demeter´s parousia and political rivalry Synopsis 8: Synthesis Epiphanies as crisis management tools Explanatory function: epiphanies and making sense of the world Authoritative function: god-sent prestige and validity The city and the temple as recipients of epiphanies The individual as recipient of epiphanies Elective affinities: epiphanies and shaping societal values Epilogue Bibliography Index Locorum Index Rerum