Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical (Ancient World)

Description

"Greek Religion . . . already has the standing of a classic, and the publication of an English version, which incorporates new material and is in effect a second edition, demands a toast . . . Anyone who pretends to survey Greek religion must be phenomenally learned. Burkert is. His book is a marvel of professional scholarship." — London Review of Books "This book has established itself as a masterpiece, packed with learning but also rich in ideas and connections of every sort. Its appearance in a good English translation is an event not only for Hellenists but for all those interested in the study of religion . . . nobody else could have produced an account of the subject of comparable range and power. This will be the best history of Greek religion for this generation." — New York Review of Books Cover illustration: detail from an Attic vase, 450 B.C., showing a victory sacrifice (The Mansell Collection). Cover Title Page Contents Preface to the English Edition Introduction 1 A Survey of Scholarship 2 The Sources 3 The Scope of the Study I Prehistory and the Minoan-Mycenaean Age 1 The Neolithic and Early Bronze Age 2 Indo-European 3 The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion 3.1 A Historical Survey 3.2 The State of the Sources 3.3 The Cult Places Caves Peak Sanctuaries Tree Sanctuaries House Sanctuaries Temples Graves 3.4 Rituals and Symbols 3.5 The Minoan Deities 3.6 The Mycenaean Gods and Linear B 4 The 'Dark Age' and the Problem of Continuity II Ritual and Sanctuary 1 'Working Sacred Things': Animal Sacrifice 1.1 Description and Interpretation 1.2 Blood Rituals 1.3 Fire Ritualso 1.4 Animal and God 2 Gift Offerings and Libation 2.1 First Fruit Offerings 2.2 Votive Offerings 2.3 Libation 3 Prayer 4 Purification 4.1 Function and Methods 4.2 The Sacred and the Pure 4.3 Death 4.4 Purification by Bloodo 4.5 Pharmakos 5 The Sanctuary 5.1 Temenos 5.2 Altar 5.3 Temple and Cult Image 5.4 Anathemata 6 Priests 7 The Festival 7.1 Pompe 7.2 Agermos 7.3 Dancing and Hymns 7.4 Masks, Phalloi, Aischrologia 7.5 Agon 7.6 The Banquet of the Gods 7.7 Sacred Marriage 8 Ecstasy and Divination 8.1 Enthousiasmos 8.2 The Art of the Seer 8.3 Oracles III The Gods 1 The Spell of Homer 2 Individual Gods 2.1 Zeus 2.2 Hera 2.3 Poseidon 2.4 Athena 2.5 Apollo 2.6 Artemis 2.7 Aphrodite 2.8 Hermes 2.9 Demeter 2.10 Dionysos 2.11 Hephaistos 2.12 Ares 3 The Remainder of the Pantheon 3.1 Lesser Gods 3.2 Societies of Gods 3.3 Nature Deities 3.4 Foreign Gods 3.5 Daimon 4 The Special Character of Greek Anthropomorphism IV The Dead, Heroes, and Chthonic Gods 1 Burial and the Cult of the Dead 2 Afterlife Mythology 3 Olympian and Chthonic 4 The Heroes 5 Figures who cross the Chthonic-Olympian Boundary 5.1 Heracles 5.2 The Dioskouroi 5.3 Asklepios V Polis and Polytheism 1 Thought Patterns in Greek Polytheism General Considerations The Family of the Gods Pairs of Gods Old and Young Dionysos 2 The Rhythm of the Festivals 2.1 Festival Calendars 2.2 Year Ending and New Year 2.3 Karneia 2.4 Anthesteria 2.5 Thesmophoria 3 Social Functions of Cult 3.1 Gods between Amorality and Law 3.2 The Oath 3.3 The Creation of Solidarity in the Playing and the Interplay of Roles 3.4 Initiation 3.5 Crisis Management 4 Piety in the Mirror of Greek Language 4.1 'Sacred' 4-2 Theos 4.3 Eusebeia VI Mysteries and Asceticism 1 Mystery Sanctuaries 1.1 General Considerations 1.2 Clan and Family Mysteries 1.3 The Kabeiroi and SamothraceI 1.4 Eleusis 2 Bacchica and Orphica 2.1 Bacchic Mysteries 2.2 Bacchic Hopes for an Afterlife 2.3 Orpheus and Pythagoras 3 Bios VII Philosophical Religion 1 The New Foundation: Being and the Divine 2 The Crisis: Sophists and Atheists 3 The Deliverance: Cosmic Religion and Metaphysics 3.1 Pre-Socratic Outlines 3-2 Plato: The Good and the Soul 3.3 Plato: Cosmos and Visible Gods 3.4 Aristotle and Xenocrates: Spirit, God, and Demons 4 Philosophical Religion and Polis Religion: Plato's Laws Notes Bibliography Index of Greek Words Index