The Religious Thought of the Greeks: From Homer to the Triumph of Christianity

Description

Interpretation of ancient Greek literature is often enough distorted by the preconceptions of modern times, especially on ancient morality. This is often equivalent to begging the question. If we think e.g. of aretê, which has different meanings in different contexts, we shall think in English (or in Modern Greek or in French or in German) and shall falsify the phenomena. If we are to understand the Greek concept e.g. of aretê we must study the nature of the situations in which it is applied. For it is an important fact in the study of Greek society that the Greeks used the one word (e.g. aretê) where we use different words. If we are to understand properly the texts, we have to view them in their historical and social context. Ancient Greek thought needs to be studied together with politics, ethics, and economic behaviour. Moreover, the best insights can be found in those who confine themselves to the terms of each ancient author's analysis. From this principle each of the contributions of the volume begins. PREFACE CONTENTS HOMER AND HESIOD ORPHISM, PYTHAGOREANISM, AND THE MYSTERIES RELIGION IN THE POETS OF THE SIXTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES B.C. THE FIFTH CENTURY AT ATHENS PLATO AND ARISTOTLE LATER RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHIES THE VICTORY OF GREECE OVER ROME ORIENTAL RELIGIONS IN THE WESTERN HALF OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE CHRISTIANITY CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM APPENDIX I. BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX II. SPECIMEN OF A ROMAN CALENDAR INDEX