LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Greek Religion: Ancient Greek Religion
built 629 days ago
Ancient Greek religion has been the subject of speculation and research from classic times to the present. Herodotus believed that the rites of many of the gods had been derived from the Egyptians. Prodicus of Ceos (fl. 5th cent. BC), a Sophist philosopher, seems to have taught that the gods were simply personifications of natural phenomena, such as the sun, moon, winds, and water. Euhemerus (370?-298 BC), a mythographer, in his Sacred History, gave expression to ideas long prevalent when he interpreted the myths as distortions of history and the gods as idealized heroes of the past. In modern times, studies along etymological and anthropological lines have produced the theory that Greek religion resulted from the synthesis of Indo-European beliefs with ideas and customs native to the Mediterranean countries, the original inhabitants of those lands having been conquered by Indo-European invaders.
Source:
Ancient Greek religion has been the subject of speculation and research from classic times to the present. Herodotus believed that the rites of many of the gods had been derived from the Egyptians. Prodicus of Ceos (5th cent. B.C. ), a Sophist philosopher, seems to have taught that the gods were simply personifications of natural phenomena, such as the sun, moon, winds, and water. Euhemerus (370?-298 B.C. ), a historian of myths believed, and many other shared this belief, that myths were the distortions of history and that gods were the idealized heroes of the past. Modern etymology and anthropology research produced the theory that Greek religion resulted from a combination of Indo-European beliefs and ideas and customs native to the Mediterranean countries since the original inhabitants of those lands were conquered by Indo-European invaders.
Source:
The study of ancient Greek religion has been excitingly renewed in the last thirty years. Key areas of interest have been: the relationship between religion and politics; new and unexpected perspectives opened up by archaeological finds; the symbiosis between myth and ritual; the role of gender differences in the practice and perception of religion; conceptual problems raised by the very notion of "religion." This volume gathers together challenging papers by many of the most innovative participants in this renewal. Almost all the articles have been revised by their authors and/or provided with Addenda, to take account of the most recent scholarship. One article has been translated specifically for this collection; another is for the first time provided with illustrations. No single school or style of approach is privileged: the aim is to illustrate a range of possible methods which may be adopted in the investigation of this endlessly fascinating material.
Source:
Ancient Greek Religion provides an introduction to the fundamental beliefs and practices and the major deities of Greek religion. While the focus is on Athens in the classical period, the book includes detailed discussion of Greek gods and heroes, myth and cult from the archaic age to the Hellenistic world. The book clearly sets out the fascinating but alien concepts of Greek polytheism, building up a picture of Greek religion as it was actually practiced. It emphasizes the experience of worshippers, considering Greek religious practice from a variety of perspectives � from that of the slave and members of the family, to that of priests and public officials. It examines views of the gods and the afterlife, the relationship between cult and myth, the nature of piety and impiety, and the wider social and political context in which religion functioned. Throughout the book, vivid descriptions of actual sanctuaries and practices, the inclusion of ancient texts in translation, and the use of abundant illustrations re-create the rich and varied religious life of ancient Greece.
Source:
Inadequately documented, ancient Greek religion can all too easily be reduced to the dry analysis of archaeological remains and so-called `ritual objects'. This authoritative new work attempts to bridge the gap that usually divides Greek religion from Greek history, setting it firmly in the thick of contemporary events and politics. How did people actually worship the gods? Was Socrates's trial a crisis for religion or the state, or both? These are among the key issues addressed in what promises to be the definitive work on the subject for many years to come.
Source:
The study of Greek goddesses as a topic in its own right, separable from the larger unit of ancient Greek religion in which the goddesses took their place, is a very recent phenomenon. Only in the past twenty years or so have scholars turned their attention to the goddesses as a special focus of study and, as the quotation from Christ suggests, this scholarly enterprise has been fueled by feminist interests. This course, then, exists within a specific cultural and historical context, that is, the movement for women's rights in the late twentieth century, particularly in the United States. Specifically, this course owes its being (and most of its reading material) to efforts by feminist scholars to recover from the past those cultural and religious images that allow for the expression and affirmation of female being-in-the-world. The imagery of the goddesses from Greek antiquity has emerged as a powerful resource for the expression of values and for the construction of a pluralized universe.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Ancient Greek Religion