Religion and Cult in the Dodecanese during the First Millennium BC

Religion and Cult in the Dodecanese during the First Millennium BC PDF

Author: Manolis I. Stefanakis

Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd

Published: 2023-07-20

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1803274522

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This volume publishes the proceedings of the conference of the same name, held in Rhodes in October 2018. Contributions draw on archaeological and literary sources to explore both the development and continuity of cults in the Dodecanese, from the Early Iron Age through to the 1st century BC.

Karia and the Dodekanese

Karia and the Dodekanese PDF

Author: Birte Poulsen

Publisher: Oxbow Books

Published: 2021-01-21

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1789255171

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Karia and the Dodekanese, Vol. II, presents new research that highlights cultural interrelations and connectivity in the Southeast Aegean and western Asia Minor over a period of more than 700 years. Throughout antiquity, this region was a dynamic meeting place for eastern and western civilizations. Modern geographical limitations have been influential on both archaeological investigations and how we approach cultural relations in the region. Comprehensive and valuable research has been carried out on many individual sites in Karia and the Dodekanese, but the results have rarely been brought together in an attempt to paint a larger picture of the culture of this region. In antiquity, the sea did not constitute an obstacle to interaction between societies and cultures, but was an effective means of communication for the exchange of goods, sculptural styles, architectural form and embellishment, education, and ideas. It is clear that close relations existed between the Dodekanese and western Asia Minor during the Classical period (Vol. I), but these relations were evidently further strengthened under the shifting political influences of the Hellenistic kings, the Roman Empire, and the cosmopolitan late antique period. The contributions in this volume comprise investigations on urbanism, architectural form and embellishment, sculpture, pottery, and epigraphy.

Cretan Sanctuaries and Cults

Cretan Sanctuaries and Cults PDF

Author: Mieke Prent

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2005-06-01

Total Pages: 813

ISBN-13: 9047406907

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This volume offers a contextual study of sanctuaries and cults in Crete in the transitional period from the end of the Late Bronze Age into the Archaic period (c.1200 to 600 BC). It provides a dynamic picture of the interplay of religious tradition and societal change in a period long considered a 'Dark Age' by Classical scholarship.

A Local History of Greek Polytheism

A Local History of Greek Polytheism PDF

Author: Irene Polinskaya

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2013-11-28

Total Pages: 718

ISBN-13: 9004262083

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This book provides the first comprehensive and detailed study of the deities and cults of the important Greek island-state of Aigina from the Geometric to Classical periods (800-400 BCE). It rests on a thorough first-hand reconsideration of the archaeological, epigraphic and literary evidence. The development of the local cults is reconstructed, along with their interrelationships and how they responded to the social needs of the Aiginetans. Revising other recent models of interpretation, the author proposes a distinctive approach, informed by anthropology and social theory, to the study of the religious life of the ancient Greeks. On this basis, she uses the case of Aigina to explore fundamental issues such as the nature and variety of local religious worlds and their relationship to the panhellenic concepts and practices of Greek religion.

Among the Gods

Among the Gods PDF

Author: John Ferguson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-11-30

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 1000369668

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First published in 1989, Among the Gods uses archaeological evidence to explore ancient Greek religion. The book analyses cult-statues and inscriptions to provide a detailed discussion of gods and goddesses, the priesthood, and healing sanctuaries. In doing so, it highlights the external, formal nature of religious practice in ancient Greece, such as pilgrimages, offerings, and hallowed sites. Archaeological records are used to examine both the theory and practice of ancient Greek religion, and to provide context to a variety of Greek myths and Greek literature. Among the Gods will appeal to those with an interest in religious history, archaeological history, and Classical history.

Travelling Heroes

Travelling Heroes PDF

Author: Robin Lane Fox

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2010-03-09

Total Pages: 498

ISBN-13: 0679763864

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The myths of the ancient Greeks have inspired us for thousands of years. Where did the famous stories of the battles of their gods develop and spread across the world? The celebrated classicist Robin Lane Fox draws on a lifetime’s knowledge of the ancient world, and on his own travels, answering this question by pursuing it through the age of Homer. His acclaimed history explores how the intrepid seafarers of eighth-century Greece sailed around the Mediterranean, encountering strange new sights—volcanic mountains, vaporous springs, huge prehistoric bones—and weaving them into the myths of gods, monsters and heroes that would become the cornerstone of Western civilization.

Ancient Greek Cults

Ancient Greek Cults PDF

Author: Jennifer Larson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-05-07

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1134346182

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Using archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources; and incorporating current scholarly theories, this volume will serve as an excellent companion to any introduction to Greek mythology, showing a side of the Greek gods to which most students are rarely exposed. Detailed enough to be used as a quick reference tool or text, and providing a readable account focusing on the oldest, most widespread, and most interesting religious practices of the ancient Greek world in the Archaic and Classical periods, Ancient Greek Cults surveys ancient Greek religion through the cults of its gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines. Jennifer Larson conveniently summarizes a vast amount of material in many languages, normally inaccessible to undergrad students, and explores, in detail, the variety of cults celebrated by the Greeks, how these cults differed geographically, and how each deity was conceptualized in local cult titles and rituals. Including an introductory chapter on sources and methods, and suggestions for further reading this book will allow readers to gain a fresh perspective on Greek religion.

The Sacred Body

The Sacred Body PDF

Author: Nicola Laneri

Publisher: Oxbow Books

Published: 2021-06-30

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 178925521X

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The human body represents the perfect element for relating communities of the living with the divine. This is clearly evident in the mythological stories that recount the creation of humans by deities among ancient and contemporaneous societies across a very broad geographical environment. Thus, parts of selected human body parts or skeletal elements can then become an ideal proxy for connecting with the supernatural as demonstrated by the cult of the human skulls among Neolithic communities in the Near East as well as the cult of the relics of Christian saints. The aim of this volume is to undertake a cross-cultural investigation of the role played in antiquity by humans and human remains in creating forms of relationality with the divine. Such an approach will highlight how the human body can be envisioned as part of a broader materialization of religious beliefs that is based on connecting different realms of materiality in perceiving the supernatural by the community of the livings. Case studies on ritual aspects of funerary practices is presented, emphasising the varied roles of body parts in mortuary rituals and as relics. Other papers take a wider look at regional practices in various time periods and cultural contexts to explore the central role of the corpse in the negotiation of death in human culture.

Cities and Priests

Cities and Priests PDF

Author: Marietta Horster

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2013-10-29

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 3110318482

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Cultural records such as dedications, honorific statues and decrees are keys to understanding the manifold and diverse social roles and religious functions of priesthoods in the cities of Asia Minor and the Aegean islands from the classical period to late antiquity. These texts and images indicate how the priests and priestesses saw themselves and were viewed by others. The approaches in this volume are historical, religious, and archaeological, and they elucidate the religious functions that the cult personnel fulfilled for the city, and the perception of priests and priestesses as citizens of the polis. The volume focuses on developments from the Hellenistic period into Imperial times. Subjects include: gendered priesthoods and family traditions, the topography of honorary statues and the presentation of funerary monuments, federal and civic priesthoods as well as priests of private cult-foundations, benefactions and social pressure, and the religious, social and political functions of priests and priestesses within cities.

Popular Religion and Ritual in Prehistoric and Ancient Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean

Popular Religion and Ritual in Prehistoric and Ancient Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean PDF

Author: Giorgos Vavouranakis

Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd

Published: 2019-01-14

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 1789690463

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This volume features a group of select peer-reviewed papers by an international group of authors, both younger and senior academics and researchers, on the frequently neglected popular cult and other ritual practices in prehistoric and ancient Greece and the eastern Mediterranean.