Progelomena to the Study of Greek Religion

"Harrison's Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion is a book that breathes life. It is an exciting, deeply felt intellectual quest, with a broad view of the role of.
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One person found this helpful. The most accessible aspect of Greek religion, which any basic education on the Greeks reveals, is the Olympian pantheon and the tales of gods and goddesses as passed down through literature. This book opens up a much deeper and more obscure subject for study: It certainly gets into the thickets in places, and there are many arcane references, but the material coheres in a very interesting way and rewards the curious reader.

The author begins by explaining that there were two forms of ritual: It was this last form of ritual, the gloomy kind, that provided the underlying basis for the ancient Greek festivals and opened the way for a more profound religious impulse, that of Dionysus and Orpheus. Purification here was meant as a physical riddance of evil influences from spirits, especially of the dead, resulting from a blood feud or some violent action provoking vengence.

A example of the ritual was the expulsion of the pharmakos human scapegoat at the Thargelia harvest festival. Dionysus represented a return to nature and was associated with the harvest, particularly of grapes, and was the god of wine and intoxication. He was depicted at Delphi as having opposite characteristics to Apollo, as being concerned with the emotions rather than reason. A number of wild, unrestrained mythic beings such as Satyrs and Maenads were considered his attendants. The author suggests that besides the wild, uncontrolled revelries and excess that resulted from his worship, there was a life-promoting aspect that involved inspiration - where the Maenads became Muses - and also the "sacramental mystery of life and nutrition.

It appears that the Orphic movement was based on a real man named Orpheus and that he was a prophet and a teacher, who especially used music - playing the lyre - to soothe and refine the wild beast of nature and to lead humankind along spiritual paths. The Orphics refined the religious impulse of Dionysus of mystical union and established a ritual of mystery practices. The underlying theme, the one especially adopted by the Orphics and also the Pythagoreans, harkened back to the urge of the ancients for purification, for riddance of evil spirits contaminating the physical world.

In Plato, this purification was extended beyond the physical to the psychological, and involved discernment and cleansing the soul of defilements through self-knowledge. I first obtained this book with the intent of using it as a reference, but soon became immersed enough to read it through to the end.


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I found it to be an awesome work of scholarship that in a general sense opened my eyes to the depths of Greek mythology and the difficulties of interpretation. I don't know how much fresh material has been added since this book was last updated in the s, but to my mind this is bedrock stuff. See all 9 reviews. Most recent customer reviews.

Published 2 months ago. Published on April 13, Published on August 7, Published on March 3, Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway. Set up a giveaway. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. Epilegomena to the Study of Greek Religion.

Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion: Newnham 1903–1906

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The Greeks Who Pray to Zeus: VICE INTL (Greece)

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