Light and Darkness in Ancient Greek Myth and Religion

Light and Darkness in Ancient Greek Myth and Religion
Author: Menelaos Christopoulos
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2010-09-25
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0739139010

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Light and Darkness in Ancient Greek Myth and Religion is a ground-breaking volume dedicated to a thorough examination of the well known empirical categories of light and darkness as it relates to modes of thought, beliefs and social behavior in Greek culture. With a systematic and multi-disciplinary approach, the book elucidates the light/darkness dichotomy in color semantics, appearance and concealment of divinities and creatures of darkness, the eye sight and the insight vision, and the role of the mystic or cultic.

The Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology

The Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology
Author: Costas Papadopoulos
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 816
Release: 2021-12-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0191092320

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Light has a fundamental role to play in our perception of the world. Natural or artificial lightscapes orchestrate uses and experiences of space and, in turn, influence how people construct and negotiate their identities, form social relationships, and attribute meaning to (im)material practices. Archaeological practice seeks to analyse the material culture of past societies by examining the interaction between people, things, and spaces. As light is a crucial factor that mediates these relationships, understanding its principles and addressing illumination's impact on sensory experience and perception should be a fundamental pursuit in archaeology. However, in archaeological reasoning, studies of lightscapes have remained largely neglected and understudied. This volume provides a comprehensive and accessible consideration of light in archaeology and beyond by including dedicated and fully illustrated chapters covering diverse aspects of illumination in different spatial and temporal contexts, from prehistory to the present. Written by leading international scholars, it interrogates the qualities and affordances of light in different contexts and (im)material environments, explores its manipulation, and problematises its elusive properties. The result is a synthesis of invaluable insights into sensory experience and perception, demonstrating illumination's vital impact on social, cultural, and artistic contexts.

The Light of the Gods

The Light of the Gods
Author: Eva Parisinou
Publisher: Bristol Classical Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2000-12-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780715629345

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This book examines the use and significance of light in ancient Greek cult of the Archaic and Classical periods (from the seventh to the fourth century BCE). The research covers all available evidence, ranging from literary texts and inscriptions to representations of light in vase-painting and sculpture, and surviving physical remains from excavations of Greek sanctuaries. Light is treated both as an abstract component of brightness which forms part of the nature of the gods and as an artefact which assumes concrete forms in divine hands. As a possession of mortals, light was regularly involved in contact with the gods. The book considers a numberof rituals in connection with the types and amount of light that they required, and the different roles that light played in them. It shows that the involvement of light in Greek cult was a complex phenomenon, which penetrated a great variety of ritual practices and religious beliefs surrounding the worship of gods in Archaic and Classical Greece.

The Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology

The Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology
Author: Costas Papadopoulos
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 817
Release: 2021-12-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0198788215

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Light plays a crucial role in mediating relationships between people, things, and spaces, yet lightscapes have been largely neglected in archaeology study. This volume offers a full consideration of light in archaeology and beyond, exploring diverse aspects of illumination in different spatial and temporal contexts from prehistory to the present.

The Rhesus Attributed to Euripides

The Rhesus Attributed to Euripides
Author: Marco Fantuzzi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 722
Release: 2021-01-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108889476

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The tragedy Rhesus has come down to us among the plays of Euripides but was probably the work either of fourth-century BC actors or producers heavily rewriting his original play or of a fourth-century author writing in competition. This edition explores the play as a 'postclassical' tragedy, composed when the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides had become the 'classical' canon. Its stylistic mannerisms, cerebral re-use of the motifs and language of fifth-century tragedy, and endemic experimentalism with various models of intertextuality exemplify the anxiety of influence of the Rhesus as a text that 'comes after' fifth-century drama and Book 10 of the Iliad. The anachronistic adaptations of the world of the epic heroes to the new reality of the polis and the irresistible rise of Macedonian power also reveal the Rhesus attempting to be both seriously intertextual with its models and seriously different from them.

Hermes

Hermes
Author: Arlene Allan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2018-05-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351012215

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Hermes redresses the gap in modern English scholarship on this fascinating and complex god, presenting its readers with an introduction to Hermes’ social, religious and political importance through discussions of his myths, iconography and worship. It also brings together in one place an integrated survey of his reception and interpretation in contemporaneous neighbouring cultures in antiquity as well as discussion of his reception in the post-classical periods up to the present day. This volume is an invaluable resource for anyone wanting to explore the many facets of Hermes’ myth, worship and reception.

Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology

Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology
Author: Shaul Tor
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2017-10-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1108377998

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This book demonstrates that we need not choose between seeing so-called Presocratic thinkers as rational philosophers or as religious sages. In particular, it rethinks fundamentally the emergence of systematic epistemology and reflection on speculative inquiry in Hesiod, Xenophanes and Parmenides. Shaul Tor argues that different forms of reasoning, and different models of divine disclosure, play equally integral, harmonious and mutually illuminating roles in early Greek epistemology. Throughout, the book relates these thinkers to their religious, literary and historical surroundings. It is thus also, and inseparably, a study of poetic inspiration, divination, mystery initiation, metempsychosis and other early Greek attitudes to the relations and interactions between mortal and divine. The engagements of early philosophers with such religious attitudes present us with complex combinations of criticisms and creative appropriations. Indeed, the early milestones of philosophical epistemology studied here themselves reflect an essentially theological enterprise and, as such, one aspect of Greek religion.

Euripides, "Alexandros"

Euripides,
Author: Ioanna Karamanou
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2017-12-18
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 3110537281

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This is the first full-scale commentary on Euripides’ Alexandros, which is one of the best preserved fragmentary tragedies. It yields insight into aspects of Euripidean style, ideology and dramatic technique (e.g. rhetoric, stagecraft and imagery) and addresses textual and philological matters, on the basis of a re-inspection of the papyrus fragments. This book offers a reconstruction of the play and an investigation of issues of characterization, staging, textual transmission and reception, not least because Alexandros has enjoyed a fascinating Nachleben in literary, dramaturgical and performative terms. It also contributes to the readers’ understanding of the trends of later Euripidean drama, especially the dramatist’s innovation and experimentation with plot-patterns and staging conventions. Furthermore, the analysis of Alexandros could stimulate a more comprehensive reading of the extant Trojan Women coming from the same production, which bears the features of a ‘connected trilogy’. Thus, the information retrieved through the interrogation of the rich fragmentary material serves to supplement and contextualize the extant tragic corpus, showcasing the vitality and multiformity of Euripidean drama as a whole.

Cave and Worship in Ancient Greece

Cave and Worship in Ancient Greece
Author: Stella Katsarou
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2020-12-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 100029613X

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Cave and Worship in Ancient Greece brings together a series of stimulating chapters contributing to the archaeology and our modern understanding of the character and importance of cave sanctuaries in the fi rst millennium BCE Mediterranean. Written by emerging and established archaeologists and researchers, the book employs a fascinating and wide range of approaches and methodologies to investigate, and interpret material assemblages from cave shrines, many of which are introduced here for the fi rst time. An introductory section explores the emergence and growth of caves as centres of cult and religion. The chapters then probe some of the meanings attached to cave spaces and votive materials such as terracotta fi gurines, and ceramics, and those who created and used them. The authors use sensory and gender approaches, discuss the identity of the worshippers, and the contribution of statistical analysis to the role of votive materials. At the heart of the volume is the examination of cave materials excavated on the Cycladic islands and Crete, in Attika and Aitoloakarnania, on the Ionian islands and in southern Italy. This is a welcome volume for students of prehistoric and classical archaeology,enthusiasts of the history of caves, religion, ancient history, and anthropology.

Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity

Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2020-10-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004440143

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This book fills a gap in the study of mystery cults in Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Focusing on the visual language surrounding these cults, it aims to understand how images depict mysteries in different cults: Dionysus, Mithras, Mother of the Gods, and Isiac cults.