Research Catalog

Title

Understanding Greek religion : a cognitive approach / Jennifer Larson.

Author

Larson, Jennifer (Jennifer Lynn)

Publication

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2016.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xix, 410 pages; 24 cm

Summary

Understanding Greek Religion is one of the first attempts to fully examine any religion from a cognitivist perspective, applying methods and findings from the cognitive science of religion to the ancient Greek world. In this book, Jennifer Larson shows that many of the fundamentals of Greek religion, such as anthropomorphic gods, divinatory procedures, purity beliefs, reciprocity, and sympathetic magic arise naturally as by-products of normal human cognition. Drawing on evidence from across the ancient Greek world, Larson provides detailed coverage of Greek theology and local pantheons, rituals including processions, animal sacrifice and choral dance, and afterlife beliefs as they were expressed through hero worship and mystery cults. Eighteen in-depth essays illustrate the theoretical discussion with primary sources and include case studies of key cult inscriptions from Kyrene, Kos, and Miletos. This volume features maps, tables, and over twenty images to support and expand on the text, and will provide conceptual tools for understanding the actions and beliefs that constitute a religion. Additionally, Larson offers the first detailed discussion of cognition and memory in the transmission of Greek religious beliefs and rituals, as well as a glossary of terms and a bibliographical essay on the cognitive science of religion. Understanding Greek Religion is an essential resource for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of Greek culture and ancient Mediterranean religions.--Publisher website.

Series Statement

Understanding the ancient world

Uniform Title

Understanding the ancient world.

Subjects

• Greece > Religion
• Religion

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

1. What is Greek religion? -- Essay 1.1 Twelve gods, and other ways to limit a pantheon -- Essay 1.2 Homer's Hera and the Hera(s) of cult -- Essay 1.3 Reciprocity in Greek religion -- 2. Implicit theology and the (ir)rational -- Essay 2.1 Epiphanies of Athena -- Essay 2.2 What do the gods know? -- Essay 2.3 Myth, ritual and Adonis -- 3. Orthopraxy, identity and society -- Essay 3.1 inclusiveness of the Panathenaic festival -- Essay 3.2 Dancing for the gods -- Essay 3.3 Kyrene cathartic law -- 4. Ritual, festival and sacrifice -- Essay 4.1 Sacrificing to Zeus Polieus on Kos -- Essay 4.2 Theseus and the Athenian calendar -- Essay 4.3 Ritual form and the Greek evidence -- 5. Eschatology, mysteries and hero cults -- Essay 5.1 How mystical were the Eleusinian Mysteries? -- Essay 5.2 Texts to accompany the dead -- Essay 5.3 Three heroic founders -- 6. Memory, continuity and change -- Essay 6.1 Memory and the Molpoi -- Essay 6.2 Heracles as a Pan-Mediterranean deity -- Essay 6.3 origins of Sarapis.

Call Number

JFE 16-6573

ISBN

• 9780415688451
• 0415688450
• 9780415688468
• 0415688469

LCCN

• 2015032550
• 9780415688468
• 40025968861

OCLC

909325697

Author

Larson, Jennifer (Jennifer Lynn), author.

Title

Understanding Greek religion : a cognitive approach / Jennifer Larson.

Publisher

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2016.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Understanding the ancient world

Understanding the ancient world.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Standard Identifier

9780415688468

40025968861

Research Call Number

JFE 16-6573