The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion


Book Description

This handbook offers both students and teachers of ancient Greek religion a comprehensive overview of the current state of scholarship in the subject, from the Archaic to the Hellenistic periods. It not only presents key information, but also explores the ways in which such information is gathered and the different approaches that have shaped the area. In doing so, the volume provides a crucial research and orientation tool for students of the ancient world, and also makes a vital contribution to the key debates surrounding the conceptualization of ancient Greek religion. The handbook's initial chapters lay out the key dimensions of ancient Greek religion, approaches to evidence, and the representations of myths. The following chapters discuss the continuities and differences between religious practices in different cultures, including Egypt, the Near East, the Black Sea, and Bactria and India. The range of contributions emphasizes the diversity of relationships between mortals and the supernatural - in all their manifestations, across, between, and beyond ancient Greek cultures - and draws attention to religious activities as dynamic, highlighting how they changed over time, place, and context.




A History of Greek Art


Book Description

Offering a unique blend of thematic and chronological investigation, this highly illustrated, engaging text explores the rich historical, cultural, and social contexts of 3,000 years of Greek art, from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period. Uniquely intersperses chapters devoted to major periods of Greek art from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period, with chapters containing discussions of important contextual themes across all of the periods Contextual chapters illustrate how a range of factors, such as the urban environment, gender, markets, and cross-cultural contact, influenced the development of art Chronological chapters survey the appearance and development of key artistic genres and explore how artifacts and architecture of the time reflect these styles Offers a variety of engaging and informative pedagogical features to help students navigate the subject, such as timelines, theme-based textboxes, key terms defined in margins, and further readings. Information is presented clearly and contextualized so that it is accessible to students regardless of their prior level of knowledge A book companion website is available at www.wiley.gom/go/greekart with the following resources: PowerPoint slides, glossary, and timeline




Handbook of Greek Sculpture


Book Description

The Handbook of Greek Sculpture aims to provide a detailed examination of current research and directions in the field. Bringing together an international cast of contributors from Greece, Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany, and the United States, the volume incorporates new areas of research, such as the sculptures of Messene and Macedonia, sculpture in Roman Greece, and the contribution of Greek sculptors in Rome, as well as important aspects of Greek sculpture like techniques and patronage. The written sources (literary and epigraphical) are explored in dedicated chapters, as are function and iconography and the reception of Greek sculpture in modern Europe. Inspired by recent exhibitions on Lysippos and Praxiteles, the book also revisits the style and the personal contributions of the great masters.




A Small Greek World


Book Description

Greek civilization and identity crystallized not when Greeks were close together but when they came to be far apart. This book looks at how Greek the network shaped a small Greek world where separation is measured by degrees of contact rather than by physical dimensions.




Cosmography and the Idea of Hyperborea in Ancient Greece


Book Description

Cosmography is defined here as the rhetoric of cosmology: the art of composing worlds. The mirage of Hyperborea, which played a substantial role in Greek religion and culture throughout Antiquity, offers a remarkable window into the practice of composing and reading worlds. This book follows Hyperborea across genres and centuries, both as an exploration of the extraordinary record of Greek thought on that further North and as a case study of ancient cosmography and the anthropological philology that tracks ancient cosmography. Trajectories through the many forms of Greek thought on Hyperborea shed light on key aspects of the cosmography of cult and the cosmography of literature. The philology of worlds pursued in this book ranges from Archaic hymns to Hellenistic and Imperial reconfigurations of Hyperborea. A thousand years of cosmography is thus surveyed through the rewritings of one idea. This is a book on the art of reading worlds slowly.




Cultural Practices and Material Culture in Archaic and Classical Crete


Book Description

Obwohl die Insel Kreta reiches Material zur Untersuchung von Fragen bietet, die im Mittelpunkt der Forschungen zur gesellschaftlichen Organisation im frühen Griechenland stehen, liegt die Beschäftigung mit der archaischen und klassischen Periode Kretas seit jeher am Rand des altertumswissen¬schaftlichen Interesses. Die Beiträge des Tagungsbandes analysieren aus archäologischer und historischer Sicht die strukturellen Veränderungsprozesse, die sich während der archaisch-klassischen Zeit in den kretischen Bürgerstaaten vollzogen. Erstmals werden damit die unterschiedlichen Forschungsansätze der einzelnen Disziplinen zu einer einheitli¬chen Perspektive zusammengeführt. An mehreren Beispielen wird gezeigt, wie es der kretischen Aristokratie gelang, den Prozess der Poliswerdung aktiv zu gestalten und eine stabile, da institutionalisierte Adelsherrschaft zu etablieren. Deutlich wird zudem, dass die Veränderungen in der materiellen Kultur, die seit dem Ende des 7. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. durch eine zunehmende Austerität gekennzeichnet ist, Manifestationen des strukturellen Wandels der politischen und sozialen Organisation der kretischen Poleis waren.




A Companion to Greek Architecture


Book Description

A Companion to Greek Architecture provides an expansive overview of the topic, including design, engineering, and construction as well as theory, reception, and lasting impact. Covers both sacred and secular structures and complexes, with particular attention to architectural decoration, such as sculpture, interior design, floor mosaics, and wall painting Makes use of new research from computer-driven technologies, the study of inscriptions and archaeological evidence, and recently excavated buildings Brings together original scholarship from an esteemed group of archaeologists and art historians Presents the most up-to-date English language coverage of Greek architecture in several decades while also sketching out important areas and structures in need of further research




Ashes, Images, and Memories


Book Description

This study argues that the institution of public burial for the war dead and images of the deceased in civic and sacred spaces fundamentally changed how people conceived of military casualties. In a period characterized by war and the threat of civil strife, the nascent democracy claimed the fallen for the city and commemorated them with rituals and images that shaped a civic ideology of struggle and self-sacrifice on behalf of a unified community




Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World


Book Description

The Lived Ancient Religion project has radically changed perspectives on ancient religions and their supposedly personal or public character. This volume applies and further develops these methodological tools, new perspectives and new questions. The religious transformations of the Roman Imperial period appear in new light and more nuances by comparative confrontation and the integration of many disciplines. The contributions are written by specialists from a variety of disciplinary contexts (Jewish Studies, Theology, Classics, Early Christian Studies) dealing with the history of religion of the Mediterranean, West-Asian, and European area from the (late) Hellenistic period to the (early) Middle Ages and shaped by their intensive exchange. From the point of view of their respective fields of research, the contributors engage with discourses on agency, embodiment, appropriation and experience. They present innovative research in four fields also of theoretical debate, which are “Experiencing the Religious”, “Switching the Code”, „A Thing Called Body“ and “Commemorating the Moment”.