Divination and the ‘Real Presence’ of the Divine in Ancient Greece

Ancient Divination and Experience ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198844549.003.0009 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 203-225

Author(s):

Michael A. Flower

Keyword(s):

Religious Experience ◽

Ancient Greek ◽

Greek Religion ◽

The Real ◽

Real Presence ◽

Lakota Sioux ◽

Wounded Knee ◽

Collective Belief

This chapter applies Robert Orsi’s concepts of ‘real presence’ and ‘abundant history’ to the study of ancient Greek religion, using divination as a case study. It proposes that we should take real presence seriously as something that most Greeks took for granted. Although investigating religious experience is extraordinarily difficult, one of the best places to look is in the ubiquitous practice of divination. For it is in the context of the divinatory ritual that the real presence of the divine was commonly to be experienced. Case studies include the epiphany of Asklepios to Isyllos of Epidauros, the lead oracular tablets from Dodona, and the role of divination in the Athenian expedition to Sicily in 415 BCE. The latter event is compared to the belief of the Lakota Sioux that their ghost shirts would protect them from bullets at the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890. In both cases, a collective belief in prophecy and in the real presence of supernatural forces instilled an assurance of victory, and this assurance was then followed by a rejection of the religious specialists who had promoted a positive interpretation of the message and the outcome.

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Motherhood(s) and Polytheisms: Epistemological and Methodological Reflections on the Study of Religions, Gender, and Women

Numen ◽

10.1163/15685276-12341505 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 65 (4) ◽

pp. 405-435 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Florence Pasche Guignard ◽

Giulia Pedrucci

Keyword(s):

Ancient Greek ◽

Greek Religion ◽

Concrete Case ◽

The Past ◽

Mother Daughter Relationship ◽

Greek World ◽

Academic Study

AbstractThrough an approach that combines the academic study of religions with motherhood studies, this article examines rarely considered maternal aspects of Demeter, a goddess of the pantheon of ancient Greek religion. We first discuss theoretical input and concepts drawn from maternal theory that are relevant to uncover innovative lines of research on religious representations and practices in polytheistic systems of the past. In this way we also contribute to broader epistemological reflections in the history and study of religions. Then, considering theHomeric Hymnas well as key ritual elements of theThesmophoriafestival through the lenses of maternal theory, we examine the mother-daughter relationship and the role of the mother as maternal trainer. This concrete case study from the ancient Greek world demonstrates the relevance for historians of religions of considering past polytheistic systems while harnessing the fruitful interdisciplinary potential of maternal theory.

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The Role of Darkness in Ancient Greek Religion and Religious Practice

The Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788218.013.2 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Efrosyni Boutsikas

Keyword(s):

Religious Experience ◽

Religious Belief ◽

Rites Of Passage ◽

Religious Practice ◽

Ancient Greek ◽

Greek Religion ◽

Architectural Features ◽

Light Darkness ◽

Emotional Condition

Aiming at a better understanding of ways through which the ancient Greek religious experience was shaped, this chapter investigates the role and use of darkness in religious belief and practice. The orientation and certain architectural features of Greek temples, Dionysiac and Mystery cults, divination, rites of passage, magic, and other nocturnal rituals are examined here in an investigation of the interplay between light, darkness, and shadow and the aims fulfilled by such associations. It transpires that darkness was a decisive element in the religious experience, one that intensified the emotional condition of the participants, whilst shaping the ritual experience and memory of the event.

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Measuring the Role of Urban Vegetation on Air Quality: The Case Study of the Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples, Italy

Springer Geography - Megacities 2050: Environmental Consequences of Urbanization ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-70557-6_3 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 13-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Raffaela Esposito ◽

Gabriele Guidolotti ◽

Emanuele Pallozzi ◽

Corrado Leone ◽

Michele Mattioni ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Urban Vegetation ◽

The Real

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A Biographical Case Study of a Victimizer's Daughter's Strategy: Pseudo-Identification With the Victims of the Holocaust

Journal of Narrative and Life History ◽

10.1075/jnlh.2.2.02bio ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 105-127 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Gabriele Rosenthal ◽

Dan Bar-On

Keyword(s):

Life Story ◽

Psychological Consequences ◽

Behavioral Sciences ◽

The Real ◽

Repair Strategy ◽

The Past ◽

Working Through ◽

The Holocaust

Abstract Previous studies have shown that many children of former Nazi perpetrators either identify with their parents by denying their atrocities, by distancing them-selves emotionally from their parents, or by acknowledging their participation in the extermination process. Through a hermeneutical case study of the narrated life story of a Euthanasia physician's daughter, a type of strategy, which we defined as pseudo-identification with the victim, is reconstructed. The results of the analysis suggest that this is a repair strategy. Putting oneself in the role of one's parents' victim provides refuge from acknowledging possible identification with Nazism and its idols, as well as identifying oneself with the real victims of one's parents. In this case, the psychological consequences of this strategy are described: The woman still suffers from extermination anxieties which block further working through of the past. (Behavioral Sciences)

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Contemporary Mythopoiesis: the role of Herodotus in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods

Classical Receptions Journal ◽

10.1093/crj/claa002 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 299-322

Author(s):

Vanda Zajko

Keyword(s):

Political Power ◽

Interesting Case ◽

Cultural Relativism ◽

Main Body ◽

Television Series ◽

Ancient Greek ◽

Cultural Form ◽

Different Cultures

Abstract This article explores Neil Gaiman’s transmedial work American Gods as an example of contemporary mythmaking. Published in novel form in 2001 and launched as a television series in 2017, American Gods provides a commentary on the connectedness between different systems of stories and on myth itself as a vital present-day cultural form. It also provides us with a model for repurposing ancient material without reproducing the traditional hierarchies associated with cultures of storytelling. Gaiman’s text is an interesting case-study from the perspective of classical reception because he sidelines the ancient Greek gods in the main body of his story, while simultaneously positioning the ancient historian Herodotus as a significant intertext. The process of evaluating different cultures often veers between analyses which focus on similarities manifested across place and time and those which espouse a form of cultural relativism, a ‘live and let live’ philosophy. Gaiman seems to be offering something else here, namely a more vital and connected model for co-existence, one which is moving towards a pluri-versal perspective that acknowledges the links between political power, knowledge, and identity.

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‘No learned rhetorical flourishes!’ Anti-rhetorical narration and metaphorical agency in Raabe’sCeltic Bones

Language and Literature ◽

10.1177/0963947013489237 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 191-204 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Helena Elshout

Keyword(s):

Clear Distinction ◽

Literary Texts ◽

Conceptual Metaphors ◽

The Real ◽

Figures Of Speech ◽

Cognitive Studies ◽

Virtual Events ◽

Narrative Function

As Monika Fludernik (2011) points out, creative metaphors receive less attention than conceptual metaphors in cognitive studies. The complex role of metaphor in literature and its narrative function needs to be further explored. Realistic novellas do not display a predilection towards elaborate creative metaphors. They contain other figures of speech and more conventional figurative forms such as symbols, allegories and similes – the latter to approximate an experience or perception. My hypothesis is, however, that in realistic texts metaphorical agency is often contained and instigated by virtual micronarratives (digression, memory, association, imagination and dream). How does metaphoricity relate to virtual parts of the storyworld? In order to investigate this question I use Wilhelm Raabe’s poetic realist novella Keltische Knochen ( Celtic Bones, published 1864) as a case study. Raabe’s travel account shows how virtual passages can receive and entail a metaphorical dimension. In Raabe’s novella the narrator witness claims that it does not manipulate reality by rhetorical tricks and metaphorical transformations, and therefore makes a clear distinction between the virtual and real parts of the storyworld. At the same time this distinction is undermined because the virtual events interfere with the real events and transform them into metaphorical sequences. The metaphorical sequences open up alternative segments of the storyworld that can be coined as paranarratives. The case study exposes the negotiability and the co-text dependence of literary metaphoricity and contributes to the exploration of the narrative potential of figurativeness in literary texts.

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Persönliche Frömmigkeit und religiöses Erlebnis Wesenszüge der griechischen Religion am Beispiel von Heilkulten

Numen ◽

10.1163/15685276-12341276 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 60 (4) ◽

pp. 447-472

Author(s):

Alexander Rubel

Keyword(s):

Religious Experience ◽

Direct Contact ◽

The Other ◽

Complete Picture ◽

Ancient Greek ◽

Greek Religion ◽

Roman Religion ◽

Greek City ◽

Personal Relation ◽

City State

Abstract Ancient Greek healing cults can be studied in the context of “personal piety.” This article emphasizes personal aspects of the Greek religion. It shows that the concept of “polis religion” does not embrace major aspects of ancient Greek piety. I analyze the direct and personal relation of worshippers in healing cults, especially that of Apollo, with the deity. By doing so, I put forward a new reading of Greek religion in the context of the concept of “personal piety” developed in Egyptology. The well-known “embeddedness” of religion in the structures of the Ancient Greek city-state led to a one-sided view of ancient Greek religion, as well as to aspects of ritual and “cult” predominating in research. Simultaneously, aspects of “belief ” are often labelled as inadequate in describing Greek (and Roman) religion. Religion as ritual and cult is simply one side of the coin. Personal aspects of religion, and direct contact with the deity, based on “belief,” are thus the other side of the coin. It follows that they are also the fundament of ritual. It is necessary to combine “polis religion” with “personal piety” to display a complete picture of Greek religion. The Isyllos inscription from Epidaurus is presented here as a final and striking example for this view. It reports the foundation of a cult of the polis on behalf of a personal religious experience.

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A Gripping Tail: Re-interpreting the Archaic Potnia Theron Schema

10.26686/wgtn.17008168 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Emily Simons

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Archaic Period ◽

Source Material ◽

Wild Animals ◽

Greek Religion ◽

Early Archaic ◽

The Subject ◽

The Bronze Age

<p>The Archaic Potnia Theron schema depicts a central female figure grasping an animal in each hand. She is often associated with the goddess Artemis. Yet, evidence from the early Archaic period indicates that she was not yet associated with the goddess. The identity of the schema has been the subject of a number of studies, and the connection of the figure with Artemis is well ingrained in scholarship. The identification of the figure as Artemis relies heavily on a brief description from Pausanias’s Perigesis, and the epithet Ποτνία Θηρῶν given to Artemis once in the Iliad (Hom. Il. 21.470). Furthermore, the image was later attributed to the goddess Artemis on account of her affiliations to wild animals. However, this thesis investigates the identification of the figure and examines the evidence (or lack thereof) for the attribution of the figure to Artemis in the Archaic period. Chapter One will investigate the Potnia Theron schema and its use in the Bronze Age. It will consider the possible contribution that the Bronze Age schema may have had on the image in the Archaic period, acknowledging possible influence from the Near East. It will also discuss problems with Archaic source material, the fluidity of Archaic Greek religion, and the characteristics of the Archaic Potnia Theron schema. Chapter Two will analyse the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta as the main case study for the use of the Archaic schema in a sanctuary context. The chronology at the site, and its examples of the schema make it particularly useful for this investigation. Chapter Three will follow with an analysis of the schema on items lacking contexts, as it was used for decorative purposes on vases, jewelry, and plaques. Finally, Chapter Four will examine the role of Artemis, how the Potnia Theron pose has since been interpreted to represent the goddess. This thesis will determine when the schema became associated with Artemis and investigate evidence for its use prior to this association.</p>

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Leviticus 1–16

10.5040/9780300261110 ◽

1991 ◽

Author(s):

Jacob Milgrom

Keyword(s):

Academic Career ◽

The Real ◽

Legal Thought ◽

Real Presence ◽

Ancient Israel ◽

Liturgical Practice ◽

Important Center

At the beginning of his academic career, author Jacob Milgrom determined to make his lifework a probing study of the Laws of the Torah. Here, with Leviticus 1-16, the first of three volumes on Leviticus, he has reached the pinnacle of his long pursuit. No other contemporary commentary matches Milgrom’s comprehensive work on this much misunderstood and often underappreciated biblical book. In this richly detailed volume, the author traverses the shoals of legal thought and liturgical practice in ancient Israel. He clearly explains the role of the Tabernacle of the Wilderness as the all-important center of Israelite worship, the locus of the priestly orders, sacrificial rituals, and practices of purity to which the congregation repaired for penitence and reconciliation, restoration and renewal. At the heart of the dwelling place of God was the real presence of the God of Israel, present through his splendor in the midst of the camp and the congregation – a permanent sign of the unique privilege and responsibility of Israel, perceived as a worshipping and serving people.

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