scholarly journals The geotectonic evolution of Olympus Mt and its mythological analogue

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 574
Author(s):  
I.D. Mariolakos ◽  
Ε. Manoutsoglou
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Evolution ◽  
Modern World ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion ◽  
Know How ◽  
Tectonic Processes ◽  
Of Greece

Mt Olympus is the highest mountain of Greece (2918 m.) and one of the most important and well known locations of the modern world. This is related to its great cultural significance, since the ancient Greeks considered this mountain as the habitat of their Gods, ever since Zeus became the dominant figure of the ancient Greek religion and consequently the protagonist of the cultural regime. Before the generation of Zeus, Olympus was inhabited by the generation of Cronus. In this paper we shall refer to a lesser known mythological reference which, in our opinion, presents similarities to the geotectonic evolution of the wider area of Olympus. According to Apollodorus and other great authors, the God Poseidon and Iphimedia had twin sons, the Aloades, namely Otus and Ephialtes, who showed a tendency to gigantism. When they reached the age of nine, they were about 16 m. tall and 4.5 m. wide. Having then realized their powers, because of their gigantic proportions, they decided to climb Olympus and fight the Gods, exile Zeus and the others, and wed two Goddesses. Otus was to marry Hera and Ephialtes Artemis. But they did not know how to climb such a high mountain, so they decided to construct a “ladder”, by putting mount Ossa on top of mount Olympus and mount Pelion on top of Ossa. This description coincides with the geological and tectonic evolution of the wider Olympus area. But, these complex tectonic processes were completed about 8 – 10 m.a., i.e. millions of years before the appearance of humans, therefore it is impossible that these morphotectonic processes were witnessed by man, so the similarities between the myth of Aloades and the tectonic evolution of the area must be purely coincidental. But are they, or is there more here?

Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk and Nietzsche’s Vision of Ancient Greek Theatre

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Fischer-Lichte
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Culture ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
The Future ◽  
Birth Of Tragedy ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Of Greece

Chapter 3 deals with ‘Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk and Nietzsche’s Vision of Ancient Greek Theatre’ with regard to the emergence of a new image of ancient Greece that would rival the Winckelmannian image from that point on. Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk is described as an attempt not to return to ancient Greece but to revive ancient Greek theatre by taking into account the conditions of the modern world, as Nietzsche similarly interpreted it in his treatise The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music (1872). The truly revolutionary aspects of the image of Greece as developed in this treatise are examined. While Winckelmann only considered the Apollonian side of Greek culture and art, Nietzsche complemented it by focusing on its Dionysian side, thus opening up an absolutely novel approach to Greek tragedy for the future.

Is it possible to believe in a syncretistic god? A discussion on conceptual and contextual aspects of Hellenistic syncretism

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 125-141
Author(s):  
Petra Pakkanen
Keyword(s):  
Belief System ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Ptolemaic Egypt ◽  
Religious Systems

This article will look into the phenomenon of syncretism from two different points of view. Firstly, syncretism will be discussed from a conceptual perspective in relation to elaborations on belief, an equally perplexing concept in the studies of ancient Greek religion. Secondly, a very selective example of the syncretism between the goddess Demeter and Isis as an object of veneration in Ptolemaic Egypt will be looked at more closely in order to bring the conceptual perspective into closer contact with the contextual one. It will be argued that syncretism can be regarded both as an essence of polytheistic religious systems in particular, and as a process of syncretization. Once a metaphorical understanding of syncretism is added to these views, believing in a syncretistic deity (Demeter-Isis in our case) appears doubtful since a new entity in a polytheistic belief-system would have entailed a fundamental change in the belief system itself as well as an introduction of totally new features to the conception of deities in general.

A view from the Greek side

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-50
Author(s):  
Gunnel Ekroth
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion ◽  
Bone Material ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Animal Bone ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Integrated Study ◽  
Written Sources

This paper addresses the animal bone material from ancient Qumran, from the comparative perspective of zooarchaeological evidence recovered in ancient Greek cult contexts. The article offers an overview of the paramount importance of animal bones for the understanding of ancient Greek religion and sacrificial practices in particular, followed by a review of the Qumran material, taking as its starting point the zooarchaeological evidence and the archaeological find contexts. The methodological complications of letting the written sources guide the interpretation of the archaeological material are explored, and it is suggested that the Qumran bones are to be interpreted as remains of ritual meals following animal sacrifices, as proposed by Jodi Magness. The presence of calcined bones additionally supports the proposal that there was once an altar in area L130, and it is argued that the absence of preserved altar installations in many ancient sanctuaries cannot be used as an argument against their ever having been present. Finally, the similarities between Israelite and Greek sacrificial practices are touched upon, arguing for the advantages of a continued and integrated study of these two sacrificial systems based on the zooarchaeological evidence.

scholarly journals Tectonic Evolution of the SE West Siberian Basin (Russia): Evidence from Apatite Fission Track Thermochronology of Its Exposed Crystalline Basement

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 604
Author(s):  
Evgeny V. Vetrov ◽  
Johan De Grave ◽  
Natalia I. Vetrova ◽  
Fedor I. Zhimulev ◽  
Simon Nachtergaele ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Evolution ◽  
Fission Track ◽  
Analytical Data ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Apatite Fission Track ◽  
Tectonic Processes ◽  
Basement Rocks ◽  
Fission Track Thermochronology ◽  
History Of ◽  
West Siberian Basin

The West Siberian Basin (WSB) is one of the largest intracratonic Meso-Cenozoic basins in the world. Its evolution has been studied over the recent decades; however, some fundamental questions regarding the tectonic evolution of the WSB remain unresolved or unconfirmed by analytical data. A complete understanding of the evolution of the WSB during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras requires insights into the cooling history of the basement rocks as determined by low-temperature thermochronometry. We presented an apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronology study on the exposed parts of the WSB basement in order to distinguish tectonic activation episodes in an absolute timeframe. AFT dating of thirteen basement samples mainly yielded Cretaceous cooling ages and mean track lengths varied between 12.8 and 14.5 μm. Thermal history modeling based on the AFT data demonstrates several Mesozoic and Cenozoic intracontinental tectonic reactivation episodes affected the WSB basement. We interpreted the episodes of tectonic activity accompanied by the WSB basement exhumation as a far-field effect from tectonic processes acting on the southern and eastern boundaries of Eurasia during the Mesozoic–Cenozoic eras.

scholarly journals Religion without doctrine or clergy: the case of Ancient Greece

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
George Tridimas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion ◽  
Distinct Class ◽  
Religious Doctrine ◽  
Moral Behaviour ◽  
Mass Participation

Abstract The paper examines doctrinal and political reasons to explain why the Ancient Greek religion did not feature a distinct class of professional priests as suppliers of religious goods. Doctrinal reasons relate to worshiping a multitude of powerful anthropomorphic gods with flawed characters; absence of a founder of religion and of a scripture; lack of religious doctrine and of a code of moral behaviour and piety manifested as mass participation in rituals. These factors denied religious suppliers the opportunity to form a monopoly acting as an autonomous intermediary between humans and gods. Political reasons relate to the supremacy of the demos which watchfully guarded its decision-making powers and prevented other actors like a priestly interest group to challenge its authority.

Spoken Greek

1944 ◽  
Vol 13 (38-39) ◽  
pp. 73-80
Author(s):  
W. R Loader
Keyword(s):  
Formal Language ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Law Courts ◽  
Business Correspondence

It has been suggested that there is less difference between ancient Greek and modern Greek than between present-day English and Chaucer's language. The suggestion is somewhat questionable. Broadly speaking, apart from dialects and local variations, there are presently three languages in Greece, the Kathareuousa, the Demotiki, and the popular newspaper language, which is a blend of the two.The Kathareuousa is the official and formal language, used in Government publications and statements, business correspondence, non-fictional books and treatises, law courts, University lectures, and in formal conversation. And although its grammatical structure is analytic as opposed to the synthesis of ancient Greek (a change which constitutes the main difference between classical and modern Greek, as it does between other modern and ancient languages), in the Kathareuousa the most strenuous attempt has been made to maintain the accidence and vocabulary of the ancient language.Words are declined and verbs conjugated (without some of their more difficult and less used moods and tenses) as in Attic Greek, pronouns and prepositions and the cases governed by them are the same, and while, naturally, many terms which describe things known only to the modern world are not to be found in Liddell and Scott, they are generally legitimate and intelligible compounds of words which are to be found in Liddell and Scott. Ἀɛροπλἁνoν for aeroplane, ἀɛρòσTαtoν for balloon, are instances which come easily to mind.

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