Review of Ancient Greek Religion by Jon. D. Mikalson

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-252
Author(s):  
Robert Crotty
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion

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 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.

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?

scholarly journals The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion

Kernos ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 415-422
Author(s):  
Scott Scullion
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion

Among the Gods: An Archaeological Exploration of Ancient Greek Religion

1991 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 175
Author(s):  
Christopher G. Simon ◽  
John Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion

Religion, Art, and the Emergence of Absolute Spirit in the Phenomenology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Allen Speight
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion ◽  
Phenomenology Of Spirit ◽  
Natural Religion ◽  
Early Account

More than a decade and a half before he began to deliver separate series of lectures on aesthetics and religion in Berlin, Hegel offered an early account of art in the context of the “Religion” chapter of Phenomenology of Spirit. This chapter examines the importance of Hegel’s emerging perspective on art as offering a key to three main claims that remain crucial for his mature system: the development of a notion of pre-classical “natural religion,” the interpretation of ancient Greek religion as a “religion of art,” and the fundamentally altered stance that Hegel comes to take toward Christianity in a new account of the relation between religion and philosophy.

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