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 From Polis to Borders: Demarcation of Social and Ritual Space in the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia, Greece

2008 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
PAKKANEN PETRA
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Ritual Space ◽  
Sacred And Profane

This article focuses on three interrelated themes in the study of ancient Greek religion, looked at through the mateiral evidence from the sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia on the island of Poros, Greece. First, I look at the so-called polis model and its applicability to an interpretation of Kalaureian material related to the cultic life of the sanctuary from the point of view of the 'historiography' of Greek religion. I then discuss the historical context of the archaeological material, with particular emphasis on the topic of the sanctuary as a known place of asylum particularly during the Hellenistic period. Thirdy, I examine the archaeological material related to eating and dining and its potential connections to the demarcation between sacred and profane activities and between sacralised and profane space in the sanctuary, with special interpretative attention to the significance of border(s) and boundaries. Drawing attention to these issues may help us understand the dynamics and interplay between 'official' and 'private' aspects of ancient Greek religion, within both the tradition of the scholarship of ancient Greek religion and the so-called 'archaeology of cult'.

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.

Stasis Anxiety

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew van der Vlies
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Black Writers ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Individual Subject ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Contemporary Writing

Two recent debut novels, Songeziwe Mahlangu’s Penumbra (2013) and Masande Ntshanga’s The Reactive (2014), reflect the experience of impasse, stasis, and arrested development experienced by many in South Africa. This chapter uses these novels as the starting point for a discussion of writing by young black writers in general, and as representative examples of the treatment of ‘waithood’ in contemporary writing. It considers (spatial and temporal) theorisations of anxiety, discerns recursive investments in past experiences of hope (invoking Jennifer Wenzel’s work to consider the afterlives of anti-colonial prophecy), assesses the usefulness of Giorgio Agamben’s elaboration of the ancient Greek understanding of stasis as civil war, and asks how these works’ elaboration of stasis might be understood in relation to Wendy Brown’s discussion of the eclipsing of the individual subject of political rights by the neoliberal subject whose very life is framed by its potential to be understood as capital.

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 Urbanisme régulier, occupation des campagnes et rapports interethniques en Grande-Grèce

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (29) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Airton Pollini
Keyword(s):  
The South ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
South Italy ◽  
Native Populations ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Archaeological Work ◽  
Greek Colonization ◽  
Greek World ◽  
Written Sources

L’Italie du Sud est probablement la région la mieux connue du monde grec antique. Quelques sources écrites mais surtout des études archéologiques menées depuis longtemps ont permis le développement des recherches sur plusieurs aspects au cœur de la thématique de la colonisation grecque. Ce travail se concentre sur trois aspects essentiels : l’appropriation de l’espace colonial, l’interaction avec les populations indigènes et l’urbanisation des nouvelles installations. The South Italy is probably the best known region of the ancient Greek world. Some written sources but especially archaeological work undertaken for a long time allowed the development of research on several aspects at the heart of the issues of Greek colonization. This paper concentrates on three essential aspects: the appropriation of colonial space, the interaction with the native populations, and the urbanization of new establishments.

scholarly journals THEBES IN THE BOIOTIANS’ MYTHOLOGICAL NARRATIVE

2019 ◽  
pp. 18-21
Author(s):  
O. Kiriakov
Keyword(s):  
Main Role ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Society ◽  
The People ◽  
New Tradition ◽  
Written Sources

he article is devoted to the study of the Boiotians’ myths. These legendary stories were a basis of the imagined past. So myths had formed the mentality of the Ancient Greek society. The main for Boiotian people was a myth about the own migration. We can find this tale in the “History” by Thucydides. But it was only a later retelling of the myths of the epic text. The first version of the tale we need to look for in the epic texts such as Homer’s “Iliad” and Hesiod’s poems. So myth about migration of Boiotians was the basis of the imagined past of the people of this region. Main role of the tale was played by Boiotians, who became eponym of the people. The author tried to recover myths about the polis of Thebes. Differences between regional and polis tales may answer the question: what was a real role played by polis of Thebes in the imagined past of Boiotian people. Ancient Greeks created a great number of myths about Thebes. A lot of these tales were a basis for Attic classical tragedy. But none of the earliest mythological narratives of Thebes intersect with myth of the Boiotians origin. The biggest polis of the region didn’t play any role at the imagining past of the Boiotian people. But imagined past could be changed. One of the examples we can find at Corinna’s poems. This source told us that first king of Thebes was a son of Boiotos. It was the newer tradition than an epic migration story. This tale appeared at the period of Thebes’ hegemony. And it has sense only as propaganda of polis of Thebes in the region. Mythological origin genealogy was softly rewriting of the imagined past. A new reality was created by using a poem in ritual. So, Thebes had a political motive to change imagine past and used for that soft mythical genealogy. The repeating through the ritual should have justified this new tradition. This research is based on the ancient written sources and academic studies. The article is an attempt to understand how myths were created and influenced the life of Ancient Greeks.

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