Greek Religion Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΣ ΔΙΑΚΟΣ - Ο πρώτος μάρτυρας του αγώνα | Athanasios Diakos - The first martyr in Greek revolution
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Μερικά χρόνια πριν από την εθνεγερσία του 1821, στη βόρεια πλαγιά των Βαρδουσίων, στον Κόρακα, γεννήθηκε ένα σπάνιο δείγμα ελληνικής ομορφιάς, ανδρείας και αρετής: Ο Αθανάσιος Διάκος. Ο ήρωας της Επανάστασης με το υψηλό πατριωτικό φρόνημα, ο μάρτυρας της ελευθερίας με τη μορφή που αγγίζει τα όρια του θρύλου, έδειξε στους Έλληνες πώς να πολεμούν με ανδρεία και, το βασικότερο, πώς να πεθαίνουν για την πατρίδα και τα ιδανικά τους. Επρόκειτο για ένα μεγάλο παράδειγμα αυτοθυσίας, που έδωσε πνοή στην Ελληνική Επανάσταση και ιδιαίτερο νόημα στο σύνθημα «Ελευθερία ή θάνατος».

- by Yulia Ustinova
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- Late Antiquity, Greek Religion, Judaism, Phanagoria
- by Mark Beumer
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- Christianity, Ancient History, Roman History, History of Education
- by Valentina Mordvintseva
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- Greek Religion, Judaism, Black Sea Studies, Aphrodite
- by GUITTET Philippe
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- Greek Epigraphy, Numismatics, Greek Religion, Greek Archaeology
- by Mark Beumer
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- Religion, History, Ancient History, Mythology

Seminar at the Swedish Institute at Athens, February 9, 2016, 15.00

- by Jenny Wallensten
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- Greek Tragedy, Greek Religion, Ancient Greek Religion, Ancient Greek History

Many of the fascinating little gold leaves which have come to light by now are characterized by a peculiar mixture of verse and rhythmical prose. The lines in rhythmical prose have a distinctly performative ring and may be divided into two groups: one serving as a kind of secret password and commemorating an initiation ritual; the other issuing from an adaption of the poetical narration in order to be used as a libretto for a performance in the course of the initiation. In the second case, it seems justified to include them in an attempt at reconstructing not the words, to be sure, but at least the rough outline of the ‘story’ which was narrated in the original “Sacred discourse”.

- by Christoph Riedweg
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- Classics, Greek Literature, Eschatology and Apocalypticism, Greek Religion
- by valerio neri
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- Late Antiquity, Greek Religion
- by Mark Beumer
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- Religion, Christianity, History, Greek History
- by Mark Beumer
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- Religion, Ancient Egyptian Religion, History, Ancient History
- by Sofia Ranzato
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- Epistemology, Greek Religion, Ancient Greek Philosophy, Parmenides

In Euthyphro Socrates succeeds in demonstrating Euthyphro’s lack of knowledge and understanding of the central to the dialogue concept of piety (εὐσέβεια) by showing his inability to satisfactorily define what is piety, but whether he succeeds in affirming or denying possibility of objective knowledge of God per se and in principle is a different question, a question which requires careful attention to the risk of anachronistic reading of the dialogue as well as caution regarding the claim that only definitions can serve as explanations.

- by Edgar Ter Danielyan
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- Ethics, Plato, Socrates, Greek Religion

in: E. Eidinow/J. Kindt/R. Osborne: Theologies of Ancient Greek Religion, Cambridge 2016, 281-300 (see link above).

- by Gunther Martin
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- Athenian Democracy, Greek Religion, Ancient Greek Religion, Ancient Greek Rhetoric

The author provides a critical overview of arguably the most influential work by Walter Burkert, Homo Necans (publ. 1972). Burkert’s insights reach beyond the narrow confines of the origins of sacrifice and establish a comprehensive theory of culture. A critical assessment of the scientific reception of this book is advanced. In particular, the author tackles some of the reasons behind its reticent reception when it first appeared.

- by Mark Beumer
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- Early Christianity, Roman Religion, Late Antiquity, Greek Religion
- by Judy Barringer
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- Classical Archaeology, Greek Religion, Greek sanctuaries, Olympia

The late Antique mosaic of Orpheus decorated a small room, approximately 18 m2 in area, connected with two even smaller ones, in 4 m2 and the other 2 m2 in area, belonging most likely to a small funerary chapel (or tomb) discovered in the ancient necropolis by the Damascene Gate in Jerusalem; it was discovered in 1901 by H. Vincent.
The author proposes a new interpretation of the iconographic program of the Orpheus myth used by wealthy Christians in a sepulchral context (see Olszewski M.T. «Orphée endeuillé de la mosaïque funéraire de Jérusalem», in Rey Mimoso-Ruiz, B. ed., Actes du colloque «Orphée entre Soleil et ombre», à l’Institut Catholique de Toulouse du 16 au 17 novembre 2007, Inter Lignes, numéros spécial – mars 2008, pp. 205-214, 226). He also proposes a new interpretation of the role Orpheus played in Roman funerary art, concentrating on the importance of the play on words and the visual and textual punning that was popular in ancient art and especially in funerary art. He rejects the popular interpretation of Orpheus as Christ in the Roman catacombs and proposes to interpret the image as that of Orpheus, bard of the departed souls, without any ahistorical connection with Christ. The program of the mosaic from Jerusalem is thus explained as a play on the words Orpheus-orphanos and Chiron (Chi-Rho) and Pan [Παν(τοκράτωρ)].The frequently used Christian funerary formula of resting in peace, Christ or the Lord corresponds
perfectly with the mood created around the mythical bard.
Orpheus’ universal role as singer and musician moving even the most stony of hearts, extolling the beloved departed, is absolutely justified in the context of a 6th-century Christian tomb. Orpheus is a popular and neutral figure, meaning that in effect it does not constitute a threat to Christian theology and can be tolerated by the educated Christians of Jerusalem.

This paper examines the evidence for the obscure Attic goddess Δάειρα / Δαῖρα who received cult in some Attic demes in an Eleusinian context. It is argued that this deity originally had nothing to do with Persephone, Demeter, Aphrodite, Hecate, or Harmonia with whom she is identified in some sources; instead, due prominence is given to the earliest mythographical sources according to which Daeira was an Oceanid (Pherecydes fr. 45 Fowler; Paus. 1.38.7) and a “watery substance”, ἡ ὑγρὰ οὐσία (Aelius Dionysius δ 1 Erbse = BNJ² 368 F 1). Based on these testimonia, the name Δάειρα / Δαῖρα is etymologized as “the Lady of the Waters”: *δά ϝειρα ‘having δα-’ from PIE *deh₂- ‘water’ (Iranian *dānu- ‘river’), fully parallel to the name of Poseidon (*potei̯ dās ‘the Lord of the Waters’ > Ποτ(ε)ιδᾶς).

- by Alexander Nikolaev
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- Indo-European Studies, Greek Religion, Ancient Greek Religion, Aeschylus
- by Augusto Cosentino
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- Greek Religion, Mysteries (Greek Religion), Ancient Greek Religion, Greek Myth

In Roca, Z., Spek, T., Terkeli, T., Plieninger, T., Höchtl, F. (eds.): European Landscapes and Lifestyles: The Mediterranean and Beyond. Lisboa: Edições Universitárias Lusófonas 2007: 285-304. Rain-making rituals is an important theme... more

- by Evy Johanne Håland
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- Ancient History, Cultural History, Greek History, Balkan Studies
- by Igor Bruch
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- Greek Religion, Mysteries (Greek Religion), Ancient Greek Religion, Cristianesimo

The majority of discussions of the so-called Cult Centre at Mycenae place it within the citadel walls and with, consequently, both a direct relationship to and control by the palace. This paper sets out the history of use of this part of the citadel hill and shows that the essential elements of the cult centre predate the extension of the walls to enclose them and should thus prompt a reassessment of their role in the 13th C community at Mycenae.

In the 4th century BC, the first sanctuary for the goddess Isis was built in Athens by Egyptian immigrants. Cults for the Greco-Egyptian deities Isis, Sarapis, Harpocrates, and Anubis are attested in Athens and Attica until late antiquity and enjoyed great popularity among the Athenians. In previous research, these cults have mostly been studied in terms of their distribution and were more or less treated as "exotica". In my paper, however, I will show how the cults of the Greco-Egyptian gods were religiously appropriated and integrated into the local cultic landscape through the actions of individuals and groups. In doing so, I raise the question of the many possible meanings that the cults could have had in the local context of Athens at different times. As a new approach, I apply the theory of the Social Imaginary to describe how a ritual, a sanctuary, or an iconography of a god was imagined and shaped by the agency of individuals and groups. The seminar takes place Tuesday May 17, 2022, 17.00 (Athens time) with live presence at the Swedish Institute at Athens, Mitseon 9, or via Zoom link.

- by Jenny Wallensten
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- Space and Place, Greek Epigraphy, Greek Religion, Mysteries (Greek Religion)

Why was an unknown man insisting he was Alexander the Great received with distinct deference by Roman officials and Bacchic celebration by hundreds of attendants around A.D. 221? Examining Dio Cassius's presentation in light of contemporary beliefs, one finds that the enthusiastic reception most probably was due to the conviction that Alexander had actually returned physically immortal and deified, either resurrected or never having died at all. The respectful awe of the officials was also most likely caused by either this belief or by their holding that this was the dead and disembodied hērōs of the famed conqueror.

- by Dag Øistein Endsjø
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- Classics, Roman History, History of Religion, Early Christianity

The three-headed goddess Hekate is well known from texts and depictions from the middle of the first millenium BC onwards and also a common motive on so-called magical gems from the third or fourth century AD. The present paper presents a collection of the known attestations of magical gems with a depiction of Hekate and classifies these into different groups. The representations of the goddess clearly represent her typical appearance with three heads or faces, but can be separated into groups of triprosopos, trikephalos or a depiction with three heads and three bodies.

- by Christoffer Theis
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- Magic, Greek Religion, Mysteries (Greek Religion), Witchcraft (Magic)

One of Robert Parker’s conclusions in this volume may at first seem a despairingly negative one: “A convincing unifying account of Greek pollution remains elusive, and my inclination remains to think that one cannot be found, since pollution is an immensely flexible metaphor that could be applied in many different spheres”. We can readily agree that a ‘unified theory’ of Greek pollution is impossible; indeed, it would surely be reductive and therefore undesirable. As the contributions to this volume and other ongoing investigations—arriving at a quick pace—persist in demonstrating, there is more profit in continuing to explore the ‘flexible metaphors’ of purity and impurity. From institutional law to traditional norm, from rhetorical slander to substantive crime, from ethical conception to ritual practice, from inner— mental—to outer—corporeal—expressions, the different declensions of purity and impurity reach beyond definitional uncertainties, unveiling some of the richness, diversity, and complexity of ancient realities.

- by Roberto Pattavina
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- Greek Religion, Ancient Greek History, Judaism, Black Sea Studies

Volume 1 des actes du colloque d'Izmir. Il regroupe 32 contributions, regroupées en deux parties. La première , intitulée "De la fabrication à la collection et à l'étude" envisage les officines, les techniques et outils de production, la diffusion et la constitution de koinès, et enfin l'étude et les collections. La deuxième partie, intitulée "Centre de production", est consacrée aux produits et répertoire de différentes régions productrices, en Grèce propre, en Éolide, Ionie et Carie, et enfin aux marges du monde classique.

- by Arthur MULLER and +2
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- Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Iconography, Anatolian Studies

From Homer’s Iliad to the Athenian funeral oration and beyond the “‘beautiful death” was the name that the Greeks used to describe a combatant’s death. From the world of Achilles to democratic Athens, in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, the warrior’s death was a model that concentrated the representations and the values that served as [masculine] norms. This should not be a surprise: the Iliad depicts a society at war and in the Achaean camp, at least, a society of men, without children and legitimate wives. Certainly the Athenian polis (“city-state”) reversed the traditional combatant–citizen relationship by claiming that one must be, first, a citizen before being a soldier. Nevertheless this polis distinguished itself from others by the splendour that it gave the public funeral of its citizens that had died in war and especially by the repatriating of their mortal remains (Thuc. 2.34). In a society that believed in autochthony this repatriation was, undoubtedly, significant. Since the beautiful death crystallised the aretē (“courage”) of Achilles and Athenians alike, it was, from the outset, linked to speech. Indeed heroic death and the civic beautiful death were the subject-matter of elaborate speech. Such a celebratory discourse gave the warrior’s death an eternal existence in memory. This discourse gave his death its reality, but, conversely, also took for itself all that was valued in his accomplished exploit and claimed to be its truthful expression. In short the beautiful death was a paradigm.

- by David M Pritchard
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- Ancient History, Cultural History, Psychology, Psychoanalysis

This paper argues that the Hephaisteion was erected on Kolonos Agoraios as the spot identified in Athenian topographic myth with the place of Hephaistos’s pursuit of Athena that led to Erichthonios’s birth. The complex association of semen with pollution kept the location of the foundation story of Athens separate from the Acropolis, offering a visual and topographic counterpoint
to Athena’s temple. Kolonos Agoraios also had powerful connections with the Philaid family, through the cult of Eurysakes, which made it attractive for a temple commemorating the successes of Miltiades and Kimon in the Aegean, notably on Hephaistos’s island of Lemnos.

- by Jeremy McInerney
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- Mythology, Greek Religion, Greek sanctuaries
- by Yulia Ustinova
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- Greek Religion, Madness, Healing, Corybantes
- by Jordi Redondo
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- Greek Religion, Greek Myth

La dea Ecate è una divinità misteriosa e poliedrica, in parte ancora da scoprire. Bollata abusivamente dai moderni come ‘ctonia’, come ‘dea degli Inferi’ o ‘signora della magia’, la sua figura è stata appiattita sotto il peso di improprie e riduttive etichette, misconoscendo in questo modo la complessità diacronica di uno dei soggetti divini meno studiati e compresi del pantheon greco. Uno studio dettagliato delle molteplici manifestazioni rituali in suo onore e delle testimonianze antiche (letterarie e non solo) rivela infatti un profilo inedito di questa divinità, un profilo assai più complesso di quanto si pensasse finora. Si tratta di una dea ambigua che non ammette rigide qualifiche, di una protettrice dalla quale occorre anche proteggersi.

- by Nicola Serafini
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- Greek Religion, Ancient Greek Religion, Greek Myth, Greek religion (Classics)

L’Inno omerico a Ermes nel quale, tra il serio e il faceto, l’anonimo autore racconta due episodi fondamentali nell’infanzia del dio, costituisce una delle pagine più divertenti nel panorama della poesia greca arcaica. Lingua e stile fanno pensare a una datazione relativamente tarda (VI secolo), ma nessuno studio sistematico è stato finora dedicato al problema della sua localizzazione (a differenza di quanto è accaduto nel caso degli altri Inni omerici maggiori). Tuttavia, il confronto con le tradizioni poetiche locali apre nuove prospettive di ricerca e consente di raggiungere risultati inediti: l’episodio centrale dell’Inno, ossia il furto delle vacche di Apollo da parte del neonato Ermes, deve essere messo in relazione con la ricca tradizione di miti di abigeato nati nel Peloponneso occidentale (e connessi in particolare con il regno miceneo di Pilo). Nel corso del VII secolo, insieme alle genti stanziate nel regno di Pilo, migrarono ad Atene le loro tradizioni mitiche, e lì furono rielaborate. Tra queste si deve includere anche il mito del furto delle vacche di Apollo, poiché l’Inno omerico a Ermes si presenta come il prodotto di un abile poeta ateniese. L’accurata analisi delle testimonianze vascolari, oltre a numerosi indizi di carattere storico e cultuale, rimanda infatti da vicino alla realtà ateniese e consente di collocare il carme, con più precisione, negli anni a cavallo tra la fine del VI e l’inizio del V secolo, in contemporanea con l’introduzione del culto di Ermes ad Atene per opera dei Pisistratidi. La composizione dell’Inno si inserisce nel medesimo movimento culturale ed è probabile che esso servisse come proemio per i nuovi concorsi rapsodici delle Panatenee.

- by Cecilia Nobili
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- Greek Religion, Homeric Hymns, Homeric Hymn to Hermes, Local Traditions
- by George Latura
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- Religion, History, Ancient History, Greek Literature
- by Cécile Durvye
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- Greek Religion, Ancient Greek Religion, Hellenistic Delos, Artemis

This article examines the position of the Great Panathenaia in the Olympic cycle during the second and third centuries A.D. According to scholarly opinion, the Panathenaia was shifted from the third year in the Olympic cycle, its date before Hadrian's reign, to the fourth year. Since years in which the Great Panathenaia were held happened on a fixed cycle and are easily identified, this understanding of the festival’s chronology has had important ramifications for the dating of the eponymous archons of Roman Athens. The dossier of letters from Hadrian which was recently found at Alexandria Troas (SEG LVI 1359), however, shows that this understanding of the Panathenaia and its chronology is incorrect. As I argue, these letters, together with other evidence from Athens, show that the Panathenaia continued to be held in third year of the Olympiad, rather than the fourth. Additional evidence further suggests that they continued to be held on this cycle until at least the middle of the third century.

- by Julia L. Shear
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- Greek Religion, Hadrian, Athens, Panathenaia

This essay looks at the cancellation of the Great Panathenaia of 286 and it re-examines the crucial section of text in the great honorary decree for Kallias of Sphettos (SEG XXVIII 60). It shows that the festival of 286 was certainly not held and the Great Panathenaia of 282 was the first celebration after the city had been liberated. As I argue, cancelling any festival was an extremely serious decision indeed because such celebrations created, maintained, and displayed relationships between the divine and the human community. Since the Panathenaia was also an important occasion for putting Athenian democracy, unity, and freedom on show, not celebrating the festival of 286 meant passing up the opportunity to display the city’s newly won freedom and her unity after revolution to an international audience. Such a momentous decision requires further explanation. Our evidence suggests that the on-going military situation surrounding the recovery of Athens from Demetrios is the most likely reason why this important festival was cancelled.

- by Julia L. Shear
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- Greek Religion, Festivals, Athens, Panathenaia
- by Classical Studies Cluj-Napoca
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- Classics, Roman Religion, Greek Religion, Ancient Greek Religion
- by Ioannis Mylonopoulos
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- Classics, Greek Religion, Ancient Greek Religion, Greek religion (Classics)
- by José A. Delgado Delgado and +1
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- Ancient History, Roman History, Divination, Astrology
- by María-Paz de Hoz
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- Greek Literature, Galen, Greek Religion, Greek Science

The cult of Apollo Iatros existed only in the Ionian colonies of the Western and the Northern Black Sea coasts, in Apollonia Pontica, Histria, Tyras, Olbia, and on the Bosporus. As early as in the sixth century BC, Apollo Iatros played a prominent role in the pantheons of all these cities. The god’s epiclesis indicates that the founders of the cult sought to distinguish between Apollo Iatros and the established aspects of Apollo in their metropoleis. The new cultic title appears to reflect the newcomers’ wish to include a reference to the local deity or deities into the divine personality of their traditional god. Thracian and Scythian preoccupation with immortality and their fame as healers and diviners suggested an additional aspect in the image of Apollo. The merger was facilitated by the belief in mantic and healing powers of Apollo in the metropoleis of Pontic Ionians. The case of Apollo Iatros demonstrates that Greek colonists could introduce innovations into their ancestral pantheon.

- by Yulia Ustinova
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- Greek Religion, Black Sea Studies, Thracians, Greek colonization
- by Yulia Ustinova
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- Greek Religion, Aphrodite, Bosporan Kingdom, Sarmatians