Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion, Volume 2: Transition and Reversal in Myth and Ritual

2. Auflage 1992
ISBN: 978-90-04-09267-9
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 6/2, 354 Seiten, Format (B × H): 166 mm x 246 mm, Gewicht: 798 g

Reihe: Studies in Greek and Roman Religion

This is the second of a two-volume collection of studies on inconsistencies in Greek and Roman religion. Their common aim is to argue for the historical relevance of various types of ambiguity and dissonance. While the first volume focused on the central paradoxes in ancient henotheism, the present one discusses the ambiguities in myth and ritual of transition and reversal.
After an introduction to the history of the myth and ritual debate (with a focus on New Year festivals and initiation) in the first chapter, the second and third chapters discuss myth and ritual of reversal—Kronos and the Kronia, and Saturnus and the Saturnalia respectively; the fourth treats two women's festivals—that of Bona Dea and the Thesmophoria; the fifth investigates the initiatory aspects of Apollo and Mars. In the background is the basic conviction that the three approaches to religion known as 'substantivistic', functionalist and cultural-symbolic respectively, need not be mutually exclusive.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Versnel, Henk

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte Religionen der Antike
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder

Über Autor(innen)

H.S. Versnel is Professor of Ancient History at Leiden University. His main interests are in Greek and Roman Religion. Publications include: Isis, Dionysos, Hermes: Three Studies in Henotheism Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion I, (1990). He is the editor of the Brill series Studies in Greek and Roman religion, which is brought to completion by the publication of this book, and is co-editor of the new series Religions in the Graeco-Roman world.