| The Origins of Greek Religion Contributor(s): Dietrich, B. C. (Author) |
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ISBN: 190467531X ISBN-13: 9781904675310 Publisher: Liverpool University Press OUR PRICE: $43.51 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 2004 Annotation: Nilsson's seminal work on Minoan-Mycenaean religion had its 2nd edition in 1950 just before the decipherment of Linear B; yet it found in the Bronze Age much that could be associated with later Greek religion. Its insights were thus vindicated by eventual reading of those tablets which bore the names of classical divinities. Dietrich, with Nilsson very much in mind, begins from the premises that beliefs and their associated rites are inherently conservative; that, even when populations change, they do so gradually, creating fusions rather than wholesale disruptions in ritual practice. An understanding of classical religion thus, necessarily, depends on appreciation of its forerunners in the Bronze Age; and they in turn on better documented religions in the Middle East. Dietrich deals first with those eastern links; next with the old traditions of Minoan Crete; then with the interplay of pre-Greek Minoan and Greek Mycenaean cultures; and finally he attempts to bridge the commonly assumed divide between bronze age and archaic Greece. Deitrich's theses, trend setting and provocative in their day, still contain much of importance for the student of ancient Greek religion. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Antiquities & Archaeology - History | Ancient - Greece - Religion | History |
| Dewey: 292.08 |
| LCCN: 2005360263 |
| Series: Ignibus Paperbacks |
| Physical Information: 1.02" H x 5.68" W x 8.44" (1.06 lbs) 364 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - Ancient (To 499 A.D.) - Cultural Region - Greece |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Dietrich starts from the premises that beliefs and their associated rites are inherently conservative and that, even where populations change, they tend to do so gradually, creating fusions rather than wholesale disruptions in ritual practice. An understanding of classical Greek religion thus, necessarily, depends on appreciation of its forerunners in the Bronze Age; and they, in turn, on evidence from the better documented religions of the Middle East. Dietrich's four main chapters deal first with those eastern links; then with the old traditions of Minoan Crete; next with the interplay of pre-Greek Minoan and Greek Mycenaean cultures; and finally he attempts to bridge the commonly assumed divide between bronze-age and archaic Greece. |