Athenian Religion: A History

ISBN-13: 9780198152408 / Angielski / Miękka / 1998 / 400 str.

Robert Parker

Opis

Inadequately documented, ancient Greek religion can all too easily be reduced to the dry analysis of archaeological remains and so-called ritual objects'. This authoritative new work attempts to bridge the gap that usually divides Greek religion from Greek history, setting it firmly in the thick of contemporary events and politics. How did people actually worship the gods? Was Socrates's trial a crisis for religion or the state, or both? These are among the key issues addressed in what promises to be the definitive work on the subject for many years to come.

Recenzje

What Parker does that is new is to give us a broad picture of religious practices and outlook ... in a single city-state. This ambitious self-limitation permits a developmental account that is refreshingly embedded both in the underlying social framework and in historical narrative. Epigraphists will enjoy seeing their patient reconstructive work rescued from the brilliant obscurity of learned journals to be incorporated into this masterly synthesis. It is an extraordinary achievement to have made the assembling of fragmentary and often unexciting evidence of various kinds, with all the necessary qualification and counter-qualification, so absorbingly readable. Parker excels in elegant caution.