Smoke Signals for the Gods
Ancient Greek Sacrifice from the Archaic through Roman Periods
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26 187 Ft
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Product details:
- Publisher OUP USA
- Date of Publication 2 April 2015
- ISBN 9780190232719
- Binding Paperback
- No. of pages442 pages
- Size 234x155x25 mm
- Weight 635 g
- Language English
- Illustrations 17 illus. 0
Categories
Short description:
Drawing on a wealth of sources, Smoke Signals for the Gods provides a complete picture of ancient animal sacrifice.
MoreLong description:
Animal sacrifice has been critical to the study of ancient Mediterranean religions since the nineteenth century. Recently, two theories have dominated the subject of sacrifice: the psychological and ethological approach of Walter Burkert and the sociological and cultural approach of Jean-Pierre Vernant and Marcel Detienne. These writers have argued that sacrifice allays feelings of guilt at the slaughter of sacrificial animals and that it promotes solidarity. None of them leaves much room for the role of priests or gods, or compares animal sacrifice to other oblations offered to the gods. F. S. Naiden redresses the omission of these features to show that, far from being an attempt to assuage guilt or foster solidarity, animal sacrifice is an attempt to make contact with a divine being, and that it is so important-and perceived to be so risky-for the worshippers that it becomes subject to regulations of unequaled extent and complexity. Smoke Signals for the Gods addresses these regulations as well as literary texts, while drawing on recent archaeological work on faunal remains. It also seeks to explain how mistaken views of sacrifice arose, and traces them as far back as early Christianity. This many-sided study provides a new picture of ancient Greek animal sacrifice and of the religion of which sacrifice was a part.
Naiden is the first scholar to pull together so many accounts of sacrifice in such a sophisticated fashion, and he exhibits a masterful range. His collection of anecdotes and testimonia will benefit generations of scholars, who could only look to the abbreviated entries in lexica or handbooks like ThesCRA, which do not aim to be comprehensive. Naiden embraces the full spectrum and is able to collapse it all into an accessible paradigm based on human desire for divine approval and assistance. It's brilliantly simple and the narrative he creates renders a dizzying variety of ancient testimony and criticism into a bite-sized format. He has effectively dismantled the 20th century theories, creating a new point of reference for Classical studies on this topic.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Spelling and Abbreviations
List of Figures
1. The Invention of a Ritual
2. Venues and Offerings
3. Prayers and Answers
4. God Says No
5. Rules, Rewards, and Experts
6. Markets and Messes
7. A Detective Story
8. The Demise of a Ritual
Appendix A
Appendix B
Bibliography
Index Locorum
Index Verborum
Index Nominum
Index Rerum
