Religion in the Ancient Greek City

by Louise Bruit Zaidman and Pauline Schmitt Pantel

Book Overview

This book is an English translation of the French work La Religion Grecque. Its purpose is to consider how religious beliefs and cultic rituals were given expression in ancient Greece. The chapters... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521423570
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.7" x 5.4"

Customer Reviews

A superior, insightful introduction to ancient Greek religion

Religion in the Ancient Greek City by Louise Bruit Zaidman and Pauline Schmitt Pantel offers readers what is probably the best introduction to Greek polytheism available. Originally published in France, it bears the marks of that country's historical tradition, that is, it is often theoretical and anthropological in its nature. This, however, only adds to its effectiveness by providing poignant insight and historical context to the information dealt with. The English translation has been slightly modified in that certain elements have been rearranged from the French version to make the readership more fluid, and it is. Zaidman and Pantel pepper the text with helpful quotations from the original Greek sources as well as images of relevant artifacts to further the reader's understanding. The book begins by putting the reader in the correct mindset with which to study ancient polytheism, which is to leave modern definitions of religion and piety at the door and begin to see objectively a truly foreign culture. Next they delve into Greek rituals and mystery cults, and finally into the mind of the ancient Greek in how they saw and understood their deities. Athens is the dominant focus, though a few other cities do get a moderate amount of attention, and Classical Greece is really the period of concern. The chapters are split into subsections that are easy to comprehend. This being an introduction, it does not go in depth into any single element, but it does give a wealth of knowledge to equip the reader to capably research further. The bibliography, likewise, is extensive.

A Great Quick Synopsis

If you want a short, concise, no beating-around-the-bush kind of reference book about almost every major and some minor aspect of Greek Religion, then this book is right up your alley. You're going to find that most of these shorter books are only work as a supplemental to or with other books and with so many kinds of refernece books, this is defintely a keeper. This book is a mixture of anthropology and good ancient histiography made for people who don't know much about Greek Religion and need a solid but understandable source from whence to jump off from. It gives just enough background info about the topic at hand but still introduces different and innovative concepts--that is, they will define what 'ritual' or 'procession' means and then expand on the various components about it . Each chapter has a major headline then it's delineated into smaller sub-sections to explain the main topic. The thorough Bibliography & well-chosen images round out this great book. Ultimately, I came away with a feeling of imagining this world and having a better sense of how Greeks thought about religion. It's not in anyway philosophical but they do give some dieas as to the consequence or result of event & actions within its society & culture that influenced religion and vice versa. These authors are able to show a multi-layered Greek Religion influenced by society/culture/politics/economy, etc. that speaks with vividness that is so accessible and so clearly explained, it will make you want to learn even more. I would suggest reading everything from cover to cover because even the 2 prefaces were helpful in how I ought to take this book. If you're not sure how to read this book or know what you ought to take away with you, they suggest a useful method in reading this book that both short yet precise. But remember: this is only a synopsis; they do not delve too deeply into all the topics because it is meant only to give you a broad-but concise-introduction into Greek Religion and not meant to be an encyclopedia about it. It is meant to be a reference book that you use along with other books and especially as a source book. Please do read this book, it make you want to devour more and more!

Excelent Information

This book has a lot of good and useful informatin. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Greek Religion