Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-21T18:59:21.102Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Localism and the Study of Ancient Greek Religion: The Example of the Divine Persona

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2023

Hans Beck
Affiliation:
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
Julia Kindt
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
Get access

Summary

This chapter explores how the local dimension of ancient Greek religion has featured in Classical scholarship. Kindt argues that the problem of location is intrinsic to the structure of ancient Greek religion, which, in the absence of traditional locations of authority, had multiple centres and peripheries. The way in which the Greeks conceived of the personalities of the gods and goddesses is a case in point: the idea of a unified existence as implied in the concept of the divine persona is challenged by the multiplicity of ways in which one and the same deity manifested itself in the human world. Three different ways in which Classical scholars have conceived of the categories of the local in relation to the Greek divine persona come into the picture here: as a realisation of the general, as the place at which variation occurs, and as two dynamic forces that variously intersect in different locations at which ancient Greek religion manifests itself.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beck, H. (2020) Localism and the Ancient Greek City-State. Chicago, Ill.Google Scholar
Bogeaud, P. (2004) Mother of the Gods: From Cybele to the Virgin Mary. Baltimore, Md.Google Scholar
Bonnet, C., Belayche, N. and Albert-Llorca, M. (eds.) (2017) Puissances divines à l’épreuve du comparatisme. Constructions, variations, et réseaux relationnels. Paris.Google Scholar
Bremmer, J. (1994) Greek Religion. Oxford.Google Scholar
Bremmer, J. (2010) ‘Manteis, Mysteries, and Mythography: Messy Margins of Polis Religion?’, Kernos 23, 1335.Google Scholar
Bremmer, J. (2020) ‘The Theriomorphism of the Major Greek Gods’, in Kindt, J. (ed.) Animals in Ancient Greek Religion. London, 102–25.Google Scholar
Burkert, W. (1977) Griechische Religion der archaischen und klassischen Epoche. Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Burkert, W. (1985) Greek Religion, transl. Raffan, J.. Oxford (German original 1977).Google Scholar
Constantakopoulou, C. (2007) The Dance of the Islands: Insularity, Networks, the Athenian Empire, and the Aegean World. Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deacy, S. (2007) ‘“Famous Athens, Divine Polis”: The Religious System at Athens’, in Ogden, D. (ed.) A Companion to Greek Religion. Malden, Mass., 221–35.Google Scholar
Dietrich, B. C. (1988) ‘Divine Personality and Personification’, Kernos 1, 1928.Google Scholar
Dignas, B. (2003) ‘Urban Centres, Rural Centres, Religious Centres in the Greek East. Worlds Apart?’, in Schwertheim, E. and Winter, E. (eds.) Religion und Region: Götter und Kulte aus dem östlichen Mittelmeerraum. Bonn, 7791.Google Scholar
Dunand, F. (2007) ‘The Religious System at Alexandria’, in Ogden, D. (ed.) A Companion to Greek Religion. Malden, Mass., 253–63.Google Scholar
Eidinow, E. (2011) ‘Networks and Narratives. A Model for Ancient Greek Religion’, Kernos 24, 938.Google Scholar
Eidinow, E. (2015) ‘Ancient Greek Religion: “Embedded … and Embodied”’, in Taylor, C. and Vlassopoulos, K. (eds.) Communities and Networks in the Ancient Greek World. Oxford, 5479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finley, M. I. (1975) ‘The Ancient Greeks and Their Nation’, in Finley, M. I., The Use and Abuse of History. New York, N.Y., 120–33.Google Scholar
Gagné, R. and Herrero de Jáuregui, M. (eds.) (2019) Les dieux d’Homère II – Anthropomorphismes. Liège.Google Scholar
Geertz, C. (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York, N.Y.Google Scholar
Giaccometti, D. (2005) Metaponto: Gli dei e gli eroi nella storia di una polis di Magna Grecia. Cosenza.Google Scholar
Goldhill, S. (2010) ‘What Is Local Identity? The Politics of Cultural Mapping’, in Whitmarsh, T. (ed.) Local Knowledge and Microidentities in the Imperial Greek World. Cambridge, 4668.Google Scholar
Gould, J. (2001) ‘On Making Sense of Greek Religion’, in Gould, J., Myth, Ritual, Memory and Exchange: Essays in Greek Literature and Culture. Oxford, 203–34 (first published 1985).Google Scholar
Graf, F. (1985) Nordionische Kulte: Religionsgeschichtliche und epigraphische Untersuchungen zu den Kulten von Chios, Erythrai, Klazomenai und Phokaia. Rome.Google Scholar
Graf, F. (1996) ‘Namen von Göttern im klassischen Altertum’, in Namensforschung: Ein internationales Handbuch zur Onomastik. Berlin, 1823–37.Google Scholar
Graf, F. (2009) Apollo. New York, N.Y.Google Scholar
Graziosi, B. (2013) The Gods of Olympus: A History. New York, N.Y.Google Scholar
Hall, J. (2002) Hellenicity: Between Ethnicity and Culture. Chicago, Ill.Google Scholar
Hansen, M. H. and Nielsen, T. H. (eds.) (2004) An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis. Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, J. E. (1903) Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Harrison, J. E. (1905) The Religion of Ancient Greece. London.Google Scholar
Harrison, J. E. (1912) Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Harrison, T. (2000) Divinity and History. The Religion of Herodotus. Oxford.Google Scholar
Henrichs, A. (2010) ‘What Is a Greek God?’, in Bremmer, J. and Erskine, A. (eds.) The Gods of Ancient Greece: Identities and Transformations. Edinburgh, 1939.Google Scholar
Herrero de Jáuregui, M. (2021) ‘Les épithètes toponymiques des dieux dans l’Iliade’, in C. Bonnet and G. Pironti (eds.) Les dieux d’Homère III. Attributs onomastiques. Liège, 191208.Google Scholar
Horden, P. and Purcell, N. (2000) The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History. Oxford.Google Scholar
Jameson, M. H. (2004) ‘Mapping Greek Cults’, in Kolb, F. (ed.) Chora und Polis. Munich, 147–61.Google Scholar
Jost, M. (1985) Sanctuaires et cultes d’Arcadie. Paris.Google Scholar
Jost, M. (2007) ‘The Religious System in Arcadia’, in Ogden, D. (ed.) A Companion to Greek Religion. Malden, Mass., 264–79.Google Scholar
Kindt, J. (2009) ‘Polis Religion – A Critical Evaluation’, Kernos 22, 934.Google Scholar
Kindt, J. (2012) Rethinking Greek Religion. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Kindt, J. (2015) ‘Personal Religion: A Productive Category for Ancient Greek Religion?’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies 135, 3550.Google Scholar
Larson, J. (2016) Understanding Greek Religion. London.Google Scholar
McGinty, P. (1978) Interpretation and Dionysus: Method in the Study of a God. London.Google Scholar
Mitchell, L. (2007) Panhellenism and the Barbarian in Archaic and Classical Greece. Swansea.Google Scholar
Morgan, C. (1993) ‘The Origins of Panhellenism’, in Marinatos, N. and Hägg, R. (eds.) Greek Sanctuaries: New Approaches. London, 1844.Google Scholar
Müller, C. (2016) ‘Generalization, Transnationalism, and the Local in Ancient Greece’, Oxford Handbooks Online, DOI:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935390.013.42.Google Scholar
Müller, C. O. (1820–24) Geschichte hellenischer Stämme und Städte, 3 volumes. Breslau.Google Scholar
Müller, H.-P. (2003) ‘Religion und Regionalität: Theoretisches und Methodisches’, in Schwertheim, E. and Winter, E. (eds.) Religion und Region: Götter und Kulte aus dem östlichen Mittelmeerraum. Bonn, 17.Google Scholar
Nilsson, M. P. (1927) Geschichte der Griechischen Religion, 2 volumes. Munich (first published in Swedish in 1922).Google Scholar
Osanna, M. (1996) Sanctuari e culti dell’Acaia antica. Naples.Google Scholar
Osborne, R. (2011) The History Written on the Classical Greek Body. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Osborne, R. (2015) ‘Unity vs. Diversity’, in Eidinow, E. and Kindt, J. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion. Oxford, 1119.Google Scholar
Otto, W. F. (1929) Die Götter Griechenlands: Das Bild des Göttlichen im Spiegel des griechischen Geistes. Bonn.Google Scholar
Pakkaneen, P. (2011) ‘Polis within the Polis: Crossing the Boundary of Official and Private Religion at the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia on Poros’, in Haysom, M. and Wallensten, J. (eds.) Current Approaches to Religion in Ancient Greece. Stockholm, 111–34.Google Scholar
Parker, R. (1996) Athenian Religion: A History. Oxford.Google Scholar
Parker, R. (2005) Polytheism and Society at Athens. Oxford.Google Scholar
Parker, R. (2011) On Greek Religion. Oxford.Google Scholar
Petridou, G. (2016) Divine Epiphany in Greek Literature and Culture. Oxford.Google Scholar
Pirenne-Delforge, V. (2013) L’Aphrodite grecque. Contribution à l’étude de ses cultes et de sa personnalité dans le panthéon archaïque et classique. AthensGoogle Scholar
Pirenne-Delforge, V.. (2020) Le Polythéisme grec à l’épreuve d’Hérodote. Paris.Google Scholar
Pirenne-Delforge, V. and Pironti, G. (2022) The Hera of Zeus: Intimate Enemy, Ultimate Spouse, transl. R. Geuss. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Pironti, G. and Bonnet, C. (eds.) (2017) Les dieux d’Homère: polythéisme et poésie en Grèce ancienne. Liège.Google Scholar
Polignac, F. de (1995) ‘Divinités régionales et divinités communautaires dans les cités archaïques’, in Pirenne-Delforge, V. (ed.) Les Panthéons des cités, des origines à la Périégèse de Pausanias. Liège, 2334.Google Scholar
Polinskaya, I. (2013) A Local History of Greek Polytheism: Gods, People, and the Land of Aigina, 800–400 BCE. Leiden.Google Scholar
Price, S. (1999) Religions of the Ancient Greeks. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Prückner, H. (1968) Die lokrischen Tonreliefs. Mainz.Google Scholar
Richter, N. (2007) ‘The Religious System at Sparta’, in Ogden, D. (ed.) A Companion to Greek Religion. Malden, Mass., 236–52.Google Scholar
Schachter, A. (1981) Cults of Boiotia. London.Google Scholar
Schachter, A. (2000) ‘Greek Deities: Local and Panhellenic Identities’, in Flensted-Jensen, P. (ed.) Further Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis. Stuttgart, 917.Google Scholar
Schmidt Pantel, P. (1992) La Cité au banquet: histoire des repas publics dans les cités grecques. Rome.Google Scholar
Scott, M. (2010) Delphi and Olympia: The Spatial Politics of Panhellenism in the Archaic and Classical Periods. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Sourvinou-Inwood, C. (1978) ‘Persephone and Aphrodite at Locri: A Model for Personality Definitions in Greek Religion’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies 98, 101–21.Google Scholar
Sourvinou-Inwood, C. (2000a) ‘What Is Polis Religion?’, in Buxton, R. (ed.) Oxford Readings in Greek Religion. Oxford, 1337 (first published in 1990).Google Scholar
Sourvinou-Inwood, C. (2000b) ‘Further Aspects of Polis Religion’, in Buxton, R. (ed.) Oxford Readings in Greek Religion. Oxford, 3855 (first published in 1988).Google Scholar
Vernant, J. P. (1991) Mortals and Immortals: Collected Essays Jean-Pierre Vernant, ed. Zeitlin, F.. Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Versnel, H. S. (1990–93) Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion, 2 volumes. Leiden.Google Scholar
Whitmarsh, T. (ed.) (2010) Local Knowledge and Microidentities in the Imperial Greek World. Cambridge.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×