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This volume centres on one of the most important questions in the study of antiquity – the interaction between Greece and the Ancient Near East, from the Mycenaean to the Hellenistic periods. Focusing on the stories that the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean told about the gods and their relationships with humankind, the individual treatments draw together specialists from both fields, creating for the first time a truly interdisciplinary synthesis. Old cases are re-examined, new examples discussed, and the whole range of scholarly opinions, past and present, are analysed, critiqued, and contextualised. While direct textual comparisons still have something to show us, the methodologies advanced here turn their attention to deeper structures and wider dynamics of interaction and influence that respect the cultural autonomy and integrity of all the ancient participants.
"The Greek and Roman myths and legends are an indispensable part of our cultural heritage -- drawn upon by painters adn writers through the centuries, told and retold all over the world. Together they add up to one of the greatest imaginative achievements in the history of civilization; and yet the narratives of the myths themselves, today, are often only half-remembered. This scholarly and comprehensive book presents, in alphabetical order, clear and concise accounts of all the characters around whom the myths of Greece and Rome were woven." --from publisher's notes.
"With admirable erudition, Lopez-Ruiz brings to life intimacies and exchanges between the ancient Greeks and their Northwest Semitic neighbors, portraying the ancient Mediterranean as a fluid, dynamic contact zone. She explains networks of circulation, shows creative uses of traditional material by peoples in motion, and radically transforms our understanding of ancient cosmogonies."---Page duBois, author of Out of Athens: The New Ancient Greeks --
This monograph examines the religious and mythological concepts of Zeus from prehistoric times until the Early Archaic period. The research was performed as an interdisciplinary study involving the evidence of the Homeric poems, archaeology, linguistics, as well as comparative Indo-European material. It is argued that Greek Zeus, as a god with certainly established Indo-European origins, was essentially a god of the open sky and the supposed progenitor of everything, a supreme, but not ruling deity; initially, he must have been distinct from the god of storms, who, for unknown reasons, completely disappeared from Greek religion and mythology by as early as the Late Bronze Age. From the time of Homer, Zeus-Father appeared as a storm-god, the autocratic ruler of the universe, and an offspring of elder deities, on the level of mythology. Such a concept does not correspond to the traditional Indo-European patterns and seems to have been formed under the influence of Near-Eastern concepts of the supreme almighty god, on the one hand, and the Cretan-Minoan concept of a young god/divine child, on the other. However, the Homeric concept of Zeus was adopted by his practising cults much later, only from the Late Archaic period.
Heracles in Early Greek Epic examines the protean nature of the greatest Greek hero, Heracles in Homeric and Hesiodic poetry, as well as in fragmentary epics such as Creophylus’ Oichalias Halosis, Pisander’s Heracleia, and Panyassis’ Heracleia. Several contributors explore Heracles’ associations with heroes in Near-Eastern literature and reflections in early epic about his involvement in the first sack of Troy, the tale of Hesione and the ketos, the war against the Meropes on Cos, and the sack of Oechalia. Other contributors study his role in other Archaic and Classical epics such as those written by Creophylus, Pisander, and Panyassis.
An award-winning Oxford history professor overturns the way the West thinks about itself, tracing its innovations and traditions to societies from all over the world and making the case that the West is, and always has been, truly global. “Superb, refreshing, and full of delights, this is world history at its best.”—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The World: A Family History of Humanity In How the World Made the West, Josephine Quinn poses perhaps the most significant challenge ever to the “civilizational thinking” regarding the origins of Western culture—that is, the idea that civilizations arose separately and distinctly from one another. Rather, she locates the roots of the modern West in everything from the law codes of Babylon, Assyrian irrigation, and the Phoenician art of sail to Indian literature, Arabic scholarship, and the metalworking riders of the Steppe, to name just a few examples. According to Quinn, reducing the backstory of the modern West to a narrative that focuses on Greece and Rome impoverishes our view of the past. This understanding of history would have made no sense to the ancient Greeks and Romans themselves, who understood and discussed their own connections to and borrowings from others. They consistently presented their own culture as the result of contact and exchange. Quinn builds on the writings they left behind with rich analyses of other ancient literary sources like the epic of Gilgamesh, holy texts, and newly discovered records revealing details of everyday life. A work of breathtaking scholarship, How the World Made the West also draws on the material culture of the times in art and artifacts as well as findings from the latest scientific advances in carbon dating and human genetics to thoroughly debunk the myth of the modern West as a self-made miracle. In lively prose and with bracing clarity, as well as through vivid maps and color illustrations, How the World Made the West challenges the stories the West continues to tell about itself. It redefines our understanding of the Western self and civilization in the cosmopolitan world of today.
"This volume investigates the integral role of heroes in ancient Greek art and culture. More than a hundred statues, reliefs, vases, bronzes, coins, and gems drawn from European and American collections, illustrate the ways in which heroes were represented, why they were important in Greek culture, and what encouraged individuals to seek them out." --Book Jacket.
The myths of Greek heroes give us a glimpse beyond the edge of history, into the lives of very real people. How much of their tales are true, we may never know. Greek heroes taught us many lessons, from Homer's poetry about war and a warrior's return home to the tales of Cadmus, Jason, Herakles and even Oedipus.