Title The Greek gods in modern scholarship : interpretation and belief in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Germany and Britain / Michael D. Konaris

Published Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2016 ©2016

Click on the following:
Oxford Scholarship Online

Copies

Description 1 online resource (x, 361 pages) Series Oxford Classical Monographs Oxford classical monographs. Contents Introduction -- 1. The tyranny of nature over the Greek gods : variations of physical interpretation -- 2. Stammesgötter and universal gods : the historical-critical approach -- 3. Ancient polytheisms and modern antagonisms: Hermann Usener’s theory of sondergötter -- 4. British responses -- Conclusion Summary "The nineteenth century is a key period in the history of the interpretation of the Greek gods. 'The Greek Gods in Modern Scholarship' examines how German and British scholars of the time drew on philology, archaeology, comparative mythology, anthropology, or sociology to advance radically different theories on the Greek gods and their origins. For some, they had been personifications of natural elements, for others, they had begun as universal gods like the Christian god, yet for others, they went back to totems or were projections of group unity. The volume discusses the views of both well-known figures like K.O. Muller (1797-1840), or Jane Harrison (1850-1928), and of forgotten, but important, scholars like F.G. Welcker (1784-1868). It explores the underlying assumptions and agendas of the rival theories in the light of their intellectual and cultural context, laying stress on how they were connected to broader contemporary debates over fundamental questions such as the origins and nature of religion, or the relation between Western culture and the 'Orient'.0It also considers the impact of theories from this period on twentieth- and twenty-first-century scholarship on Greek religion and draws implications for the study of the Greek gods today."--Publisher's description Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed August 31, 2016) Subject Gods, Greek. Mythology, Greek. Gods, Greek, in art. Gods, Greek, in literature. BODY, MIND & SPIRIT -- Spirituality -- Paganism & Neo-Paganism. RELIGION -- Antiquities & Archaeology. Gods, Greek Gods, Greek, in art Gods, Greek, in literature Mythology, Greek Form Electronic book ISBN 9780191801426 0191801429 9780191057809 0191057800 9780198737896 0198737890

  Permalink