Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion

by Jane Ellen Harrison

Overview

Jane Harrison examines the festivals of ancient Greek religion to identify the primitive "substratum" of ritual and its persistence in the realm of classical religious observance and literature. In Harrison's preface to this remarkable book, she writes that J. G. Frazer's work had become part and parcel of her "mental furniture" and that of others studying primitive religion. Today, those who write on ancient myth or ritual are bound to say the same about Harrison. Her essential ideas, best developed and most clearly put in the Prolegomena, have never been eclipsed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691015149
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	06/25/1991
Series:	Mythos: The Princeton/Bollingen Series in World Mythology , #537
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	720
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

1. Olympian and chthonic ritual; 2. The Anthesteria; 3. Harvest festivals; 4. The women's festivals; 5. The demonology of ghosts, sprites and bogeys; 6. The making of a goddess; 7. The making of a god; 8. Dionysus; 9. Orpheus; 10. Orphic and Dionysiac mysteries; 11. Orphic eschatology; 12. Orphic cosmosgony; Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Harrison's Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion is a book that breathes life. It is an exciting, deeply felt intellectual quest, with a broad view of the role of religion in life, ancient and modern. Harrison is not afraid to look for relevance in archaic cult, and doesn't flinch on finding it. From a study of Greek anthropomorphism, she can conclude, like a seeress looking beyond the early twentieth century: 'to be human is not necessarily to be humane.'"—Richard Martin, Princeton University

Richard Martin

Harrison's Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion is a book that breathes life. It is an exciting, deeply felt intellectual quest, with a broad view of the role of religion in life, ancient and modern. Harrison is not afraid to look for relevance in archaic cult, and doesn't flinch on finding it. From a study of Greek anthropomorphism, she can conclude, like a seeress looking beyond the early twentieth century: 'to be human is not necessarily to be humane.'
— Richard Martin, Princeton University

Editorial Reviews

"Harrison's Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion is a book that breathes life. It is an exciting, deeply felt intellectual quest, with a broad view of the role of religion in life, ancient and modern. Harrison is not afraid to look for relevance in archaic cult, and doesn't flinch on finding it. From a study of Greek anthropomorphism, she can conclude, like a seeress looking beyond the early twentieth century: 'to be human is not necessarily to be humane.'"—Richard Martin, Princeton University

From the Publisher