Placing the Gods
Sanctuaries and Sacred Space in Ancient Greece
Susan E Alcock editor Robin Osborne editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:25th Apr '96
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
No one disputes the centrality of cult activity in the lives of individuals and communities in ancient Greece. The significance of where people worshipped their gods has been far less acknowledged. In 1884 Francois de Polignac argued that the placing of cult centres played a major part in establishing the concept of the city-state in archaic Greece. The essays in this collection, headed by that of de Polignac himself in which he re-assesses his position, critically examine the social and political importance of sanctuary placement, not only by re-examining the case of the archaic Greece discussed by de Polignac, but by extending analysis both back to Mycenaean times and onwards to Greece under Roman occupation. These essays reveal something of the complexity of relations between religion and politics in ancient Greece, demonstrating how vital factors such as tradition, gender relations, and cult identity were in creating and maintaining the religious mapping of the Greek countryside.
this is a very good and useful collection of papers that go to make up an attractive and well-illustrated book...There are no bad papers in this volume. All contributions are accurate, scholarly and display a sound knowledge both of the relevant archeology and the relevant ancient authors...Ancient historians and classical archeologists would profit from reading it-but some prehistorians would perhaps profit even more.
important collection * Oxbow Book News *
In its diversity and in its contradictions, this volume has the merit of tracing lines of study, of throwing out directions of inquiry, and of drawing together links which are all the more needed to link the social history of the Greek world to the practicalities of contemporary archaeology. * Alain Schnapp, Université de Paris, Antiquity 71 (1997) *
coherent, integrated, and explicitly theory-based collection of commissioned essays edited by Alcock and Osborne * P.A. Cartledge, Clare College, Cambridge, The International History Review, XVIII, 1: February 1996 *
ISBN: 9780198150602
Dimensions: 233mm x 156mm x 19mm
Weight: 439g
282 pages