Religion in the Ancient Greek City

This book considers how religious beliefs & cultic rituals were given expression in ancient Greece. The chapters cover ritual, then myth, rooting the account in the practices of the classical city while also taking seriously the world of the imagination. For this edition the bibliography has been substantially revised to meet the needs of an English-speaking readership. The book is enriched by illustrations & quotations from original sources.List of IllustrationsAuthor's Preface to the English TranslationTranslator's IntroductionList of Sources1 Introduction: How should we study Greek civic religion? The necessity of cultural estrangement; Some fundamental notions; Sources of evidence2 Cult-practices. Rituals; Religious personnel; Places of cult; Rites of passage; Settings of religious life; Religion & political life; The festival system: the Athenian case; The Panhellenic cults3 Systems for representing the divine. Myths & mythology; A polytheistic religion; Forms of imaginative projection4 Envoi. Concluding reflectionsAppendix 1: The classical Greek temple Appendix 2: The monuments of the Athenian AkropolisBibliographyIndex & Glossary