Description:
What is ancient Greek religion? This book eschews an Athenocentric view of Greek religion, moving away from a false picture of uniformity and addressing other parts of the Greek world whose particularities are often ignored.
It offers students an overview of core ideas, giving them the conceptual tools for understanding the actions and beliefs that constitute a religion, and also grounds them in the evidence of material culture as well as written sources. It provides contextualizing introductions to key topics, illustrating these with case studies. Illustrated with maps, drawings and images, it provides an insightful and revealing overview of Greek religion.
Review Quotes:
"Understanding Greek Religion: A Cognitive Approach is the best possible introduction to ancient Greek religion. There is more to the Greek religion than poetic myths and strange rituals. Jennifer Larson starts from the crucial idea that the ancient Greeks were like us, in that they shared the same mental processes and lived in the same world. She shows how this means that there is a lot more that can be said about the role of religion in their lives than simple studies of the ancient texts can reveal. Anyone at all interested in ancient Greek religion should read this book."
- Professor Hugh Bowden, King's College London
"Providing a comprehensive introduction to ancient Greek religion, Larson (classics, Kent State Univ.) examines the customary topics--myths, rituals, deities, mystery and hero cults, divination, festivals, games, processions, pollution, sacrifice, and so on--from a thoroughly new perspective: cognitive science ... Larson shows how the dynamics of religious thought and behavior involve agency, dual processing (distinguishing intuitive and reflective processes), and counterintuitive concepts (making concepts memorable) and how mental tools enable humans to construct representations as the basis of religion. The glossary and bibliographical essay will guide students as they explore this new approach to Greek religion. This volume is a model for the study of the ancient world."
- L. J. Alderink, Concordia College