The Greek Gods in Modern Scholarship

The Greek Gods in Modern Scholarship examines major theories of interpretation of the Greek gods in German and British classical scholarship during the nineteenth and early twentieth century and their significance and influence.

Zusatztext This is a meaty, erudite ... account of several pioneering figures in the modern study of Greek mythology and religion. Konaris' monograph, which does heavy lifting in restoring to visibility some of the "less known scholars who played an important, if unacknowledged, role in the history of the discipline", will certainly be consulted in years to come; there is a wealth of knowledge here. Informationen zum Autor Michael Konaris is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre de Recherches Historiques, EHESS. Klappentext The Greek Gods in Modern Scholarship examines major theories of interpretation of the Greek gods in German and British classical scholarship during the nineteenth and early twentieth century and their significance and influence. Zusammenfassung The Greek Gods in Modern Scholarship examines major theories of interpretation of the Greek gods in German and British classical scholarship during the nineteenth and early twentieth century and their significance and influence.

Auteur

Michael Konaris is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre de Recherches Historiques, EHESS.

Texte du rabat

The Greek Gods in Modern Scholarship examines major theories of interpretation of the Greek gods in German and British classical scholarship during the nineteenth and early twentieth century and their significance and influence.

Résumé
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. Müller (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'. It 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.

Contenu

• Acknowledgements

• Introduction

• 1: The Tyranny of Nature over the Greek Gods: Variations of Physical Interpretation

• I.: The Rediscovery of Greece and Elemental Interpretations of Greek Religion: Peter Wilhelm Forchhammer (1801-1894)

• II.: Zeus Kronion and the Greek Gods between Natur and Cultur: F.G. Welcker's Griechische Götterlehre (1857-1863)

• III.: Polytheism and Naturreligion: Ludwig Preller's Account of Greek Religion (1809-1861)

• IV.: Elemental Interpetations of the Greek Gods and Indo-European Comparative Mythology

• A.: The Greek Gods in the Light of the Veda: Friedrich Max Müller (1823-1900)

• B.: Comparing Greek and Roman Gods: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (1845-1923)

• 2: Stammesgötter and Universal Gods: The Historical-Critical Approach

• I.: The Dorian Apollo of Karl Otfried Müller (1797-1840)

• II.: Jahresgötter and Universal Gods: Heinrich Dietrich Müller (1819-1893)

• III.: Uniting the Aryan with the Semitic: Ernst Curtius (1814-1896)

• 3: Ancient Polytheisms and Modern Antagonisms: Hermann Usener's Theory of Sondergötter

• 4: British Responses

• I.: The Anthropological Background

• II.: Bridging Anthropology with the Study of Greek Religion: Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

• III.: The Greek Gods between German Alterthumswissenschaft and British Anthropology: Lewis Richard Farnell (1856-1934)

• IV.: Anthropology, Sociology and the Return of Elemental Interpretation: Jane Ellen Harrison (1850-1928)

• Conclusion

• Appendix: Apollo in Twentieth- and Twenty-first Century Scholarship

• Bibliography

• Index