Eidinow Esther, Kindt Julia (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion

Oxford University Press, 2015. - 2057 p.This handbook sets out to offer both students and teachers of ancient Greek religion a comprehensive overview of the current state of the field. It aims both to present key information about the subject, and to explore the ways in which this information is gathered, and the different approaches that have shaped the subject. Overall, we intend this volume not only to provide a research and orientation tool for students of the ancient world, but also to make a key contribution to the ongoing conceptualization of ancient Greek relationships to the supernatural — in all their variety.
The volume traces recent scholarship as it moves on from previous paradigms, such as ‘polis religion’, to a more broadly conceived conception of the religious in ancient Greek culture. ‘Polis religion’ has provided an extremely stimulating model, but tends to privilege certain official contexts of ritual activity while marginalizing others. Although the original model may not have intended this, its use too often results in a static and exclusive model of communal ritual practices, promoting, for example, a division between magical and religious ritual activities, and a focus on Athens in the Classical period. Even in accounts in which this model is not explicitly mentioned, the result has been the presentation of ancient Greek religion in terms of a neat and complete narrative rather than a field of contestation and change.
In contrast, the aim of this volume is to highlight crucial developments in the study of ancient Greek religion, with a special focus on problems and debates. Thus, the chapters in this volume emphasize the diversity of relationships between mortals and the supernatural — in all their manifestations, across, between, and beyond ancient Greek cultures — and the various contexts in which these relationships unfold. ‘Relationships’ include both physical manifestations (e.g. ritual) and metaphysical (e.g. discourses as evidence for beliefs)—and encompass sources that have traditionally been categorized as ‘magic’. ‘Contexts’, in turn, include not only, where possible, the physical contexts, with a full consideration of the appropriate archaeological evidence, but also social, political, economic, and temporal contexts.
We have asked our authors to include information on approaches and methodologies, and on the history of scholarship in the field in their respective chapters, with the conviction that such information is best presented with the evidence it seeks to explain. We have not attempted to cover every possible topic in individual chapters, but rather to look at specific themes in the ritual contexts in which they occurred. For example, discussion of the content and context of hymns can be found in Henk Versnel’s reflections on prayers and curses (Chapter 30), and in Claude Calame’s meditation on the stories told in ritual performances (Chapter 13). The latter considers the ritual activities of women, a topic also discussed in, among other chapters, Matthew Dillon’s consideration of the household as a location of ritual practice (Chapter 17), and, with a different emphasis, by Sarah Hitch’s examination of evidence for life-change rituals (Chapter 35). In turn, Hitch’s chapter also considers relevant conceptions of pollution: the dangers this poses for the community is discussed in Kostas Vlassopoulos’ chapter on religion in Greek communities (Chapter 18); and the question of whether local heroes were perceived to cause pollution is explored in Gunnel Ekroth’s chapter on heroes (Chapter 26). To help guide the reader to such relevant content, cross-references have been included throughout the handbook to illuminate overlapping themes between chapters and parts. Finally, we have asked our contributors to draw attention to religious activities as dynamic, highlighting how they changed over time and in response to different contexts and relationships.