Redefining Ancient Orphism - A Study in Greek Religion

In a paradigm shift, this book redefines Orphism as a polemical label for extra-ordinary religion, good or bad.

List of contents

Part I. Introduction: Definitions Old and New: 1. The name of Orpheus; 2. Orphism through the ages: a history of scholarship; 3. The problem of definition; Part II. Orphic Scriptures or the Vaporings of Many Books?: 4. Orphic textuality: a hubbub of books; 5. Orphic Hieroi Logoi: sacred texts for the rites; 6. Orphic mythology: the content of Orphic poems; Part III. Orphic Doctrines or the Pure from the Pure?: 7. Orphic purity: piety or superstition?; 8. Life in the afterlife: the initiates' privilege and the mythic tradition; 9. Original sin or ancestral crimes: Zagreus and the concern with purification; 10. Conclusions: redefining ancient Orphism.

About the author

Radcliffe G. Edmonds III is Professor and Chair of the Department of Greek, Latin and Classical Studies at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania. He is author of Myths of the Underworld Journey: Plato, Aristophanes, and the 'Orphic' Gold Tablets (2004) and editor of The 'Orphic' Gold Tablets and Greek Religion: Further along the Path (2011).

Summary

This book examines the fragmentary evidence for Orpheus as the author of rites and poems, redefining Orphism as a label applied polemically to extra-ordinary religious phenomena. Replacing older models of an Orphic religion, this richer and more complex model provides insight into the boundaries of normal and abnormal Greek religion.

Product details

• Authors: Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, Radcliffe G. (Bryn Mawr College Edmonds III
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.01.2019
• EAN: 9781108730075
• ISBN: 978-1-108-73007-5
• No. of pages: 463
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 228 mm x 23 mm
• Series: Print on Demand
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Religion: general, reference works; Ancient Greece, HISTORY / Ancient / Greece, RELIGION / Christianity / General, RELIGION / Ancient, Christianity, Religion & beliefs, Ancient World, Ancient History, Ancient history: to c 500 CE, Religion and beliefs, Ancient religions & mythologies, BCE to c 500 CE, BCE period – Protohistory, Ancient religions and Mythologies