An Archaeology of Ancestors - Tomb Cult and Hero Cult in Early Greece

In this fresh consideration of the origins of the ancient Greeks' ideas and practices concerning their own past, Carla M. Antonaccio demonstrates that hero cult and ancestor cult persisted, throughout the Iron Age, long before epic poetry's heroic narratives were widely disseminated. Although it was not until the dissolution of Iron Age societies that epic poetry and organized hero cult developed to aid claims to legitimacy, practices such as visiting tombs to make offerings were common, and contradict the usual picture of Iron Age religious conservatism.

List of contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 A Regional Survey of Tomb Cults
Chapter 3 EPic and Mythical Heroes' Cults
Chapter 4 The Cult of the Dead
Chapter 5 An Archaeology of Ancestors
Chapter 6 Bibliography
Chapter 7 Index

About the author

Carla M. Antonaccio is assistant professor of classics at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

Product details

• Authors: Carla M. Antonaccio
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 22.11.1994
• EAN: 9780847679423
• ISBN: 978-0-8476-7942-3
• No. of pages: 240
• Dimensions: 151 mm x 229 mm x 24 mm
• Weight: 472 g
• Series: Greek Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; European History, HISTORY / Europe / General, Ancient Greece, HISTORY / Ancient / Greece, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology, Ancient World, Ancient History, Archaeology by period / region, Ancient history: to c 500 CE, Classical Greek & Roman archaeology