Ancient Greek Religion

Магиски текстови пронајдени на папируси (PGM I-VI) Даниела Тошева ГРЧКИ МАГИСКИ ПАПИРУСИ PGM (PAPYRI GRAECAE MAGICAE) или Грчките магиски папируси се дел од една збирка со магиски обреди, обреди за иницијација и за стекнување натприродни моќи, пронајдена на почетокот од XIX век. Текстовите се напишани на грчки јазик, а само мал дел на коптски и датираат од II век н.е. до IV век н.е. Имено, тие се оригинални документи и примарни извори; тие не се уметничка книжевност, иако се појавуваат химни посветени на божествата, туку претставуваат еден вид прирачник со текстови собрани од некој упатен во религијата, магијата и окултизмот, кому му биле на располагање различни документи и записи на магии и обреди од египет-ската, еврејската, христијанската и хеленската религија.

The subject of the poster are some categories of gifts attested in the epigraphic documents better known as Tabulae curatorum Brauronii. The attention of studies has focused mainly on the evidence relating to the gift of clothing, neglecting other classes of votive materials very significant. These are divided into objects made of precious material (gold and silver) and objects made of more widely used material (bronze, ivory and wood). Within the first category emerges for the abundance of references a large group of rings, in addition to other types of jewelry such as necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. The list of objects in bronze and other materials occupies the final part of the stele, where there are significantly: a large number of mirrors, different types of pottery and other objects in ivory and wood, such as musical instruments. The analysis of these epigraphic testimonies in connection with the archaeological testimonies allowing to delineate a more complete picture of the ritual practices related to the cult of Artemis in Athens and Attica.

Η αυτοκρατορική λατρεία, κατάληξη μιας μακράς εξέλιξης που περιελάμβανε τη λατρεία ευεργετών, ελληνιστικών βασιλέων, Ρωμαίων αξιωματούχων και της θεάς Ρώμης, και βασιζόμενη στο ίδιο μοντέλο ευεργεσιακής ανταλλαγής, αποτέλεσε τη φυσική αντίδραση των ελληνικών πόλεων στην εμφάνιση της κυρίαρχης Ρώμης, τον χαρακτηριστικά ελληνικό τρόπο ενσωμάτωσης του υπέρτερου αυτοκράτορα στην οικεία πολιτικο-θρησκευτική τάξη. Η παραδοσιακή θρησκεία παρείχε έτοιμες τις δομές: ιερατείο, ναούς, αγάλματα, θυσίες, εορτές και αγώνες. Στην Πελοπόννησο, οι ονομαστικές και εικονιστικές αφομοιώσεις των αυτοκρατόρων σε παραδοσιακούς θεούς, η συλλατρεία τους, οι επαναχρήσεις και επαναφιερώσεις ναών και οι εορτές των Καισαρείων/Σεβαστείων αποτέλεσαν τις κυριότερες εκφράσεις της αυτοκρατορικής λατρείας. Η λατρεία των μελών του domus augusta αλλά και επιφανών τοπικών ευεργετών, το περίπλοκο τελετουργικό της λατρείας, η μεγαλοπρέπεια της ιερής πομπής, τα καθήκοντα των αξιωματούχων της πόλης αλλά και ο μηχανισμός ελέγχου τους περιγράφονται εκτενώς στη lex sacra της πόλης του Γυθείου. Στην σύντομη απαντητική επιστολή του Τιβερίου, η ευγενική άρνηση των ἰσοθέων τιμῶν εκφράζει τις αυτοεπιβεβλημένες περιοριστικές τάσεις των Ρωμαίων αυτοκρατόρων στη διαχείριση της λατρείας τους.

מדוע אנו קוראים לג'ון "המטביל"? מכיוון שהוא הטביל אנשים במים ל"תשובה ". מדוע אני מכנה את ישוע "המטביל"? מכיוון שהוא התגבר על החטא והציל אותנו מארץ המוות, הוא בא לטביל אותנו לצורך "תשובה של חטאים". מיד לאחר שקם מהמתים, הוא הטביל את תלמידיו ברוח מלאך ולא במים (ג'ון כ ', 22). ישוע החל במשימתו לאחר תחיית המתים "טבילת מלאך רוח" ונמשך גם היום. השליחים הקדומים ביותר הבינו זאת ויצאו להכיר לאנשים בכל רחבי כדור הארץ את ישו

In Old Comedy we do not find utopias in the modern sense, but utopia-like ideas are fundamental to the genre.  Since Old Comedy is highly political, the revolutionary measures taken in Ecclesiazusae can be regarded as precursors to the fully developed utopias of the modern era.  Both are bound up with a mythical-ritual pattern.  The model of a festival of exception, of inversion, and of the accompanying myth of reversion to the primordial conditions of the ambivalent "Age of Cronus" that preceded the reign of Zeus, includes inter alia utopian ideas.  Like the Golden Age, the Better World is at risk of toppling over into its opposite.  The future full of promise becomes an imagined reality through emphasis on the new, which however is always simultaneously equated with the olden days.  Aristophanes extends the mythical-ritual schema of the original Cockaigne folktale into utopian scenarios of politics and of intellectual debate on poetry, religion and philosophy

The way in which we shape a particular memory based on tragic facts of the past has an effect on the knowledge we have of that past. In this article, we aim to discern the reliability of two episodes in which Chilon of Sparta and Solon of Athens, two of the Seven Wise men of ancient Greece, warn about Pisistrato’s becoming a tyrant. Hence we analyse both cases separately, paying special attention to the sources and their historical evolution, in order to understand these episodes’ presence in the historiography of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. Historiographical analysis of both stories in their respective sources let us conclude that both warnings were more literary than historical.

This article in German language will be displayed here soon; please ask to the author for a free copy: elafli@yahoo.ca
The focus of this brief paper, is an early Classical Greek stele from southern Black Sea area in Turkey which displays two women who had been squeezed closely to each other in a tectonic frame: The dead one was sitting in front of her handmaid who has a small box and a round hand mirror in her hands. The isocephalic composition of the stele, a certain sculptural arrangement, let both of the figures' heads lined up along the same horizontal plane to the cornice’s level. This new stele from northern Turkey belongs to the so-called »Severe style« (or »Early Classical style«) and should be originated around 450 B.C. It exhibites a close typological relationship to a fragmented stele from Komotini in western Thrace, today in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Greece, which was assigned by H. Hiller into the sculptural school of Thasos and dated by her short before 450 B.C. In the end this certain scene had continually developed on a vertically chipped stele which was found in eastern Paphlagonia and today being exhibited in a museum. On this stele two handmaiden and additionally a cock under the stool of the dead woman appear. A distinctive »regionalism« of the relief style is thus ascertained from Thasos in northern Aegean to the southern Black Sea area.

The MOUSEION series of the Collection of Classical
Antiquities of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest is a series of temporary exhibitions presenting recent acquisitions, restorations, and research on classical antiquities. Its first edition, "The Sanctuaries of Medma", displayed from November 2018 to August 2019 a group of terracotta statuettes on loan from Rosarno, thanks to a collaboration agreement with the Soprintendenza ABAP responsible for the provinces of Reggio Calabria and Vibo Valentia.

Economy of the sacred compared to the economy of profane Monnaies pour les dieux, monnaies pour les marchands-L'économie du sacré comparée à l'économie du profane Νομίσματα για τους θεούς, Νομίσματα για τους εμπόρους-Η οικονομία των ιερών και η σχέση της με την οικονομία της αγοράς

This dissertation investigates the reception of ancient Greek religion (and to some extent also renaissance Platonism) among contemporary Pagans in Greece - a phenomenon the author refers to as contemporary Hellenic polytheism. The study looks at how and why historical narratives and notions of Hellenicity are constructed by contemporary Hellenic polytheists. Furthermore it describes the contemporary Hellenic landscape, introducing more than ten religious communities in Greece, which have not been studied previously, and provides an overview of the most central ideas and practices of contemporary Hellenic polytheists. The author describes contemporary Hellenic polytheist rituals and discusses how, and why, they are designed and performed. Throughout the discussion of groups and practices, the author analyses how contemporary Hellenic polytheist identities are balanced against the practical circumstances of (urban) life in the 21st century. In Song One the author introduces a fieldwork methodology based on Renato Rosaldo´s method of Deep Hanging Out and provides an extensive background to, and innovative development of the Ludic Theory of Johan Huizinga. In Song Two the author addresses the question of how historical narratives and notions of Hellenicity are constructed by contemporary Hellenic polytheists and shows that despite being a religious minority in Greece, their basic historical outlook is the product of the same historical factors that have influenced the construction of majority narratives about history, national identity and Hellenicity in modern Greece. Discussing the contemporary Hellenic landscape the author argues that there is a huge variety of receptions and reinterpretations of the role and relevance of ancient Greece in contemporary collective and individual identity constructions. Verse two in Song Two shifts the perspective from a bird's-eye view of the landscape, to eye-level and discusses a selection of representative concepts, things and practices. The author shows that contemporary Hellenic polytheist theologies vary, to a point that warrants the question if they are in fact polytheistic at all. The author discusses material culture and texts and shows how the meaning of altars, food, texts and paraphernalia is negotiated through practice and how they are partially cleansed of their ancient Greek meaning and re-inscribed with new and often more fluid content, effectually becoming palimpsests and analyses the role of practices such as music, dance, theatre and therapies, which all play with interpretations of antiquity and constitute subcultures that offer sensory immersion that facilitates identity play and time-travel. Song Three contains a further elaboration on Ludic Theory and presents two cases that analyse specific rituals. The author underlines the importance of understanding ritual as play, but often serious play, and emphasises the importance of religious musicality and improvisation as a key to understanding the dynamics of ritual and ritual change. In the discussion of cases the author shows how particular rituals selectively forget and remember elements of their ancient Greek “counterparts.” Finally, the author summarises and discusses the results of the dissertation, presents potential suggestions for further research, and answers the title-question of the dissertation.