Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion 9780691227467

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Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion JANE ELLEN HARRISON

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY

Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Chichester, West Sussex Introduction to the Mythos edition by Robert Ackerman is copyright ©1991 by Princeton University Press All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Harrison, Jane Ellen, 1850-1928. Prolegomena to the study of Greek religion/ Jane Ellen Harrison. p. cm.—(Mythos) Reprint, with new introd. Originally published: 3rd ed. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1992. "First Princeton paperback printing, for the Mythos series, 1991"— T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references and index. I. Greece—Religion. 2. Mythology, Greek. 3. Rites and ceremonies—Greece. 4. Mysteries, Religious. I. Title. II. Series: Mythos (Princeton, N.J.) BL785.H4 1991 292.08^-dc20 90-24338 CIP First Princeton Paperback printing, for the Mythos series, 1991 First published by Cambridge University Press in 1903: second edition, 1908: third edition, 1922. Reprinted by arrangement with Cambridge University Press The cover illustration shows a terra-cotta Sphinx, from a krater fragment in the late proto-Attic style: photograph courtesy ofSoprintendenza Archaeologica della Province di Napoli e Caserta. Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources http'.I/pup.princeton. edu Printed in the United States of America 10

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ISBN-13: 978-0-691-01514-9 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 0-691-01514-7 (pbk.)

ARTURO ET MARGARITAE VERRALL HUIC AMICAE MEAE CONSTANTISSIMAE ILLI ET AMICO ET MAGISTRO HUNO LIBRUM DEDICO

TABLE OF CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION BY ROBERT ACKERMAN

CHAPTER I. OLYMPIAN AND CHTHONIC RITUAL.

Mr Ruskin on the absence of fear in the Greek genius. Religion, to writers of the fifth century B.C., mainly a matter of festivals. In the Euthyphron religion is ' doing business with the gods,' a form of * tendance' (dcparrcia). Contrast of bcia-ibaifjiovia, 'fear of spirits.' Plutarch on 'fear of spirits/ Distinction drawn by Isocrates and others between Olympian and apotropaic ritual. Contrast between * Tendance' (Bepaneia) and 'Aversion' (airorpoTri)). Sacrifice to Zeus in Homer is a banquet shared. Contrast of the ritual of the Diasia. The holocaust or uneaten sacrifice. Ritual of the Diasia addressed primarily to an underworld snake. Superposition of the Homeric Zeus. Evidence of art. The * Dian' fleece, not the *fleeceof Zeus' but the fleece of magical purification. Examination of the Attic calendar. The names of festivals not connected with the names of Olympian divinities. The ritual of these festivals belongs to a more primitive stratum than that of the Olympians, pp. 1—31.

CHAPTER II. T H E ANTHESTERIA.

T H E RITUAL OP GHOSTS AND SPRITES.

The Anthesteria, ostensibly dedicated to Dionysos, a spring festival of the revocation and aversion of ghosts. Examination of the rites of the three days. Meaning of the Chytroi, the Choes and the Pithoigia. Derivation of the word Anthesteria. Rites of purgation among the Romans in February. The Feralia and Lupercalia. The ritual of * devotion' (eVaytp TT)V TOfiwTjv (TT4\\OVT€S Kai 6 SaSovxos £P 'EXevvtvi /cat aXXot TLPCS irpbs Kadap/ious viroP ivay&v. For Ala Gaisford conjectures Aids but from the passage of Eustathius (see infr.) it is clear that we must read 5ta.

3 Eustath. ad Od. xxn. 481 § 1934—5 486KOVP yap ol "EXkyves oiirca r& roiaOra fiijffrj Ka6alp€a(TtP 6V1 SLOP iKaXovp KibStop Upelov rvdfrros Ad j&etXixtw iv roh Kadapfiots, QBIPOPTOS Mat/j.aKT7]piu>pos firjvbs ore -fjyopro ra iro/Mirala, Kai Kadap/JuZv €k'(3o\ai eis ras rpi68ovs eyivovro. eVxpv 8e fiera X^P0-* irofxirbv Sirep fjv, av ovfcvi rb vapairav, 'E/J/AIJ 5e %6ov'np. Kai rrjs xtiTPaSi Vv e\povcn ndvres oi Kara ri)P ir6\tv, o&8eis yetierai rG>v icpiw TOVTO 8£ Troiovin TY) < ty > rj/x^pq.. Kai' TOVS T6T€ irapayivo/xtvovs uirep TWV airodavovruv i\a