Greek Religion

Over the course of Delian political independence (314-166 BCE), the Temple of Apollo at Delos took measures to protect the island sanctuary from threats of physical violence and miasma. The temple’s ability to ensure its territorial sovereignty and religious sanctity rested upon the military protection external powers provided the island and the mutual Greek understanding of the inviolability of sacred property (Gawlinksi, 2015; Nevin, 2016). The confederation of the Nesiotic league, initially headed by the Antigonids (ca. 313-ca. 286/5 BCE), then by the Ptolemaic dynasty (ca.

The enigmatic so-called “Orphic” gold tablets are material witnesses to the intersection between ritual texts and the lived experience of individuals initiated into the Greco-Roman mystery cults of Bacchus-Dionysos. The clearest evidence of this relationship is found in the two ivy-shaped lamellae from Pelinna in Thessaly, which name Βάκχιος directly (Graf & Johnston #26A & B).

The first-century BCE lex sacra from Ptolemais (SB I 3451 = LSS 119 = CGRN 144), the single extant example of Greek purity regulations from Egypt, is significant because of the distinct ways in which it conforms to, departs from, and expands upon purity rules known from across the ancient Greek world. This paper will discuss the fourteen-line long text with particular attention to the pollution stemming from miscarriage, delivery and nursing, and child exposure.

This paper juxtaposes the poetics of epiphany in Homer and the semiotics of divine representation in the material world. It begins by arguing that the two major modes of interaction between men and gods in Homer—epiphany and divination—are founded on mortals’ conceptual knowledge and reasoning (Nagy 1983). But like the Homeric heroes who see the gods themselves, so too real-world worshippers interacting with representations of the divine relied on their knowledge and interpretive skill (Platt 2011).

In early 2015, an inscribed bronze tablet surfaced on the antiquities market in Europe (Heinrichs 2015). The text dates ca. 500 BC, is written in the Arcadian dialect, and mentions a number of Arcadian toponyms that confirm its place of origin. A detailed study by Carbon and Clackson (2016) has elucidated many of the linguistic features and ritual contexts of the inscription. The authors present a clear account of the annual, trieteric, and enneateric festival cycles for which offerings are prescribed at a variety of locations.

Evolutionary theory of morality holds that in order for cooperation to thrive among self-interested individuals, there must be a credible threat of punishment for breaking norms. Yet punishment is costly. Groups whose members believe in superhuman punishments thus gain an advantage, to the degree that trust is increased and the burden of scrutiny and punishment is lightened (Johnson 2005).