Religion in the Ancient Greek City

This book is a translation into English of La religion grecque by Louise Bruit Zaidman and Pauline Schmitt Pantel, described by Dr Simon Price as ‘an excellent book, by far the best introduction to the subject in any language’. It is the purpose of the book to consider how religious beliefs and cultic rituals were given expression in the world of the Greek citizen - the functions performed by the religious personnel, and the place that religion occupied in individual, social and political life. The chapters cover first ritual and then myth, rooting the account in the practices of the classical city while also taking seriously the world of the imagination. For this edition the bibliography has been substantially revised to meet the needs of a mainly student, English-speaking readership. The book is enriched throughout by illustrations, and by quotations from original sources.

• The market is wide-open for an introductory book on Greek religion - only other is our Easterling and Muir: Greek religion and society (1985/PB 0521 200873) • The translator, Paul Cartledge, is himself a Greek scholar and has produced more of a second edition than a straight translation • The French edition has been described as ‘an excellent book, by far the best introduction to the subject in any language’

List of illustrations; Authors’ preface; Translator’s introduction; List of sources; Part I. Introduction: How Should we Study Greek Civic Religion?: 1. The necessity of cultural estrangement; 2. Some fundamental notions; 3. Sources of evidence; Part II. Cult-Practices: 4. Rituals; 5. Religious personnel; 6. Places of cult; 7. Rites of passage; 8. Settings of religious life; 9. Religion and political life; 10.The festival system: the Athenian case; 11.The Panhellenic cults; Part III. System for Representing the Divine: 12. Myths and mythology; 13. A polytheistic religion; 14. Forms of imaginative projection; Part IV. Envoi: 15. Concluding reflections; Appendixes: I. The classical Greek temple; II. The monuments of the Athenian Akropolis; Bibliography; Index and glossary.