Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion by Jane Ellen Harrison

Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion by Jane Ellen Harrison

Jane Ellen Harrison (1850-1928) was a pioneer in the academic study of myth in its historical and archaeological context, and was also one of the first women to make a full-time career as an academic. In her introduction to this book (1903), making the point that 'Greek religion' was usually studied using the surviving literary retellings of myths and legends, she states: 'The first preliminary to any scientific understanding of Greek religion is a minute examination of its ritual'. Using the then emerging disciplines of anthropology and ethnology, she demonstrates that the specific mythological tales of the Greeks embody systems of belief or philosophy which are not unique to Greek civilisation but which are widespread among societies both 'primitive' and 'advanced'. Her work was enormously influential not only on subsequent scholars of Greek religion but in the wider fields of literature, anthropology and psychoanalysis.

"Harrison's Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion is a book that breathes lifeIt is an exciting, deeply felt intellectual quest, with a broad view of the role of religion in life, ancient and modern. Harrison is not afraid to look for relevance in archaic cult, and doesn't flinch on finding it. From a study of Greek anthropomorphism, she can conclude, like a seeress looking beyond the early twentieth century: 'to be human is not necessarily to be humane.'"—Richard Martin, Princeton University

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780691015149
ISBN 10	0691015147
Title	Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion
Author	Jane Ellen Harrison
Series	Mythos: The Princeton Bollingen Series In World Mythology
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Princeton University Press
Year published	1991-06-25
Number of pages	720
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.