Miasma Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion

by Parker, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780198147428
• ISBN10: 0198147422
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-05-23
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

Most of the commonly read Greek texts address "pollution". The pollution theme appears in tragedies, historical texts, and political oratory. Purity is a constant concern in ritual texts, and Greeks underwent many small purifications in their everyday lives. Certain archaic religious movements even made "purification" the path to felicity in the afterlife. First published in 1983, Miasma is the first work in English to treat this theme in detail.

Author Biography

Robert Parker is Fellow and Tutor in Greek and Latin Languages and Literature at Oriel College, Oxford. Dr. Parker is also the author of Athenian Religion: A History (OUP, 1996).

Table of Contents

1996 Preface	p. v
Abbreviations and Editions	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Purification: A Science Of Division	p. 18
Birth and Death	p. 32
The Works Of Aphrodite	p. 74
The Shedding Of Blood	p. 104
Sacrilege	p. 144
Curses, Family Curses, And The Structure Of Rights	p. 191
Disease, Bewitchment And Purifiers	p. 207
Divine Vengeance And Disease	p. 235
Purifying The City	p. 257
Purity And Salvation	p. 281
Some Scenes From Tragedy	p. 308
Epilogue	p. 322
The Greek for Taboo	p. 328
The Cyrene Cathartic Law	p. 332
Problems Concerning 'Enter Pure from . . .' Requirements in Sacred Laws	p. 352
Animals and Food	p. 357
The Ritual Status of the Justified Killer at Athens	p. 366
The Ritual of Purification from Homicide	p. 370
Exile and Purification of the Killer in Greek Myth	p. 375
Gods Particularly Concerned with Purity	p. 393
Indexes	p. 395
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