Revisiting Delphi
Revisiting Delphi
Revisiting Delphi speaks to all admirers of Delphi and its famous prophecies, be they experts on ancient Greek religion, students of the ancient world, or just lovers of a good story. It invites readers to revisit the famous Oracle of Apollo at Delphi, along with Herodotus, Euripides, Socrates, Pausanias and Athenaeus, offering the first comparative and extended enquiry into the way these and other authors force us to move the link between religion and narrative centre stage. Their accounts of Delphi and its prophecies reflect a world in which the gods frequently remain baffling and elusive despite every human effort to make sense of the signs they give.
- The first extended exploration of the link between religion and narrative in the Delphic Oracle stories
- Further opens up the study of ancient Greek religion to questions of 'theology' and religious thought
- Combines breadth and detail with methodological innovation and synthesis
Reviews & endorsements
'This book is intended for the specialist reader and for those who wish to think more deeply about the place of religion in ancient Greek society. … It is certainly a volume to which one could return and find stimulation for further ideas.' Marion Gibbs, Classics For All
'The book is a welcome contribution to increasingly networked reflection about the religious world view of the Greeks.' Historische Zeitschrift
Product details
January 2020Paperback
9781316606155
231 pages
216 × 140 × 12 mm
0.3kg
1 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction: revisiting Delphi
- 2. Herodotus: Delphi, oracles and storytelling in the Histories
- 3. Euripides: ironic readings of Apollo and his prophecies
- 4. Plato: Socrates, or invoking the Oracle as a witness
- 5. Pausanias: what's the stuff of divinity?
- 6. Athenaeus: encountering the divine in word and wood
- 7. Conclusion: religion and storytelling in ancient Greece
- Appendix: Plutarch - a philosophical enquiry into an enigmatic sign.
