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The ancient Mysteries have long attracted the interest of scholars, an interest that goes back at least to the time of the Reformation. After a period of interest around the turn of the twentieth century, recent decades have seen an important study of Walter Burkert (1987). Yet his thematic approach makes it hard to see how the actual initiation into the Mysteries took place. To do precisely that is the aim of this book.It gives a ‘thick description’ of the major Mysteries, not only of the famous Eleusinian Mysteries, but also those located at the interface of Greece and Anatolia: the Mysteries of Samothrace, Imbros and Lemnos as well as those of the Corybants. It then proceeds to look at the Orphic-Bacchic Mysteries, which have become increasingly better understood due to the many discoveries of new texts in the recent times. Having looked at classical Greece we move on to the Roman Empire, where we study not only the lesser Mysteries, which we know especially from Pausanias, but also the new ones of Isis and Mithras. We conclude our book with a discussion of the possible influence of the Mysteries on emerging Christianity.Its detailed references and up-to-date bibliography will make this book indispensable for any scholar interested in the Mysteries and ancient religion, but also for those scholars who work on initiation or esoteric rituals, which were often inspired by the ancient Mysteries.

Antiquity, cult, initiation, mysteries

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Archaeologists have long recognized the crucial role of interregional interaction in the development and cultural dynamics of ancient societies, particularly in terms of the evolution of sociocultural complexity and economic systems. New Perspectives on Interregional Interaction in Ancient Mesoamerica builds on and amplifies this earlier research to examine such sociocultural phenomena as movement, migration, symbolic exchange, and material interaction in their role as catalysts for variability in cultural systems. The contributors contend that interregional cultural exchange in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica played a key role in the creation of systems of shared ideologies, the production of regional or “international” artistic and architectural styles, shifting sociopolitical patterns, and changes in cultural practices and meanings.

Archaeology --- Latin American antiquity

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The monography includes ten studies, starting from the 3rd century B.C. and finishing in the 20th century. The first chapter, "The mimiambes of Herodas in Late Antiquity: declamation for a solo mime or theatrical performance?" deals with the seven (or eight) texts of the "mimiambes" of Herodas (or Herondas or Herodes) in the third century B. C., short dialogical scenes of urban life in the hellenistic epoque, written for declamation by a single mime performer. The second chapter, "Christus patiens and ancient tragedy. The loss of scenic understanding during the Byzantine middle ages", analyses the extended dialogical cento-text of "Christus patiens" and the numerous problems which are set by this unique compilation of ancient tragic sources and the christian Gospels, giving arguments for the controversal dating of the text (4/5th century or 11/12th), a hypothesis of the authorship and the intended auditorium, and discussing the literary genre as well: Christian tragedy, Passion Play or dialogical cento-poem? The third chapter, "The Cyprus Passion Cycle and its problems", analyses a similar cento-text (written before 1320) and highlights its philological problems (authorship, dating, western or eastern origin, theatricality etc.), open problems which have cumulated a numerous highly controversal bibliography. The text is unique in Byzantine literature because of his prologue, addressing clearly the organisator of an intended scenic production, but from the citations of biblical and apocryphical sources only the first words (incipit) are written down and linked together with "scenic directions" put in the imperative. The fourth chapter, "The Greek chapbook of Bertoldo (1646): the dialogical structure of a popular reading matter", analyses one of the most popular chapbooks of post-byzantine Hellenism; the narrative structure of the comic story is interspersed with many dialogical scenes in direct speech, in such a way that the reader is many times transformed in the spectator of a scene played in front of him. The fifth chapter, "Germanograecia at the beginning of the 19th century: the literary translations of Konstantinos Kokkinakis and Ioannis Papadopoulos", analyses the translations of four theatre plays of August von Kotzebue by Konstantinos Kokkinakis (edited in Vienna 1801) and the two dramatic translations of Ioannis Papadopoulos, the "Quäker" by the same author (Bucharest 1913/14) and "Iphigenie in Tauris" by Johann Wolgang von Goethe (edited in Jena 1818).The following chapters are focussed on the 19th century as well: the sixth, "Femal drama in the time of the Greek Revolution" presents the works of three femal writers with explicit "feministic" consciousness (the prologues are addressed only to the femal readers): Mitio Sakellariou, Elisabeth Moutzan-Martinegou and Evanthia Kaïri. The seventh chapter, "Patriotic drama in the 19th century" gives an overview about the production and development of the genre of dramatic works inspired by episodes and heroes of the Greek Revolution of 1821 during the 19th century. The eighth chapter, "Greek language satires in the epoque of bourgeoisie", analyses satiric texts on the language question and dialectical comedies of the 19th century: 1) the satire of the figure of the "learned" teacher and his archaistic expressions ("ancient Greek"), 2) the satire of the local idioms of Greece on stage, and 3) the satire of the extravagant use of foreign word and phrases by the bourgeoisie (mostly French). The ninth chapter, "The Death of the young man by Kostis Palamas (1891). Studies in the Greek village novel", is dedicated to an exceptional paradigm of the Greek prosa writing with provincial topics ("ethographism"): in an scrupelous analysis of this text mainly the ironic "play" of the author with his intended reader is highlighted. The tenth and last chapter, "Odysseas Elytis and Greek surrealism in the poetry of the 20th century" places the Nobel winner in the literary production of th

Late Antiquity, Byzantine literature, Modern Greek literature

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This volume explores the production and use of medieval manuscripts that contain classical Latin texts. Six experts in the field address a range of topics related to these manuscripts, including how classical texts were disseminated throughout medieval society, how readers used and interacted with specific texts, and what these books look like from a material standpoint. This collection of essays also considers the value of studying classical manuscripts as a distinct group, and demonstrates how such a collective approach can add to our understanding of how classical works functioned in medieval society. Focusing on the period 800-1200, when classical works played a crucial role in the teaching of grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics, this volume investigates how classical Latin texts were copied, used, and circulated in both discrete and shared contexts.

History --- Reading --- Literature --- Education --- Antiquity --- Carolingians --- Medieval

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This volume focuses on the role played by historiography in the selection, processing and transmission of knowledge in Late Antiquity. In particular, the transmission of documents (civil and ecclesiastical, authentic and apocryphal) is studied, the impact of differences in genre, as well as how historical, anthropological, ethnographic, astronomical, and medical notions are reshaped in new cultural traditions.

Late Antiquity --- Historiography --- Cultural and intellectual history of antiquity --- History of ancient languages