Animals in Ancient Greek Religion

This book provides the first systematic study of the role of animals in different areas of the ancient Greek religious experience, including in myth and ritual, the literary and the material evidence, the real and the imaginary. An international team of renowned contributors shows that animals had a sustained presence not only in the traditionally well-researched cultural practice of blood sacrifice but across the full spectrum of ancient Greek religious beliefs and practices. Animals played a role in divination, epiphany, ritual healing, the setting up of dedications, the writing of binding spells, and the instigation of other 'magical' means. Taken together, the individual contributions to this book illustrate that ancient Greek religion constituted a triangular symbolic system encompassing not just gods and humans, but also animals as a third player and point of reference. Animals in Ancient Greek Religion will be of interest to students and scholars of Greek religion, Greek myth, and ancient religion more broadly, as well as for anyone interested in human/animal relations in the ancient world.

Julia Kindt is Professor of Ancient Greek History in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney, Australia, and a current Australian Research Council Future Fellow (2018-22). Her publications include Rethinking Greek Religion (2012) and Re-visiting Delphi: Religion and Storytelling in Ancient Greece (2016), as well as several co-edited volumes including The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015).

On Gods, Humans, and Animals Julia Kindt Part 1: Perspectives 1. The 'Entanglement' of Gods, Humans, and Animals in Ancient Greek Religion Jeremy McInerney 2. Sources for the Study of Animals in Ancient Greek Religion Ingvild Sælid Gilhus 3. Approaches: The Animal in the Study of Ancient Greek Religion Emily Kearns Part 2: Representations 4. Gods and Heroes, Humans and Animals in Ancient Greek Myth Hannah Willey 5. The Theriomorphism of the Major Greek Gods Jan Bremmer 6. Greek Anthropomorphism vs. Egyptian Zoomorphism: Conceptual Considerations in Greek Thought and Literature Julia Kindt 7. Philosophers on Animals in Ancient Greek Religion James Henderson Collins II Part 3: Beliefs and Practices 8. Caloric Codes: Ancient Greek Animal Sacrifice Fritz Graf 9. Animals in Ancient Greek Divination: Oracles, Predictions, and Omens Julia Kindt 10. Animals in Ancient Greek Dedications Milette Gaifman 11. Animals in Asclepian Medicine: Myth, Cult, and Miracle Healings Florian Steger and Frank Ursin 12. Circe's Ram: Animals in Ancient Greek Magic Korshi Dosoo Gods, Humans, and Animals Revisited Julia Kindt