Noel Robertson

Festivals and Legends

Sprache: Englisch.

gebunden , 336 Seiten

ISBN 0802059880

EAN 9780802059888

Veröffentlicht Dezember 1992

Verlag/Hersteller University of Toronto Press

€ 113,50 inkl. MwSt.

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Beschreibung

War was a constant activity, almost a staple livelihood, in the cities of ancient Greece, and many public festivals served to promote and celebrate war. They entailed reunions of the whole community, often at the new year, for enrolling citizens or conducting games. Noel Robertson focuses on such festivals in Athens, Aprta, Argos, and two smaller centres, in order to reconstruct the social conditions reflected in the festival programs and settings.
He begins with a close analysis of the extant evidence, bringing together for the first time the many small, scattered indications in familiar sources. He uses in addition new epigraphic and archaeological evidence which has recently come to light at Athens.
Since ritual is by definition unchanging, public festivals can disclose earlier stages of social organization. Robertson also shows how the festivals gave rise, by way of aetiology (explanatory tales or legends), to some persistent misconceptions about the past.