The Sacred History Of Euhemerus Of Messene

Download or read book The "Sacred History" of Euhemerus of Messene written by Marek Winiarczyk and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2013-04-30 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his utopian novel Hiera Anagraphe (Sacred History) Euhemerus of Messene (ca. 300 B.C.) describes his travel to the island Panchaia in the Indian Ocean where he discovered an inscribed stele in the temple of Zeus Triphylius. It turned out that the Olympian gods (Uranos, Kronos, Zeus) were deified kings. The travels of Zeus allowed to describe peoples and places all over the world. Winiarczyk investigates the sources of the theological views of Euhemerus. He proves that Euhemerus’ religious views were rooted in old Greek tradition (the worship of heroes, gods as founders of their own cult, tombs of gods, euergetism, rationalistic interpretation of myths, the explanations of the origin of religion by the sophists, the ruler cult). The description of the Panchaian society is intended to suggest an archaic and closed culture, in which the stele recording res gestae of the deified kings might have been preserved. The translation of Ennius’ Euhemerus sive Sacra historia (ca. 200 - ca. 194) is a free prose rendering, which Lactantius knew only indirectly. The book is concluded by a short history of Euhemerism in the pagan, Christian and Jewish literature.

Download or read book An Ancient Theory of Religion written by Nickolas Roubekas and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-12-08 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Ancient Theory of Religion examines a theory of religion put forward by Euhemerus of Messene (late 4th—early 3rd century BCE) in his lost work Sacred Inscription, and shows not only how and why euhemerism came about but also how it was— and still is—used. By studying the utilization of the theory in different periods—from the Graeco-Roman world to Late Antiquity, and from the Renaissance to the twenty-first century—this book explores the reception of the theory in diverse literary works. In so doing, it also unpacks the different adoptions and misrepresentations of Euhemerus’s work according to the diverse agendas of the authors and scholars who have employed his theory. In the process, certain questions are raised: What did Euhemerus actually claim? How has his theory of the origins of belief in gods been used? How can modern scholarship approach and interpret his take on religion? When referring to ‘euhemerism,’ whose version are we employing? An Ancient Theory of Religion assumes no prior knowledge of euhemerism and will be of interest to scholars working in classical reception, religious studies, and early Christian studies.

Download or read book Diagoras of Melos written by Marek Winiarczyk and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-07-11 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Diagoras of Melos (lyric poet, 5th c. B.C.) has received special attention for some time now because he was regarded as a radical atheist and the author of a prose work on atheism in antiquity. He was notorious for revealing and ridiculing the Eleusinian Mysteries and was condemned for impiety at Athens. The present book evaluates Diagoras’ biography and shows that he cannot be considered to have been an atheist in the modern sense.

Download or read book Beyond the Second Sophistic written by Tim Whitmarsh and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The “Second Sophistic” traditionally refers to a period at the height of the Roman Empire’s power that witnessed a flourishing of Greek rhetoric and oratory, and since the 19th century it has often been viewed as a defense of Hellenic civilization against the domination of Rome. This book proposes a very different model. Covering popular fiction, poetry and Greco-Jewish material, it argues for a rich, dynamic, and diverse culture, which cannot be reduced to a simple model of continuity. Shining new light on a series of playful, imaginative texts that are left out of the traditional accounts of Greek literature, Whitmarsh models a more adventurous, exploratory approach to later Greek culture. Beyond the Second Sophistic offers not only a new way of looking at Greek literature from 300 BCE onwards, but also a challenge to the Eurocentric, aristocratic constructions placed on the Greek heritage. Accessible and lively, it will appeal to students and scholars of Greek literature and culture, Hellenistic Judaism, world literature, and cultural theory.

Download or read book The Cambridge History of Atheism written by Michael Ruse and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-16 with total page 1307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The two-volume Cambridge History of Atheism offers an authoritative and up to date account of a subject of contemporary interest. Comprised of sixty essays by an international team of scholars, this History is comprehensive in scope. The essays are written from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including religious studies, philosophy, sociology, and classics. Offering a global overview of the subject, from antiquity to the present, the volumes examine the phenomenon of unbelief in the context of Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, and Jewish societies. They explore atheism and the early modern Scientific Revolution, as well as the development of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and its continuing implications. The History also includes general survey essays on the impact of scepticism, agnosticism and atheism, as well as contemporary assessments of thinking. Providing essential information on the nature and history of atheism, The Cambridge History of Atheism will be indispensable for both scholarship and teaching, at all levels.

Download or read book Euhemerism and Its Uses written by Syrithe Pugh and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-17 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first interdisciplinary study of the long history of an important phenomenon in European intellectual and cultural history / Fills an important gap in the history of ideas / Will appeal to scholars and students of classical reception, mediaeval and Renaissance literature, historiography, and theories of myth and religion

Download or read book Reading the Letter to Titus in Light of Crete written by Michael Robertson and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-11-20 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume argues that Titus’s invocation of Crete affected the ways early readers developed their identities. Using archaeological data, classical writings, and early Christian documents, he describes multiple traditions that circulated on Crete and throughout the Roman Empire concerning Cretan Zeus, Cretan social structure, and Cretan Judaism. He then uses these traditions to interpret Titus and explain how the letter would intersect with and affect readers’ identities. Because readers had differing conceptions of Crete based on their location and access to and evaluation of Cretan traditions, readers would have developed their identities in multiple, conflictual, even contradictory ways.