The present volume offers a new investigation of the relevance of education and knowledge for ancient Greek religion and society. Drawing on a diversity of periods, sources, and contexts the authors illustrate how agents, media, and processes transmitted knowledge about myths and cults across social groups.
The present volume explores the interdependent relationship between religion, education, and knowledge in ancient Greek cultures. While in modern scholarship Greek religion has been widely studied as embedded in society, the socio-religious aspects of education and knowledge have not yet been investigated in depth. The essays look for contexts, agents, and media through which religion, education, and knowledge were shared and transmitted within and beyond a community. The chronological framework extends from the classical period to late antiquity and covers the eastern and part of the western Greek Mediterranean. Examining a diverse range of evidence from both literary sources and material culture, this volume highlights the variety of Greek religious education and the comprehensive baggage of knowledge required for performing rituals.
Table of contents:
I. Introductions
Irene Salvo/Tanja S. Scheer: Greek Religion and Education: Key Concepts and Aims -
Josine Blok: Educating Citizens: Knowledge, Competence, and Values in Greek Poleis
II. Actors and Models
Irene Salvo: The Pedagogical Function of Cult Associations in Late Classical Athens -
Eftychia Stavrianopoulou: Female Role Models in the Hellenistic Period: The Evidence of Religious Norms -
Marietta Horster: Sacred Personnel as Role Models in the Post-classical Period
III. Performing Knowledge
Susanne Gödde: Learning by Suffering? 'Education' and 'Religion' in Ancient Greek Theatre -
Sophie Marianne Bocksberger: Dancing Little Bears
IV. Skills and Media
Tanja S. Scheer: Conveying Religious Knowledge in Classical Athens: Imagery in Athenian Religious Discourse -
Aleksander Wolicki: Greek Priestesses and Literacy -
Serafina Cuomo: Numeracy in the Sanctuary
V. Astrology, Philosophy, and Religion
Ilaria Bultrighini: Theōn hemerai: Astrology, the Planetary Week, and the Cult of the Seven Planets in the Graeco-Roman World -
Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler: Statues as Theological Treatises: Porphyry's Approach in Peri Agalmatōn in Context
