Light and Darkness in Ancient Greek Myth and Religion

Contributions by Mercedes Aguirre, Richard Buxton, Soteroula Constantinidou, Ken Dowden, Radcliffe G. Edmonds, Ariadni Gartziou-Tatti, Daniel Iakov, Efimia D. Karakantza, Françoise Létoublon, Avgi Maggel, Nanno Marinatos, Dimitris Paleothodoros, Ioanna Patera, Isabelle Ratinaud, Richard Seaford University of Exeter, Spyros Syropoulos, Evanthia Tsitsibakou-Vasalos, Athanassia Zografou Edited by Menelaos Christopoulos, Marion Meyer, Olga Levaniouk

Publication date:

25 September 2010

Length of book:

324 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

241x162mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739138984

Light and darkness played an important role beyond the division of time in ancient Greek myth and religion; the contributors to Light and Darkness in Ancient Greek Myth and Religion consider its function on both the individual and social level as manifested in modes of thought and behavior and expressed in language, beliefs, ritual, and iconography. The book is divided into five parts: color semantics, appearance and concealment, eye sight/insight, being and beyond, and cult. Each subdivision contains a wealth of information for the reader, ranging from detailed explanations of the interplay between lexical categories that denote darkness and light and the effect of blindness on metaphysical matters to the qualities of cultic light. This unique volume will be of interest to readers in fields as diverse as ancient Greek history, metaphysics, and iconography.

Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2 Introduction
Part 3 Colour Semantics
Chapter 4 Chapter 1. The Significance (or Insignificance) of Blackness in Mythological Names
Chapter 5 Chapter 2. Dark Skin and Dark Deeds; Danaides and Aigyptioi in a Culture of Light
Chapter 6 Chapter 3. Brightness and Darkness in Pindar's Pythian 3: Aigla-Coronis-Arsinoe and her Initiatory Experience
Chapter 7 Chapter 4. S-light Anomaly; Dark Brightness in Euripides' Medea
Part 8 Appearance and Concealment
Chapter 9 Chapter 5. The Light Imagery of Divine Manifestation in Homer
Chapter 10 Chapter 6. Trojan Night
Chapter 11 Chapter 7. Tithonus and Phaon. Mythical Allegories of Light and Darkness in Sappho's Poetry
Chapter 12 Chapter 8. Erinyes as Creatures of Darkness
Chapter 13 Chapter 9. Hephaistos: God of Light
Part 14 Eye-sight/Insight
Chapter 15 Chapter 10. Blind People and Blindness in Ancient Greek Myth
Chapter 16 Chapter 11. Blindness as Punishment
Part 17 Being and Beyond
Chapter 18 Chapter 12. Light and Darkness and Archaic Cosmogony
Chapter 19 Chapter 13. Mystic Light and Near-Death Experience
Chapter 20 Chapter 14. Dark Winged Nyx and Bright Winged Eros in Aristophanes' "Orphic" Cosmogony: The Birds, 693-703
Chapter 21 Chapter 15. The Bright Cypress of the Orphic Golden Tablets: Direction and Illumination in Myths of the Underworld
Chapter 22 Chapter 16. Milk on Pelinna Tomb Tablets
Part 23 Cult
Chapter 24 Chapter 17. Light and Darkness in Dionysiac Rituals as Illustrated on Attic Vase Paintings of the 5th century BC
Chapter 25 Chapter 18. Light and Lighting Equipment in the Eleusinian Mysteries: Symbolism and Ritual Use
Chapter 26 Chapter 19. Magic Lamps, Luminous Dreams: Lamps in PGM Recipes

A beautiful bunch of manifold studies, which lets us grasp the issue of light and darkness within the Greek world under several aspects and explore its very complexity.