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Jane Ellen Harrison
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Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (Mythos Books) Paperback – June 5, 1991

by Jane Ellen Harrison (Author)
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 20 ratings
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Jane Harrison examines the festivals of ancient Greek religion to identify the primitive "substratum" of ritual and its persistence in the realm of classical religious observance and literature. In Harrison's preface to this remarkable book, she writes that J. G. Frazer's work had become part and parcel of her "mental furniture" and that of others studying primitive religion. Today, those who write on ancient myth or ritual are bound to say the same about Harrison. Her essential ideas, best developed and most clearly put in the Prolegomena, have never been eclipsed.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    720 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Princeton University Press
  4. Publication date
    June 5, 1991
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1.8 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0691015147
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0691015149
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Harrison's Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion is a book that breathes life. It is an exciting, deeply felt intellectual quest, with a broad view of the role of religion in life, ancient and modern. Harrison is not afraid to look for relevance in archaic cult, and doesn't flinch on finding it. From a study of Greek anthropomorphism, she can conclude, like a seeress looking beyond the early twentieth century: 'to be human is not necessarily to be humane.'"--Richard Martin, Princeton University

Review

"Harrison's Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion is a book that breathes life. It is an exciting, deeply felt intellectual quest, with a broad view of the role of religion in life, ancient and modern. Harrison is not afraid to look for relevance in archaic cult, and doesn't flinch on finding it. From a study of Greek anthropomorphism, she can conclude, like a seeress looking beyond the early twentieth century: 'to be human is not necessarily to be humane.'"―Richard Martin, Princeton University

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Princeton University Press; Reprint edition (June 5, 1991)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 720 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0691015147
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0691015149
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.94 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.8 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 20 ratings

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Jane Ellen Harrison

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Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
20 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Snowbrocade
5.0 out of 5 stars "Behind their bright splendours I see moving darker and older shapes."
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2006
Verified Purchase
Jane Ellen Harrison was a ground breaking scholar in the field of mythology--she was one of a group of what was called the "Cambridge Ritualists" who believed that contrary to prior belief that myths arose from rituals rather than rituals from myths.

Her primary thesis in Prolegomena is that the religion of the Greeks and Romans has been only selectively reported in order to support a vision of rational, highly civilized people as the progenitors of western thought. Scholarship of the 19th century was founded on the notion that "the integrity of Western Civilization depends upon the exceptionality of the Greeks" (p. xx). This vision was developed by the Romantic movement to support a superior intellectual foundation to western civilization that emerged from the Greek and Romans.

Harrison argues that in fulfilling this desire to have exalted ancestors, the true religion of the Greeks has been overlooked. Her scholarship is focused on what has not been noticed-her conclusion is that the Olympian gods of Homer are the final product of centuries of evolution from a more primitive collection of chthonic deities or forces.

Harrison is more interested in the earlier forms of religion--the underworld beings that were placated to prevent evil. She is a master at examining greek texts and art to delineate these ancient deities. As Harrison says: "Great things in literature, Greek plays for example, I most enjoy when behind their bright splendours I see moving darker and older shapes"

This book can be utilized as a reference to understand certain Greek myths more easily--or read it straight through to get a more thorough understanding of the world of Greek mysticism!!
30 people found this helpful
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Bob Thompson
1.0 out of 5 stars Worst example of text-to-ebook I've yet to see
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2018
Verified Purchase
It's beyond obvious that no one bothered to even take a cursory look at the results of the text-to-ebook conversion. Had they done so, they would have realized that this Kindle offering was unreadable. To the extreme.
As punishment, they should have to seek out the author's grave, with Kindle in hand, and read several chapters aloud to the grave stone. That rumbling they will feel beneath their feet will be the author rolling.
As for the rest of us, don't bother with this offering; it'll only fire you up.
5 people found this helpful
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K.S.Ziegler
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome work of scholarship
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2009
The most accessible aspect of Greek religion, which any basic education on the Greeks reveals, is the Olympian pantheon and the tales of gods and goddesses as passed down through literature. This book opens up a much deeper and more obscure subject for study: the ritual practices and how they underlie and provide explanations for what otherwise would appear to be rather fanciful stories. It certainly gets into the thickets in places, and there are many arcane references, but the material coheres in a very interesting way and rewards the curious reader.

The author begins by explaining that there were two forms of ritual: the Olympian, which was service to the gods in the form of sacrifices through a communion or social gathering, and the chthonic, which involved gloomy, nighttime proceedings of riddance or purification. It was this last form of ritual, the gloomy kind, that provided the underlying basis for the ancient Greek festivals and opened the way for a more profound religious impulse, that of Dionysus and Orpheus. Purification here was meant as a physical riddance of evil influences from spirits, especially of the dead, resulting from a blood feud or some violent action provoking vengence. A example of the ritual was the expulsion of the pharmakos (human scapegoat) at the Thargelia harvest festival.

Dionysus represented a return to nature and was associated with the harvest, particularly of grapes, and was the god of wine and intoxication. He was depicted at Delphi as having opposite characteristics to Apollo, as being concerned with the emotions rather than reason. A number of wild, unrestrained mythic beings such as Satyrs and Maenads were considered his attendants. The author suggests that besides the wild, uncontrolled revelries and excess that resulted from his worship, there was a life-promoting aspect that involved inspiration - where the Maenads became Muses - and also the "sacramental mystery of life and nutrition." The religious impulse of Dionysus that grew out of the experience of intoxication and inspiration was the mystical notion of becoming one with god.

It appears that the Orphic movement was based on a real man named Orpheus and that he was a prophet and a teacher, who especially used music - playing the lyre - to soothe and refine the wild beast of nature and to lead humankind along spiritual paths. The Orphics refined the religious impulse of Dionysus of mystical union and established a ritual of mystery practices. The underlying theme, the one especially adopted by the Orphics and also the Pythagoreans, harkened back to the urge of the ancients for purification, for riddance of evil spirits contaminating the physical world. In Plato, this purification was extended beyond the physical to the psychological, and involved discernment and cleansing the soul of defilements through self-knowledge.

I first obtained this book with the intent of using it as a reference, but soon became immersed enough to read it through to the end. I found it to be an awesome work of scholarship that in a general sense opened my eyes to the depths of Greek mythology and the difficulties of interpretation. I don't know how much fresh material has been added since this book was last updated in the 1920s, but to my mind this is bedrock stuff.
16 people found this helpful
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Ktina
1.0 out of 5 stars Unreadable printing
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2018
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This wonderful classic book is unreadable because the transition from print to digital rendered it almost illegible. I wish Kindle would get it scanned again. I bought the print copy because I couldn't read the digital. Still would like to have it on Kindle.
4 people found this helpful
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Johnny
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2018
This book was awesome and absolutely fascinating! The fact that their were errors in digital text in no way diminishes it's intellectual brilliance. I read the book years ago and re-read it recently. Loved it.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Richard K
1.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT GET THE KINDLE VERSION
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2018
Verified Purchase
By no means get this book on Kindle. It is rendered in utter gibberish. An example:

EverUisting calm in the presence of all Fate, and joy siAch as they might win, not indeed from perfect beauty, but from beauty ai perfect rest*

Too bad. Joseph Campbell often cites this book, so I was looking forward to it. Seems the only trustworthy version is upwards of £40.
4 people found this helpful
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Sarah
5.0 out of 5 stars the kind of thing you can't sum up easily
Reviewed in Canada on December 28, 2013
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This is a book that needs your close attention; all of the meaning and significance in the concepts explored seems to unfold slowly over its course, and there are moments of awe and inspiration throughout it's entirety.
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