Cretan Elements in the Cults and Ritual of Apollo: A Dissertation (Classic Reprint) - Hardcover

Mary Hamilton Swindler

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0266751075 ISBN 13: 9780266751076

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Ancient Crete helped shape Greek religion—and this study shows how
Cretan elements influenced worship across the Aegean world.

A scholarly exploration of how Crete contributed to the rise of Greek cults, especially around Apollo, the mother goddess, and related rites.

Presented as a doctoral dissertation for Bryn Mawr College (1913), the work assembles literary and archaeological evidence to trace how Cretan practice and mythography passed into Greek cults. It situates Crete as both a source of ritual and a conduit for Eastern and continental ideas, detailing how pre-Hellenic beliefs mingled with later Greek worship.

• Shows Crete as a “stepping stone” linking Egypt, Asia Minor, and the Greek mainland in religious exchange.
• Explores the worship of the great mother-goddess and the Orphic mysteries in a Crete‑centered frame.
• Examines apollo cults connected to Amyklaios and other pre-Hellenic forms, including Hyakinthos and Hyakinthia.
• Discusses how deities, rites, and ritual elements migrated and transformed across the Aegean world.

Ideal for readers interested in the roots of Greek religion, the transmission of cults, and the cultural exchange between Crete and the Greek mainland.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0266751075
• ISBN 13: 9780266751076
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 81