Redefining Ancient Orphism: A Study in Greek Religion - Softcover

Edmonds III, Radcliffe G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108730078 ISBN 13: 9781108730075

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2019

Synopsis

This book examines the fragmentary and contradictory evidence for Orpheus as the author of rites and poems to redefine Orphism as a label applied polemically to extra-ordinary religious phenomena. Replacing older models of an Orphic religion, this richer and more complex model provides insight into the boundaries of normal and abnormal Greek religion. The study traces the construction of the category of 'Orphic' from its first appearances in the Classical period, through the centuries of philosophical and religious polemics, especially in the formation of early Christianity and again in the debates over the origins of Christianity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A paradigm shift in the study of Greek religion, this study provides scholars of classics, early Christianity, ancient religion and philosophy with a new model for understanding the nature of ancient Orphism, including ideas of afterlife, cosmogony, sacred scriptures, rituals of purification and initiation, and exotic mythology.

About this title

About the Author

Radcliffe G. Edmonds III is Professor and Chair of the Department of Greek, Latin and Classical Studies at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania. He is author of Myths of the Underworld Journey: Plato, Aristophanes, and the 'Orphic' Gold Tablets (2004) and editor of The 'Orphic' Gold Tablets and Greek Religion: Further along the Path (2011).

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1108730078
• ISBN 13: 9781108730075
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 463