Decayed Gods: Origin and Development of Georges Dumezil's "Ideologie Tripartie"

Wouter W. Belier

ISBN 10: 9004094873 / ISBN 13: 9789004094871

Published by Brill Academic Pub, 1997

About this Item

illustrated edition. 254 pages. 9.50x6.25x0.75 inches. In Stock. This item is printed on demand.

Seller Inventory # __9004094873

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Decayed Gods: Origin and Development of Georges Dumezil's "Ideologie Tripartie"
• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9004094873
• ISBN 13: 9789004094871
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.64 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

In 1930 Dumézil wrote an article in which he defended the Indo-European character of the Indian varnas. In 1986 he was completing his final 25 Esquisses, research proposals the aim of which was to allow his model of the 'idéologie tripartie' of Indo-European traditions to be applied to his 'disciples'. According to this model Indo-European traditions were typified by a threefold division into functions of society, the world of the gods, and the heroic traditions. These were the functions of sovereignty, power and 'fertility'. This theoretical model was elaborated by Dumézil in a large number of books and articles. Between 1930 and 1986 he broadened enormously the amount of data on which his model was based. To do so he had regularly to adapt and reformulate his model. This was not without consequences for the material which he had interpreted earlier on.
In this study a detailed description is given of this process of reformulation and reinterpretation and the conclusion is that the totality of the various models does not, despite its aesthetic attraction, satisfy the criteria which should be set for scientific models.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Dutch