Greek Religion And Culture The Bible And The Ancient Near East

This book greatly enhances our knowledge of the interrelationship of Greek religion & culture and the Ancient Near East by offering important analyses of Greek myths, divinities and terms like a ~magica (TM) and 'paradise', but also of the Greek contribution to the Christian notion of atonement.

This book greatly enhances our knowledge of the interrelationship of Greek religion & culture and the Ancient Near East by offering important analyses of Greek myths, divinities and terms like ‘magic’ and 'paradise', but also of the Greek contribution to the Christian notion of atonement.

Explores the diverse origins of such stories as the creation and the flood in the cultures of the ancient Near East. This up-to-date revision of a classic work draws on the latest archaeological and linguistic research to fill in the historical realities behind the great stories of the Bible. Shows striking parallels in the foundational stories told in the Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Hebrew cultures of the time.

This book, in minute detail, presents a polyphony of voices, perspectives and opinions, from which emerges a diverse but coherent representation of the complex relationship between religion and war in the Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome.

Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture offers an historical overview of the civilizations of the ancient Near East spanning ten thousand years of history. This new edition is a comprehensive introduction to the history and culture of the Near East, from prehistory and the beginnings of farming to the fall of Achaemenid Persia. Through text, images, maps, and historical documents, readers discover the material, social, and political world of cultures from Egypt to India, allowing students to see how these intertwined cultures interacted throughout history. Now fully updated and incorporating the latest scholarship on society, religion, and the economy, this book highlights the changing fortunes of these great civilizations. A special feature of this book is its many "Debating the Evidence" sections, where the reader becomes familiar with scholarly disputes concerning the interpretation of textual and archaeological evidence on a variety of topics and case studies. The fourth edition of Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture remains a crucial textbook for undergraduates and general readers studying the ancient Near East, particularly the political and social history of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as students of archaeology and biblical studies who are working on the region.

Our knowledge of ancient Greece has been transformed in the last century by an increased understanding of the cultures of the Ancient Near East. This is particularly true of ancient religion. This book looks at the relationship between the religious systems of Ancient Greece and the Hittites, who controlled Turkey in the Late Bronze Age (1400-1200 BC). The cuneiform texts preserved in the Hittite archives provide a particularly rich source for religious practice, detailing festivals, purification rituals, oracle-consultations, prayers, and myths of the Hittite state, as well as documenting the religious practice of neighbouring Anatolian states in which the Hittites took an interest. Hittite religion is thus more comprehensively documented than any other ancient religious tradition in the Near East, even Egypt. The Hittites are also known to have been in contact with Mycenaean Greece, known to them as Ahhiyawa. The book first sets out the evidence and provides a methodological paradigm for using comparative data. It then explores cases where there may have been contact or influence, such as in the case of scapegoat rituals or the Kumarbi-Cycle. Finally, it considers key aspects of religious practices shared by both systems, such as the pantheon, rituals of war, festivals, and animal sacrifice. The aim of such a comparison is to discover clues that may further our understanding of the deep history of religious practices and, when used in conjunction with historical data, illuminate the differences between cultures and reveal what is distinctive about each of them.

This handbook offers both students and teachers of ancient Greek religion a comprehensive overview of the current state of scholarship in the subject, from the Archaic to the Hellenistic periods. It not only presents key information, but also explores the ways in which such information is gathered and the different approaches that have shaped the area. In doing so, the volume provides a crucial research and orientation tool for students of the ancient world, and also makes a vital contribution to the key debates surrounding the conceptualization of ancient Greek religion. The handbook's initial chapters lay out the key dimensions of ancient Greek religion, approaches to evidence, and the representations of myths. The following chapters discuss the continuities and differences between religious practices in different cultures, including Egypt, the Near East, the Black Sea, and Bactria and India. The range of contributions emphasizes the diversity of relationships between mortals and the supernatural - in all their manifestations, across, between, and beyond ancient Greek cultures - and draws attention to religious activities as dynamic, highlighting how they changed over time, place, and context.

"The stories collected in the Hebrew Bible provide for many an essential and original vision of a moral and coherent universe. It is thus surprising to learn that these stories were not simply the product of a single culture, of Hebrew poets, prophets, and priests; they had strange and diverse origins in the various civilizations of the ancient Near East. Recent archaeological and linguistic research shows that these civilizations - among them Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Hebrew - shared many common legends and even characters." "Furthermore, each season of archaeological work brings new discoveries that allow us to fill in gaps in our knowledge, of both Israel in particular and the ancient Near East in general. Among the most notable of the recent discoveries have been the first extrabiblical references to the house of David, found in an inscription on a stela at Dan. This and other exciting discoveries animate this thorough revision of Cyrus Gordon's classic text, The Ancient Near East. Professors Gordon and Rendsburg bring their combined expertise on the Bible and the ancient Near East to produce a comprehensive and cohesive account of Israelite history, literature, and theology against a backdrop of ancient civilization." "In preparing this volume the authors have sought to understand the Bible on its own terms by situating it in the world of the ancient Near East. By concentrating on what the language and literature of the Bible meant to contemporary hearers, Gordon and Rendsburg reveal undetected subtleties in the familiar narratives of the Bible."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved