1. Language and the Female in Early Greek Thought [1] I. The Speech of the Muses At the start of the Theogony, Hesiod describes his poetic initiation. As he was tending his lambs under Mt. Helicon, the Muses “taught him beautiful singing” (καλὴν ἐδίδαξαν ἀοιδήν, Theogony 22), when to him for the first time they made this pronouncement: ποιμένες ἄγραυλοι, κάκ’… Read more
Chapter 1. Experimenting in the Field of Polytheisms [*] The discovery that gods make good objects of research was not made by contemporary anthropology. The very first anthropologists never failed to recommend making an inventory of the various kinds of powers at large in a village or scattered the length and breadth of a kingdom. However, by the end of the nineteenth… Read more
Chapter 2. This Is Where I Intend to Build a Glorious Temple [*] Before making one of the most decisive pronouncements of his career, the young Apollo had experienced what it was to wander, for even before his birth, his doubly pregnant mother was forced to undertake a long march. [1] The story of this great god… Read more
Chapter 3. Forgetting Delphi Between Apollo and Dionysus [*] Let us be clear who is at fault if we are still today attracted and fascinated by the opposition between Apollonian and Dionysian, be it in a Poussin painting or at the origins of Greek religion. It is certainly not the fault of Orpheus’ first disciples, who did make use of the contrasts… Read more
Chapter 1. Doing Comparative Anthropology in the Field of Politics [*] There is a long history behind the Greeks and us. Clearly, the Greeks are not a tribe or even an ethnic group like others. At the heart of what historians complacently call “the history of the West,” the Greeks represent a real stake, in the sense of what may be either… Read more
Chapter 2. The Gods of Politics in Early Greek Cities [*] Here, I have decided to speak of “the gods” rather than “religion.” The “gods” know why I have rejected a modern reference to “religion.” I confess that I have never held the terms “religious” and “religion” in high esteem. And that is not solely because those terms, with their associations with… Read more
Works Cited Abélès, M. 1983. Le lieu du politique. Paris. ———. 2003. “Revenir chez les Ochollo.” In Detienne 2003b:393–413. Ackerman, R. 1987. J. G. Frazer: His Life and Work. Cambridge. Allen, T. W., Halliday, W. R., and Sikes, E. E. 1936. The Homeric Hymns. 2nd ed. Oxford. Altherr-Charon, A., and… Read more
Acknowledgements Peter Funke and Nino Luraghi Most of the contributions collected in this book were first submitted as papers at the conference “Ethnizität als Argument. Der Untergang des Peloponnesischen Bundes,” held at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität of Münster (Germany) on November 14th–16th, 2003. The editors wish to acknowledge the generous financial support of the Gerda-Henkel-Stiftung, which made the conference possible. In Münster, Dr. Matthias Haake and Ms. Read more
Abbreviations CEG = Hansen, P. A., ed. 1983. Carmina epigraphica Graeca saeculorum. VIII–Va.Chr. n. Berlin and New York. DGE = Schwyzer, E., ed. 1923. Dialectorum Graecarum exempla epigraphica potiora. Leipzig. FdD = 1909–. Fouilles de Delphes. Vol. III, Les Inscriptions. Paris FGH = Jacoby, F., ed. 1923–1964. Fragmente der griechischen Historiker. Berlin, then Leiden. Read more
I. Between Mantinea and Leuctra: The Political World of the Peloponnese in a Time of Upheaval Peter Funke The aim of the reflections that follow is to define the historical and political framework in which to locate the central topic of the conference whose results are presented here. In other words, my contribution has an introductory function and will try to sketch a background of sorts… Read more
