The Center for Hellenic Studies

religion
Hellenic Studies Series

Lovers of the Soul, Lovers of the Body: Philosophical and Religious Perspectives in Late Antiquity

The relationship between the soul and the body was a point of contentious debate among philosophers and theologians in late antiquity. Modern scholarship has inherited this legacy, but split the study of the relation of body and soul between the disciplines of philosophy and religion. Lovers of the Soul, Lovers of the Body integrates, with Plato and Aristotle in the background, philosophical and religious perspectives on the concepts of soul and… Read more

Programs & Events News

Recap: Michael Puett on the study of religion

Rituals and Revelations Re-thinking Comparative Approaches to the Study of Religion Written by Alba Curry The Center for Hellenic Studies would like to extend their greatest thanks and appreciation to all of those who participated in the second meeting of the Comparatism Seminar. We would also like to thank Professor Michael Puett for his talk, which offered a way out of the powerful criticisms of comparative work leveled by, for… Read more

Curated Books

A Guide to Greek Traditions and Customs in America

Here is a clear and comprehensive guide to the religious and secular life of the Greek-American community. This book provides an easy-to-understand explanation of Orthodox and Hellenic traditions in America for the newcomer and for Greek Americans wishing to learn more. Here are the traditions of Orthodoxy so that the reader can understand and follow services in church and related practices at home. You will learn how to plan a… Read more

Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature Series

Old Norse Mythology—Comparative Perspectives

Old Norse mythology is elusive: it is the label used to describe the religious stories of the pre-Christian North, featuring such well-known gods as Odin and Thor, yet most of the narratives have come down to us in manuscripts from the Middle Ages mainly written by Christians. Our view of the stories as they were transmitted in oral form in the pre-Christian era is obscured. To overcome these limitations, this… Read more

Curated Books

Choruses of Young Women in Ancient Greece: Their Morphology, Religious Roles, and Social Functions

New and revised edition, translated by Derek Collins and Janice Orion In this groundbreaking work, Claude Calame argues that the songs sung by choruses of young girls in ancient Greek poetry are more than literary texts; rather, they functioned as initiatory rituals in Greek cult practices. Using semiotic and anthropologic theory, Calame reconstructs the religious and social institutions surrounding the songs, demonstrating their function in an aesthetic education that permitted… Read more

Curated Books

Greek Literature in Late Antiquity: Dynamism, Didacticism, Classicism

Late Antiquity has attracted a significant amount of attention in recent years. As a historical period it has thus far been defined by the transformation of Roman institutions, the emergence of distinct religious cultures (Jewish, Christian, Islamic), and the transmission of ancient knowledge to medieval and early modern Europe. Despite all this, the study of late antique literary culture is still in its infancy, especially for the Greek and other… Read more

Hellenic Studies Series

Poetry as Initiation: The Center for Hellenic Studies Symposium on the Derveni Papyrus

The Derveni Papyrus is the oldest known European “book.” It was meant to accompany the cremated body in Derveni Tomb A but, by a stroke of luck, did not burn completely. Considered the most important discovery for Greek philology in the twentieth century, the papyrus was found accidentally in 1962 during a public works project in an uninhabited place about 10 km from Thessaloniki, and it is now preserved in… Read more

Hellenic Studies Series

‘Paradise’ Earned: The Bacchic-Orphic Gold Lamellae of Crete.

This is a study of the twelve small gold lamellae from Crete that were tokens for entrance into a golden afterlife: the deceased who were buried or cremated with them believed that they had “earned Paradise.” The lamellae are placed within the context of a small corpus of similar texts, and published with extensive commentary on their topography, lettering and engraving, dialect and orthography, meter, chronology, and usage. The texts reveal a hieros… Read more