Publisher's Synopsis
This book discusses the problems involved in attempts to make sense of ancient Greek society, in particular its texts and images, rituals and myths. The collection of seven previously published papers is prefaced by an introduction which explains the methodological approach common to each. This approach draws on a variety of disciplines such as social anthropology and social history, the psychology of perception, semiology, cognitive studies, and literary theory, and such wide foundations ensure its relevance in the "reading" of other societies to which we have limited access, and of their cultural artefacts.;Each of the essays has been revised and updated for this collection, and explores not only a particular question concerning Greek religion and mythology, but also some distinctive aspects of approach. Together these unearth fundamental questions such as the nature of Greek polytheism and the distinction between myth and history.
