Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, Volume I: Early Greek Religion

by: Petrovic, A. Petrovic, I.

Provides the first history of the concepts of inner purity and pollution in early Greek religion
Explores the role of belief and faith in Ancient Greek religion
Greek passages have been translated offering access to interested general readers
Glossary of all technical terms facilitates access to both scholars and non-specialists

Was Ancient Greek religion really 'mere ritualism'? Early Christians denounced the pagans for the disorderly plurality of their cults, and reduced Greek religion to ritual and idolatry; protestant theologians condemned the pagan 'religion of form' (with Catholicism as its historical heir). For a long time, scholars tended to conceptualize Greek religion as one in which belief did not matter, and religiosity had to do with observance of rituals and religious practices, rather than with worshipers' inner investment. But what does it mean when Greek texts time and again speak of purity of mind, soul, and thoughts?

This book takes a radical new look at the Ancient Greek notions of purity and pollution. Its main concern is the inner state of the individual worshipper as they approach the gods and interact with the divine realm in a ritual context. It is a book about Greek worshippers' inner attitudes towards the gods and rituals, and about what kind of inner attitude the Greek gods were envisaged to expect from their worshippers. In the wider sense, it is a book about the role of belief in ancient Greek religion. By exploring the Greek notions of inner purity and pollution from Hesiod to Plato, the significance of intrinsic, faith-based elements in Greek religious practices is revealed - thus providing the first history of the concepts of inner purity and pollution in early Greek religion.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Part 1: An Epic View.
1: Hesiod on Moral Badness as Impurity
Part 2: Inner Purity and Pollution in pre-Platonic Philosophical Tradition
2: Pythagoras on Purity of Soul and Sacrificial Ritual
3: Heraclitus on Purification; Inner Purity and Sacrifice after Pythagoras
4: Empedocles on Inner Pollution and Purity: Release from Suffering, Prayer, and Mental Exercise
Part 3: Inner Purity and Pollution in Sympotic Settings.
5: Xenophanes on Good Thinking while Drinking
6: Theognidea on Straight Minds and Moral Purity
Part 4: Inner Purity and Pollution on the Central Stage: The Evidence of Drama
7: The Tragic Outlook on Rituals: Preliminaries
8: Aeschylus on Mental Pollution (the Oresteia and the Suppliants)
9: Sophocles' Sophrosyne, Unsound Thinking, and Pollution
10: Euripides on the Extremes of Purity and Pollution (Hippolytus, Orestes, Electra and Bacchae).
11: Aristophanes' 'Pure Mind'
Part 5: A Different Kind of Inner Purity
12: Inner Purity and Pollution in the Beyond: the Evidence of the Gold Leaves
Conclusion

Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, Volume I: Early Greek Religion

by: Petrovic, A. Petrovic, I.

• ISBN-13: 9780198768043 / 978-0-19-876804-3
• ISBN-03: 0198768044 / 0-19-876804-4
• Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2016