Herodotus and religion in the Persian Wars / Jon D. Mikalson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mikalson, Jon D., 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History.

Greece--History--Persian Wars, 500-449 B.C--Religious aspects.

Greece.

Herodotus. History.

Herodotus.

Greece--Religion.

Religion.

Physical Description:

xiv, 269 pages : maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2003]

Summary:

Two great Persian invasions of Greece in the fifth century B.C. provide our best opportunity for understanding the interplay of religion and history in ancient Greece on a large scale.

The first was ordered by King Darius and turned back by the Athenians at Marathon in 490 B.C., and the other was led by King Xerxes himself and repulsed in 480-79 B.C. by the allied Greeks at Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale. Using the Histories of Herodotus; writings by Plutarch, Pausanias, and others; and archaeological sources, Jon Mikalson shows how the Greeks practiced their religion at this pivotal moment in their history. In the period of the invasions and the years immediately afterward, the Greeks -- internationally, state by state, and sometimes individually -- turned to their deities, using religious practices to influence, understand, and commemorate events that were threatening their very existence. Greeks prayed and sacrificed; made and fulfilled vows to the gods; consulted oracles; interpreted omens and dreams; created cults, sanctuaries, and festivals; and offered dozens of dedications to their gods and heroes -- all in relation to known historical events. By portraying the human situations and historical circumstances in which Greeks practiced their religion, Mikalson advances our knowledge of the role of religion in fifth-century Greece and reveals a religious dimension of the Persian Wars that has been heretofore overlooked.

Contents:

1 A Religious Account of the Persian Invasions 15

2 Greek Gods, Heroes, and the Divine in the Persian Invasions 111

3 Some Religious Beliefs and Attitudes of Herodotus 136

Appendix Herodotus on the Origins of Greek Religion 167.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-247) and indexes.

ISBN:

0807827983

OCLC:

51177583