Gender and immortality : heroines in ancient Greek myth and cult / Deborah Lyons.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lyons, Deborah J., author.

Series:

Princeton Legacy Library

Princeton legacy library

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Greek literature--History and criticism.

Greek literature.

Women and literature--Greece.

Women and literature.

Immortality in literature.

Women--Mythology--Greece.

Women.

Sex role in literature.

Heroines in literature.

Mythology, Greek.

Cults--Greece.

Cults.

Greece--Religion.

Greece.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [1997]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In recent years, the topic of ancient Greek hero cult has been the focus of considerable discussion among classicists. Little attention, however, has been paid to female heroized figures. Here Deborah Lyons argues for the heroine as a distinct category in ancient Greek religious ideology and daily practice. The heroine, she believes, must be located within a network of relations between male and female, mortal and immortal. Using evidence ranging from Homeric epic to Attic vase painting to ancient travel writing, she attempts to re-integrate the feminine into our picture of Greek notions of the hero. According to Lyons, heroines differ from male heroes in several crucial ways, among which is the ability to cross the boundaries between mortal and immortal. She further shows that attention to heroines clarifies fundamental Greek ideas of mortal/immortal relationships.The book first discusses heroines both in relation to heroes and as a separate religious and mythic phenomenon. It examines the cultural meanings of heroines in ritual and representation, their use as examples for mortals, and their typical "biographies." The model of "ritual antagonism," in which two mythic figures represented as hostile share a cult, is ultimately modified through an exploration of the mythic correspondences between the god Dionysos and the heroines surrounding him, and through a rethinking of the relationship between Iphigeneia and Artemis. An appendix, which identifies more than five hundred heroines, rounds out this lively work.Originally published in 1997.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustration

Acknowledgments

Note to the Reader

Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter One. Heroines and Heroes

Chapter Two. Heroines and Mortals

Chapter Three. Mortals and Immortals

Chapter Four. Dionysiac Heroines

Chapter Five. The Goddess and Her Doubles

Appendix: Mythic Female Cult-Founders

Conclusion

Appendix . A Catalogue of Heroines

Bibliography

Index Locorum

General Index

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [237]-253) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691635026

0691635021

9780691606217

0691606218

9781400864386

1400864380

OCLC:

884012669