2 options
Indo-European afterlives: interdisciplinary perspectives on life beyond death.
- Format:
- Book
- Series:
- Stockholm Studies in Indo-European Language and Culture v.3
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Indo-Europeans--Funeral customs and rites.
- Indo-Europeans.
- Funeral rites and ceremonies, Ancient--Europe.
- Funeral rites and ceremonies, Ancient.
- Mythology, Indo-European.
- Death--Europe--Religious aspects--History.
- Death.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (212 p.)
- Place of Publication:
- Stockholm, Sweden: Stockholm University Press, 2025.
- Summary:
- This volume brings together scholars from archaeology, historical linguistics and comparative mythology to explore how early Indo-European communities imagined death and what lies beyond. From poetic visions of the afterlife to the ritual logic of cremation and the etymology of mourning, Indo-European Afterlives examines how the transition from life to death was conceptualized and ritualized across the Indo-European world. Topics include the eschatological power of poetry, the symbolic role of fire in funerary rites, linguistic reconstructions of underworld deities and rituals and the significance of mythic figures such as the Valkyries, the Rbhus and Orpheus in navigating the boundary between life and the afterlife. By interweaving philological analysis, archaeological evidence and mythological narratives, the volume offers new perspectives on how notions of death and the beyond were embedded in early Indo-European belief systems. Interdisciplinary in scope, Indo-European Afterlives will appeal to scholars and curious readers alike.
- Contents:
- Exploring the afterlife in Indo-European traditions
- Dwellings undwindling: Towards an Indo-European poetics of perlocutionary sites
- Initials for initiates: Phonic mystagogy, “audiovisuality” and the eschatology of the Gathas
- Orpheus and the R̥bhus: Fashioning drinks for the afterlife
- Indo-European motifs in the Greek underworlds
- The god of the night sky as a guide to the afterlife
- The love life of the dead: Norse Valkyries from an Indo-European perspective
- Tied to the underworld
- Indo-European cremations and cosmic fires: A comparative analysis of the funeral and fire rites of Bronze Age Håga, Sweden
- Mourning among the speakers of Proto-Indo-European: *k̑eh₂d- ‘to fall’ and ‘to mourn’
- Biographies
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 91-7635-283-8
- 9789176352830
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.