Overview

Cult activity played an extremely important role in the lives of individuals and of groups in ancient Greece. Where people worshipped the gods had a major influence on their conceptual geography. In 1984, Francois de Polignac argued that the placing of cult centres played a major part in establishing the whole concept of the city-state in archaic Greece. The essays in this collection, headed by one by de Polignac himself in which he reassesses his position, critically examine the social and political importance of sanctuary placement, not only re-examining areas of archaic Greece discussed by de Polignac, but extending the analysis back to Mycenean Greece and on to Greece under Roman occupation. Not only do these essays reveal something of the complexity of relations between religion and politics in ancient Greece, but they show how important tradition, gender relations, and cult identity were in creating and maintaining the religious mapping of the ancient Greek countryside.

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9780198150602

Table of Contents

Reviews

Interesting and provocative. --Religious Studies Review<br> [A] meticulously edited and usefully illustrated volume. --Bryn Mawr Classical Review<br> .,. this is an important work on an important topic. --History<br> The articles are well researched and provide a wealth of information about particular sites. The publication by Oxford is impeccable. --Revue Des Archeologues & Historiens D'Art De Louvain<br>

coherent, integrated, and explicitly theory-based collection of commissioned essays edited by Alcock and Osborne * P.A. Cartledge, Clare College, Cambridge, The International History Review, XVIII, 1: February 1996 * In its diversity and in its contradictions, this volume has the merit of tracing lines of study, of throwing out directions of inquiry, and of drawing together links which are all the more needed to link the social history of the Greek world to the practicalities of contemporary archaeology. * Alain Schnapp, Universite de Paris, Antiquity 71 (1997) * important collection * Oxbow Book News * this is a very good and useful collection of papers that go to make up an attractive and well-illustrated book...There are no bad papers in this volume. All contributions are accurate, scholarly and display a sound knowledge both of the relevant archeology and the relevant ancient authors...Ancient historians and classical archeologists would profit from reading it-but some prehistorians would perhaps profit even more.

Author Information

Susan E. Alcock is Assistant Professor of Archaeology at the University of Michigan. Robin Osborne is University Lecturer in Ancient History, and Fellow and Tutor at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Dr. Osborne also edited Ritual, Finance, Politics: Athenian Democratic Accounts Presented to David Lewis (OUP, 1995) with Simon Hornblower.

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