Ritual Texts for the Afterlife

Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets

Fritz Graf, Sarah Johnston, Sarah Iles Johnston (Autoren)

Buch | Hardcover

296 Seiten

2013 | 2nd edition
Routledge (Verlag)
978-0-415-50802-5 (ISBN)

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Fascinating texts written on small gold tablets that were deposited in graves provide a unique source of information about what some Greeks and Romans believed regarding the fate that awaited them after death, and how they could influence it. These texts, dating from the late fifth century BCE to the second century CE, have been part of the scholarly debate on ancient afterlife beliefs since the end of the nineteenth century. Recent finds and analysis of the texts have reshaped our understanding of their purpose and of the perceived afterlife.

The tablets belonged to those who had been initiated into the mysteries of Dionysus Bacchius and relied heavily upon myths narrated in poems ascribed to the mythical singer Orpheus. After providing the Greek text and a translation of all the available tablets, the authors analyze their role in the mysteries of Dionysus, and present an outline of the myths concerning the origins of humanity and of the sacred texts that the Greeks ascribed to Orpheus. Related ancient texts are also appended in English translations. Providing the first book-length edition and discussion of these enigmatic texts in English, and their first English translation, this book is essential to the study of ancient Greek religion.

Graf, Fritz; Johnston, Sarah; Graf, Fritz; Johnston, Sarah Iles

List of illustrations, Preface to the first edition, Preface to the second edition, 1 The tablets: An edition and translation, Concordance, 2 A history of scholarship on the tablets, 3 The myth of Dionysus, 4 The eschatology behind the tablets, 5 Dionysiac mystery cults and the Gold Tablets, 6 Orpheus, his poetry, and sacred texts, Appendix 1: Orphism in the twenty-first century, Appendix 2: The tablets from Pherae, Appendix 3: The tablets from Roman Palestine, Appendix 4: Additional Bacchic texts, 1 The Olbia bone tablets, 2 Bacchic inscriptions from Olbia, 3 The Gurôb Papyrus, 4 The Edict of Ptolemy IV Philopator, Notes, Bibliography, Subject index, Index of ancient texts

Zusatzinfo	11 Illustrations, black and white
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Gewicht	340 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Altertum / Antike
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Religionsgeschichte
ISBN-10	0-415-50802-9 / 0415508029
ISBN-13	978-0-415-50802-5 / 9780415508025
Zustand	Neuware