Prolegomena to the study of Greek religion

About this book

Jane Ellen Harrison studies ancient Greek religion through ritual, myth, and material evidence, seeking to recover the beliefs beneath familiar stories for readers of classical antiquity. At Athens, she considers rites in which Athena’s image was stripped of its ornaments and concealed, asking how the paired festivals were understood. In vase paintings of the Judgment of Paris, she notes, Paris is often missing, a detail that challenges readings of the scenes as simple illustrations of written legend. Elsewhere, she links Dionysiac worshippers’ sense of becoming the god to intoxication and ritual performance.