1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910792599603321

Autore

Evans Nancy

Titolo

Civic rights [[electronic resource] ] : democracy and religion in ancient Athens / / Nancy Evans

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, : University of California Press, c2010

ISBN

1-282-55616-9

9786612556166

0-520-94548-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (295 p.)

Classificazione

15.51

Disciplina

938/.505

Soggetti

Democracy - Greece - Athens - History - To 1500

Democracy - Greece - Athens - Religious aspects - History - To 1500

Religion and politics - Greece - Athens

Athens (Greece) Politics and government

Greece Politics and government To 146 B.C

Athens (Greece) Religion

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface -- Maps -- Introduction: The City of Pericles and Socrates -- One. Cleisthenes: The Family Curse behind Athenian Democracy -- Two. Athena: Religion and the Demo cratic Polis -- Three. Pericles: Empire and War in the City of Athena -- Four. Demeter: Civic Worship, Women's Rites, and the Eleusinian Mysteries -- Five. Alcibiades: Politics, Religion, and the Cult of Personality -- Six. Dionysus: Civic Rituals of Wine, Theater, and Transformation -- Seven. Socrates: Impiety Trials in the Restored Democracy -- Epilogue: The City after Socrates -- Glossary of terms -- Suggested further readings by chapter -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Civic Rites explores the religious origins of Western democracy by examining the government of fifth-century BCE Athens in the larger context of ancient Greece and the eastern Mediterranean. Deftly combining history, politics, and religion to weave together stories of democracy's first leaders and critics, Nancy Evans gives readers a contemporary's perspective on Athenian society. She vividly depicts the



physical environment and the ancestral rituals that nourished the people of the earliest democratic state, demonstrating how religious concerns were embedded in Athenian governmental processes. The book's lucid portrayals of the best-known Athenian festivals-honoring Athena, Demeter, and Dionysus-offer a balanced view of Athenian ritual and illustrate the range of such customs in fifth-century Athens.