The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the tyranny of Asia [[electronic resource] ] : a study of sovereignty in ancient religion / / Mark Henderson Munn

• Autore: Munn Mark Henderson
• Pubblicazione: Berkeley and Los Angeles, Calif., : University of California Press, Ltd., 2006
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (478 p.)
• Disciplina: 292.2/114
• Soggetto topico: Cybele (Goddess) - Cult - Greece - Athens - History; Cybele (Goddess) - Cult - Lydia (Kingdom); Despotism - Religious aspects - History of doctrines; Religion and politics - Greece - Athens - History; Religion and politics - Lydia (Kingdom) - History; Sovereignty - Religious aspects - History of doctrines
• Soggetto non controllato: ancient greece; aphrodite; asia; assyria; athens; babylon; chastity; classicism; classics; democracy; divinity; empire; epic poetry; feminine divine; femininity; gender; gods and goddesses; greek goddesses; greek gods; greek pantheon; hellenism; hesiod; hesiodic epics; homer; homeric epics; ishtar; lydia; maternal; maternity; mother of the gods; motherhood; myth; mythology; nonfiction; panteon; persian empire; philosophy; phrygia; politics; purity; religion; religious cults; sacred marriage; sexuality; tyranny; tyrants; war; western asia
• Classificazione: 11.15
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. Sovereignty and Divinity in Classical Greek Thought -- 2. The Mother of the Gods and the Sovereignty of Midas -- 3. The Mother of the Gods and the Ideals of Lydian Tyranny -- 4. The Mother of the Gods and the Practices of Lydian Tyranny -- 5. Asia, the Oikoumēn;, and the Map of the World -- 6. The Mother of the Gods and Persian Sovereignty -- 7. Persian Sovereignty and the Gods of the Athenians -- 8. Herodotus and the Gods -- 9. The Mother of the Gods at Athens -- Bibliography -- General index -- Index of select Greek terms -- Index locorum
• Sommario/riassunto: Among maternal deities of the Greek pantheon, the Mother of the Gods was a paradox. She is variously described as a devoted mother, a chaste wife, an impassioned lover, and a virgin daughter; she is said to be both foreign and familiar to the Greeks. In this erudite and absorbing study, Mark Munn examines how the cult of Mother of the Gods came from Phrygia and Lydia, where she was the mother of tyrants, to Athens, where she protected the laws of the Athenian democracy. Analyzing the divergence of Greek and Asiatic culture at the beginning of the classical era, Munn describes how Kybebe, the Lydian goddess who signified fertility and sovereignty, assumed a different aspect to the Greeks when Lydia became part of the Persian empire. Conflict and resolution were played out symbolically, he shows, and the goddess of Lydian tyranny was eventually accepted by the Athenians as the Mother of the Gods, and as a symbol of their own sovereignty. This book elegantly illustrates how ancient divinities were not static types, but rather expressions of cultural systems that responded to historical change. Presenting a new perspective on the context in which the Homeric and Hesiodic epics were composed, Munn traces the transformation of the Asiatic deity who was the goddess of Sacred Marriage among the Assyrians and Babylonians, equivalent to Ishtar. Among the Lydians, she was the bride to tyrants and the mother of tyrants. To the Greeks, she was Aphrodite. An original and compelling consideration of the relations between the Greeks and the dominant powers of western Asia, The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia is the first thorough examination of the way that religious cult practice and thought influenced political activities during and after the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.
• Titolo autorizzato: The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the tyranny of Asia
• ISBN: 1-282-35763-8; 9786612357633; 0-520-93158-0; 1-60129-395-X
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910784405903321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II
• Serie: Joan Palevsky imprint in classical literature.