The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (Revealing Antiquity)
Language: English
Pages: 238
ISBN: 067464364X
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The splendid culture of the ancient Greeks has often been described as emerging like a miracle from a genius of its own, owing practically nothing to its neighbors. Walter Burkert offers a decisive argument against that distorted view, pointing toward a balanced picture of the archaic period "in which, under the influence of the Semitic East--from writers, craftsmen, merchants, healers--Greek culture began its unique flowering, soon to assume cultural hegemony in the Mediterranean.
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t h e sacrificial p i g l e t , slaughter, c o n t a c t w i t h b l o o d , a n d t h e s u b s e q u e n t cleansing w i t h water. T h e t o r c h a n d t h e incense b o w l b e l o n g t o t h e apparatus o f G r e e k p u r i f i c a t i o n priests, t o o . 1 7 W h a t is p e c u l i a r i n t h e M e s o p o t a m i a n t e x t is t h e e m p h a s i s o n s u b s t i t u t i o n , t o w h i c h w e shall r e t u r n . I n this respect i t m o s t closely resembles a r i t u a l
i v i n a t o r y madness at a h i g h l y p h i l o s o p h i c a l level; i n this c o n t e x t he c l e a r l y c o n f i r m s t h a t the m o s t f a m o u s seer i n Greece, t h e P y t h i a at D e l p h i , used t o p r o p h e s y i n a state o f ecstasy. M u c h later t h e Pythia's seance was described i n s o m e 2 d e t a i l b y P l u t a r c h i n his w r i t i n g s o n D e l p h i , a f i r s t h a n d w i t n e s s 3 79 T H E O R I E N T A L I Z I N G R E V O L U T I O N
w o suggest i o n s — m u c h p o e t i c i n v e s t m e n t w i t h l i t t l e effect. O r is i t his r o l e t o r e p r o a c h m a n k i n d ? W h a t is even m o r e c u r i o u s is t h a t , at the b e g i n n i n g o f Enuma Elish, A p s u , " t h e f i r s t o n e , the begetter," distressed b y t h e n o i s e o f the y o u n g e r g o d s , w h o are d e p r i v i n g h i m o f his sleep, m a k e s plans t o k i l l t h e m a l l , and d o i n g so he has an advisor, M u m m u , "
Orientalin 46, 6 5 - 8 5 . C o l d s t r e a m , J. N . i 9 6 0 . " A G e o m e t r i c Well at Knossos." BSA 159-171139 55, B I B L I O G R A P H Y . 1968. Greek Geometric Pottery. A Survey of Ten Local Styles and Their Chronology. L o n d o n . . 1969. " T h e Phoenicians o f Ialysos." BICS 16, 1-8. . 1977. Deities in Aegean Art before and after the Dark Ages. I n a u g . lect. 27 O c t . 1976. L o n d o n . . 1982. "Greeks a n d Phoenicians i n the A e g e a n . " I n N i e meyer (1982)