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38 results

Page 1 of 2

  • 14 - Religion

  • from Part II - Contexts
  • Edited by Daniel Ogden, University of Exeter
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to Alexander the Great
    Published online:
    04 January 2024
    Print publication:
    18 January 2024, pp 226-242

  • Summary

    This chapter examines the religious role of Alexander as king and military commander in the Greek world and the territory of the Achaemenid empire. It explores how he used sanctuaries of the gods to develop his relationship with the Greek cities, as locations for the meetings of associations of Greek cities, and as sites for making dedications. It considers the honours offered to Alexander by the Greek cities, arguing that these were offered spontaneously, and were not a response to any request from Alexander. It discusses his use of diviners and other religious experts while on campaign. It considers the extent to which Alexander engaged with the religious practices and expectations of the territories he conquered, including in particular Egypt and Babylon. It discusses the evidence that Alexander consciously attempted to emulate Heracles and Dionysus, and suggests that this is unlikely to reflect any historical reality. It then explores the story of Alexander’s visit to the oracle of Ammon/Amun at the Siwah oasis, suggesting that while Alexander was aware of the significance of his pharaonic titulary, including the phrase ‘son of Amun’, this did not lead to claims of divine filiation beyond Egypt.

  • Chapter 1 - A Cognitive Approach to Ancient Greek Animal Sacrifice

  • from Part I - Ritual
  • Edited by Esther Eidinow, University of Bristol, Armin W. Geertz, Aarhus Universitet, Denmark, John North, University College London
  • Book:
    Cognitive Approaches to Ancient Religious Experience
    Published online:
    28 July 2022
    Print publication:
    11 August 2022, pp 19-43

  • Summary

    This chapter considers whether scholars should be seeking ‘meaning’ when considering animal sacrifice. Ritual activity that can be described as ‘normative Greek sacrifice’ is carried out in different circumstances with very different aims, for example to propitiate and honour a god or goddess, as part of the preparation of a meal, as a process to enable divination, or as a responsibility handed on by tradition. The various ritual actions that make up ‘normative Greek sacrifice’ – including burning incense, killing the animal, examining the entrails, eating the meat, and singing hymns and offering prayers – can be carried out outside the context of animal sacrifice. I make use of theories of ritualization to argue that ‘normative Greek sacrifice’ should be seen as a collection of actions to which those who take part in it bring their own intentions and therefore provide their own meanings. I then examine the sensory impact of these actions to show that they would have been emotionally satisfying in their own right. Finally I consider cognitive theories that might explain why ‘normative Greek sacrifice’ might have been transmitted in the form it was, and suggest directions for future research to provide answers to this question.

  • Psychiatry and the global drugs debate: what every psychiatrist needs to know

  • Owen Bowden-Jones, Julia Sinclair, Anne Lingford-Hughes
  • Journal:
    The British Journal of Psychiatry / Volume 216 / Issue 4 / April 2020
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    01 October 2019, pp. 178-179
    Print publication:
    April 2020
    • Article
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  • There are few topics that divide public opinion as sharply as the use of psychoactive substances and it is easy to see why. Substance use is complex and can be examined from numerous perspectives, including legal, health, economic, cultural and ethical. These varying approaches can lead to a range of different conclusions. Here we explore some of the common approaches adopted towards drug policy and suggest a number of principles, which may inform a psychiatrist's own view.

  • When Things Don't Fit: Looking at the London Mithraeum

  • Hugh Bowden
  • Journal:
    Journal of Classics Teaching / Volume 19 / Issue 38 / Autumn 2018
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    27 November 2018, pp. 1-3
    • Article
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      • Open access
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  • The redisplayed London Mithraeum beneath the Bloomberg building in the City of London, and the material recovered from excavation of the site, now on display in the Museum of London, provide a valuable resource for exploring aspects of religion in Roman London. And they are well worth the visit, not least because they are free to the public. Inevitably the information provided with the artifacts and the site itself emphasise what we know about them. But there are puzzling features of this material, and there is a lot that we do not know. I want to discuss some of these puzzles, not with the aim of providing answers, but to remind us that there is still plenty to be discovered about ancient religion, and also that our perspective on the ancient world is always affected by accidents of survival.

  • Review Article: Recent Travels in Alexanderland

  • Hugh Bowden
  • Journal:
    The Journal of Hellenic Studies / Volume 134 / 2014
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    09 December 2014, pp. 136-148
    Print publication:
    2014

  • This review of recent books about Alexander the Great and related topics focuses in particular on how much attention scholars have paid to the eastern aspects of the history and historiography of the period. It traces the identification of Alexander as an essentially ‘western’ figure back to the period of the Enlightenment, and shows how the work of scholars in the 18th century set the terms of the subsequent debate. It goes on to show how work on the Alexander Romance displays a far broader and inclusive range of intellectual approaches than traditional Alexander historiography, and suggests that the study of the historical Alexander would benefit from seeing Alexander as belonging in a Near Eastern context as well as a Greek or Macedonian one.

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