Castration, cult and agriculture

Opuscula 7 (2014) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Amazon.de, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. Castration, cult and agriculture. Perspectives on Greek animal sacrifice By Gunnel Ekroth Abstract The castration of most male animals seems to have been the rule in ancient Greece when rearing cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs; only very few adult males are needed for breeding purposes and flocks of bulls, rams, billy-goats and boars are difficult to keep, since they are too aggressive. Castrated males yield more and fattier meat, and, in the case of sheep, more wool. Still, sacred laws and sacrificial calendars stipulate the sacrifice of uncastrated victims, and vase-paintings frequently represent bulls, rams and billy-goats in ritual contexts. This paper will discuss the role of uncastrated male animals in Greek cult in the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods, both from a religious and an agricultural perspective. Of particular interest are the relations between the practical, economic reality and the theological perception of sacrifice. These issues will be explored using epigraphical, literary, iconographical and zooarchaeological evidence. Bibliographical information Gunnel Ekroth, ‘Cult, castration and agriculture. Perspectives on Greek animal sacrifice’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and…

ActaAth-4°, 55: Bones, behaviour and belief (2013)

Now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Amazon.de, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. Bones, behaviour and belief. The zooarchaeological evidence as a source for ritual practice in ancient Greece and beyond Edited by Gunnel Ekroth & Jenny Wallensten https://doi.org/10.30549/actaath-4-55 The importance of the zooarchaeological evidence as a source for ritual practices in ancient Greece is gradually becoming widely recognized. Animal bones form the only category of evidence for Greek cult which is constantly significantly increasing, and they can complement and elucidate the information provided by texts, inscriptions and images. This volume brings together sixteen contributions exploring ritual practices and animal bones from different chronological and geographical perspectives, foremost ancient Greece in the historical period, but also in the Bronze Age and as early as the Neolithic period, as well as Anatolia, France and Scandinavia, providing new empirical evidence from a number of major sanctuaries and cult-places. On a methodological level, the complexity of identifying ritual activity from the zooarchaeological evidence is a recurrent theme, as is the prominence of local variation visible in the bone material, suggesting that the written sources and iconography may offer simplified or idealized versions of the rituals actually performed. Although zooarchaeology…

ActaAth-8°, 22: Perspectives on ancient Greece (2013)

Now available for purchase at Amazon.com, Amazon.de, and Bokorder.se Perspectives on ancient Greece. Papers in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Swedish Institute at Athens By Ann-Louise Schallin (ed.) This volume presents current research related to Greek prehistory and Classical Archaeology and thus serves as a crosssection of the research strategies, which the Swedish Institute at Athens promotes. The topics relate to research, which span from the Neolithic to the Hellenistic times. The reason for putting this publication together is twofold: one aim is to publish the papers, which were put forward by a select number of Swedish scholars who were invited to give lectures at the Swedish Institute at Athens during the celebrations commemorating the Institute’s 60th anniversary on 10 May 2008. The second aim is to honour professor emeritus Robin Hägg, who was the director at the Swedish Institute at Athens from 1976 to 1994. This book thus consists of articles based on the lectures, which were held at the Swedish Institute celebrations on May 10 2008 and also of a number of articles by scholars who wished to celebrate Robin Hägg and who thus joined the venture. Contents Acknowledgements Ann-Louise Schallin | Introduction Mats Johnson |…

Book reviews
Book review , Content / 2012-12-02

Opuscula 5 (2012) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Amazon.de, Bokus.com, and Adlibris.com. Books reviewed in Opuscula 5 (2012) Adam J. Goldwyn | G. Van Steen. Theatre of the Condemned: Classical Tragedy on Greek Prison Islands (Classical Presences), Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011. xiv + 354 pp., 5 figs. ISBN 978-0-19-957288-5. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-05-09 Susanne Carlsson | N. Papazarkadas, Sacred and public land in ancient Athens (Oxford Classical Monographs), Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011. xii + 395 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-969400-6. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-05-10 Gunnel Ekroth | Aspects of ancient Greek cult. Context, ritual and iconography (Aarhus Studies in Mediterranean Antiquity, ASMA, 8), eds. Jesper Tae Jensen, George Hinge, Peter Schultz and Bronwen Wickkiser, Aarhus 2009. 245 pp. ISBN 978-87-7934-253-8. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-05-11 Susanne Carlsson | A. Powell & S. Hodkinson (eds.), Sparta. The body politic (Study of Sparta), The Classical Press of Wales: Oxford 2010. viii + 348 pp., 5 figs. ISBN 978-1-905125-26-5. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-05-12 Ingela M.B. Wiman | L. Bouke van der Meer (ed). Material Aspects of Etruscan Religion. Proceedings of the International Colloquium, Leiden, May 29 and 30, 2008. BABESCH, Annual Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology, supp 16, 2010, Leuven: Peeters, 2010. 1-164 pp. ISBN 978-90-429-2366-9. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-05-13 Örjan…

Book reviews
Book review , Content / 2009-12-02

Opuscula 2 (2009) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Amazon.de, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. Books reviewed in Opuscula 2 (2009) Gunnel Ekroth | M-Z. Petropoulou, Animal sacrifice in ancient Greek religion, Judaism, and Christianity, 100 BC to AD 200 (Oxford Classical monographs), Oxford 2008. xii + 336 p. ISBN 978-0-19-921854-7. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-02-13 Jenny Wallensten | S.I. Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination (Blackwell Ancient Religions), Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell 2008. 193 p. ISBN: 978-1-4051-1573-5. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-02-14 Simon Malmberg | P. von Rummel, Habitus barbarus: Kleidung und Repräsentation spätantiker Eliten im 4. und 5. Jahrhundert. Berlin: de Gruyter 2007. xi + 481 pp. ISBN: 978-3-11-019150-9. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-02-15 Lars Karlsson | O. Henry, Tombes de Carie. Architecture funéraire et culture carienne, VIe–IIe siècle av. J.-C. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2009. 289 pp., 163 figs., 16 pls. ISBN 978-2-7535-0758-6. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-02-16 Bibliographical information ‘Book reviews’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom) 2, 221–228. Stockholm 2009. ISSN: 2000-0898. ISBN: 978-91-977798-1-4. Softcover, 232 pages.

Opuscula Atheniensia 28 (2003)
Opuscula Atheniensia / 2003-12-01

Distributed by Astrom Editions. Contents Katie Demakopoulou, Nicoletta Divari-Valakou & Ann-Louise Schallin | Excavations in Midea 2002 (pp. 7-28) Berit Wells, Arto Penttinen & Marie Françoise Billot | Investigations in the sanctuary of Poseidon on Kalaureia 1997-2001 (pp. 29-87) Charles M. Adelman | The find group pottery from the Swedish excavations at Sina, Cyprus: significant sherds selected by Arne Furumark for his working notebook (pp. 89-171) Robert Parker | The problem of the Greek cult epithet (pp. 173-183) Birgitta L. Sjöberg | Settlement activity at Late Helladic Asine in the Argolid (pp. 185-201) Book reviews Lyvia Morgan | N. Marinatos, The Goddess and the Warrior. The naked goddess and Mistress of Animals in early Greek religion (pp. 203-204) Gunnel Ekroth | M. Deoudi, Heroenkulte in homerischer Zeit (pp. 204-207) Björn Forsén | Y.A. Pikoulas, Αρκαδια. Συλλογὴ μελετών (pp. 207-208) Björn Forsén | Y.A. Pikoulas, Λεξικό των οικισμών της Πελοποννήσου: παλαιά και νέα τοπωνύμια & F.A. Cooper (ed.), Houses of the Morea. Vernacular architecture of the northwest Peloponnesos (1205-1955) (pp. 209-210) Izabella Donkow | V. Tatton-Brown (ed.), Cyprus in the 19th century AD: fact, fancy and fiction. Papers of the 22nd British Museum Classical Colloquium, December 1998 (pp. 211-213) Books received…

Opuscula Atheniensia 27 (2002)
Opuscula Atheniensia / 2002-12-01

Distributed by Astrom Editions. Contents Hans-Günther Buchholz | Arthur Milchhöfer, ein Verehrer und Führsprecher Schliemanns und “Die Anfänge der Kunst in Griechenland” (pp. 7-26) Katie Demakopoulou, Nicoletta Divari-Valakou, Ann-Louise Schallin, Gunnel Ekroth, Anna Lindblom, Monica Nilsson & Lena Sjögren | Excavations in Midea 2000 and 2001, with an appendix by Y. Bassiakos (pp. 27-58) Johan Flemberg | A female canon in Late Classical and Hellenistic sculpture (pp. 59-82) Jeannette Forsén, Björn Forsén & Lars Karlsson | The walls of Asea (pp. 83-104) Helen Mangou & Panayiotis V. Ioannou | Trends in the making of Greek copper-based artefacts during the prehistoric period (4000-1050 BC) (pp. 105-118) Gullög Nordquist | Pots, prestige and people. Symbolic action in Middle Helladic burials (pp. 109-135) Mirena Slavova | Mystery clubs in Bulgarian lands in antiquity. Greek epigraphical evidence (pp. 137-149) Helène Whittaker | Religion and power. The nature of Minoan influence on early Mycenaean religion (pp. 151-157) Book reviews Björn Forsén | E. Kourinou, Σπάρτη. Συμβολὴ στὴ μνημειακὴ τοπογραφία τησ (pp. 159-160) Johannes Siapkas | J. McInerney, The folds of Parnassos. Land and ethnicity in ancient Phokis (pp. 160-163) Paavo Roos | S.I. Rotroff, The Athenian Agora XXIX. The Hellenistic pottery: Athenian and imported wheelmade…

ActaAth-8°, 16: Ancient Greek hero cult (1999)

Distributed by Astrom Editions. Ancient Greek hero cult. Proceedings of the Fifth International Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult, organized by the Department of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, Göteborg University, 21–23 April 1995 Edited by Robin Hägg A collection of twelve papers, read at an international seminar in Göteborg, that deal with various phenomena of the ancient Greek hero cult, based on literary, iconographical and archaeological evidence. Among the special topics discussed are the hero cults in Early Iron Age Greece, the relationship between funerary ritual, the veneration of ancestors and the cult of heros, the Danaides of Argos as “ancestors”, the multilocality of heroes, patriotic heroes, the politics of the transferal of the bones of heros, the position of the Dioskouroi as Laconian heroes worshipped also in Attica, the origins of Greek hero cult in the context of overseas foundations, the heroon of Asclepius in Athens, the sacrificial rituals of Greek hero cults in Pausanias, the hero Melikertes-Palaimon at Isthmia, and the development of hero cults in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Contents Preface (p. 7) Alexander Mazarakis Ainian | Reflections on hero cults in Early Iron Age Greece (pp. 9–36) Robin Hägg | Funerary ritual, veneration of ancestors…

Opuscula Atheniensia 22–23 (1997–1998)
Opuscula Atheniensia / 1998-01-01

Distributed by Astrom Editions. Contents Marie-Françoise Billot | Sanctuaire et cultes d’Athéna à Argos (pp. 7–52) Hélène Borrman, Mascot Fjaestad-Seger, E. Urban Engström & Paul Åström | A dental radiographic examination of a Late Bronze Age skull from Kition (pp. 53–56) Katie Demakopoulou, Nicoletta Divari-Valakou, Paul Åström & Gisela Walberg | Excavations in Midea 1995–1996 (pp. 57–90) Johan Flemberg | An Anadyomene in the Milles Collection (pp. 91–101) Barbro Santillo Frizell | Monumental building at Mycenae. Its function and audience (pp. 103–116) Jane F. Lloyd | The Minoan hall system and the problem of an entrance to the South House at Knossos (pp. 117–140) G.H.R. Wright | Puer aeternus in prehistoric Cyprus (pp. 141–146) Miscellanea Göran Henriksson & Mary Blomberg | Petsophas and the summer solstice (pp. 147–151) Penelope A. Mountjoy | An octopus stirrup jar from Kalymnos (pp. 152–154) In memoriam Alfred Westholm (written by Paul Åström) (p. 155) Erik Holmberg (written by Paul Åström) (p. 156) Book reviews Henrik Gerding | P. James et al., Centuries of darkness. A challenge to the conventional chronology of Old World archaeology (pp. 157–160) Gunnel Ekroth | C.M. Antonaccio, An archaeology of ancestors. Tomb cult and hero cult in early Greece (pp….

ActaAth-8°, 15: Ancient Greek cult practice from the archaeological evidence (1998)

Distributed by Astrom Editions Ancient Greek cult practice from the archaeological evidence. Proceedings of the Fourth International Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult, organized by the Swedish Institute at Athens, 22–24 October 1993 Edited by Robin Hägg A collection of thirteen papers, read at an international seminar in Athens, that deal with various phenomena of Greek cult practice, analyzing the information gained from the archaeological evidence. Among the special topics discussed are cult practice in the acropolis sanctuary of Minoa on Amorgos, the sanctuaries in the Artemision of Ephesos, the role played by osteological analysis in the understanding of Greek sacrificial practice, the interpretation of animal bones and fire traces connected with ritual feasting in the Herakleion on Thasos, ritual and society in Early Iron Age Corinthia, small dedications from the Archaic temple of Poseidon at Isthmia, altars in Greek hero cults, the early history of the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis, a sacrificial area near the sanctuary of Apollo Daphnephoros at Eretria, terracotta plaques and other finds from the sanctuary of Demeter and the Dioscouri at Messene, the interpretation of sickles in Greek sanctuaries, changes in votive practice from Classical to Hellenistic times, and cursing in the Sanctuary…