Foto de l'autor

Lewis R. Farnell (1856–1934)

Autor/a de The Cults of the Greek States: Volume 2

22 obres 125 Membres 1 crítiques

Sobre l'autor

Inclou aquests noms: L.R. Farnell, Lewis Richard Farnell

Sèrie

Obres de Lewis R. Farnell

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

Data de naixement
1856
Data de defunció
1934
Gènere
male

Membres

Ressenyes

Immense and scholarly. An achievement of a lifetime for Farnell. This was a major project published in 5 volumes around the start of the 20th century. Its aim was to describe, and when possible, explain, the religion of ancient Greece in terms of the varied cults surrounding the major deities. As it dealt with religion in particular, it should be noted that mythology was not given the major focus: most evidence came from cult monuments, either unearthed or described in literature, or represented on other handiwork, such as coins and vases. If a point could not be verified, it was left behind, as the author was not keen to speculate more than necessary.

A survey was made of each major deity, their known cults and aspects shown, along with another survey of the contemporary religious art as it pertained to the cults under examination, and finally an exploration was given of the ideal image of the god or goddess, once again based on a survey of the art of the time.

The following points will be helpful in understanding what the work offers and does not offer.
(1) Greek names were often given without translation or even transliteration, unless the etymology was obscure or otherwise worth discussing; really this showed that the work was for professionals and students of Greek studies and comparative religion. At the end I felt that, barring anything else, I could at least pronounce any Greek word that is put in front of me. If I ever choose to pursue studies in Greek, I will have this set to thank for giving me a head start (although some credit should be given to my mathematical background).
(2) The various Mysteries were described with the information that was available at the time of writing, but much had not come down to us, especially involving specific rituals and even theology. These were secret aspects of the cults, only revealed to initiates; it was then not surprising that the information available to us was sparse. Therefore, those seeking Occult knowledge would have been disappointed: the author was not prone to speculation, and put massive weight on archaeological evidence.
(3) Contemporary information was the only kind considered, so Renaissance art and medieval literature about the period was ignored. Once again, the author was showing the evidence and drawing what conclusions were available.
(4) As was touched on before, mythology was not the focus of this work, and the myths were hence in large part not described. The reader was expected to know the major myths and characters, as the author, when required, would refer to them without great elaboration. Some more unusual or less well-known myths were covered in some detail, and if a myth had a strong correlation with cult behaviour, more could be inferred of the content of that myth by reading between the lines of Farnell's analysis.
(5) If the reader should have walked away with only one piece of knowledge after consuming this set of books, it was that the Greek world had no unified holy book, and the consistent character of many of the myths pulls a veil over the great variance of worship between the different states and cities. Every deity had several titles: some described worship in one place but not another, and it was not unusual for any one aspect to be worshipped in different ways by different communities at different times in history.
(6) Hero cults were not covered in these five volumes due to lack of space, but a separate sixth volume was published some time later covering this topic, and I encourage fans of this set to add this final book to their collections, bringing together Farnell's magnum opus.

A word about the edition I used (Kessinger). Each volume was a scanned copy of a previously published book, so it was not freshly typeset or corrected. This sometimes made for slightly blurry reading, but I saw no major issues with my copies. The text was complete and readable, even the footnote markers, though that began to push the limit slightly. Either way, every word was discernible and not painful to read. Some readers would no doubt feel cheated at not getting a 'fresh' edition for the money, so buyer beware.
… (més)
½
1 vota
Marcat
openset | Apr 29, 2010 |

Estadístiques

Obres
22
Membres
125
Popularitat
#160,151
Valoració
½ 4.3
Ressenyes
1
ISBN
58

Gràfics i taules