A remarkable number of Greek myths concern the plight of virgins – slaughtered, sacrificed, hanged, transformed into birds, cows, dear, bears, trees, and punished in Hades. Death and the Maiden, first published in 1989, contextualises this mythology in terms of geography, history and culture, and offers a comprehensive theory firmly grounded in an ubiquitous ritual: pubescent girls’ rites of passage. By means of comparative anthropology, it is argued that many local ceremonies are echoed throughout the whole range of myths, both famous and obscure. Further, Professor Dowden examines boys’ rites, as well as the renewal of entire communities at regular intervals. The first full-length work in English devoted to passage-rites in Greek myth, Death and the Maiden is an important contribution to the exciting developments in the study of the interrelation between myth and ritual: from it an innovative view on the origination of many Greek myths emerges.
Ken Dowden
Death and the Maiden [EPUB ebook]
Girls’ Initiation Rites in Greek Mythology
Death and the Maiden [EPUB ebook]
Girls’ Initiation Rites in Greek Mythology
Buy this ebook and get 1 more FREE!
Language English ● Format EPUB ● Pages 270 ● ISBN 9781317745457 ● Publisher Taylor and Francis ● Published 2014 ● Downloadable 6 times ● Currency EUR ● ID 3096015 ● Copy protection Adobe DRM
Requires a DRM capable ebook reader