Imaginary Greece. The contexts of mythology.

Gutes Ex.; Umschlag etwas berieben. - Englisch. - This is a study of Greek mythology in relation to its original contexts. Part One deals with the contexts in which myths were narrated: the home, public festivals, the lesche. Part Two, the heart of the book, examines the relation between the realities of Greek life and the fantasies of mythology: the landscape, the family and religion are taken as case-studies. Part Three focuses on the function of myth-telling, both as seen by the Greeks themselves and as perceived by later observers. The author sees his role as that of a cultural historian trying to recover the contexts and horizons of expectation which simultaneously make possible and limit meaning. He seeks to demonstrate how the seemingly endless variations of Greek mythology are a product of this community, situated in this landscape, and with these institutions. The book aims to engage with the latest work in this field (e.g. the structuralist and myth-and-ritual approaches developed by European scholars) in a style as free as possible from unnecessarily obscure terminology. All Greek is translated. (II). // INHALT : List of plates Preface ------ Acknowledgements Abbreviations ------ Introduction ------ PART ONE: NARRATIVE CONTEXTS ------ 1 Telling tales ------ 2 Myths in performance ------ From the cradle . ------ The songs of youth Stories for citizens ------ . to the grave ------ 3 Performance into text ------ 4 Images in context ------ Archaic and Classical Greece Collection and domestication ------ PART TWO: RE-IMAGINING THE WORLD ------ 5 Cookery and recipes ------ 6 Landscape. ISBN 0521329787