1. The Theory of Polis Religion

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about the basic features of ancient Greek religion, focusing in particular on the primary differences between Greek religion and the ‘revealed’ religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, before moving on to introduce the influential theory of ‘polis religion’.

Course

In this course, Professor Esther Eidinow (University of Bristol) thinks about Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood’s theory of ‘polis religion’ as a means of understanding Greek religious practice. We begin in the first module by thinking about some of the basic features of Greek religious practice, before outlining the theory of polis religion itself. After that, we think about the Greeks’ belief in the multiple gods and how religious practices reflected and reinforced the Greeks’ relationship with time and space. In the third module, we think about how cult activity articulated and reinforced an individual’s relationship with those around him – his family, his phratry, his polis, and so on – before turning in the fourth module to consider the organisation and management of polis religion. In the fifth module, we think about some of the ways in which the theory of polis religion might be extended, focusing in particular on the religious activities that seem not to be mediated by the polis – curse tablets and Orphism.

Lecturer

Esther Eidinow is Professor of Ancient History in the Department of Classics at the University of Bristol. Her broad area of expertise is ancient Greek society and culture with a specific focus on ancient Greek religion and magic. Among other topics, she has published on oracles, curse tablets, and binding spells, concepts of fate, luck and fortune, and the social emotions surrounding ‘witchcraft’ trials in classical Athens.