Dragons Serpents And Slayers In The Classical And Early Christian Worlds

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Dragons, Serpents, and Slayers in the Classical and Early Christian Worlds

Author : Daniel Ogden
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199323747
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (993 download)

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Book Synopsis Dragons, Serpents, and Slayers in the Classical and Early Christian Worlds by : Daniel Ogden

Download or read book Dragons, Serpents, and Slayers in the Classical and Early Christian Worlds written by Daniel Ogden and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-08 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stories about dragons, serpents, and their slayers make up a rich and varied tradition within ancient mythology and folklore. In this sourcebook, Daniel Ogden presents a comprehensive and easily accessible collection of dragon myths from Greek, Roman, and early Christian sources. Some of the dragons featured are well known: the Hydra, slain by Heracles; the Dragon of Colchis, the guardian of the golden fleece overcome by Jason and Medea; and the great sea-serpent from which Perseus rescues Andromeda. But the less well known dragons are often equally enthralling, like the Dragon of Thespiae, which Menestratus slays by feeding himself to it in armor covered in fish-hooks, or the lamias of Libya, who entice young men into their striking-range by wiggling their tails, shaped like beautiful women, at them. The texts are arranged in such a way as to allow readers to witness the continuity of and evolution in dragon stories between the Classical and Christian worlds, and to understand the genesis of saintly dragon-slaying stories of the sort now characteristically associated with St George, whose earliest dragon-fight concludes the volume. All texts, a considerable number of which have not previously been available in English, are offered in new translations and accompanied by lucid commentaries that place the source-passages into their mythical, folkloric, literary, and cultural contexts. A sampling of the ancient iconography of dragons and an appendix on dragon slaying myths from the ancient Near East and India, particularly those with a bearing upon the Greco-Roman material, are also included. This volume promises to be the most authoritative sourcebook on this perennially fascinating and influential body of ancient myth.

Drakon

Author : Daniel Ogden
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199557322
Total Pages : 492 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (995 download)

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Book Synopsis Drakon by : Daniel Ogden

Download or read book Drakon written by Daniel Ogden and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-02-28 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the dragon or the supernatural serpent in Graeco-Roman myth and religion. It incorporates analyses, with comprehensive accounts of the rich literary and iconographic sources, for the principal dragons of myth, and discusses matters of cult and the paradoxical association of dragons and serpents with the most benign of deities.

The Dragon in the West

Author : Daniel Ogden
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192565877
Total Pages : 478 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (925 download)

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Book Synopsis The Dragon in the West by : Daniel Ogden

Download or read book The Dragon in the West written by Daniel Ogden and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-09 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of how the image and idea of the dragon has evolved through history How did the dragon get its wings? Everyone in the modern West has a clear idea of what a dragon looks like and of the sorts of stories it inhabits, not least devotees of the fantasies of J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, and George R. R. Martin. A cross between a snake and some fearsome mammal, often sporting colossal wings, they live in caves, lie on treasure, maraud, and breathe fire. They are extraordinarily powerful, but even so, ultimately defeated in their battles with humans. What is the origin of this creature? The Dragon in the West is the first serious and substantial account in any language of the evolution of the modern dragon from its ancient forebears. Daniel Ogden's detailed exploration begins with the drakōn of Greek myth and the draco of the dragon-loving Romans, and a look at the ancient world's female dragons. It brings the story forwards though Christian writings, medieval illustrated manuscripts, and the lives of dragon-duelling saints, before concluding with a study of dragons found in the medieval Germanic world, including those of the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf and the Norse sagas.

The Serpent Symbol in Tradition

Author : Charles Dailey
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 1914208692
Total Pages : 646 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (142 download)

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Book Synopsis The Serpent Symbol in Tradition by : Charles Dailey

Download or read book The Serpent Symbol in Tradition written by Charles Dailey and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2022-01-24 with total page 646 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Serpent and dragon symbolism is ubiquitous in the art and mythology of premodern cultures around the world. Over the centuries, conflicting hypotheses have been proposed to interpret this symbolism which, while illuminating, have proved insufficient to the task of revealing a singular meaning for the vast majority of examples. In The Serpent Symbol in Tradition, Dr. Dailey argues that, in what the symbolist Rene Guenon and the historian of religions Mircea Eliade have called 'traditional' or 'archaic' societies, the serpent/dragon transculturally symbolizes matter, a state of being that is constituted by the perception of the physical world as chaotic in comparison to what traditional peoples believed to be the 'higher' meta-physical source of the physical world or 'nature.' In the course of Dr. Dailey's investigations into the meaning of traditional serpent/dragon symbolism, the following contributions have proved invaluable: 1) Guénon's interpretation of the language of traditional symbolism and the metaphysics that underlies it, as well as his interpretation of the terminology of the 'Hindu Doctrines,' 2) Eliade's interpretation of traditional/archaic societies by means of his concepts of chaos, creation, Axis Mundi (World Axis), and 'Sacred and Profane,' and 3) the insights of various other researchers of serpent/dragon symbolism. Beyond purporting to resolve some of the mystery of the ancient and varied symbolism of the serpent/dragon, The Serpent Symbol in Tradition strives to serve the related functions of interpreting the symbolic meanings of a wide variety of premodern artifacts and narratives as well as providing a study of the origination, and ancient human awareness, of the mentioned state of matter.

The Werewolf in the Ancient World

Author : Daniel Ogden
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0198854315
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (988 download)

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Book Synopsis The Werewolf in the Ancient World by : Daniel Ogden

Download or read book The Werewolf in the Ancient World written by Daniel Ogden and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2021-01-07 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tales of the werewolf are well established as a sub-strand of the popular horror genre; less widely known is how far back in time their provenance lies. This is the first book in any language devoted to the werewolf tales that survive from antiquity, exploring their place alongside witches, ghosts, demons, and soul-flyers in a shared story-world.

The Werewolf in the Ancient World

Author : Daniel Ogden
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192596292
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (925 download)

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Book Synopsis The Werewolf in the Ancient World by : Daniel Ogden

Download or read book The Werewolf in the Ancient World written by Daniel Ogden and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-01-07 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a moonlit graveyard somewhere in southern Italy, a soldier removes his clothes in readiness to transform himself into a wolf. He depends upon the clothes to recover his human shape, and so he magically turns them to stone, but his secret is revealed when, back in human form, he is seen to carry a wound identical to that recently dealt to a marauding wolf. In Arcadia a man named Damarchus accidentally tastes the flesh of a human sacrifice and is transformed into a wolf for nine years. At Temesa Polites is stoned to death for raping a local girl, only to return to terrorize the people of the city in the form of a demon in a wolfskin. Tales of the werewolf are by now well established as a rich sub-strand of the popular horror genre; less widely known is just how far back in time their provenance lies. These are just some of the werewolf tales that survive from the Graeco-Roman world, and this is the first book in any language to be devoted to their study. It shows how in antiquity werewolves thrived in a story-world shared by witches, ghosts, demons, and soul-flyers, and argues for the primary role of story-telling-as opposed to rites of passage-in the ancient world's general conceptualization of the werewolf. It also seeks to demonstrate how the comparison of equally intriguing medieval tales can be used to fill in gaps in our knowledge of werewolf stories in the ancient world, thereby shedding new light on the origins of the modern phenomenon. All ancient texts bearing upon the subject have been integrated into the discussion in new English translations, so that the book provides not only an accessible overview for a broad readership of all levels of familiarity with ancient languages, but also a comprehensive sourcebook for the ancient werewolf for the purposes of research and study.

War in Roman Myth and Legend

Author : Paul Chrystal
Publisher : Pen and Sword Military
ISBN 13 : 1526766132
Total Pages : 361 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (267 download)

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Book Synopsis War in Roman Myth and Legend by : Paul Chrystal

Download or read book War in Roman Myth and Legend written by Paul Chrystal and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2020-12-31 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An enlightening look at the importance of war gods and their myths to the ancient Romans. This book redresses the relative lack of work published on the role of war in classical myth and legend. At the same time it debunks the popular view that the Romans had little mythology of their own and idly borrowed and adapted Greek myth to suit their own ends. While this is true to some extent, War in Roman Myth and Legend clearly demonstrates a rich and meaningful independent mythology at work in Roman culture. The book opens by addressing how the Romans did adopt and adapt Greek myths to fashion the beginnings of Roman history; it goes on to discuss the Roman gods of war and the ubiquity of war in Roman society and politics and how this was reflected in the Aeneas Foundation Myth, the Romulus and Remus Foundation Myth, and the legends associated with the founding of Rome. Also discussed are warlike women in Roman epic; Trojan heroes; and the use of mythology by Roman poets other than Virgil. The Theban Legion and the vision of Constantine myths conclude the journey.

The Citizen

Author : Andrew Brown
Publisher : Massey University Press
ISBN 13 : 0994147384
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (941 download)

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Book Synopsis The Citizen by : Andrew Brown

Download or read book The Citizen written by Andrew Brown and published by Massey University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Across the globe citizens are flexing their muscles, but they are also battling oppression and discrimination. What can history tell us about the state's duty to its citizens? As always, a good deal. This bold and timely new book brings political theorists and historians together to examine the role of, and need for, a critical, global and active civil society.

The Dragon in the West

Author : Daniel Ogden
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198830181
Total Pages : 478 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (988 download)

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Book Synopsis The Dragon in the West by : Daniel Ogden

Download or read book The Dragon in the West written by Daniel Ogden and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Dragon in the West is the first book to offer an in-depth examination of the history of the image and idea of the dragon. A creature popular in contemporary fiction and cinema, Ogden reveals how the dragon was known to the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, and came down to us through early Christianity, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse legends.

The Legend of Seleucus

Author : Daniel Ogden
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107164788
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis The Legend of Seleucus by : Daniel Ogden

Download or read book The Legend of Seleucus written by Daniel Ogden and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-07 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first full reconstruction of and investigation into the vibrant and fascinating legend of King Seleucus, successor to Alexander the Great.

Polygamy, Prostitutes and Death

Author : Daniel Ogden
Publisher : Classical Press of Wales
ISBN 13 : 1914535405
Total Pages : 409 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (145 download)

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Book Synopsis Polygamy, Prostitutes and Death by : Daniel Ogden

Download or read book Polygamy, Prostitutes and Death written by Daniel Ogden and published by Classical Press of Wales. This book was released on 2023-05-22 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The hellenistic royal families, from Alexander the Great to the last Cleopatra, took part in dynastic in-fighting that was vicious, colourful and instructive. In this they anticipated by centuries the better known excesses under Roman potentates such as Claudius and Nero. This new enhanced and revised edition of a major study explores the intricate quarrels and violence within the ruling hellenistic families. A main theme is the role of 'amphimetric' disputes, competition between a ruler's offspring from different women, and especially between the women themselves. The book also includes a full exploration of the role of courtesans in the political and sexual intrigues of the hellenistic courts.

Reading the Way to the Netherworld

Author : Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler
Publisher : Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
ISBN 13 : 3647540307
Total Pages : 551 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (475 download)

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Book Synopsis Reading the Way to the Netherworld by : Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler

Download or read book Reading the Way to the Netherworld written by Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler and published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 551 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume focuses on the various representations of the Beyond in later Antiquity, a period of intense interaction and competition between various religious traditions and ideals of education. The concepts and images clustering around the Beyond form a crucial focal point for understanding the dynamics of religion and education in later Antiquity. Although Christianity gradually supersedes the pagan traditions, the literary representations of the Beyond derived from classical literature and transmitted through the texts read at school show a remarkable persistence: they influence Christian late antique writers and are still alive in medieval literature of the East and West. A specifically Christian Beyond develops only gradually, and coexists subsequently with pagan ideas, which in turn vary according to the respective literary and philosophical contexts. Thus, the various conceptualisations of the great existential unknown, serves here as a point of reference for mirroring the changes and continuities in Imperial and Late Antique religion, education, and culture, and opening up further perspectives into the Medieval world.

The Smells and Senses of Antiquity in the Modern Imagination

Author : Adeline Grand-Clément
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350169749
Total Pages : 295 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis The Smells and Senses of Antiquity in the Modern Imagination by : Adeline Grand-Clément

Download or read book The Smells and Senses of Antiquity in the Modern Imagination written by Adeline Grand-Clément and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-12-16 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume tackles the role of smell, under-explored in relation to the other senses, in the modern rejection, reappraisal and idealisation of antiquity. Among the senses olfaction in particular has often been overlooked in classical reception studies due to its evanescent nature, which makes this sense difficult to apprehend in its past instantiations. And yet, the smells associated with a given figure or social group convey a rich imagery which in turn connotes specific values: perfumes, scents and foul odours both reflect and mould the ways in which a society thinks or acts. Smells also help to distinguish between male and female, citizens and strangers, and play an important role during rituals. The Smells and Senses of Antiquity in the Modern Imagination focuses on the representation of ancient smells - both enticing and repugnant - in the visual and performative arts from the late 18th century up to the 21st century. The individual contributions explore painting, sculpture, literature and film, but also theatrical performance, museum exhibitions, advertising, television series, historical reenactment and graphic novels, which have all played a part in reshaping modern audiences' perceptions and experiences of the antique.

Dragon

Author : Martin Arnold
Publisher : Reaktion Books
ISBN 13 : 1780239416
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (82 download)

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Book Synopsis Dragon by : Martin Arnold

Download or read book Dragon written by Martin Arnold and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2018-06-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the fire-breathing beasts of North European myth and legend to the Book of Revelation’s Great Red Dragon of Hell, from those supernatural agencies of imperial authority in ancient China to the so-called dragon-women who threaten male authority, dragons are a global phenomenon, one that has troubled humanity for thousands of years. These often scaly beasts take a wide variety of forms and meanings, but there is one thing they all have in common: our fear of their formidable power and, as a consequence, our need either to overcome, appease, or in some way assume that power as our own. In this fiery cultural history, Martin Arnold asks how these unifying impulses can be explained. Are they owed to our need to impose order on chaos in the form of a dragon-slaying hero? Is it our terror of nature, writ large, unleashed in its most destructive form? Or is the dragon nothing less than an expression of that greatest and most disturbing mystery of all: our mortality? Tracing the history of ideas about dragons from the earliest of times to Game of Thrones, Arnold explores exactly what it might be that calls forth such creatures from the darkest corners of our collective imagination.

Canidia, Rome’s First Witch

Author : Maxwell Teitel Paule
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350003891
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Canidia, Rome’s First Witch by : Maxwell Teitel Paule

Download or read book Canidia, Rome’s First Witch written by Maxwell Teitel Paule and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-02-09 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Canidia is one of the most well-attested witches in Latin literature. She appears in no fewer than six of Horace's poems, three of which she has a prominent role in. Throughout Horace's Epodes and Satires she perpetrates acts of grave desecration, kidnapping, murder, magical torture and poisoning. She invades the gardens of Horace's literary patron Maecenas, rips apart a lamb with her teeth, starves a Roman child to death, and threatens to unnaturally prolong Horace's life to keep him in a state of perpetual torment. She can be seen as an anti-muse: Horace repeatedly sets her in opposition to his literary patron, casts her as the personification of his iambic poetry, and gives her the surprising honor of concluding not only his Epodes but also his second book of Satires. This volume is the first comprehensive treatment of Canidia. It offers translations of each of the three poems which feature Canidia as a main character as well as the relevant portions from the other three poems in which Canidia plays a minor role. These translations are accompanied by extensive analysis of Canidia's part in each piece that takes into account not only the poems' literary contexts but their magico-religious details.

Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore

Author : Theresa Bane
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786495057
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

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Book Synopsis Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore by : Theresa Bane

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore written by Theresa Bane and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-04-25 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Here there be dragons"--this notation was often made on ancient maps to indicate the edges of the known world and what lay beyond. Heroes who ventured there were only as great as the beasts they encountered. This encyclopedia contains more than 2,200 monsters of myth and folklore, who both made life difficult for humans and fought by their side. Entries describe the appearance, behavior, and cultural origin of mythic creatures well-known and obscure, collected from traditions around the world.

The Oxford Handbook of Heracles

Author : Daniel Ogden
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190650982
Total Pages : 609 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (96 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of Heracles by : Daniel Ogden

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Heracles written by Daniel Ogden and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The first half of the volume is devoted to the exposition of the ancient evidence, literary and iconographic, for the traditions of Heracles' life and deeds. After a chapter each on the hero's childhood and his madness, the canonical cause of his Twelve Labors, each of the Labors themselves receives detailed treatment in a dedicated chapter. The 'Parerga' or 'Side-Labors' are then treated in a similar level of detail in seven further chapters. In the second half of the book the Heracles tradition is analysed from a range of thematic perspectives. After consideration of the contrasting projections of the figure across the major literary genres, Epic, Tragedy, Comedy, Philosophy, and in the iconographic register, a number of his myth-cycle's diverse fils rouges are pursued: Heracles' fashioning as a folkloric quest-hero; his relationships with the two great goddesses, the Hera that persecutes him and the Athena that protects him; and the rationalisation and allegorisation of his cycle's constituent myths. The ways are investigated in which Greek communities and indeed Alexander the Great exploited the figure both in the fashioning of their own identities and for political advantage. The cult of Heracles is considered in its Greek manifestation, in its syncretism with that of the Phoenician Melqart, and in its presence at Rome, the last study leading into discussion of the use made of Heracles by the Roman emperors themselves and then by early Christian writers. A final chapter offers an authoritative perspective on the limitless subject of Heracles' reception in the western tradition"--