Dionysus and Politics
Constructing Authority in the Graeco-Roman World
1st Edition
Published on 30. May 2021
232 pages
978-1-000-39242-5 (ISBN)
Description
This volume presents an essential but underestimated role that Dionysus played in Greek and Roman political thought. Written by an interdisciplinary team of scholars, the volume covers the period from archaic Greece to the late Roman Empire.
The reader can observe how ideas and political themes rooted in Greek classical thought were continued, adapted and developed over the course of history. The authors (including four leading experts in the field: Cornelia Isler-Kerenyi, Jean-Marie Pailler, Richard Seaford andRichard Stoneman) reconstruct the political significance of Dionysus by examining different types of evidence: historiography, poetry, coins, epigraphy, art and philosophy. They discuss the place of the god in Greek city-state politics, explore the long tradition of imitating Dionysus that ancient leaders, from Alexander the Great to the Roman emperors, manifested in various ways, and shows how the political role of Dionysus was reflected in Orphism and Neoplatonist philosophy.
Dionysus and Politics provides an excellent introduction to a fundamental feature of ancient political thought which until now has been largely neglected by mainstream academia. The book will be an invaluable resource to students and scholars interested in ancient politics and religion.
The reader can observe how ideas and political themes rooted in Greek classical thought were continued, adapted and developed over the course of history. The authors (including four leading experts in the field: Cornelia Isler-Kerenyi, Jean-Marie Pailler, Richard Seaford andRichard Stoneman) reconstruct the political significance of Dionysus by examining different types of evidence: historiography, poetry, coins, epigraphy, art and philosophy. They discuss the place of the god in Greek city-state politics, explore the long tradition of imitating Dionysus that ancient leaders, from Alexander the Great to the Roman emperors, manifested in various ways, and shows how the political role of Dionysus was reflected in Orphism and Neoplatonist philosophy.
Dionysus and Politics provides an excellent introduction to a fundamental feature of ancient political thought which until now has been largely neglected by mainstream academia. The book will be an invaluable resource to students and scholars interested in ancient politics and religion.
Reviews / Votes
"Reunissant les articles de plusieurs specialistes du dieu Dionysos, l'ouvrage constitue un point de repere important pour les futures recherches sur le rapport entre l'imaginaire bachique et la representation du pouvoir. Le choix d'une chronologie large guide le public dans l'evolution de l'imaginaire dionysiaque et de son lien avec les processus de construction de l'autorite politique dans les mondes grec et romain. La lecture des diverses contributions permet egalement d'envisager d'autres pistes de recherche qui pourraient etre explorees en lien avec la thematique du volume."(Bringing together articles from several specialists of the god Dionysus, the book constitutes an important point of reference for future research on the relationship between the bacchanalian imagination and the representation of power. The choice of a broad timeline guides the audience in the evolution of the Dionysian imaginary and its link with the process of construction of political authority in the Greek and Roman worlds. Reading the various contributions also makes it possible to consider other avenues of research that could be explored in line with the theme of the volume.) - Kernos
"This volume will prove to be an invaluable resource both for its compilation and incisive analyses of a remarkable breadth of material and for its compelling vision of the persistence and complexity of Dionysus across antiquity and beyond."
-Courtney J. P. Friesen, University of Arizona, Religious Studies Review
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Reflowable
Illustrations
23 Halftones, black and white; 23 Illustrations, black and white
ISBN-13
978-1-000-39242-5 (9781000392425)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Filip Doroszewski | Dariusz Karlowicz
Dionysus and Politics
Constructing Authority in the Graeco-Roman World
Book
01/2024
1st Edition
Routledge
€63.20
Shipment within 15-20 days
Filip Doroszewski | Dariusz Karlowicz
Dionysus and Politics
Constructing Authority in the Graeco-Roman World
Book
06/2021
Routledge
Unfortunately, price unknown
Available (delivery time upon request)
Filip Doroszewski | Dariusz Karlowicz
Dionysus and Politics
Constructing Authority in the Graeco-Roman World
Book
05/2021
1st Edition
Routledge
€206.30
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Filip Doroszewski is Assistant Professor at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw, Poland. His recent publications include a co-edited volume Nonnus of Panopolis in Context III (2021) and a monograph Orgies of Words. Mystery Terminology in the Paraphrase of St. John's Gospel by Nonnus of Panopolis (forthcoming).
Dariusz Karlowicz is a Polish philosopher and a lecturer at Warsaw University, Poland. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the philosophical magazine 'Political Theology'. His books in English include The Archparadox of Death: Martyrdom as a Philosophical Category (2016) and Socrates and Other Saints (2017).
Dariusz Karlowicz is a Polish philosopher and a lecturer at Warsaw University, Poland. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the philosophical magazine 'Political Theology'. His books in English include The Archparadox of Death: Martyrdom as a Philosophical Category (2016) and Socrates and Other Saints (2017).
Content
List of Figures; List of Contributors; List of Abbreviations; Introduction, Filip Doroszewski, Dariusz Karlowicz; Part I Dionysus and the Polis; 1. Dionysos, the Polis and Power, Cornelia Isler-Kerenyi; 2. The Politics of Euripides' Bacchae and the Preconception of Irresolveable Contradiction, Richard Seaford; 3. On the Necessity of Dionysus: the Return of Hephaestus as a Tale of the God that Alone Can Solve Unresolvable Conflicts and Restore an Inconsistent Whole, Dariusz Karlowicz; 4. Alexander and Dionysus, Richard Stoneman; Part II Dionysus in Rome; 5. Dionysos against Rome? The Bacchanalian Affair: a Matter of Power(s), Jean-Marie Pailler; 6. Augustus and the Neoi Dionysoi, Fiachra Mac Gorain; 7. The State as Crater: Dionysus and Politics in Plutarch's Lives of Crassus, Antony and Caesar, Filip Doroszewski; 8. Dionysus and Legitimisation of Imperial Authority by Myth in First- and Second-Century Rome: Caligula, Domitian and Hadrian, Slawomir Poloczek; 9. The Role of Bacchus/Liber Pater in the Severan Religious Policy: the Numismatic and Epigraphic Evidence, Malgorzata Krawczyk; Part III Late-Antique Reflection on Dionysus; 10. The Rule of Dionysus in the Light of the Orphic Theogony (Hieroi Logoi in 24 Rhapsodies), Marek Job; 11. Dionysus in the Mirror of Late Antiquity: Religion, Philosophy and Politics, David Hernandez de la Fuente; Index
