Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece

Description

In this sumptuously illustrated book, Joan Breton Connelly gives us the first comprehensive cultural history of priestesses in the ancient Greek world. Connelly presents the fullest and most vivid picture yet of how priestesses lived and worked, from the most famous and sacred of them--the Delphic Oracle and the priestess of Athena Polias--to basket bearers and handmaidens. Along the way, she challenges long-held beliefs to show that priestesses played far more significant public roles in ancient Greece than previously acknowledged. Connelly builds this history through a pioneering examination of archaeological evidence in the broader context of literary sources, inscriptions, sculpture, and vase painting. Ranging from southern Italy to Asia Minor, and from the late Bronze Age to the fifth century A.D., she brings the priestesses to life--their social origins, how they progressed through many sacred roles on the path to priesthood, and even how they dressed. She sheds light on the rituals they performed, the political power they wielded, their systems of patronage and compensation, and how they were honored, including in death. Connelly shows that understanding the complexity of priestesses' lives requires us to look past the simple lines we draw today between public and private, sacred and secular. The remarkable picture that emerges reveals that women in religious office were not as secluded and marginalized as we have thought--that religious office was one arena in ancient Greece where women enjoyed privileges and authority comparable to that of men. Connelly concludes by examining women's roles in early Christianity, taking on the larger issue of the exclusion of women from the Christian priesthood. This paperback edition includes additional maps and a glossary for student use.

Get the book

Amazon.com

Search the book

eBay.com

Search the book

Other editions

• 

  Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece

  • 2009
  • 415 pages
  • Paperback
  • Princeton University Press
• 

  Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece

  • 2007
  • 415 pages
  • Paperback
  • Princeton University Press

Similar books

• 

  Portraits of the Vestal Virgins, Priestesses of Ancient Rome

  By Molly Lindner

  Rome, 1999. Pigon, Jakub. “The Identity of the Chief Vestal Cornelia (PIR2 C 1481): Some Suggestions.” Mnemosyne 52, no. 2 (1999): 206–13. Platner, Samuel, and Thomas Ashby. A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. London, 1929.

• 

  The Parthenon Enigma

  By Joan Breton Connelly

  Schultz, P., and R. von den Hoff, eds. Structure, Image, Ornament: Architectural Sculpture in the Greek World. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2009. Schwab, K. “New Evidence for Parthenon East Metope 14.” In Schultz and Hoff, Structure, Image, ...

• 

  The Female Portrait Statue in the Greek World

  By Sheila Dillon

  The first detailed analysis of the female portrait statue in the Greek world from the fourth century BCE to the third century CE.

• 

  Priestess of Avalon

  By Diana L. Paxson, Marion Zimmer Bradley

  In the long-awaited return to Avalon by the beloved author of The Mists of Avalon and her collaborator, bestselling author Diana L. Paxson, Marion Zimmer Bradley fuses myth, magic and romance in a spectacular unfolding of one woman's role ...

• 

  White Fire: A Portrait of Women Spiritual Leaders in America

  By Malka Drucker

  "Since the beginning of time, women have been sustainers of spiritual communities--now, they're strengthening them in leadership roles." -- inside cover.

• 

  A Place at the Altar: Priestesses in Republican Rome

  By Meghan J. DiLuzio

  A Place at the Altar illuminates a previously underappreciated dimension of religion in ancient Rome: the role of priestesses in civic cult.

• 

  Priestess: Ancient Spiritual Wisdom for Modern Sacred Women

  By Julie Parker

  Priestess is a spiritual guide and companion that will enable you to explore what it means to be a modern spiritual leader and priestess.

• 

  Sarah the Priestess: The First Matriarch of Genesis

  By Savina J. Teubal

  Sarah the Priestess: The First Matriarch of Genesis

• 

  Priestess of the Fire Temple: A Druid's Tale

  By Ellen Evert Hopman

  This uniquely Pagan novel explores the basic beliefs of the Indo-European Celts and the Druid path in an engaging and powerful way.

• 

  Broth from the Cauldron: A Wisdom Journey through Everyday Magic

  By Cerridwen Fallingstar

  Broth from the Cauldron is a collection of “teaching stories,” a literary Wiccan soup for the soul.