PARKER, R.,
Miasma. Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion.
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1983. XVIII,413p. Cloth. Cover and spine bit scratched. Spine a bit discoloured. Ex libris and address sticker glued to paste down endpaper. A lot of scholarly notes as well as some underlinings in pencil from H.F.J. Horstmanshoff. 'This is a fine and important book. From its title it may sound like a monograph on a well-defined topic, but the reader soon becomes aware of the ramifications of the subject, from heroic mythology to forensic abuse, from philosophical theory to the minutiae of civic and private life. Dr Parker (...) has digested a vast quantity of literary and epigraphic material, and he treats it in a highly intelligent and judicious manner. (...) He succeeds in striking an excellent balance between broad brush and pointillisme. (...) A major theme of the book is that pollution is not a single homogeneous concept. Many different forms and aspects of it must be distinguished. But at the end P. tries to find a unifying formula: he suggests that doctrines about pollution are not simply generated by anxiety or guilt, but by alarm at breaches of the normal order, or at the breakdown of statutory oppositions. (...) All in all I have found remarkable little to criticize and a very great deal to admire. I am confident that 'Miasma' will take its place not just as a standard work on Greek religion but as a classic. Hut ab, ihr herren!' (M.L. WEST in The Classical Review (New Series), 1985, pp.92-94). 'The encyclopedic work of Robert Parker has fulfilled a fundamental requirement. Thus he has made an important contribution to the 'Science of Division, in what is for us, and probably also was, for the ancient believer, the chaotic world of pollution and purification in early Greek religion.' (H.F.J. HORSTMANNSHOFF in Mnemosyne, 1986, p. 543). From the library of Prof. H.F.J. Horstmanshoff.
€ 140.00
(Antiquarian)