Abstract
AbstractFor the ancient Greeks, ritual was communication with the gods, aimed at achieving a communality between gods and humans, principally in the service of a community’s welfare, cohesion, and stability, and at the very least, configuring social relations between individuals. This chapter provides a brief methodological survey of how society, predominantly the ancient Greek city-state (polis), has been the main reference for the study of Greek ritual. Rituals derived their authority from tradition but were flexible actions in constant dialogue with the past, endowed with agency in all areas of Greek life: society, politics, economics, culture, and religion itself. After explaining the relationship of myth to ritual, the chapter examines how the Greeks developed strategies working up towards a ritual moment of temporary intimacy with the divine in sacrificial ritual, choral performance, festivals, processions, and dedications. The essay concludes with a section on how the individual relates to the community through ritual.
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