ABSTRACT
In his authoritative study of ancient Greek religion, Walter Burkert begins treatment of archaic and classical Greek religion, the heart of the work, with these words: “An insight which came to be generally acknowledged in the study of religion towards the end of the [nineteenth] century is that rituals are more important and more instructive for the understanding of the ancient religions than are changeable myths” (Burkert 1985: 54). He aligns his analysis with this insight, placing sacrifice at the center of Greek religion and starting his examination of it with a chapter titled “Ritual and Sanctuary” (Burkert 1985: 54-118). Burkert is not alone in recognizing the centrality of ritual in ancient Mediterranean religion and culture. Peregrine Horden and Nicholas Purcell’s The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History has recently prompted scholars to reconceptualize ancient Mediterranean culture, and that rethinking has placed ritual front and center (Horden and Purcell 2000). If ritual has sometimes been ignored, the neglect has diminished (e.g., Chaniotis 2005). Even the work of the much-criticized Cambridge ritualists – James G. Frazer of The Golden Bough fame, Jane Ellen Harrison, and others – is getting a second hearing (Calder 1991).
