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Ancient Art and Ritual

Jane Ellen Harrison

68 ratings
Ancient Art and Ritual | Jane Ellen Harrison

Ancient Art and Ritual

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e periodicity of the seasons are acts necessarily delayed. The thing delayed, expected, waited for, is more and more a source of value, more and more apt to precipitate into what we call an idea, which is in reality but the projected shadow of an unaccomplished action. More beautiful it may be, but comparatively bloodless, yet capable in its turn of acting as an initial motor impulse in the 54cycle of activity. It will later (p. 70) be seen that these periodic festivals are the stuff of which those faded, unaccomplished actions and desires which we call gods—Attis, Osiris, Dionysos—are made.

To primitive man, as we have seen, beast and bird and plant and himself were not sharply divided, and the periodicity of the seasons was for all. It will depend on man’s social and geographical conditions whether he notices periodicity most in plants or animals. If he is nomadic he will note the recurrent births of other animals and of human children, and will connect them with the lunar year. But it is at once evident that, at least in Mediterranean lands, and probably everywhere, it is the periodicity of plants and vegetation generally which depends on moisture, that is most striking. Plants die down in the heat of summer, trees shed their leaves in autumn, all Nature sleeps or dies in winter, and awakes in spring.

Sometimes it is the dying down that attracts most attention. This is very clear in the rites of Adonis, which are, though he rises again, essentially rites of lamentation. The details 55of the ritual show this clearly, and specially as already seen in the cult of Osiris. For the “gardens” of Adonis the women took baskets or pots filled with earth, and in them, as children sow cress now-a-days, they planted wheat, fennel, lettuce, and various kinds

Maan 04/15/2021
I really liked this interesting book!
Elisa 06/05/2020
Soooo fascinating. Was intrigued to find a number of what I had thought were Northrop Frye's major insights (unattributed). Endless possibilities for thinking about Woolf. Plan to read again.
Kevin 12/31/2017
A serviceable book written by a favorite author of mine whose previous work I read (Themis), is much more clear, detailed, and worthwhile to read. However, for those who want a quicker introduction to similar material, this would suffice.
Rhona 12/06/2015
Informative. It is an academic read, but fits in with everything I have studied.
Lynn 07/29/2014
This book is a scholarly read and Jane Harrison shows how man has always dealt with rituals to celebrate new life or some rite of passage. He could be seen enraptured in a dance or a song as he asks the gods to show mercy for rain, a healing or for food. She shows how these ancient rituals evolved i

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