Fascinating texts written on small gold tablets that were deposited in graves provide a unique source of information about what some Greeks and Romans believed regarding the fate that awaited them after death, and how they could influence it.  These texts, dating from the late fifth century BCE to the second century CE, have been part of the scholarly debate on ancient afterlife beliefs since the end of the nineteenth century.  Recent finds and analysis of the texts have reshaped our understanding of their purpose and of the perceived afterlife.  The tablets belonged to those who had been initiated into the mysteries of Dionysus Bacchius and relied heavily upon myths narrated in poems ascribed to the mythical singer Orpheus.  After providing the Greek text and a translation of all the available tablets, the authors analyze their role in the mysteries of Dionysus, and present an outline of the myths concerning the origins of humanity and of the sacred texts that the Greeks ascribed to Orpheus.  Related ancient texts are also appended in English translations.  Providing the first book-length edition and discussion of these enigmatic texts in English, and their first English translation, this book is essential to the study of ancient Greek religion.

Product Description: English summary: This volume of Walter Burkert's >>Kleine Schriften, edited by Fritz Graf, presents a selection of articles on Greek ritual (especially on sacrifice) and ancient religion. Together with vol. III on Orphic and Pythagorean Studies, the volumes IV-VI form the core of Walter Burkert's work and close the edition of Burkert's collected Papers...read more

Product Description: The Prolegomena provide an introduction to a better understanding of Homer's text itself and the manner of commentary on it. Contents: On the history of commentaries on the Iliad (Latacz) - History of the text (West) - Formulaic language and oral tradition (Latacz) - Grammar (Wachter) - Metre (Nünlist) - Actors (Graf/Stoevesandt) - Plot and chronological structure with diagrams (Latacz) - narrative technique (de Jong/Nünlist) - Index of Mycenean words in the Iliad, with brief explanations (Wachter)...read more

Product Description: This commentary on the 6th book of the Iliad concentrates on the interpretation of two episodes which have received a great deal of scholarly attention: the encounter between Diomedes and Glaukos, which surprisingly ends with an exchange of weapons and not a duel, and the series of scenes ´;Hector in Troy´, which reveal the hero´s conflicting roles as defender of the city and father of his family...read more

Product Description: Fritz Graf here presents a survey of a god once thought of as the most powerful of gods, and capable of great wrath should he be crossed: Apollo the sun god. From his first attestations in Homer, through the complex question of pre-Homeric Apollo, to the opposition between Apollo and Dionysos in nineteenth and twentieth-century thinking, Graf examines Greek religion and myth to provide a full account of Apollo in the ancient world...read more

Product Description: Ancient Greeks and Romans often turned to magic to achieve personal goals. Magical rites were seen as a route for direct access to the gods, for material gains as well as spiritual satisfaction. In this fascinating survey of magical beliefs and practices from the sixth century B...read more