Echoes of the Underworld : manifestations of death-related gods in early Greek cult and literature
This thesis examines mythic representations of death- and Underworld-related divinities in light of contemporary archaic and early classical Greek associated cultic practice. Current scholarly approaches to these so-called âchthonicâ divinities generally adopt a view of the divine framework of the Underworld which places death-related concerns as the primary focus of the divinities concerned. In this project I have looked at Hades, Persephone, Demeter, Hekate and the Moirai and Keres for analysis of this framework. This thesis demonstrates that the death-related functions of these divinities were not the principle factor in their characterisations, but were rather only one aspect of a more nuanced identity. More generally, this thesis demonstrates that the ways that the Greeks viewed death and utilised death-related gods in cultic and literary representations support the idea that the association with death was not the primary aspect of any of these divinities. By investigating the mythic characterisations and cultic realities of these divinities, utilising the methodological approach of thin-coherence, this thesis shows that a more nuanced picture emerges. This thesis contributes a new approach to the
MacKin, Ellie
Echoes of the Underworld : manifestations of death-related gods in early Greek cult and literature. This thesis examines mythic representations of death- and Underworld-related divinities in light of contemporary archaic and early classical Greek associated cultic practice. Current scholarly approaches to these so-called âchthonicâ divinities generally adopt a view of the divine framework of the Underworld which places death-related concerns as the primary focus of the divinities concerned. In this project I have looked at Hades, Persephone, Demeter, Hekate and the Moirai and Keres for analysis of this framework. This thesis demonstrates that the death-related functions of these divinities were not the principle factor in their characterisations, but were rather only one aspect of a more nuanced identity. More generally, this thesis demonstrates that the ways that the Greeks viewed death and utilised death-related gods in cultic and literary representations support the idea that the association with death was not the primary aspect of any of these divinities. By investigating the mythic characterisations and cultic realities of these divinities, utilising the methodological approach of thin-coherence, this thesis shows that a more nuanced picture emerges. This thesis contributes a new approach to the
underworld manifestation death related god early greek cult literature examines representation death underworld related divinity light_contemporary archaic early classical_greek associate cultic practice current scholarly approach so_called divinity generally adopt view divine framework underworld place death related concern primary_focus divinity concern project look analysis framework demonstrate death related function divinity principle factor characterisation rather one_aspect nuanced identity generally demonstrate way greeks view death utilised death related god cultic literary_representation support_idea association death primary aspect divinity investigate characterisation cultic reality divinity utilise methodological thin coherence show nuanced picture_emerge contributes new