The Gods of the Greeks

476 Pages·2021·72.972 MB·English

by  Erika Simon, Jakob Zeyl, H A Shapiro, Fritz Graf

THE GODS OF THE
G RE E K S
Publication of this volume has been made possible, in part,
through the generous support and enduring vision of
Warren G. Moon.
THE GODS OF THE
G R E E K S
 
E r i k a S i m o n
Translated by Jakob Zeyl
Edited by Alan Shapiro
The University of Wisconsin Press
The University of Wisconsin Press
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Originally published in German as Die Götter der Griechen,
copyright © 1969 by Hirmer Verlag München
Translation copyright © 2021 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
All rights reserved. Except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles and
reviews, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted
in any format or by any means—digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise—or conveyed via the Internet or a website without written permission of the
University of Wisconsin Press. Rights inquiries should be directed to [email protected].
Printed in the United States of America
This book may be available in a digital edition.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Simon, Erika, 1927–2019, author. | Zeyl, Jakob, translator. |
Shapiro, H. A. (Harvey Alan), 1949– editor. | Graf, Fritz, writer of foreword.
Title: The gods of the Greeks / Erika Simon ; translated by Jakob Zeyl ;
edited by Alan Shapiro with a foreword by Fritz Graf.
Other titles: Götter der Griechen. English
Description: Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, [2021] |
Originally published: Originally published in German as Die Götter der Griechen, 1969. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020013199 | ISBN 9780299329402 (cloth)
Subjects: LCSH: Gods, Greek.
Classification: LCC BL782 .S5413 2021 | DDC 292.2/11—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013199
In Memoriam
Roland Hampe
1908–1981
Max Hirmer
1893–1981

C
ontents
Foreword by Fritz Graf ix
Editor’s Preface xvii
Preface to the Fourth Edition xxi
Notes on the Family Tree of the
Twelve Olympian Gods xxiii
Map of Greece and Asia Minor xxvi
Introduction 3
ZEUS 11
HERA 35
POSEIDON 69
DEMETER 95
HESTIA 121
APOLLO 135
ARTEMIS 165
ATHENA 199
HEPHAESTUS 233
vii
viii Contents
APHRODITE 253
ARES 281
DIONYSUS 297
HERMES 323
Abbreviations 345
Notes 351
Museum and Site Index 399
Index Locorum 409
Subject Index 415
F
oreword
Fritz Graf, The Ohio State University
Erika Simon’s Die Götter der Griechen appeared half a century ago, in 1969. At the time, the study
of Greek religion was beginning to break away from paradigms that went back to the later nine-
teenth century and had dominated the first six decades of the twentieth. The monumental
embodiment of this tradition was Martin Nilsson’s Geschichte der griechischen Religion, a hand-
book that appeared in 1941 and saw its third edition in 1965, two years before Nilsson’s death; it
would dominate the field for at least another decade. In the later sixties, after a period of quiet
stagnation conducive to handbook writing, Greek religion began to find renewed interest among a
new generation of scholars. In 1968, Jean-Pierre Vernant edited a collection of essays by his teacher
Louis Gernet, Anthropologie de la Grèce antique; Vernant’s own collection Mythe et pensée chez les
Grecs appeared three years earlier and became seminal, and not just in francophone scholarship.
In 1969, Angelo Brelich published Paides e partenoi, a book that inquired with new sophistication
into the initiation paradigm made famous by Gernet’s friend Henri Jeanmaire and delineated a
complex background for many Greek festivals; like his earlier Gli eroi greci, the book remained
marginal outside Italy, despite its potential. Walter Burkert’s Homo Necans, with its analyses of
Greek sacrificial rituals that proposed a previously unheard-of depth of time, was still in the
making; it would be printed in 1972 and slowly make an impact, first and foremost through its
elegant English translation of 1983, despite the quiet neglect by contemporary German classicists.
Erika Simon came out of Germany’s outstanding archaeological tradition. To the outside world,
this tradition manifested itself in superb excavations—Olympia, Miletus, Pergamon, and a host of
minor sites spring to mind. She herself was no excavating archaeologist but a keen observer and
expounder of images, to which she brought a gaze inspired by Erwin Panofky’s iconology. Trained
in Heidelberg, she started her academic career in Mainz and became a full professor in Würzburg.
Her presence over many decades turned Würzburg’s archaeological institute into a focus of inter-
national scholarship and its small university museum into an impressive and lively institution.
ix