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The culture of the ancient Greeks
has often been described as emerging like a miracle from a genius of its own,
owing practically nothing to its neighbours. Walter Burkert offers a decisive
argument against that view, pointing toward a more balanced picture of the
archaic period "in which, under the influence of the Semitic East - from
writers, craftsmen, merchants, healers - Greek culture began its unique
flowering, soon to assume cultural hegemony in the
Mediterranean".
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Table of Contents
Preface Introduction 1. "Who Are Public Workers": The Migrant Craftsmen
Historical Background Oriental Products in Greece Writing and Literature in the
Eighth Century The Problem of Loan-Words 2. "A Seer or a Healer": Magic and
Medicine "Craftsmen of the Sacred": Mobility and Family Structure Hepatoscopy
Foundation Deposits Purification Spirits of the Dead and Black Magic Substitute
Sacrifice Asclepius and Asgelatas Ecstatic Divination Lamashtu, Lamia, and Gorgo
3. "Or Also a Godly Singer": Akkadian and Early Greek Literature From Atrahasis
to the "Deception of Zeus" Complaint in Heaven: Ishtar and Aphrodite The
Overpopulated Earth Seven against Thebes Common Style and Stance in Oriental and
Greek Epic Fables Magic and Cosmogony Conclusion Abbreviations Bibliography
Notes Index of Greek Words General Index
About the Author
Walter Burkert is Professor Emeritus of Classics, University of Zurich.
Reviews
Brilliant...[Burkert] is consistently thorough and
challenging...Without denying the role of innate talent, he shows that much of
the Greek miracle grew from an openness to influences from other
cultures...[His] careful scholarship...has constructed the bridge that he set
out to build. -- Carol G. Thomas American Historical Review An elegant and
academically influential work...The Orientalizing Revolution can be
enthusiastically recommended. -- Simon Hornblower Times Literary Supplement
Burkert's The Orientalizing Revolution remains an outstanding, or rather the
outstanding, contribution to the question of 'Near Eastern influence on Greek
culture in the Early Archaic Age. Greece and Rome This thought provoking work is
an updated translation of Burkert's Die orientlisierende Epoche in der
griechischen Religion und Literature, 1984...It is refreshing to see a classical
scholar follow in the footsteps of eminent Near Eastern scholars such as Cyrus
Gordon and Michael Astour who have long argued for interconnections in the
ancient Mediterranean world. -- Mark W. Chavalas Near East Archaeological
Society Bulletin 19970101
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