Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Illustrations
- Notes on Contributors
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction: The Greek Gods in the Twentieth Century
- 1 What is a Greek God?
- PART I SYSTEMATIC ASPECTS
- 2 Canonizing the Pantheon: the Dodekatheon in Greek Religion and its Origins
- 3 Gods in Greek Inscriptions: Some Methodological Questions
- 4 Metamorphoses of Gods into Animals and Humans
- 5 Sacrificing to the Gods: Ancient Evidence and Modern Interpretations
- 6 Getting in Contact: Concepts of Human–Divine Encounter in Classical Greek Art
- 7 New Statues for Old Gods
- PART II INDIVIDUAL DIVINITIES AND HEROES
- PART III DIACHRONIC ASPECTS
- PART IV HISTORIOGRAPHY
- Epilogue
- Index
6 - Getting in Contact: Concepts of Human–Divine Encounter in Classical Greek Art
from PART I - SYSTEMATIC ASPECTS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Illustrations
- Notes on Contributors
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction: The Greek Gods in the Twentieth Century
- 1 What is a Greek God?
- PART I SYSTEMATIC ASPECTS
- 2 Canonizing the Pantheon: the Dodekatheon in Greek Religion and its Origins
- 3 Gods in Greek Inscriptions: Some Methodological Questions
- 4 Metamorphoses of Gods into Animals and Humans
- 5 Sacrificing to the Gods: Ancient Evidence and Modern Interpretations
- 6 Getting in Contact: Concepts of Human–Divine Encounter in Classical Greek Art
- 7 New Statues for Old Gods
- PART II INDIVIDUAL DIVINITIES AND HEROES
- PART III DIACHRONIC ASPECTS
- PART IV HISTORIOGRAPHY
- Epilogue
- Index
Summary
The encounter of humans with the divine, however it may be mediated, is central for many religions. The way people conceive these encounters, the way they believe they perceive the divine, and the way they react to this contact are culture-specific. In this chapter I discuss as case studies some images referring to encounters of this kind, most of them from the fifth and fourth centuries BC. I point out their significant characteristics and I try to analyse these characteristics, arguing that different concepts of gods are reflected in different concepts of their presence. These different concepts are portrayed as much in the ways gods reveal themselves to humans as in the reactions of humans to the divine appearance.
An example may illustrate the cultural character of these concepts. In his famous marble statue of St Theresa in the Cornaro Chapel, Gianlorenzo Bernini sculpted an image of a woman perceiving the divine. In this case, perception is interpreted as being totally possessed by the divine, as an ecstatic unio mystica. The result of this experience was, in St Theresa's own words, burning love towards God. In the world of classical Greek religion, this would be a rather strange concept. Greeks getting into contact with gods or supernatural beings usually do not show exaggerated reactions. If there is any emotion described in our sources, it is rather respectful, sometimes even fearful, reverence rather than joy – let alone love.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Gods of Ancient GreeceIdentities and Transformations, pp. 106 - 125Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2010