Greek Religion

Students of Greek religion are fortunate in having at their disposal the best recent study of a 'dead' religion: Walter Burkert's Greek Religion (Oxford: Blackwell, 1985). Since the English edition is not essentially different from the German original of 1977, my survey will concentrate on developments since approximately that date. Although Burkert's handbook will be quoted only incidentally, its influence is pervasive, and is always to be presupposed. In the survey I shall offer a synthesis of new insights, join in some important debates, and offer various extended analyses as possible methodological models. In the notes I quote only the most recent literature. Many of these studies are not the work of Anglo-Saxon scholars: the most important modern contributions have come from Switzerland and France; in third position, ex aequo, England and the Netherlands; the United States enters as fourth, with Italy as a potential runner-up. To quote only English publications would thus give a completely wrong impression. Although it has not always been explicitly mentioned in this context, every country has its own culture which naturally influences the image of Greek religion that it produces. These images may range from a more romantic approach (the Germans), via a more philosophical (the French), to a more common-sensical (the English). The present survey, written by a Dutchman, is deliberately eclectic, but other students of Greek religion will surely unmask this pretension