Volume 32, Number 11 · June 27, 1985
From Killer to Thinker
By Jasper Griffin
Greek Religion
by Walter Burkert, translated by John Raffan
Harvard University Press, 493 pp., $30.00
The religion of ancient Greece is a subject that is in a way well known and apparently intelligible—the Parthenon, the Olympic games, the Greek myths are more or less familiar—yet in other respects it remains alien and extraordinary. Are not many of the myths too immoral for any religion? What are we to make of gods and goddesses who in art are represented in radiant unabashed nudity? What is the meaning of animal sacrifice? Was it possible, finally, for intelligent people to take seriously a religion both polytheist and anthropomorphic?
Review, 3159 words
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