The Gardens of Adonis

Spices in Greek Mythology - Second Edition

By:

Marcel Detienne

Format:

Paperback / softback

Series:

Bollingen Series

Show Hide Adult Content

$142.00

Available from supplier

Usually ships in 3-4 weeks

0 in Trolley

Price Match

Wrap this item as a gift ($5.90) - add a free gift card on the next page

Free Delivery with Primate

Join Now

Free 14 day free trial, cancel anytime.

Buy Now, Pay Later with:

4 payments of $35.50 with Afterpay Learn more

6 weekly interest-free payments of $23.67 with Laybuy Learn more

Availability

Delivering to:

Estimated arrival:

Around 11-21 June using International Courier

Description

Rich with implications for the history of sexuality, gender issues, and patterns of Hellenic literary imagining, Marcel Detienne's landmark book recasts long-standing ideas about the fertility myth of Adonis. The author challenges Sir James Frazer's thesis that the vegetation god Adonis-- whose premature death was mourned by women and whose resurrection marked a joyous occasion--represented the annual cycle of growth and decay in agriculture. Using the analytic tools of structuralism, Detienne shows instead that the festivals of Adonis depict a seductive but impotent and fruitless deity--whose physical ineptitude led to his death in a boar hunt, after which his body was found in a lettuce patch. Contrasting the festivals of Adonis with the solemn ones dedicated to Demeter, the goddess of grain, he reveals the former as a parody and negation of the institution of marriage. Detienne considers the short-lived gardens that Athenian women planted in mockery for Adonis's festival, and explores the function of such vegetal matter as spices, mint, myrrh, cereal, and wet plants in religious practice and in a wide selection of myths.His inquiry exposes, among many things, attitudes toward sexual activities ranging from "perverse" acts to marital relations.

Author Biography:

Marcel Detienne is Gildersleeve Professor of Classics at Johns Hopkins University.

Release date NZ

April 24th, 1994

Author

Marcel Detienne

Audiences

Professional & Vocational
Tertiary Education (US: College)

Contributors

Introduction by Jean-Pierre Vernant
Translated by Janet Lloyd

Edition

2nd Revised edition

Illustrations

7 halftones 30 graphs

Pages

256

Series

Bollingen Series

Dimensions

127x203x14

ISBN-13

9780691001043

Product ID

4723970

Customer reviews

Nobody has reviewed this product yet. You could be the first!

Write a Review

Marketplace listings

There are no Marketplace listings available for this product currently.
Already own it? Create a free listing and pay just 9% commission when it sells!

Sell Yours Here