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Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets book cover

2nd Edition

Ritual Texts for the Afterlife Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets

By Fritz Graf, Sarah Johnston, Fritz Graf, Sarah Iles Johnston Copyright 2013
296 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

296 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

296 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
Fascinating texts written on small gold tablets that were deposited in graves provide a unique source of information about what some Greeks and Romans believed regarding the fate that awaited them after death, and how they could influence it.  These texts, dating from the late fifth century BCE to the second century CE, have been part of the scholarly debate on ancient afterlife beliefs... Read more
List of illustrations, Preface to the first edition, Preface to the second edition, 1 The tablets: An edition and translation, Concordance, 2 A history of scholarship on the tablets, 3 The myth of Dionysus, 4 The eschatology behind the tablets, 5 Dionysiac mystery cults and the Gold Tablets, 6 Orpheus, his poetry, and sacred texts, Appendix 1: Orphism in the twenty-first century, Appendix 2: The tablets from Pherae, Appendix 3: The tablets from Roman Palestine, Appendix 4: Additional Bacchic texts, 1 The Olbia bone tablets, 2 Bacchic inscriptions from Olbia, 3 The Gurôb Papyrus, 4 The Edict of Ptolemy IV Philopator, Notes, Bibliography, Subject index, Index of ancient texts

Biography

Graf, Fritz; Johnston, Sarah; Graf, Fritz; Johnston, Sarah Iles

“This new edition is a most welcome and timely expansion of the first edition… [with] notable improvements… Given the rate of new archaeological discoveries, and the proliferation of research in the area, such a judicious and up-to-date resource is very much needed. This second edition will fill that gap, and prove to be every bit as influential and valuable as the first edition.” - J.R.C. Cousland, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"The new edition represents a welcome advance, since the authors take into account a number of recent developments in the scholarship of this rapidly moving field with their characteristic thoughtfulness and erudition." - Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, Bryn Mawr College

Praise for the first edition:

'A generous range of subject material is covered, the argument is detailed and thorough, the authors' scholarship enables them to tackle a variety of issues... exemplary clarity and precision... a work teeming with good ideas, clear, and well structured.' - Bryn Mawr Classical Review

'Graf and Johnston have put togetheran exciting study, one that will illuminate the shadowy darkness, not just for the initiate, but also for the uninitiated venturing for the first time into the world of the Bacchic gold tablets.' - Bryn Mawr Classical Review

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