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  • Tatiana Bur, Australian National University, Canberra
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
September 2025
Print publication year:
2025
Online ISBN:
9781009331722
Creative Commons:
Creative Common License - CC Creative Common License - BY Creative Common License - NC Creative Common License - ND
This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/creativelicenses

Book description

This book investigates the ways that technological, and especially mechanical, strategies were integrated into ancient Greek religion. By analysing a range of evidence, from the tragic use of the deus ex machina to Hellenistic epigrams to ancient mechanical literature, it expands the existing vocabulary of visual modes of ancient epiphany. Moreover, it contributes to the cultural history of the unique category of ancient 'enchantment' technologies by challenging the academic orthodoxy regarding the incompatibility of religion and technology. The evidence for this previously unidentified phenomenon is presented in full, thereby enabling the reader to perceive the shifting matrices of agency between technical objects, mechanical knowledge, gods, and mortals from the fifth century BCE to the second century CE.

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Contents

Full book PDF
  • Technologies of the Marvellous in Ancient Greek Religion
    pp i-i
  • Cambridge Classical Studies - Series page
    pp ii-ii
  • Technologies of the Marvellous in Ancient Greek Religion - Title page
    pp iii-iii
  • Copyright page
    pp iv-iv
  • Contents
    pp v-v
  • Figures
    pp vi-viii
  • Acknowledgements
    pp ix-xi
  • A Note to the Reader
    pp xii-xii
  • Introduction
    pp 1-30
  • Part I - Greek Tragedy and Mechanical Epiphany
    pp 31-102
  • Chapter 1 - Viewing the Mēchanē
    pp 35-48
  • Chapter 2 - Visual Representations of the Gods in Tragedy
    pp 49-63
  • Chapter 3 - Theos Apo Mēchanēs
    pp 64-102
  • Part II - Technologies and Ritual Experience
    pp 103-212
  • Chapter 4 - Technical Divination and Mechanics of Sacred Space
    pp 105-124
  • Chapter 5 - Dedicated Inventions
    pp 125-184
  • Chapter 6 - Pompai and the Mechanics of Sacred Occasion
    pp 185-212
  • Part III - Faking the Gods
    pp 213-269
  • Chapter 7 - In the Hands of Frauds
    pp 217-237
  • Chapter 8 - Theomimesis – Theomachy
    pp 238-257
  • Conclusion
    pp 258-269
  • References
    pp 270-303
  • Index
    pp 304-310

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