Summary: | Moving out from a particular problem about a particular Athenian festival, this book investigates central questions concerning Athenian festivals and the myths that underlay them. It examines the role played at festivals by hereditary religious associations, showing how simple actions of undressing, veiling, bathing, and re-dressing a statue created a symbolic drama of abnormality, reversion to primeval time, and renewal for the Athenians. The book also offers a reading of the ever controversial Parthenon frieze. This book, displays attention to detail and a concern for methodological rigour.
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