Was Greek Thought Religious?: On the Use and Abuse of Hellenism, from Rome to Romanticism

289 Pages·2002·2.21 MB·English

by  Louis A. Ruprecht Jr. (auth.)

Was Greek Thought Religious?
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Was Greek Thought Religious?
On the Use and Abuse of Hellenism
from Rome to Romanticism
Louis A. Ruprecht, Jr.
WASGREEKTHOUGHTRELIGIOUS?
Copyright © Louis A. Ruprecht, Jr., 2002.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-312-29562-2
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published 2002 by PALGRAVE™
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Companies and representatives throughout the world.
PALGRAVE is the new global publishing imprint of St. Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly
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ISBN 978-0-312-29536-9 ISBN 978-0-312-29919-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780312299194
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ruprecht, Louis A.
Was Greek thought religious? : on the use and abuse of Hellenism, from Rome to
romanticism / by Louis A. Ruprecht, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-312-29563-9 (pbk.)
1. Hellenism. 2. Philosophy, Ancient. 3. Philosophy and religion—Greece.
4. Philosophy and religion—History. I. Title.
B945.R853 W37 2002
180—dc21 200225178
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Design by Letra Libre, Inc.
First edition: June 2002
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated
to my mother
Nancy Holt Ruprecht
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and there came to me
just now
the knowledge of
the tyranny of the image
and how
men
in their designs
have learned
to shatter it
whatever it may be,
that the trouble
in their minds
shall be quieted
put to bed
again.
—William Carlos Williams,
“Tribute to the Painters” (1955)
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Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Preface xvii
Chapter One Was Greek Thought Religious?
The View from the Courts 1
Chapter Two The Son Supplants the Father:
Seduction, Socratic Piety, and the Life of Virtue 25
Chapter Three Pausanias at Olympia: The Greece Inside Rome 39
Chapter Four The Short Pagan Career of Julian, the Apostate:
Hellenism as Culture 59
Chapter Five Icons and Incarnation:
Hellenism Becomes a Heresy 77
Chapter Six “A Mingle-Mangle of Heathenisme”:
Renaissance Theater, Renegade Theater 93
Chapter Seven Childe Harold’s Heyday:
Lord Byron and the Levant Lunatics 111
Chapter Eight From Greece to Germany, From Aegina
to Munich: Charles Cockerell and the Discovery of
the Pedimental Sculpture from the Temple to Aphaia 125
Chapter Nine The Ethos of Olympism:
Greek Religion for the Modern World 141
Appendix One George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824): A Chronology 167
Appendix Two Charles Robert Cockerell (1788–1863): Grand Tour Itinerary 175
Appendix Three Johann Martin Wagner (1777–1858):
Itinerary of His Greek Journey, 1812–1813 179
Notes 185