Worshipping Virtues

Personification and the divine in Ancient Greece

by Emma Stafford

Book cover: Worshipping Virtues

Extent: 274 pages

Publisher: The Classical Press of Wales

Subjects: Classical Studies

Series: Greek World

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(August 2022)

ISBN: 9781914535291

Price: $35.00

In stock

(Hardback) (Out of print)

(December 2000)

ISBN: 9780715630440

6.1 x 9.17 inches

Price: $80.00

Out of stock

(PDF) (Published)

(December 2000)

ISBN: 9781914535246

Price: $64.00

The Greeks, in Dr. Johnson’s phrase, ‘shock the mind by ascribing effects to non-entity’. The culture of ancient Greece was thronged with personifications. In poetry and the visual arts, personified figures of what might seem abstractions claim our attention. This study examines the logic, the psychology and the practice of Greeks who worshipped these personifications with temples and sacrifices, and addressed them with hymns and prayers. Emma Stafford conducts case-studies of deified ‘abstractions’, such as Peitho (Persuasion), Eirene (Peace) and Hygieia (Health). She also considers general questions of Greek psychology, such as why so many of these figures were female. Modern scholars have asked, Did the Greeks believe their own myths? This study contributes importantly to the debate, by exploring widespread and creative popular theology in the historical period.

  • By (author) Emma Stafford