Greek Religion and Society

Rating:
Summary: A clear, concise look at ancient greek society and religion
Review: This collection of essays, edited by P. E. Easterling and J. V. Muir is a thorough but concise look at ancient Greek culture. It attempts to provide us with a simple introduction to Greek religion. The calibre of the articles in the collection is incredible. All of the essays are very readable, but also give the reader a lot of information. The article called 'Early Greek Views About Life After Death', written by N.J. Richardson is eloquent and captivating, including references to Homer's The Iliad, as well as ancient Greek philosophers such as Empedocles, Plato and Socrates. The only article which was a little too complicated was one written by J.N Coldstream, about the Greek temples. He went into much too much detail, boring the reader with intricate descriptions of the architecture of Sicilian temples, while straying from the original topic of Greek temples. Other than that faulty, i found the collection of articles simple, thorough (though somewhat general) and extremely readable.