The Arts of Orpheus.

From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - Jacket rubbed and somewhat stained, pencil annotation on flap, slight staining on endpaper, otherwise very good and clean. / Umschlag berieben und etwas angeschmutzt, Bleistiftanmerkung auf Klappentext, leichte Anschmutzung auf Vorsatz, sonst sehr gut und sauber. - CONTENTS: Introduction -- I. Evidence Earlier Than 300 b.c. Concerning Orpheus -- Legend -- Rites -- Poems -- Conclusions concerning the period before 300 b.c. -- II. Evidence Later Than poo b.c. Concerning Orphic Rites and Institutions -- Texts containing the names of particular deities -- Texts in which no particular deities are named -- III. Collation of the Evidence -- Review of the texts -- The Orphics -- IV. Conclusions and Guesses -- V. Myth of the Dismemberment of Dionysus -- Index of Texts. - The Arts of Orpheus, which takes its title from Strabo, is a severely critical study of the ancient texts, leading to the conclusion that the evidence does not establish the existence of "an Orphic religion in the sense in which it is generally conceived!� The book is fundamental for all future investigations regarding Orpheus, Orphism, or the ideas and practices connected with the ancient mystery religions. - Ivan Mortimer Linforth (15 September 1879, San Francisco � 15 December 1976, Berkeley, California) was an American scholar, Professor of Greek at University of California, Berkeley. According to the Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists he was "one of the great Hellenists of his time". He is best known for his book The Arts of Orpheus (1941). In it he analysed the body of texts dealing with Orpheus and the Orphics. He concluded that there was no exclusively 'Orphic' system of belief in Ancient Greece.