 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Walter Burkert" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Walter Burkert | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1931-02-02)2 February 1931 |
| Died | 11 March 2015(2015-03-11) (aged 84) Zürich, Switzerland |
| Awards | Balzan Prize (1990) Sigmund Freud Prize (2003) Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2008) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Erlangen University Munich University |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Classics |
| Sub-discipline | Ancient Greek Religion |
| Institutions | TU Berlin University of Zurich |
| Notable works | Homo Necans (1972) |
Walter Burkert (German:[ˈbʊɐ̯kɐt]; 2 February 1931 – 11 March 2015) was a German scholar ofGreek mythology andcult.
A professor of classics at theUniversity of Zurich, Switzerland, he taught in the UK and the US. He has influenced generations of students of religion since the 1960s, combining in the modern way the findings of archaeology andepigraphy with the work of poets, historians, and philosophers. He was a member of both theAmerican Philosophical Society and theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.[1][2]
He published books on the balance between lore and science among the followers ofPythagoras, and more extensively on ritual and archaic cult survival, on the ritual killing at the heart of religion, on mystery religions, and on the reception in theHellenic world ofNear Eastern andPersian culture, which sets Greek religion in its wider Aegean and Near Eastern context.
Burkert was born inNeuendettelsau. He married Maria Bosch in 1957 and they had three children, Reinhard, Andrea and Cornelius. He died on 11 March 2015 inZürich, Switzerland.[3]
He studied classicalphilology, history, and philosophy at theUniversities of Erlangen andMunich (1950–1954), and obtained his doctorate in philosophy at Erlangen in 1955. Following his marriage, he became an assistant in course teaching at Erlangen for five years (1957–1961) and, then returned to his former university as lecturer for another five years (until 1966). From early 1965 he worked as a junior fellow in theCenter for Hellenic Studies inWashington, D.C. for one year. The first academic era of his life ended with a placement as professor of classical philology atTechnische Universität Berlin (1966–1969), and as guest professor atHarvard University for a year (1968).
The start of a new era began in 1981 when his work of ancient Greek religious anthropology,Homo Necans (1972), was published in an Italian translation, followed in 1983 by an English translation. The book is today considered an outstanding account of concepts in Greek religion.[citation needed] He was professor of classical philology at the University of Zurich (1969–1996); visiting professor of classical literature at theUniversity of California for two years (1977 and 1988); lecturer at Harvard in 1982; dean of the philosophical faculty I at Zürich (1986–1988); and presented theGifford Lectures at the University of St Andrews in Scotland (1989). After holding these posts and receiving numerous honorary awards (including, in 1990, theBalzan Prize for the Study of the Ancient World), he retired as an emeritus in 1996. He died inZürich, aged 84.
Three of his most important academic works (a selection from seventeen books and two hundred essays, including encyclopedia contributions and memorabilia), which are still at the base of the study of Hellenic religion, areHomo Necans (1972, English 1983),Greek Religion (1977, English 1985), andAncient Mystery Cults (1982 lectures, published 1987).
In his preface to the English translation ofHomo Necans Burkert, who characterised himself on this occasion as "aphilologist who starts from ancient Greek texts and attempts to find biological, psychological and sociological explanations for religious phenomena",[4] expressed some of the principles underlying a book that had seemed somewhat revolutionary to German readers in 1972 in its consistent application of inter-relationships of myth and ritual, the application to texts of the kind of functionalism espoused inJane Ellen Harrison'sThemis[5] and the use of structuralism to elucidate anethology of Greek religion, its social aspect. Burkert confirmed that an impetus for his book had come fromKonrad Lorenz,On Aggression, "which seemed to offer new insight into the disquieting manifestations of violence." The book argues that solidarity was achieved among the Greeks through a sacred crime with due reparations: "for the strange prominence of animal slaughter in ancient religion this still seems to be the most economical, and most humane explanation" (p. xv). Its first chapter "Sacrifice as an Act of Killing" offers conclusions that are supported in the ensuing chapters through individual inquiries into myth, festival and ritual, in which the role of poetic creation and re-creation are set aside "in order to confront the power and effect of tradition as fully as possible". The termgods, Burkert concludes, remains fluid, whereas sacrifice is afact (p. xv).
In 1985, Burkert used ancient sources (both literary and visual representations) to put together some of the pieces of how ancient Greek sacrificial ritual actually proceeded, and to link together the ritual with myth. Firstly, under the direction of the priest, priestess, father, mother (at least, in certain women's rites likeThesmophoria), or king, a basket containing the utensils and a bowl of water were placed around the altar. The participants then dipped their hands into the consecrated water, and sprinkled it on the altar, victim and offerer. Salted-barley corns from the basket were thrown on the animal's head and into the altar fire. A lock of hair from the animal is then cut and burned, libation being poured on the altar with prayer. After silence is proclaimed, the music of flutes begins and the animal is slain. The larger animals were killed with a sacrificial axe. The head is turned toward the heavens, and the throat cut. The blood then spreads on the altar and is caught in a vessel. In early literary sources such as the Homeric epics theIliad andOdyssey, onlooking women raise a cry of worship (ololugma) at this point in theritual.
After the animal is skinned and cut into pieces, the inner parts are tasted and shared, and a part burned on the altar with incense. The remainder is roasted and eaten by all participants present. If the entrails are of normal shape and color, it is an omen that the sacrifice is acceptable to the gods. In both theIliad andOdyssey, as well as other early sources such as theHomeric Hymn to Hermes, the priest or sacrifice-leader wrapped the thigh pieces in fat and burned them on the altar. The tail and back, along with other bones and pieces with less meat left over were burned with a libation. After this procedure, it was then that the worshippers shared the roasted meal, while music and dance took place in the service of the gods. At some special festivals, there are instances where everyone in the banquet consumes hundreds of animal sacrifices.
 | This article'suse ofexternal links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Pleaseimprove this article by removingexcessive orinappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate intofootnote references.(March 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
