Walter Burkert (born Neuendettelsau, Bavaria, February 2, 1931), a scholar of Greek mythology and cult, is an emeritus professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and also has taught in the United Kingdom and the United States. Neuendettelsau is a Local authority in Middle Franconia, Germany. Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12 Events 962 - Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor Year 1931 ( MCMXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance This article discusses cult in the original and typically ancient sense of "religious practice" (cultus The University of Zurich ( German: Universität Zürich) located in the city of Zurich, is the largest University in Switzerland Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The United States of America —commonly referred to as the He has influenced generations of students of religion since the 1960s, combining in the modern way the findings of archaeology and epigraphy with the work of poets, historians, and philosophers. A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos Epigraphy (ἐπιγραφολογία from Greek ἐπιγραφή — "inscription" is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs engraved He has published books on the balance between lore and science among the followers of Pythagoras, 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 the Hellenic world of Near Eastern and Persian culture, which sets Greek religion in its wider Aegean and Near Eastern context. "Pythagoras of Samos" redirects here For the Samian statuary of the same name see Pythagoras (sculptor. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία B Syria - Belka Woman from Damascus Arab from Baghdadjpg|thumb|Inhabitants of the Near East late nineteenth century To best understand Iran and its people one must first attempt to acquire an understanding of its ancient culture

Contents 1 First academic era 2 Second academic era 3 Academic works 4 See also 5 Notes 6 Books by Walter Burkert 7 Some articles by Walter Burkert 8 External links

First academic era

Burkert married Maria Bosch in 1957 and has three children, Reinhard, Andrea and Cornelius. His career as a successful scholar was clearly foreseen in his early years, as a student in higher education. He studied classical philology, history, and philosophy at the Universities of Erlangen and Munich (1950–1954), and obtained his doctorate in philosophy at Erlangen in 1955. See Comparative linguistics for the narrower field of "comparative philology" History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language History The university was founded in 1742 in Bayreuth by Frederick Margrave of Bayreuth, and moved to Erlangen in 1743 The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München also known as LMU, is a University in Munich and with more He became an Assistant in course teaching at Erlangen for five years (1957–1961) and, following his marriage, returned to his former University as Lecturer for another five years (until 1966). From early 1965 he worked as a Junior Fellow in the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. for one year. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D The first academic era of his life ended with a placement as Professor of Classical Philology at the Technical University of Berlin (1966–1969), and as Guest Professor at Harvard University for a year (1968). The Technical University of Berlin ( Berlin Institute of Technology, TUB, TU Berlin, German Technische Universität Berlin) is located

Second academic era

The start of a new era began in 1981 when his work of ancient Greek religious anthropology, Homo Necans, was published in an Italian translation, followed in 1983 by an English translation. Homo Necans is a book on Ancient Greek religion and mythology by Walter Burkert. The book is today considered an outstanding account of concepts in Greek religion. He was Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Zurich (1969–1996); Visiting Professor of Classical Literature at the University of California for two years (1977 and 1988); Lecturer at Harvard in 1982; Dean of the Philosophical Faculty I at Zurich (1986–1988); and presented the Gifford Lectures at the University of St Andrews in Scotland (1989). The University of California ( UC) is a Public university system in the state of California. The University of St Andrews is the oldest University in Scotland and third oldest in the English-speaking world, having been founded between After holding these posts and receiving numerous honorary awards, he retired as an Emeritus in 1996.

Academic works

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, are Homo Necans (1972, English 1983), Greek Religion (1977, English 1985), and Ancient Mystery Cults (1982 lectures, published 1987). Burkert still writes on ancient Greece and its religion.

In his preface to the English translation of Homo Necans Burkert, who characterised himself on this occasion as "a philologist who starts from ancient Greek texts and attempts to find biological, psychological and sociological explanations for religious phenomena",^[1] 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 in Jane Ellen Harrison's Themis^[2] and the use of structuralism to elucidate an ethology of Greek religion, its social aspect. See Comparative linguistics for the narrower field of "comparative philology" Jane Ellen Harrison ( September 9, 1850 &ndash April 5, 1928) was a ground-breaking British classical scholar linguist Ethology ( from Greek ἦθος ethos, "character" and λόγος logos, "knowledge") is the scientific study of Animal Burkert confirmed that an impetus for his book had come from Konrad Lorenz, On Aggression, "which seemed to offer new insight into the disquieting manifestations of violence. Konrad Zacharias Lorenz ( November 7, 1903 in Vienna &ndash February 27, 1989 in Vienna) was an Austrian " 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 term gods, Burkert concludes, remains fluid, whereas sacrifice is a fact (p. xv).

See also

• Greek religion
• Mystery religion
• Human sacrifice

Notes

Books by Walter Burkert

• (1972) Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism, Translated by Edwin L. Minar, Jr. , Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-53918-4. Harvard University Press ( HUP) is a Publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in Academic publishing.
• (1972) Homo necans: Interpretationen Altgriechischer Opferriten und Mythen (in German). Homo Necans is a book on Ancient Greek religion and mythology by Walter Burkert. Berlin: De Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-003875-7.  
  • (1981) Homo necans: Antropologia del Sacrificio Cruento nella Grecia Antica, trans. Francesco Bertolini (in Italian), Turin: Boringhieri. ISBN 88-339-5114-6.  
  • (1983) Homo necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth, trans. Peter Bing, Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03650-6.  
• (1979) Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03771-5.  
• (1985) Greek Religion, Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-36280-2. Harvard University Press ( HUP) is a Publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in Academic publishing. This has been widely accepted as a standard work in the field.
• (1987) Ancient Mystery Cults, Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-03386-8, Based on his Jackson Lectures at Harvard, 1982. Harvard University Press ( HUP) is a Publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in Academic publishing.
• (1992) The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age, trans. Margaret E. Pinder, Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-64363-1.  
• (1996) Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions, Harvard University Press, ISBN: 0-674-17569-7. Harvard University Press ( HUP) is a Publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in Academic publishing.
• (1998) The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age, Translated by Margaret Pinder, Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-64363-1. Harvard University Press ( HUP) is a Publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in Academic publishing.
• (2001) Savage Energies: Lessons of Myth and Ritual in Ancient Greece, trans. Peter Bing, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-08085-4.  
• (2004) Babylon, Memphis, Persepolis: Eastern Contexts of Greek Culture, Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-01489-8. Harvard University Press ( HUP) is a Publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in Academic publishing.

Some articles by Walter Burkert

• 'Das hunderttorige Theben und die Datierung des Ilias' in Wiener Studien vol. Thebes ( Thēbai) was a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean on the east bank of the river Nile ( The Iliad ( Greek: Ἰλιάς (Ancient Ιλιάδα (Modern is together with the Odyssey, one of two ancient 89 (1976) pp. 5-21.
• 'Kynaithos, Polycrates and the Homeric Hymn to Apollo' in Arktouros: Hellenic studies presented to B. Cynaethus or Cinaethus (Κιναιθος or Κυναιθος of Chios was a Rhapsode, a member of the Homeridae, sometimes said to have composed Polycrates (Πολυκράτης son of Aeaces, was the Tyrant of Samos from c The thirty-three anonymous Homeric Hymns celebrating individual gods are a collection of ancient Greek Hymns "Homeric" in the sense that they employ the M. W. Knox ed. G. W. Bowersock, W. Burkert, M. C. J. Putnam (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1979) pp. 53-62.
• 'Lydia between East and West or how to date the Trojan War: a study in Herodotus' in The ages of Homer: a tribute to Emily Townsend Vermeule ed. Defining Lydia Aside from a legend related by Herodotus, who states that the name Lydia came from king Lydus at the time of the fall of Troy In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek Historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC&ndash Emily Dickinson Townsend Vermeule ( New York City August 11 1928 – Cambridge Massachusetts February 6 2001) was an Jane B. Carter, Sarah P. Morris (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995) pp. 139-148.

External links

• Walter Burkert, Emeritus Professor for Classical Philology (includes complete bibliography)

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