Jan N. Bremmer

A cultural history of humour : from antiquity to the present day

List of illustrations. Notes on contributors. Preface. Introduction: Humour and History: Jan Bremmer and Herman Roodenburg. 1. Jokes, Jokers and Jokebooks in Ancient Greek Culture: Jan Bremmer. 2. Cicero, Plautus and Roman Laughter: Fritz Graf. 3. Laughter in the Middle Ages: Jacques Le Goff. 4. Bakhtin and his Theory of Carnival: Aaron Gurevich. 5. Frontiers of the Comic in Early Modern Italy, c1350--1750: Peter Burke. 6. The Comic and the Counter Reformation in the Spanish Netherlands: Johan Verberckmoes. 7. Prose Jest--Books Mainly in the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries in England: Derek Brewer. 8. To Converse Agreeably: Civility and the Telling of Jokes in Seventeenth--Century Holland: Herman Roodenburg. 9. How was Jan Steen Funny? Strategies and Functions of Comic Painting in the Seventeenth Century: Mariet Westermann. 10. Parliamentary Hilarity Inside the French Constitutional Assembly (1789--91): Antoine de Baecque. 11. Humour and the Public Sphere in Nineteenth--Century Germany: Mary Lee Townsend. 12. Humour, Laughter and the Field: Reflections from Anthropology: Henk Driessen. 13. Humour and History: A Research Bibliography: Johan Verberckmoes. Index of Names. Index of Subjects.

Prophets, Seers, and Politics in Greece, Israel, and Early Modern Europe

After a short introduction on the study of the history of religions at Groningen, this paper analyses the relationship between prophets (seers) and political power. Concentrating on Greece, Israel and early modern Europe it poses three questions. First, do seers operate independently of political rulers? Secondly, does the influence of prophets change when the political structure changes? Thirdly, does the medium of prophecy remain constant or does it change over time? In Greece, seers were closely connected with the political elite, especially the kings. As their main function was the legitimation of choices, their public influence started to wane with the rise of democracy and public political debate. In Israel we can note the concomitant rise of the king and decline of the prophet, who remains only influential from the margin of society. At the same time, we can see the gradual disappearance of ecstasy among the prophets and the growing influence of writing. After the return from exile the growing importance of the Torah led to a gradual merger of prophets and priests. Finally, in early modern Europe prophecy flourished especially in the Protestant areas, but lost ground in the seventeenth century through the centralisation of power, the introduction of the printing press, and the changing intellectual climate. In my conclusion I stress the importance of the histoire evenementielle for the history of religions and ask for more interest in the religious history of Europe.

The Apocryphal Acts Of Peter : Magic, Miracles And Gnosticism

After the fall of the Berlin Wall the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen decided to intensify contacts with universities in Eastern Europe. In 1991 the then Head of the Department of Church History, Professor Hans Roldanus, took this opportunity to forge links with the Karoli Gaspar University of Budapest. In the search for a common research project, which would also prove to be attractive to classicists of the Lorand-Eotvos University of Budapest, it was decided to focus on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. This particular choice hardly needs to be defended. The world of early Christianity is currently receiving an ever increasing attention from New Testament and patristic scholars as well as from ancient historians. Various Apocryphal Acts have recently been re-edited or are in process of being re-edited, but the contents of these Acts are still very much under-researched. It is the object of the Dutch-Hungarian cooperation to study the major Apocryphal Acts in a series of yearly conferences, of which the proceedings are published in the series, Studies in the Apoctyphal Acts of the Apostles. The editors in principle envisage the publication of five volumes, but they are open to further suggestions. Following the first two volumes of the new series on the Acts of John (1995) and the Acts of Paul and Thecla (1996), this new volume is devoted to the Acts of Peter. The major part of the book studies various persons, aspects and passages of the Acts: women, magic, Agrippa, Simon Magus, resurrection accounts, invectives, miracles, the cross, and credal formulations. After a study of their Latinity, there follow two chapters studying the relation of the Acts of Peter to those of John and Paul. The penultimate chapter succeeds in locating the Actus Vercellenses, the surviving part of the Acts of Peter- in Latin, in Africa. As has become customary, the volume is rounded off by a bibliography and an index. The conference which formed the basis of this book took place at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the autumn of 1996.

Initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries: A “Thin” Description

There can be little doubt that among all the Greek festivals it is the Eleusinian Mysteries that most intrigues the modern public. This chapter takes a fresh look at this festival during the height of the Athenian empire, the later fifth century B.C. The Eleusinian Mysteries profoundly influenced all other Greek mysteries and are therefore an appropriate subject for a book on mysteries and secrecy. The chapter relates the rituals of the Mysteries, which were open to men and women, free and slaves, young and old, Greeks and non-Greeks. Initiation into the Mysteries was not a simple act, but potential initiates must have been able to spend time and money, as they also had to pay a fee to the officiants. Most Greeks may well have looked forward more to the promise of wealth in this life than to a good afterlife. Keywords:afterlife; Athenian empire; Eleusinian Mysteries; Greek festivals

Opening Address at the Symposium: Epigraphical Evidence for the Formation and Rise of Early Saivism

In my contribution I note the influence of emergent Latin and Greek epigraphy on the birth of Indian epigraphy as well some differences in the location of inscriptions between ancient Greece and India. Subsequently, I make some observations on the usage of the terms ‘sect’ and ‘sectarian’ in the study of Indian religion.

Orphic, Roman, Jewish And Christian Tours Of Hell: Observations On The Apocalypse Of Peter

From brief mentions in the patristic literature it was known that early Christianity not only had an Apocalypse of John and an Apocalypse of Paul (Visio Pauli), which survived the ravages of the Middle Ages in several manuscripts,1 but also an Apocalypse of Peter (henceforth: Apoc. Pet.). Greeks and Romans were much less concerned with blasphemy, and the Emperor Tiberius, who sometimes had a healthy view of life, tersely commented: deorum iniuriae dis curae (Tac. Ann. 1.73). Early Christianity, however, followed its Jewish roots in this respect. Inspired by the Orphic tradition, some Jews started to adapt the Greek crimes and penalties in the afterlife to their own tradition. This adaptation most likely took place in Egypt, probably in Alexandria. Keywords: Apocalypse; Christian; Jewish; Orphic; Peter; Roman

Greek Fallen angels: Kronos and the Titans

Already in 1940s it was noticed that Hesiod, by ways that are still obscure to us, had derived part of his material on Kronos from the Hurrian-Hittite Song of Kumarbi. Subsequent investigations have shown that the myth and ritual of Kronos and his Titans are one more example of fascination that the Orient exerted on Archaic Greek culture. Yet Hurrian-Hittite myth seems to have travelled to Israel, as there are several traces in the Old Testament of a rebellion-in-heaven myth, where God fights and defeats his opponents and casts them into the netherworld; moreover, the Jews themselves sometimes connected their fallen angels with the Greek succession myth. This chapter first looks at the oldest epic about the revolt of the Titans and at the individual Titans. It then makes some observations on the connection between the Titans and anthropogony. The chapter concludes with the appropriation of Titans by the Jews.Keywords: anthropogony; Greek fallen angels; Hurrian-Hittite; Israel; Jews; Kronos; Old Testament; Song of Kumarbi; Titans

The first crime: Brothers and fratricide in the ancient Mediterranean

After the expulsion of the first mortals from Paradise, the author of Genesis immediately continues with the story of Cain and Abel. This story is the very first fratricide. The storys place in Israels Urgeschichte and event itself raise several questions. Firstly, what does the story say about the relationship between brothers in ancient Israel? Secondly, why did Israelite imagination think up fratricide as the very first crime and not, for example, patricide or matricide? This chapter looks at these interrelated questions in comparison with two other ancient Mediterranean cultures, Greece and Rome, but also brings in some modern anthropological material. It looks first at the importance and nature of fraternal relations in Israel, Greece and Rome, then at the tensions and fratricides in these cultures, and finally looks at fratricide in connection with patricide and matricide.Keywords: Abel; ancient Mediterranean cultures; brothers; Cain; fratricide; Genesis; Greece; Israel; Rome; Urgeschichte

The Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla

natural cave tombs, since they are purely hand-made, single-chambers cut horizontally into detached blocks of rock. So far, about forty rock-cut chamber tombs have been found in the (Iraq al-Amir survey area, the majority being located in the eastern dolmen field. With some exceptions, the chambers are found to measure ca. 1.0 m in height and width, and ca. 1.5 m in length. The entrance, which seems to have been closed by a slab, averages 80 x 80 cm and is roughly rounded as is the roof. The floor is sunk

Interpretations of Greek Mythology

This collection of original studies offers new interpretations of some of the best known characters and themes of Greek mythology, reflecting the complexity and fascination of the Greek imagination. Following analyses of the concept of myth and the influence of the Orient on Greek mythology, the succeeding chapters shed new light on the threatening appearance of wolf and werewolf and on such familiar figures as Oedipus, Orpheus and Narcissus. The puzzling relationship of myth and ritual is illuminated by a discussion of the ambiguities in the traditions surrounding Kronos. Where does myth end and history begin? Studies of the first Spartan and Athenian kings demonstrate ways in which myth is manipulated to suit history, and an examination of the early stages of the Delphic oracle shows that some history is actually myth. Finally, an analysis of Greek mythography illustrates how myths were handed down in the Greek tradition before they became part and parcel of Western civilisation. The volume is concluded with a bibliography of the best mythological studies of recent decades. All chapters are based on the most recent insights and methods, and they display a great variety of approaches.