| The Cattle of the Sun: Cows and Culture in the World of the Ancient Greeks Subjects: Cattle -- Greece -- History; Pastoral systems -- Greece -- History; Cattle -- Greece -- Religious aspects -- History; Animal sacrifice -- Greece -- History; Fasts and feasts -- Greece -- History; Cattle trade -- Greece -- History; Greece -- History -- To; Though Greece is traditionally seen as an agrarian society, cattle were essential to Greek communal life, through religious sacrifice and dietary consumption. Cattle were also pivotal in mythology: gods and heroes stole cattle, expected sacrifices of cattle, and punished those who failed to provide them. The Cattle of the Sun ranges over a wealth of sources, both textual and archaeological, to explore why these animals mattered to the Greeks, how they came to be a key element in Greek thought and behavior, and how the Greeks exploited the symbolic value of cattle as a way of structuring social and economic relations. Jeremy McInerney is the Davidson Kennedy Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and author of The Folds of Parnassos . |