State Pilgrims and Sacred Observers in Ancient Greece

Ian Rutherford is Professor in the Classics Department, University of Reading. He works mostly on Greek poetry, Greek religion and relations between Greece and other cultures: chiefly the Hittites and Egypt. For fifteen years he has published a great deal on 'pilgrimage' in the ancient world (e.g. Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman and Early Christian Antiquity: Seeing the Gods, co-edited with Jas Elsner, 2005) with a related interest in travelling poets (Wandering Poets in Ancient Greek Culture, co-edited with Richard Hunter, 2009). He has also published a full commentary on Pindar's Paeans (2001) and has another volume forthcoming on Hittite and Greek religion.

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• 1. Approaches to theōriā: preliminary definitions and issues; 2. Evidence; 3. An historical overview; 4. Festival theōriā; 5. Festival announcement and truce; 6. Oracles; 7. Conveying offerings; 8. Theōroi as magistrates; 9. Theōriā and viewing; 10. Participants; 11. The journey; 12. Performances at the sanctuary; 13. Civic theōriā: two case studies; 14. The theoric chorus; 15. Politics and diplomacy; 16. Hellenism, panhellenism and common sanctuaries; 17. Theoric networks over space and time; 18. The case of Athens; 19. Philosophy and theōriā; 20. Theōriā in Greek imagination; 21. Epilogue. The end of theōriā.