Here is a radical new approach to one of the most exciting but poorly understood artefacts from our prehistoric past. Studying their roles and functions in society from past to present day, archaeology students will find this an invaluable asset.

A remarkable number of Greek myths concern the plight of virgins – slaughtered, sacrificed, hanged, transformed into birds, cows, dear, bears, trees, and punished in Hades. Death and the Maiden, first published in 1989, contextualises this mythology in terms of geography, history and culture, and offers a comprehensive theory firmly grounded in an ubiquitous ritual: pubescent girls’ rites of passage. By means of comparative anthropology, it is argued that many local ceremonies are echoed throughout the whole range of myths, both famous and obscure. Further, Professor Dowden examines boys’ rites, as well as the renewal of entire communities at regular intervals. The first full-length work in English devoted to passage-rites in Greek myth, Death and the Maiden is an important contribution to the exciting developments in the study of the interrelation between myth and ritual: from it an innovative view on the origination of many Greek myths emerges.

Destinations : nous avons sélectionné pour vous les plus beaux itinéraires à travers le pays des fjords et des glaciers ; certains vous entraîneront à l'écart des circuits touristiques, vous révélant des sites d'une beauté inédite. Notre guide vous offre une description détaillée de tout ce qui constitue le patrimoine naturel et culturel exceptionnel de la Norvège, et ne manque pas de vous renseigner sur la pêche au saumon et la randonnée ou l'aurore boréale. Histoire : l'histoire de la Norvège est indissociable de celte des Vikings, peuple de marins expérimentés et redoutables qui sillonnèrent les mers jusqu'à Constantinople, semant pendant plus de deux siècles la terreur sur leur passage. Après avoir subi la domination danoise puis suédoise, la Norvège devint indépendante en 1905. Informations pratiques : Les fiches pratiques concluant chaque chapitre regorgent d'informations sur les transports locaux, les restaurants, les heures d'ouverture des musées et autres curiosités de la région. Notre guide pratique en fin d'ouvrage vous fournit tous les renseignements indispensables à la préparation d'un voyage et d'un séjour réussis.

Sissi's World offers a transdisciplinary approach to the study of the Habsburg Empress Elisabeth of Austria. It investigates the myths, legends, and representations across literature, art, film, and other media of one of the most popular, revered, and misunderstood female figures in European cultural history. Sissi's World explores the cultural foundations for the endurance of the Sissi legends and the continuing fascination with the beautiful empress: a Bavarian duchess born in 1837, the longest-serving Austrian empress, and the queen of Hungary who died in 1898 at the hands of a crazed anarchist. Despite the continuing fascination with “the beloved Sissi," the Habsburg empress, her impact, and legacy have received scant attention from scholars. This collection will go beyond the popular biographical accounts, recountings of her mythic beauty, and scattered studies of her well-known eccentricities to offer transdisciplinary cultural perspectives across art, film, fashion, history, literature, and media.