The Survival of the Pagan Gods: The Mythological Tradition and Its Place in Renaissance Humanism and Art (Mythos: The Princeton/Bollingen Series in World Mythology, 4) - Softcover

Seznec, Jean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691029881 ISBN 13: 9780691029887

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1953

Synopsis

The gods of Olympus died with the advent of Christianity--or so we have been taught to believe. But how are we to account for their tremendous popularity during the Renaissance? This illustrated book, now reprinted in a new, larger paperback format, offers the general reader first a discussion of mythology in late antiquity and the Middle Ages, and then a multifaceted look at the far-reaching role played by mythology in Renaissance intellectual and emotional life.

About this title

Review:

"Such a synthesis has never been attempted before, and the author . . . has performed this much-needed service with exceptional distinction and clarity of purpose."--Art Digest

"Here is a book . . . that tells us what became of the gods after the fall of Rome, in what strange disguises they lived on, and how they emerged in the Quattrocento with odd attributes and symbols the ancients never knew. . . . It is a formidable task, demanding vast learning in many fields; and it is brilliantly performed."--The Times Literary Supplement

From the Back Cover:

The gods of Olympus died with the advent of Christianity - or so we have been taught to believe. But how are we to account for their tremendous popularity during the Renaissance? This illustrated book, now reprinted in a new, larger paperback format, offers the general reader a multifaceted look at the far-reaching role played by mythology in Renaissance intellectual and emotional life. After a discussion of mythology in late antiquity and the Middle Ages, Jean Seznec traces the fate of the gods from Botticelli and Raphael to their function and appearance in Ronsard's verses and Ben Jonson's masques.

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 1953
• ISBN 10: 0691029881
• ISBN 13: 9780691029887
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400