Conceptualising Divine Unions in the Greek and Near Eastern Worlds

Eleni Pachoumi, Ph.D. 2007; affiliated with the Open University in Greece; academic visiting fellow at the University of Oxford; recent publications include The Concepts of the Divine in the Greek Magical Papyri (Mohr Siebeck, 2017), and Praying and Contemplating in Late Antiquity. Religious and Philosophical Interactions (co-edited with Mark Edwards, Mohr Siebeck, 2018); a critical edition with translation and commentary of Proclus' On the Hieratic Art is forthcoming.

• ContentsList of FiguresAbbreviationsIntroductionEleni PachoumiPart 1: Religion, Kingship and Politics1 The Mesopotamian King between Gods and Men in the First Millennium BCEPhilippe Clancier2 The Intersection of Gods and Kings in Achaemenid IranChristopher J. Tuplin3 Confronting and Uniting with Divinity in Ancient EgyptRobert K. Ritner4 Constantine: God-Man or Man of God?Mark J. EdwardsPart 2: Religion, Sex and Mythology5 Human-Divine Interactions in Homer, Hittite and Other Near Eastern Literary TraditionsElias K. Petropoulos6 Θεῶν φίλτρα: Sexual Union between Gods and MortalsRobert ParkerPart 3: Religion, Philosophy and Ritual7 Genos Olbion, Genos Ouranion: Divine Ancestry in the Orphic Gold TabletsMiguel Herrero de Jáuregui8 Union with the Divine in Greece and India: Mysteries and MonetisationRichard Seaford9 Philosophy and the Daimonic in PlatoRobert Vinkesteijn10 Confusion (Ekplêxis) and Sympathy (Sympatheia): The Neoplatonist Proclus on the Aesthetics of Epiphany and Theurgic UnionRobbert M. van den Berg11 Proclus’ Theurgic Union, θεουργικὴ ἕνωσις, and the Concept of FireEleni Pachoumi12 Determinism and Divine Intervention: Divine Punishment in Stoic TheologyMaarten van Houte13 Divine Unions in Byzantine Christianity: The Penetration of Fire into Iron as a Metaphor of TheosisDmitry BiriukovIndex