Death and the Maiden

<p>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. </p><p>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. </p><p>The first full-length work in English devoted to passage-rites in Greek myth <i>Death and the Maiden </i>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. </p>