Dieux Et Hommes de L'Antiquite (Viiie Siecle Avant J.-C.- Ve Siecle Apres J.-C.)

English summary: From Homer (8th century B.C.) to Augustine (5th century A.D .), the people of ancient Greece and Rome wondered nearly to the point of obsession about the mysterious proximity between the world of the gods and that of humans. Whether motivated by deference or boldness, they have left us portraits populated by a multitude of gods - some terrifying and others laughable - whose history helps us to understand the role which each of them played in the lives of individuals, with all of their hopes and fears, in their cities and in their world. Superstitions, spells, devotions, persecutions, secret cults from foreign lands which disrupted the public order - there were sects of every kind, the best-known of which is now called Christianity. Antiquity was a cult-filled cauldron from which we have drawn our present-day questions on the subject. In these pages, readers will find themselves confronted with questions about tolerance, fanaticism, the balance between temporal and spiritual powers and the answers contributed by ancient Greeks and Romans.Benefiting from the latest studies, this book is a compilation of some forty annotated Greek and Latin texts translated by Les Belles Lettres. French description: L'Antiquite est un veritable bouillon cultuel: d'Homere a Augustin, Grecs et Romains ont interroge de maniere continue le lien inextricable entre l'univers des dieux et celui des hommes. Avec deference ou impertinence, ils nous ont laisse les portraits colores d'une multitude de divinites, tantot terrifiantes, tantot risibles, le plus souvent partenaires de la vie quotidienne, dont l'histoire permet de penser la place de l'individu, avec ses espoirs et ses angoisses, dans la cite et dans le monde. Cultes officiels, superstitions, envoutements, persecutions, sectes en tout genre, dont la plus connue s'appelle aujourd'hui le christianisme: les Anciens se sont confrontes aux questions de la tolerance, du scepticisme, de l'equilibre entre les pouvoirs civiques et religieux. Leurs reponses ne sont pas les moins inactuelles.Proposant une reflexion conjointe sur les religions grecque et romaine, ce livre rassemble une quarantaine de textes en traduction, presentes et amplement commentes.