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In this groundbreaking study, Jean Pierre-Vernant delineates a compellingnew vision of ancient Greece. Myth and Society in Ancient Greece takes us far fromthe calm and familiar images of Polykleitos and the Parthenon to reveal afundamentally other culture one of slavery, of masks and death, of scapegoats, ofritual hunting and ecstasies.Vernant's provocative discussion of variousinstitutions and practices including war, marriage, and sacrifice details thecomplex intersection of the religious, social, and political structures of ancientGreece. The book concludes with Vernant's authoritative genealogy of the study ofmyth from antiquity to structuralism and beyond.Jean Pierre-Vernant is ProfessorEmeritus of Comparative Study of Ancient Religions at the Coll?ge de France inParis. Janet Lloyd is a translator and writer living in England. Distributed forZone Books.