Overview

Why do twins remain uncanny to those born alone—in other words, most of us? Even with the rise of IVF and an increase in multiple births, why do we still do “a double take” when we encounter twins? Why has this been a near-universal response throughout human history, and how has it played out in religion and myth? Through the work of leading scholars in religion, folklore and mythology, history, anthropology, and archaeology, Gemini and the Sacred explores how twinship has long been imagined, especially in the complex relationship of sacred twin traditions to “twins on the ground” in biology and lived experience. The book considers the multiple ways in which the “doubling” of a human being may be interpreted as auspicious and powerful—or suppressed as unstable and dangerous. Why has this been so and how does it affect living twins today? Treating both famous and lesser-known twins—including supernatural animal twins—in the ancient Near Eastern and classical Mediterranean worlds; early Christianity and Gnosticism; Vedic, Hindu, West African, Black Atlantic, and native American traditions; ancient Mesoamerica, Celtic Roman Britain, and Scandinavia; and in the special, fraught bond shared by all twins, the book offers a variety of perspectives on this topic of great cultural significance.

Full Product Details

Author:   Kimberley C. Patton
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Tauris Academic Studies
ISBN:  

9781848859319

ISBN 10:   1848859317
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   30 November 2018
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction - Kimberley C. Patton, Harvard Divinity School, USA TWINS IN AFRICA AND THE AFRICAN DIASPORA 1. The Code of Twins: Ibeji in Yoruba Cosmology, Ritual, and Iconography - Jacob Kehinde Olupona, 2. Twins: Welcome and Unwelcome Danglers in African Religions - Pashington Obeng, 3. MARASA ELOU: Marasa, Twins and Uncanny Children in Haitian Vodou - Adam Michael McGee HERO-TWINS IN THE NATIVE AMERICAS 4. Twins in Native American Mythologies: Relational Transformation - John Grim, 5. Junajpu and Xbalanke: The Maya Hero Twins of the Popul Vuj - Vincent Stanzione, THE LEGACY OF SOUTH ASIA 6. Wars Within the Womb - Wendy Doniger, 7. Twins in Hindu Mythology and Everyday Life in the California Diaspora - Vijaya Nagarajan, TWINS IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 8. Entangled Bodies: Rethinking Twins and Double Images in the Prehistoric Mediterranean - Lauren E. Talalay 9. Achilles and Patroklos as Models for the Twinning of Identity - Gregory Nagy, 10. Achilles and Patroklos as Indo-European Twins: Homer's Take - Douglas Frame, 11. Sts. Cosmas and Damian: Synergistic Brother Healers - James C. Skedros, DIVINE TWINSHIP IN ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN AND EARLY CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 12. Primordial Twins in Ancient Iranian Myth - P. Oktor Skjaervo, 13. Didymos Judas Thomas, the Twin Brother of Jesus - Gregory J. Riley, 14. The Divine Double in Late Antiquity - Charles Stang, WISE AND MAGICAL TWINS IN ARTIFACT AND FOLKLORE 15. Odinn's Twin Ravens, Huginn and Muninn - Stephen Mitchell, 16. Twinning and Pairing: Rethinking Number in the Roman Provincial Religious Imagery of Gallia and Britannia - Miranda Aldhouse-Green, 17. 'Do Thou Heal It': Ashwins, Asklepiadai, and the Twin Wind-Horses of Achilles - Kimberley C. Patton, Harvard Divinity School, USA EPILOGUE

Reviews

Kimberley C. Patton has compiled a treasure-trove of humanity's experience of and insight into the cosmic significance of twinning/doubling. Through the expert analysis of twenty contributors on topics in material culture, ritual, mythology, and lived experience, Gemini and the Sacred offers the wisdom of the world's great civilizations on the meaning of the cosmos, human nature, and identity. A must-read for all interested in the productive-but ambiguous-tension of sameness and difference fundamental to so much of our world. * Ayodeji Ogunnaike, Bowdoin College, USA * Intergalactic in its breadth and scope, this extraordinary comparative religion collection reveals twins as Alpha and Omega in the truest sense: as co-creators of life and harbingers of death. The myriad twins of Gemini and the Sacred illuminate our endless search for wholeness in multiplicity. * Kyrah Malika Daniels, Emory University, USA *

Author Information

Kimberley C. Patton is Professor of the Comparative and Historical Study of Religion at Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University, USA.

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