Editing Gilbert Murray (section)

=== The Ritualists ===
He was one of the scholars associated with [[Jane Ellen Harrison|Jane Harrison]] in the [[myth-ritual]] school of [[mythography]].<ref>[[Noel Annan]] (''The Dons: Mentors, Eccentrics and Geniuses'', 1999, p. 243) wrote "Gilbert Murray's remark that no one can write about Greek religion without being influenced by Jane Harrison seems truer now than when he made it."</ref> They met first in 1900.<ref>{{harvnb|West|1984|p=132}} says 1902 in Cambridge; but {{harvnb|Wilson|1987|p=119}} says 1900 in Switzerland. In both cases it was through [[A. W. Verrall]]. Both books say they met at [[Bernard Berenson]]'s Florence home in 1903, as Harrison was finishing ''Prolegomena'', and discussed it.</ref> He wrote an appendix on the [[Orphic tablets]] for her 1903 book ''Prolegomena''; he later contributed to her ''Themis'' (1912).<ref>''Excursus on the Ritual Forms Preserved in Greek Tragedy''; reprinted in {{cite book|title=The Myth and Ritual Theory|year=1998|editor-last=Segal|editor-first=Robert A.|publisher=Wiley|isbn=9780631206804}}. The editorial introduction writes (p. 95) "Murray views tragedy as the legacy of the ritualistic enactment of the myth of the life and death of [[Dionysus|Dionysius]]".</ref>

[[Francis Fergusson]] wrote
{{blockquote|In general the ritual had its agon, or sacred combat, between the old King, or god or hero, and the new, corresponding to the agons in the tragedies, and the clear "purpose" moment of the tragic rhythm. It had its ''Sparagmos'', in which the royal victim was literally or symbolically torn asunder, followed by the lamentation and/or rejoicing of the chorus: elements which correspond to the moments of "passion". The ritual had its messenger, its recognition scene and its epiphany; various plot devices for representing the moment of "perception" which follows the "pathos". Professor Murray, in a word, studies the art of tragedy in the light of ritual forms, and thus, throws a really new light onto Aristotle's ''Poetics''.<ref>[[Francis Fergusson]], ''The Idea of a Theatre'' (1949), reprinted in {{harvnb|Segal|1998|p=260}}</ref>}}