Tribes, festivals and processions; civic ceremonial and political manipulation in archaic Greece

Abstract

In recent years classicists and ancient historians have devoted renewed attention to the Archaic Age in Greece, the period from approximately the eighth century to the fifth century BC. Important articles, excavation reports and monographs, as well as books by Moses Finley, L. H. Jeffery, Oswyn Murray, Chester Starr and others, not to mention a recent volume of the Cambridge Ancient History, bear witness to the vigor of recent scholarship in this area. Among many of these treatments of the period, moreover, is evident an increasing recognition of the close connection between social and economic developments and the political life of the Greek cities of the period. At the same time that this renewed interest in the Archaic Age has become so prominent in classical studies, a group of scholars working in more modern periods has developed a fresh approach to the role of ritual and ceremonial in civic life, especially during the European Middle Ages and Renaissance. Deeply influenced by cultural anthropology, they have found in the often surprisingly rich documentation about festivals, processions, charivaris etc. important insights into the societies in which these activities took place. Classicists looking upon this movement may be inclined to undervalue its originality and perhaps its controversiality, pointing out that a serious interest in ancient festivals has long been prominent in classical scholarship and is well represented in recent books such as those by Mikalson, Parke and Simon and such older works as Martin Nilsson's frequently cited Cults, myths, oracles and politics in ancient Greece (Lund 1951). Yet there is a great difference both in method and in results between the traditional approaches to ceremonial represented in the study of ancient Greece and those being developed in more recent fields.

A Sea of Faith?

“…7 The Panathenaea of classical Athens and the various processions that linked Attic shrines like that of Artemis at Brauron with those on the Acropolis may have assisted in the integration of the Attican polity. 8 The limited participation of Athens' allies in some festivals bound them into the empire and at the same time expressed their subordination within it, 9 and so on.…”

The Development of Dagan: A Sketch

“…However, there are a number of works which have attempted to incorporate ritual theory, methodology and analyses into the study of religions that are at least similar to those found in Bronze Age Syria and Palestine. The analysis of Mesoamerican religious ritual (Carrasco 1991) and Greek festivals (Connor 1987) are potentially beneficial comparisons due to their similar religious systems (polytheistic with similar pantheon structures) and socio-political systems (multi-centered regional states with developed, hierarchical bureaucratic and political structures; cf. Chase-Dunn and Hall 1997, 43).…”

Andon They Went ... Processions in Scandinavian Bronze Age Rock Carvings

“…Lower, part of Bakke I (Mandt 1972); upper right, part of Bakke III (Mandt 1973); upper left, procession at Bakke I (photo 1992 JMC). (Muir 1981), or perhaps a firm acknowledgement of a leader's importance, as in Hittite imagery (Gurney 1990) or Athenian society (Connor 1987)? As an alternative, we hear that processions in Shintô Japan could degenerate into riotous gatherings (Schnell 1997;Johnston 1999).…”