Ritualist Interpretation and Myths of Fertility
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Myths of Fertility and a Ritualist Interpretation of Myth
We will cover this material on Wednesday, March 13 and Friday, March 15 so you should come to class prepared to discuss the topic. The assignment will be due on Wednesday, March 20 by the end of the day.
For the chance to get full points, please address two questions from each of the options and post them in the topic form, Myths of Fertility and a Ritualist Interpretation of Myth and respond to two other posts.
Option #1- You will read a passage from the Powell textbook concerning a ritual interpretation of myth and a short passage from Strabo, an ancient geographer, concerning the Rex Nemorensis. Option #2
will have a bit more to read, but I would like you to read a passage from Ovid’s Metamorphoses concerning Aphrodite and Adonis and a passage from Lucian, rhetorical and satirical writer, who discusses the cult of Adonis and Osiris in Egypt and the Levant (modern day
Israel, Lebanon and parts of Syria). Option #3
Read the myth of Hyacinthus and Apollo from Ovid’s Metamorphoses
and about the Hyakinthia, a festival celebrated by the Spartans in honor of Hyacinthus and Apollo, found in the Athenaios’ Deipnosophistae
(
Scholars at a Banquet
), a work from the 2
nd
c. AD.
For texts embedded on this page (Strabo’s, Lucian’s and Athenaios’) the questions for them are located after the sections of text.
Ritualistic Interpretations of Myth
Option #1
Powell Chapter 3- The Meaning of Myth II- “Anthropological Theories” pgs. 33-35 (under Modern Texts)
1)
What are Frazer’s academic influences and how to they shape his work, the Golden Bough
?
2) What is his theory concerning the “King of the Wood”? How does this theory contribute to a ritualist interpretation and one concerning fertility?
3) Do you think this theory applies to other myths we discussed? How does it? Do you think that the theory can be applied to all of the myths we have discussed?
4) How did Frazer’s theories differ from his contemporaries and how where they in line with them? From a modern perspective. What do you like about his theories and what do you dislike? Explain.
Strabo’s Geographica
Below is a passage from Strabo’s (ca. 60 BC – AD 25) Geographica
, which is a lengthy description of the entire known world (17 books). Strabo relied partially on firsthand knowledge, but for the most part he relied on many prominent works, most of which little trace
survive from the ancient world. Although his work was not well-known in the Roman period, by
the 6
th
c., it started to be extensively relied on. Now it is the only work of its kind to survive from the ancient world. Not only does he write on all sort of different places- their geographical features, monuments, etc., but he enlivens his work with historical (and mythological) accounts, ethnographies and anecdotes, which makes invaluable for the study of the past, including the mythological past. He seems to have been well versed in Homeric scholarship and comments extensively on places mentioned in Homer’s catalogue of ships (Part of Book 2 of the Iliad
).
In this passage he is describing a region close to Rome, in which is Aricia, where there was a prominent sanctuary (grove) dedicated to Diana (an Artemisium- a shrine of Artemis) called Nemus. This passage refers to the Rex Nemorensis, or the priest of the grove of Nemus, whom Fraser mentioned. Rex Nemorensis
Strabo 5.3.13 (“Strabo: The Geography” Lacus Curtius
. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/home.html
.
March 22, 2020)
But still closer to Rome than the mountainous country
251
where these cities lie, there is another ridge, which leaves a valley (the valley near p421Algidum) between them and is high as
far as Mt. Albanus.
252
It is on this chain that Tusculum is situated, a city with no mean equipment of buildings; and it is adorned by the plantings and villas encircling it, and particularly by those that extend below the city in the general direction of the city of Rome; for here Tusculum is a fertile and well-watered hill, which in many places rises gently into crests and admits of magnificently devised royal palaces. Adjoining this hill are also the foothills of
Mt. Albanus, with the same fertility and the same kind of palaces. Then, next, come the plains, some connecting with Rome and its suburbs, and others with the sea. Now although the plains that connect with the sea are less healthful, the others are both pleasant to dwell in and decked
out in similar manner. After Mt. Albanus
253
comes Aricia, a city on the Appian Way; it is one hundred and sixty stadia distant from Rome. Aricia lies in a hollow, but for all that it has a naturally strong citadel.
254
Above Aricia lies, first, on the right hand side of the Appian Way, Lanuvium,
255
a city of the Romans, from which both the sea and Antium are visible, and, secondly, to the left of the Way as you go up from Aricia, the Artemisium, which they call Nemus.
256
The temple of the Arician,
257
they say, is a copy of that of the Tauropolos.
258
And in fact a barbaric, and Scythian,
259
element predominates in the sacred usages, for the people set up as priest merely a run-away slave who has slain with his own hand the man previously consecrated to that office; accordingly the priest is always armed with a sword, looking around for the attacks, and ready to defend himself. The temple is in a sacred grove, and in front of it is
a lake which resembles an open sea, and round about it in a circle lies an unbroken and very high mountain-brow, which encloses both the temple and the water in a place that is hollow and deep. You can see the springs, it is true, from which the lake is fed (one of them is "Egeria," as it is called from a certain deity), but the outflows at the lake itself are not apparent, though they are pointed out to you at a distance outside the hollow, where they rise to the surface.
260
1) Is there anything striking about the priesthood? What is it that strikes you and why might such a practice exist?
2) Do you think such a setting is suitable for a shrine of Artemis? Why? Does the Artemis of this shrine strike you as different? How is she similar and different from what you expect and how might you account for the differences?
3) How might this practice reflect a ritualist approach to myth according to Frazer? Do you agree with a ritualist interpretation of this practice?
4) How is fertility involved in this particular rite do you think? Do you think this myth is applicable as a rite concerning fertility according to Fraser’s theory?
Option #2
Adonis, Aphrodite and the Adonia
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You might want to read: Powell Chapter 3- The Meaning of Myth II- “Anthropological Theories”
pgs. 33-35 (under Modern Texts) to get an idea of what a ritualist interpretation of myth is, but you don’t need to.
Ovid, Metamorphoses
10. 595-645 and 778-845 (under Ancient Sources)
- You do not have to read the part between concerning the myth of Atalanta and Hippomenes. We will not cover this in class. Feel free to read the origin story of Adonis at the beginning of the scanned passage concerning Myrrha.
1) Why does Aphrodite fall in love with Adonis? Does Adonis feel the same way about her? How
does Ovid indicate their feelings towards each other? 2) What do you think that Ovid wants the reader to feel in this poem? Does he have a message for the reader? Is the author effective in engaging the reader and getting across his point?
3) Does this fit into a ritualist approach to myth according to Fraser? Do you think that this theory is useful in interpreting this myth? 4) What is the change that takes place in the myth (as we should expect in the metamorphosis)? Does it resemble other myths of transformation that we discussed in this class? If so, how so? Do you see comparisons with how the transformation is handled and reacted to?
5) Does this story reflect a myth on fertility? Why or why not? If it is what are the fertility elements of the characters and plot points? Have you seen these types of characters and plot points before in stories we have read?
See the passage below by Lucian for a ritual associated with Adonis (and Aphrodite by association).
Lucian discusses rituals involving Adonis
Lucian of Samosata
was a Syrian/Greek rhetorical and satirical writer of the 2
nd
c. AD (ca. AD 120 – 190). You are reading a passage of the De Syria Dea
(
Concerning the Syrian Goddess
), which is concerned with the cult practice of the Syrian Goddess, Atargatis or Derketo, at the temple of Hierapolis Bambyce. The treatise is written in the style of the Greek historian Herodotus (considered to be the “father of history”), but in it he satirizes the cultural distinctions between Greeks and Syrians.
this passage particular passage (6 – 7) concerns rites to Adonis in the area of Byblos, a Phoenician city in modern Lebanon. Lucian (Lucan) De Syria Dea
(
Concerning the Syrian Goddess
). Read 6 – 7
. (
Sacred Texts
. https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/tsg/tsg07.htm
. March 21, 2020).
1. There is in Syria a city not far from the river Euphrates 1
: it is called "the Sacred City," and is sacred to the Assyrian Hera. 2
As far as I can judge this name was not conferred upon the city when it was first settled, but originally it bore another name. 3
In course of time the great sacrifices were held therein, and then this title was bestowed upon it. I will speak of this city, and of what it contains. I will speak also of the laws which govern its holy rites, of its popular assemblies and of the sacrifices offered by its citizens. I will speak also of all the traditions attaching to the founders of this holy place: and of the manner of the founding of its temple. I write as an Assyrian born 4
who have witnessed with mine own eyes some of the facts which I am about to narrate: some, again, I learnt from the priests: they occurred before my time, but I narrate them as they were told to me.
2. The first men on earth to receive knowledge of the gods, and to build temples and shrines and to summon meetings for religious observances are said to have been the Egyptians. 5
They were the first, too, to take cognizance of holy names, and to repeat sacred traditions. Not long after them the Assyrians heard from the Egyptians their doctrines as to the gods, and they reared temples and shrines: in these they placed statues and images.
3. Originally the temples of the Egyptians possessed no images. And there exist in Syria temples of a date not much later than those of Egypt, many of which I have seen myself, for instance, the temple of Hercules in Tyre. 6
This is not the Hercules of Greek legend; but a Tyrian hero of much greater antiquity than he.
4. There is likewise in Phœnicia a temple of great size owned by the Sidonians. They call it the temple of Astarte. 7
I hold this Astarte to be no other than the moon-goddess. But according to the story of one of the priests this temple is sacred to Europa, the sister of Cadmus. She was the
daughter of Agenor, and on her disappearance from Earth the Phœnicians honoured her with a temple and told a sacred legend about her; how that Zeus was enamoured of her for her beauty, and changing his form into that of a bull carried her off into Crete. 8
This legend I heard from other Phœnicians as well; and the coinage current among the Sidonians bears upon it the effigy of Europa sitting upon a bull, none other than Zeus. 9
Thus they do not agree that the temple in question is sacred to Europa.
5. The Phœnicians have also another sacred custom, derived from Egypt, not from Assyria: it came, they say, from Heliopolis into Phœnicia. I never witnessed this myself, but it is important,
and of great antiquity. 6. I saw too at Byblos a large temple, 10
sacred to the Byblian Aphrodite 11
: this is the scene of the secret rites of Adonis: I mastered these. They assert that the legend about Adonis and the
wild boar is true, 12
and that the facts occurred in their country, and in memory of this calamity
they beat their breasts and wail every year, and perform their secret ritual amid signs of mourning through the whole countryside. When they have finished their mourning and wailing,
they sacrifice in the first place to Adonis, as to one who has departed this life: after this they allege that he is alive again, and exhibit his effigy to the sky. They proceed to shave their heads, 13
too, like the Egyptians on the loss of their Apis. The women who refuse to be shaved have to submit to the following penalty, viz., to stand for the space of an entire day in readiness
to expose their persons for hire. The place of hire is open to none but foreigners, and out of the
proceeds of the traffic of these women a sacrifice to Aphrodite is paid. 14
7. Some of the inhabitants of Byblos maintain that the Egyptian Osiris is buried in their town, and that the public mourning and secret rites are performed in memory not of Adonis, but of Osiris. 15
I will tell you why this story seems worthy of credence. A human head comes every year from Egypt to Byblos, 16
floating on its seven days' journey thence: the winds, by some divine instinct, waft it on its way: it never varies from its course but goes straight to Byblos. The whole occurrence is miraculous. It occurs every year, and it came to pass while I was myself in Byblos, and I saw the head in that city.
8. There is, too, another marvellous portent in the region of the Byblians. A river, flowing from Mount Libanus, discharges itself into the sea: this river bears the name of Adonis. 17
Every year regularly it is tinged with blood, and loses its proper colour before it falls into the sea: it dyes the sea, to a large space, red: 18
and thus announces their time of mourning to the Byblians. Their story is that during these days Adonis is wounded, and that the river's nature is changed by the blood which flows into its waters; and that it takes its name from this blood. Such is the legend vulgarly accepted: but a man of Byblos, who seemed to me to be telling the truth, told me another reason for this marvellous change. He spoke as follows: "This river, my friend and guest, passes through the Libanus: now this Libanus abounds in red earth. The violent winds which blow regularly on those days bring down into the river a quantity of earth resembling vermilion. It is this earth that turns the river to red. And thus the change in the river's colour is due, not to blood as they affirm, but to the nature of the soil." 19
This was the story of the Byblian. But even assuming that he spoke the truth, yet there certainly seems to me something supernatural in the regular coincidence of the wind and the colouring of the river.
1) What are the rites performed at the festival dedicated to Adonis? Are they reflected in the myth that you read above from the Metamorphoses
? How so? How are they different? What might account for the similarities and the differences?
2) Why do you think that characters, and rituals performed in Byblos of ancient Phoenicia (modern day Lebanon for the most part) resemble the characters and some of the plot points of
a Greek myth?
4) Do you think a ritualist interpretation of myth applies in this case? How so?
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5) Why do you think Osiris and Adonis are confused with each other (you have to know a bit about Osiris)?
6) What are the fertility aspects of this ritual performed? What are these aspects of the ritual supposed to achieve or mark? Do the fertility aspects match those of the myth regarding Aphrodite and Adonis? If so, how so?
Option #3
Hyacinthus and Apollo
You might want to read: Powell Chapter 3- The Meaning of Myth II- “Anthropological Theories”
pgs. 33-35 (under Modern Texts) to get an idea of what a ritualist interpretation of myth is, but you don’t need to.
Ovid, Metamorphoses
10. 162–209 (hyperlinked)
1)
How does this love story between Apollo and Hyacinthus fit into what you understand about love stories? Where might it differ?
2)
How does Apollo act different from what is expected of him in this story? What do you think the author is trying to get across through describing his actions? How is Apollo recognizable as the god that you have learned so far? Overall, is this god recognizable as
Apollo?
3)
What does this myth explain as an ‘etiological’ myth? What short of values does it convey/reinforce to the audience? Why are these aspects important to the audience?
4)
How might we apply a ritualist interpretation to this myth? You can read the relevant part of Powell’s Chapter 3 and/or think of your own ideas from what you read from the myth and the passage from Athenaios’ Deipnosophistae (Scholars at a Banquet). Do you think this a reasonable approach for exploring this myth? Why or why not?
5)
If you read the relevant section of Powell’s Chapter 3, how does this myth resemble other myths concerning fertility? Where does it differ from those that Powell discusses? Why do you think such similarities and differences exist?
6)
What sort of reaction do you think Ovid wants the audience to have when engaging with
this poem? Why do you think this is and how does he accomplish his goals?
Athenaios, Deipnosophistae
(
Scholars at a Banquet
) 4.139 d–f
Athenaios, who lived sometime in the late 2
nd
c. and early 3
rd
c. AD, wrote a work in the symposium format (started or at least made famous by Plato), called Scholars at a Banquet
, in which banqueters, some of whom maybe based on real people, discuss various topics. Of the symposia works that survive from antiquity, his is the largest. The work is set in a banquet in Rome attended by 29 guests and lasts several books. The banqueters discuss a wide array of topics including literature, political and cultural history, topics concerning banqueting, philosophy, law, medicine and many other topics including mythological ones. Athenaeus cites approximately 1,250 authors, many of whom we only know from his work. 4.139.d
This is what Polemon says. Contradicting him Didymos the grammarian—Demetrios of Troizen calls him ‘the book-forgetter’ because of the many books which he composed (there are over 3,500)—says this: ‘Polykrates records in his Lakonika that “the Lakonians (Spartans and free people who live around Sparta) celebrate the festival of the Hyakinthia for three days, and <on the first day> because of the grief they have for Hyakinthos, they do not wear garlands at their dinners and do not serve wheaten bread <or> pastries and the things that go with them, and they do not sing the paean to the god and do not introduce anything else of this sort as they do in other festivals, but after eating very orderly they leave. e
But in the middle of the three days a colourful spectacle takes place and a large festival worthy of mention: for boys play the kithara in girded-up tunics and sing to the accompaniment of a flute; at the same time, running through all the strings with the pick in anapaestic rhythm, they sing praise of the god with high pitch; and
others pass through the theatre on decorated horses; very many choruses of young men come in and sing some of the local compositions; f and dancers mixing among them perform motions in the ancient fashion to the flute and the song. Some of the unmarried girls are carried in wicker carriages equipped expensively, and others process in two-horse racing chariots. The whole city is brought into a state of motion and joy for the festival. They offer many sacrificial victims this day, and the citizens entertain all their acquaintances and slaves at dinner; and no one misses the sacrifice, but rather it happens that the city empties for the feast.”’
1)
From what you read from the above story from Ovid, how much of a relationship do you think that the myth has to this ritual that was celebrated in Sparta? What relation(s) is/are present and why are they important
2)
Do you think that the sequence of myth’s plot follows the sequence of rituals and events
that the festival follows? If so, how? 3)
Do you think that examining the ritual and the myth together, and interpreting the myth from a ‘ritual’ perspective is a valuable way of interpreting this myth? Why or why not?
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