Jenay Clark
Oxford Readings in Greek
Religion
Chapter 3: Tribes, Festivals,
and Processions
by W. R. Connor
I. Scholarly Attention
- Archaic Age between the 8th & 5th centuries reveals that society
and economics were closely connected to politics of the period.
1. Scholars have pointed out that Greek rituals are usually associated
with specific political movements or leaders and the development of cult
and festivals (57-58).
2. Distance between leaders and followers, traditionally assumed.
3. Manipulation of myth and religion for propaganda purposes, usually
assumed.
(But W. R. Connor plans to show that there was NOT great distancebetween
leaders and followers, and that there was NOT cynical manipulation in ancient
Greece)
4) Festivals and political disturbances converge
Cult places, shrines, treasuries, officials, meetings, communal meals
on festival occasions are attested for many of the new Clisthenic tribes
and may safely be presumed to have existed in all ten.
“Eponymous Heroes” statues named after ten tribal heroes stood
in Athens and was a gathering place for the citizens and used as a civic
bulletin board in the Agora at Athens. (59)
II. Pisistratus’ Return
- A tall woman dressed as Athena escorted Pisistratus upon his arrival
after his first exile.
a. Herodotus states Athenians believed that the goddess Athena had really
appeared to escort him to Athens. He scoffed at the Athenians gullibility
in being fooled that Athena had really appeared — and riding a chariot
of all things.
What can explain this scene?
b. Thought of as a ritual re-enactment of divine fertility (61)
- Pisistratid propaganda– the association between Heracles and Pisistratus.
a. Pisistratus might have worn a lion skin like Heracles
- Pisistratus became a favorite mortal of a god
a. like mythological characters (i.e. Odysseus, Diomedes, Heracles)
- Processions
a. People praised and likened to gods
i. Verbal
ii. Acted out
b. Processed into the city on a chariot with Athena
i. The chariot ride represents him as a helper of Athena and true protector
and ruler of Athens
ii. Pisistratus and Athena’s roles were reversed when the both of them
returned to Athens after being away from the city
- Athenians did not buy into the whole idea that humans were representing
themselves as gods, rather they acted alongside the rulers and helped establish
a new civic order, and a renewed affection amongst the people, leader,
and protecting divinity. (67) - The ceremony served as an expression of popular consent
- Divine dress-people sometimes dressed as divinities to draw psychic
energy and believed that they had special powers.
a. Pisistratus did not do this however, he only represented himself
as a human, but he did however, associate himself with Athena upon his
return to the city.
III. Solon’s Rule
- “Solon established, as is well known, a new basis for political
privileges and prerogatives within his city, by substituting wealth for
birth as the principal criterion (68).
a. Citizens were classified into four groups according to the number
of units that they produced in agriculture each year
i. Highest class-500 units: Pentekosiomedimnoi
ii. Had the widest range of political priviledges
b. 300 or more units- Knights
i. Somewhat reduced privileges
c. Further down the line were the fourth class-Thetes
i. Very restricted prerogatives
- Wealth Classifications were largely determined by how much salt, honey,
wool, milk, meat or flocks of animals you could produce in a year. - Solon was not the first rules to use the classification system
a. Aristotle’s Athenaion Politeia was the first written knowledge
of this system
- Solon divided the people into four property classes according to wealth
(69), not a new thing in Athens - First-Fruit offerings were also largely based on wealth, the
more you gave to sacrifice the more prominent your place in the procession
was when presenting the offerings. - Chariot drivers were deemed the wealthiest citizens and so forth…..
a. Chariot Drivers-Pentekosiomedimnoi
b. Horse riders-Hippeis
c. Marchers-Zeugitae
- Athenians use of first-fruit offerings and travel arrangements
were self-imposing, the Athenians used this system to control each other.
They used it to measure whether or not the fruit offerings of people were
honestly represented at the festivals. - Military processions displayed individual status, civic order, and
affluence
IV. The leader uses tribal structures, processions,
or festivals to state community values and state policy.
The leader in many cases is seemingly closely associated with his people
and “share” many of their experiences. The leader shares a close
affection with his people that the sanctions that the leader imposed where
viewed as a way to better the city-state and to strengthen the unity among
the people.
“The merging of individual and community interest, the sense of
shared goals and well-being, the ability of the effective leader to recognize
and give expression to new civic attitudes are all central to political
leadership in this period (75).
Return to Main Page: CLST 4003H. Spring, 2002.
Recent Comments