Choruses of Young Women in Ancient Greece: Their Morphology, Religious Role, and Social FunctionsIn this groundbreaking work, Claude Calame argues that the songs sung by choruses of young girls in ancient Greek poetry are more than literary texts; rather, they functioned as initiatory rituals in Greek cult practices. Using semiotic and anthropologic theory, Calame reconstructs the religious and social institutions surrounding the songs, demonstrating their function in an aesthetic education that permitted the young girls to achieve the stature of womanhood and to be integrated into the adult civic community. This first English edition includes an updated bibliography. |
Contents
1 INTRODUCTION | 1 |
11 Problems of fragments 1 and 3 of Alcman | 2 |
113 The protagonists of fragments 1 and 3 | 4 |
115 The functions of the lyric chorus | 7 |
12 Problems of method | 9 |
122 The comparative method used to analyze the ritual | 10 |
123 Semiotic approach | 15 |
2 MORPHOLOGY OF THE LYRIC CHORUS | 19 |
314 Hera | 113 |
315 Aphrodite | 123 |
316 Athena | 128 |
317 Dionysus | 134 |
318 Demeter | 138 |
319 The chorus and the pantheon | 140 |
32 Lacedaemonian rituals | 141 |
321 Artemis | 142 |
21 The chorusmembers | 20 |
211 The number of chorusmembers | 21 |
212 The sex of the chorusmembers | 25 |
213 The age of the chorusmembers | 26 |
214 The collective character of a group of chorusmembers | 30 |
215 The companionship of the chorusmembers | 33 |
22 Formal organization of the chorus | 34 |
222 The arrangement of the chorusmembers | 38 |
23 The choregos | 43 |
232 The function of the choregos | 48 |
The myth | 49 |
myth and ritual | 53 |
Alcman and Pindar | 58 |
2324 Other examples of the role of the choregos | 63 |
233 Figurative representations of the choregos | 66 |
234 The distinctive qualities of the choregos | 72 |
24 The activity of the chorus | 74 |
242 The paean | 76 |
243 The dithyramb | 79 |
244 The citharodic nomos | 80 |
245 The threnody | 82 |
246 The epithalamiumhymenaeus | 83 |
247 Other choral performances | 85 |
3 CHORUS AND RITUAL | 89 |
31 NonSpartan rituals | 90 |
312 Rites dedicated to Artemis | 91 |
313 Apollo | 101 |
3212 Artemis Karyatis | 149 |
3213 Artemis Orthia | 156 |
3214 Artemis Korythalia | 169 |
The Hyakinthia | 174 |
323 Leukippides and Dionysiades | 185 |
324 Helen | 191 |
325 The Lacedaemonian cycle of initiation | 202 |
4 THE FUNCTION OF THE LYRIC CHORUS | 207 |
41 The chorus as institution | 208 |
412 The circle of Sappho | 210 |
413 The Spartan agele | 214 |
414 The Spartan girls choruses | 219 |
42 The pedagogical function of the lyric chorus | 221 |
421 The lyric chorus as a place for education | 222 |
422 The instruction given in the chorus | 231 |
423 The metaphorical representation of education and marriage | 238 |
43 Homoerotic relationships in the lyric chorus | 244 |
431 Male homosexuality in Sparta and its Junction | 245 |
432 Sapphos group | 249 |
433 Female homophily in the myths | 252 |
434 Female homoeroticism in Sparta | 253 |
Individuality and collectivity | 255 |
44 The female lyric chorus and tribal initiation | 258 |
5 CONCLUSION | 264 |
267 | |
275 | |
Other editions - View all
Choruses of Young Women in Ancient Greece: Their Morphology, Religious Role ... Claude Calame No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
abduction according adolescent adult agele aition Alcm Alcman Amyklai ancient Aphrodite Apollo Archaic period Aristophanes Artemis Orthia associated Athena Athenaeus Athenian Brauron Brelich called Callimachus celebrated Choeurs choral performance choregos chorus members chorus of young chorus-members coll context Crowhurst cult of Artemis Daphnephoria daughters dedicated Deliades Delos described Dionysus Dioskouroi divinity Eileithyia ephebes Ephesos epiclesis Euripides female Feste festival FGrHist fragment function goddess Greece Greek Helen Hera Homer homoerotic honor Hsch Hyakinthia Hyakinthos Hymn initiatory interpretation Karyai Lacedaemonian Laconian Latte legend Leukippides Limnatis lyre lyric chorus marriage mentioned Messenian Muses musical myth Nilsson Nymphs paean Partheneia passage Paus Pausanias Pind Pindar Plut Plutarch poem poet probably Proitides refer relationship rite ritual role Roscher sanctuary of Artemis Sappho semantic features sexual signified singing social song Sparta status sung temple term Theseus Tölle tribal initiation virgins woman young girls young women Zeus καὶ