Choruses of Young Women in Ancient Greece Their Morphology, Religous Role, and Social Functions

by Calame, Claude; Collins, Derek; Orion, Janice

• ISBN13: 9780742515246
• ISBN10: 0742515249
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-06-13
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

In 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.

Author Biography

Claude Calame is professor of Greek language and literature at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland

Table of Contents

Editor's Foreword	vi
Author's Foreword I (1975)	viii
Author's Foreword II (1995)	x
Author's Preface (2001)	xi
Abbreviations Used in the References	xv
Introduction	1	(18)
Problems of fragments 1 and 3 of Alcman	2	(7)
The nature of the sources	2	(1)
The title ``Partheneia''	2	(2)
The protagonists of fragments 1 and 3	4	(1)
The ritual and the deity	4	(3)
The functions of the lyric chorus	7	(2)
Problems of method	9	(10)
Sociologism in the study of the socio-cultural setting	9	(1)
The comparative method used to analyze the ritual	10	(5)
Semiotic approach	15	(4)
Morphology of the Lyric Chorus	19	(70)
The chorus-members	20	(14)
The number of chorus-members	21	(4)
The sex of the chorus-members	25	(1)
The age of the chorus-members	26	(4)
The collective character of a group of chorus-members	30	(3)
The ``companionship'' of the chorus-members	33	(1)
Formal organization of the chorus	34	(9)
Circular form	34	(4)
The arrangement of the chorus-members	38	(5)
The choregos	43	(31)
Terminology	43	(5)
The function of the choregos	48	(1)
Apollo: The myth	49	(4)
Theseus: Myth and ritual	53	(5)
The choregos and choral lyric: Alcman and Pindar	58	(5)
Other examples of the role of the choregos	63	(3)
Figurative representations of the choregos	66	(6)
The distinctive qualities of the choregos	72	(2)
The activity of the chorus	74	(15)
The hymn	74	(2)
The paean	76	(3)
The dithyramb	79	(1)
The citharodic nomos	80	(2)
The threnody	82	(1)
The epithalamium/hymenaeus	83	(2)
Other choral performances	85	(4)
Chorus and Ritual	89	(118)
Non-Spartan rituals	90	(51)
Choral festivities among the gods	90	(1)
Rites dedicated to Artemis	91	(10)
Apollo	101	(12)
Hera	113	(10)
Aphrodite	123	(5)
Athena	128	(6)
Dionysus	134	(4)
Demeter	138	(2)
The chorus and the pantheon	140	(1)
Lacedaemonian rituals	141	(66)
Artemis	142	(1)
Artemis Limnatis	142	(7)
Artemis Karyatis	149	(7)
Artemis Orthia	156	(13)
Artemis Korythalia	169	(5)
Apollo: The Hyakinthia	174	(11)
Leukippides and Dionysiades	185	(6)
Helen	191	(11)
The Lacedaemonian cycle of initiation	202	(5)
The Function of the Lyric Chorus	207	(57)
The chorus as institution	208	(13)
Hellenistic associations	208	(2)
The ``circle'' of Sappho	210	(4)
The Spartan agele	214	(5)
The Spartan girls' choruses	219	(2)
The pedagogical function of the lyric chorus	221	(23)
The lyric chorus as a place for education	222	(9)
The instruction given in the chorus	231	(7)
The metaphorical representation of education and marriage	238	(6)
Homoerotic relationships in the lyric chorus	244	(14)
``Male homosexuality'' in Sparta and its function	245	(4)
Sappho's group	249	(3)
Female homophily in the myths	252	(1)
Female homoeroticism in Sparta	253	(2)
The lyric I/we: Individuality and collectivity	255	(3)
The female lyric chorus and tribal initiation	258	(6)
Conclusion	264	(3)
Bibliography	267	(8)
General Index	275