Religion in the Ancient Greek Household 9/21/07 2:54 PM

← Family rituals in ancient Greece

← Religion tied to rhythms of life: “rite of passage” defined by cults

Birth: Hera, Eileithyia, Artemis

Adulthood: Zeus Phratrios & Athena Phratria (“of the clan”)

o Apatouria festival: transition from family to polis

Marriage: Hera, Aphrodite (two sides of love/marriage)

o Gamelia sacrifice at Apatouria: debut as husband & wife

Death: Hermes Psychopompos; Hades & Persephone

o Ancestor cult: continuity of generations through choai

o Ex: women who die in childbirth “brides of Artemis”

← The ancient Greek household (oikos)

← Oikos: extended household

Father, mother, children, elders, slaves & ex-slaves

← Family structure

Rigid patriarchy

o Father has power of life and death over members of oikos

o Adult males leave house, remain under living father’s power

o Equal division of father’s possessions on his death

Limited primogeniture (primacy of firstborn)

Daughters have some inheritance rights in some poleis

Virilocal marriage: bride joins oikos of husband

o Wife severs cult ties with parental home

← Religious topography of the oikos

← Outside: family agricultural cults (Demeter)

Appearance from outside: walled off

← Perimeter of house: apotropaic (“turning away [evils]”) deities

Apollo aguileos (“of the street”), Herkles:

o Common guardians of street/house boundary

Zeus Herkeios: guardian of those within oikos

← Inside: hearth, spritiaul center of oikos (cp. Polis)

Hestia (genering of deities)

Gendering of space: separate women’s & men’s quarters

o Separate spheres of cult activity

← Religion & the ancient Greek family: the father

← Head priest of oikos

Regular observance at shrines (Zeus Herkeios, Hestia, etc.)

← Ancestor worship

Maintain tomb: filial duty open to public scrutiny

Yearly choai: continuity of household cult

← Symposia: social/political drinking parties

Father defines social/political allegiances of household

← Represents oikos in larger cults

Genos: group defined by birth (mthic bloodline; hero cult)

deme: political district within polis

phratry: “tribe” (Zeus Phratrios; hero cult)

← Religion & ancient Greek family: the mother

← Women’s roles in cult reflect roels in society generally

Virilocal: learns oikos cults from husband ( and mother in law)

Cult provides opportunities to leave oikos (burial, female cults)

← Assits father with cults inside house

Prepares bodies for burial; role in ancestor worship

← Responsible for fertility cults

Artemis, Asklepios: childbirth

Hera: mother assits in marriage of children

← Represents oikos in larger female-only cults

Athenian Thesmophoria: female-only Demeter festival before

sowing

o Initiation rites (young women equated with fertile field)

o Piglet sacrifice (agricultural fertility)

o Aischrology (ritual obscenity)

← Religion & the anceitn Greek family: children

← Daughters

Early marriage leading to integration into husband’s oikos

o Age / power differential

o Dowry: daughters a liability

Limited role in oikos cult

o Family cults abandoned with marriage

Represents oikos in polis cults (opportunity to interact in public)

o Artemis Brauronia: girls as bears (arktoi)

Symbolic wild life before being tamed

← Son

Question of legitimacy: father recognizes son in ritual setting

o Apatouria festival: formal integration into community

“ionic” festival: celebrated in Attica (Athens), Ionia

deities: Zeus Phratrios, Athena Phratria, Apollo Patroos

preparation for adulthood/citizenship

o ephebate: prep for full citizenship & assumption of cult duties

o City Dionysia: performance (of women’s roles) in plays

choruses

Learns oikos rituals from father

Joins father in representing oikos in larger cults

← Religion & the ancient Greek family: slaves

← Integration into the community

Induction ceremony at household Hestia shrine

o Defined ritually as part of household (range of experiences)

← Role in cults and rituals

Assist, but generally excluded from sacrifice, festivals

Perhaps a role in processions

Major exception: mystery religions

o Eleusinian Mysteries (Demeter), Dionysiac Mysteries

Asylum: right of refuge in sacred space

Slave rituals, cult (probable)

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9/21/07 2:54 PM

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9/21/07 2:54 PM

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