The Anthestrias, a carnival ritual of transgression and affirmation of social order in ancient Athens (6th and 5th centuries BC)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5016/pem.v7i1.3742

Keywords:

Ancient Greece, Dionysus, Anthesteria, Carnival, Iconography

Abstract

In our analysis of the ritualistic sequence of the Anthesteria, we aim to interpret the meaning of the different forms of symbolic and social transgression effectuated ritually during the three days of this Dionysian festivity, focusing on questions such as gender, age and social condition. We will analyze the relation between the social order and the transgressions, based on evidence from the material culture and the iconography, paying special attention to the representations of the child and the adolescent. This article consists of an iconographical study of the Attic black and red-figured vases from the sixth and fifth centuries.

Author Biography

Fábio Vergara Cerqueira, Paulista State University UNESP

Professor Titular do Departamento de História da Universidade Federal de Pelotas. Bolsista Produtividade CNPq PQ1d em Arqueologia. Pesquisador Visitante na Universidade de Heidelberg - Instituto de Arqueologia Clássica. Pesquisador da Fundação Humboldt/Alemanha - modalidade Pesquisador Experiente - Arqueologia Clássica (desde 2014). Graduou-se no curso de Licenciatura em História pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (1989) e concluiu doutorado em Antropologia Social, com concentração em Arqueologia Clássica, pela Universidade de São Paulo (2001). Coordenador do Programa de Pós-Graduação em História da UFPel (2015-2017). Leciona nos cursos de História Licenciatura e Bacharelado, Antropologia/Arqueologia Bacharelado. Entre 2006 e 2009, professor do Mestrado em Ciências Sociais. Desde 2007, professor permanente dos Cursos de Doutorado e Mestrado em Memória Social e Patrimônio Cultural/UFPel, e, desde 2009, dos Cursos de Mestrado e Doutorado em História/UFPel.

References

ARISTOPHANE. Théatre Complet, 1. Traduction, introduction, notices e notes par MarcJean Alfonsi. Paris: GF-Flammarion, 1995 (1966).

ATHENAEUS. The Deipnosophists. Translation by Charles Burton Gulick. 7 volumes. Londres: William Heinemann Ltd. / Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1959.

BUSCHOR, Ernst. Satyrtänze und frühes Drama, in: Sitzungsberichtungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaft. Philologische-historische Abteilung. 1943, 5, p. 71-3.

CERQUEIRA, Fábio Vergara. Os instrumentos musicais na vida diária da Atenas tardoarcaica e clássica (540-400 a.C.). O testemunho dos vasos áticos e de textos antigos. 3 vols. Tese de doutoramento. Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2001.

COMOTTI, G. Music in Greek and Roman Culture. Londres e Baltimore: Hopkins University Press, 1991.

DEUBNER, L. Attische Feste. Hildesheim: Gerog Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1959.

GRAEF, Botho & LANGLOTZ, Ernst. Die Antiken Vasen von der Akropolis zu Athen. Die Schwarzfigurigen Vasen. Archäologische Institut des Deutschen Reiches. Berlim: Druck und Verlag von Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1925.

GREEN, John Richard. A series of added red-figure choes, AA, 1970.

GREIFENHAGEN, Adolph. Ein Satyrspiel des Aischylos?, BWPr 118, 1963, fig. 10-11.

HAMILTON, Richard. Choes and Anthesteria: Athenian Iconography and Ritual. Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1992.

HOORN, G. van. Choes and Anthesteria. Leyden, 1951.

LEZZI-HAFTER, Adrienne. Anthesterien und Hieros Gamos. Ein Choenbild des MethyseMalers, in: CHRISTIANSEN, J. & MELANDER, T. Proceedings of the 3rd Symposion on Ancient Greek and Related Pottery. (Copenhague, 31 de agosto – 4 de setembro, 1984.), Copenhague, 1988.

NORDQUIST, Gullög C. Instrumental music in representations of Greek cult, Kernos, Supl. 1 (HÄGG, Robin. The iconography fo Greek Cult in the archaic and classical periods. Proceedings of the First International Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult. Organized by the Swedish Institute at Athens and the European Cultural Centre of Delphi.), 1992.

______. The salpinx in Greek cult, In: AHLBÄCK, Tore. (ed.) Dance, music, art and religion. Based on papers read at the Symposion on Dance, Music and Art in Religions. Held at Abo, Finland, on the 16th-18th August 1994, Abo/Estocolmo: 1994.

PARKE, H. W. Festivals of the Athenians. Londres, 1977.

PICKARD-CAMBRIDGE, A. W. Dramatic Festivals of the Athenians. Rev. by J. Gould and D. M. Lewis. Oxford: Oxford Press, 1968.

PLUTARCO. Vidas Paralelas. 4 vols. Tradução de Gilson César Cardoso. São Paulo: Ed.

PAUMAPE, 1991. (Alcibíades, Címon, Licurgo, Nícias, Péricles)

PLUTARQUE. Vies. Texte établi et traduit par R. Flacelière, E. Chambry et M. Juneaux. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1957-1979. (Alcibíades, Címon, Licurgo, Nícias, Péricles)

RÜHFEL, Hilde. Kinderleben im klassischen Athen. Bilder aud klassischen Vasen. Mainz: P. von Zaberns, 1984.

SIMON, Erika. Festivals of Attica. An Archaeological Commentary. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983.

VILLANUEVA-PUIG, Marie Christine. Images de la vie quotidienne en Grèce dans l’Antiquité. Paris: Hachette, 1992.

XENOPHON. Memorabilia. Oeconomicus. Symposium. Apology. Translated by E. C. Marchant, O. J. Todd. Londres: Loeb Classical Library, 1923.

Downloads

Published

2011-06-30

How to Cite

Vergara Cerqueira, F. (2011). The Anthestrias, a carnival ritual of transgression and affirmation of social order in ancient Athens (6th and 5th centuries BC). Patrimônio E Memória, 7(1), 151–171. https://doi.org/10.5016/pem.v7i1.3742

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2011): Patrimônio e Memória

Section

Dossier

License

Copyright (c) 2011 Patrimônio e Memória

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

All the content of the journal, except where noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY attribution license.