Ritualist Interpretation and Myths of Fertility

.docx

School

University of British Columbia *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

212

Subject

Religion

Date

Apr 3, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by MegaHareMaster574

Myths of Fertility and a Ritualist Interpretation of Myth We will cover this material on Wednesday, March 13 and Friday, March 15 so you should come to class prepared to discuss the topic. The assignment will be due on Wednesday, March 20 by the end of the day. For the chance to get full points, please address two questions from each of the options and post them in the topic form, Myths of Fertility and a Ritualist Interpretation of Myth and respond to two other posts. Option #1- You will read a passage from the Powell textbook concerning a ritual interpretation of myth and a short passage from Strabo, an ancient geographer, concerning the Rex Nemorensis. Option #2 will have a bit more to read, but I would like you to read a passage from Ovid’s Metamorphoses concerning Aphrodite and Adonis and a passage from Lucian, rhetorical and satirical writer, who discusses the cult of Adonis and Osiris in Egypt and the Levant (modern day Israel, Lebanon and parts of Syria). Option #3 Read the myth of Hyacinthus and Apollo from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and about the Hyakinthia, a festival celebrated by the Spartans in honor of Hyacinthus and Apollo, found in the Athenaios’ Deipnosophistae ( Scholars at a Banquet ), a work from the 2 nd c. AD. For texts embedded on this page (Strabo’s, Lucian’s and Athenaios’) the questions for them are located after the sections of text. Ritualistic Interpretations of Myth Option #1 Powell Chapter 3- The Meaning of Myth II- “Anthropological Theories” pgs. 33-35 (under Modern Texts) 1) What are Frazer’s academic influences and how to they shape his work, the Golden Bough ? 2) What is his theory concerning the “King of the Wood”? How does this theory contribute to a ritualist interpretation and one concerning fertility? 3) Do you think this theory applies to other myths we discussed? How does it? Do you think that the theory can be applied to all of the myths we have discussed?

4) How did Frazer’s theories differ from his contemporaries and how where they in line with them? From a modern perspective. What do you like about his theories and what do you dislike? Explain. Strabo’s Geographica Below is a passage from Strabo’s (ca. 60 BC – AD 25) Geographica , which is a lengthy description of the entire known world (17 books). Strabo relied partially on firsthand knowledge, but for the most part he relied on many prominent works, most of which little trace survive from the ancient world. Although his work was not well-known in the Roman period, by the 6 th c., it started to be extensively relied on. Now it is the only work of its kind to survive from the ancient world. Not only does he write on all sort of different places- their geographical features, monuments, etc., but he enlivens his work with historical (and mythological) accounts, ethnographies and anecdotes, which makes invaluable for the study of the past, including the mythological past. He seems to have been well versed in Homeric scholarship and comments extensively on places mentioned in Homer’s catalogue of ships (Part of Book 2 of the Iliad ). In this passage he is describing a region close to Rome, in which is Aricia, where there was a prominent sanctuary (grove) dedicated to Diana (an Artemisium- a shrine of Artemis) called Nemus. This passage refers to the Rex Nemorensis, or the priest of the grove of Nemus, whom Fraser mentioned. Rex Nemorensis Strabo 5.3.13 (“Strabo: The Geography” Lacus Curtius . https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/home.html . March 22, 2020) But still closer to Rome than the mountainous country 251 where these cities lie, there is another ridge, which leaves a valley (the valley near p421Algidum) between them and is high as far as Mt. Albanus. 252 It is on this chain that Tusculum is situated, a city with no mean equipment of buildings; and it is adorned by the plantings and villas encircling it, and particularly by those that extend below the city in the general direction of the city of Rome; for here Tusculum is a fertile and well-watered hill, which in many places rises gently into crests and admits of magnificently devised royal palaces. Adjoining this hill are also the foothills of

Mt. Albanus, with the same fertility and the same kind of palaces. Then, next, come the plains, some connecting with Rome and its suburbs, and others with the sea. Now although the plains that connect with the sea are less healthful, the others are both pleasant to dwell in and decked out in similar manner. After Mt. Albanus 253 comes Aricia, a city on the Appian Way; it is one hundred and sixty stadia distant from Rome. Aricia lies in a hollow, but for all that it has a naturally strong citadel. 254 Above Aricia lies, first, on the right hand side of the Appian Way, Lanuvium, 255 a city of the Romans, from which both the sea and Antium are visible, and, secondly, to the left of the Way as you go up from Aricia, the Artemisium, which they call Nemus. 256 The temple of the Arician, 257 they say, is a copy of that of the Tauropolos. 258 And in fact a barbaric, and Scythian, 259 element predominates in the sacred usages, for the people set up as priest merely a run-away slave who has slain with his own hand the man previously consecrated to that office; accordingly the priest is always armed with a sword, looking around for the attacks, and ready to defend himself. The temple is in a sacred grove, and in front of it is a lake which resembles an open sea, and round about it in a circle lies an unbroken and very high mountain-brow, which encloses both the temple and the water in a place that is hollow and deep. You can see the springs, it is true, from which the lake is fed (one of them is "Egeria," as it is called from a certain deity), but the outflows at the lake itself are not apparent, though they are pointed out to you at a distance outside the hollow, where they rise to the surface. 260 1) Is there anything striking about the priesthood? What is it that strikes you and why might such a practice exist? 2) Do you think such a setting is suitable for a shrine of Artemis? Why? Does the Artemis of this shrine strike you as different? How is she similar and different from what you expect and how might you account for the differences? 3) How might this practice reflect a ritualist approach to myth according to Frazer? Do you agree with a ritualist interpretation of this practice? 4) How is fertility involved in this particular rite do you think? Do you think this myth is applicable as a rite concerning fertility according to Fraser’s theory? Option #2 Adonis, Aphrodite and the Adonia

You might want to read: Powell Chapter 3- The Meaning of Myth II- “Anthropological Theories” pgs. 33-35 (under Modern Texts) to get an idea of what a ritualist interpretation of myth is, but you don’t need to. Ovid, Metamorphoses 10. 595-645 and 778-845 (under Ancient Sources) - You do not have to read the part between concerning the myth of Atalanta and Hippomenes. We will not cover this in class. Feel free to read the origin story of Adonis at the beginning of the scanned passage concerning Myrrha. 1) Why does Aphrodite fall in love with Adonis? Does Adonis feel the same way about her? How does Ovid indicate their feelings towards each other? 2) What do you think that Ovid wants the reader to feel in this poem? Does he have a message for the reader? Is the author effective in engaging the reader and getting across his point? 3) Does this fit into a ritualist approach to myth according to Fraser? Do you think that this theory is useful in interpreting this myth? 4) What is the change that takes place in the myth (as we should expect in the metamorphosis)? Does it resemble other myths of transformation that we discussed in this class? If so, how so? Do you see comparisons with how the transformation is handled and reacted to? 5) Does this story reflect a myth on fertility? Why or why not? If it is what are the fertility elements of the characters and plot points? Have you seen these types of characters and plot points before in stories we have read? See the passage below by Lucian for a ritual associated with Adonis (and Aphrodite by association). Lucian discusses rituals involving Adonis Lucian of Samosata was a Syrian/Greek rhetorical and satirical writer of the 2 nd c. AD (ca. AD 120 – 190). You are reading a passage of the De Syria Dea ( Concerning the Syrian Goddess ), which is concerned with the cult practice of the Syrian Goddess, Atargatis or Derketo, at the temple of Hierapolis Bambyce. The treatise is written in the style of the Greek historian Herodotus (considered to be the “father of history”), but in it he satirizes the cultural distinctions between Greeks and Syrians.

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help