The Ancient Greek Pharmakos Rituals: A Study in Mistrust
This article examines the role of mistrust – especially in constructions of purity, impurity, and purification – in ancient Greek religion. It begins by examining so-called scapegoat or pharmakos rituals, in which an individual was expelled from the city, apparently as a purificatory offering to the...
Auteur principal: | |
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Type de support: | Électronique Article |
Langue: | Anglais |
Vérifier la disponibilité: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
Publié: |
2022
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Dans: |
Numen
Année: 2022, Volume: 69, Numéro: 5/6, Pages: 489-516 |
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés: | B
Grèce antique (Antiquité)
/ Rite
/ Victime (Religion)
/ Bouc émissaire
/ Soupçon
/ Incertitude
/ Rite de purification
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Classifications IxTheo: | AD Sociologie des religions AG Vie religieuse BE Religion gréco-romaine TB Antiquité |
Sujets non-standardisés: | B
mistrust
B Impurity B Purity B spiritual insecurity B Trust B scapegoat rituals |
Accès en ligne: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
Résumé: | This article examines the role of mistrust – especially in constructions of purity, impurity, and purification – in ancient Greek religion. It begins by examining so-called scapegoat or pharmakos rituals, in which an individual was expelled from the city, apparently as a purificatory offering to the gods. Recent analyses have argued that these rituals were outlets for community aggression, and/or were resonant with myths of self-sacrifice. This article will suggest a different analysis of the evidence. I offer an alternative way of interpreting these rituals that sets them in a wider context of Greek ritual and belief: it suggests that the ritual of the pharmakos arose in a context of social and spiritual insecurity. This created, I argue, a prevailing dynamic of social and spiritual mistrust, within which the pharmakos ritual emerged – and which it exacerbated. |
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ISSN: | 1568-5276 |
Contient: | Enthalten in: Numen
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685276-12341662 |