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...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Eidinow, Esther 1970- (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: 2022
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
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
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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.
ISSN:1568-5276
Contient:Enthalten in: Numen
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685276-12341662