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...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Tipo de documento: | Recurso Electrónico Artigo |
| Idioma: | Inglês |
| Verificar disponibilidade: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Publicado em: |
2022
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| Em: |
Numen
Ano: 2022, Volume: 69, Número: 5/6, Páginas: 489-516 |
| (Cadeias de) Palavra- chave padrão: | B
Grécia (Antiguidade)
/ Rito
/ Vítima (Religião)
/ Bode expiatório
/ Desconfiança
/ Insegurança
/ Rito de purificação
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| Classificações IxTheo: | AD Sociologia da religião AG Vida religiosa BE Religiões greco-romanas TB Antiguidade |
| Outras palavras-chave: | B
mistrust
B Impurity B Purity B spiritual insecurity B Trust B scapegoat rituals |
| Acesso em linha: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Resumo: | 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 |
| Obras secundárias: | Enthalten in: Numen
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685276-12341662 |
