Jana Kubatzki

Processions and Pilgrimage in Ancient Greece SomeIconographical Considerations

Summary

This paper draws attention to the development of processions and pilgrimages in ancientGreece which originated from so-called delegations (pompeacute) which originally had no reli-gious meanings However since the th century the term pompeacute meant a lsquosacrificial proces-sionrsquo which included animals and gifts presented to the Gods Besides the official proces-sions which were organized by the cultural and or political elite private processions existedas well Many of the official state processions were regular events in which incense beautifulgarments and musical instruments played an important role The paper analyses their dif-ferent representations on vase paintings but also on ceramics It stresses the many differentfunctions of these events which transcended the religious sphere due the important socialand political roles they had for the Greek polis and the Panhellenic communities

Keywords Processions sacrifices music vase paintings pictorial representations

Dieser Beitrag beschaumlftigt sich mit der Entstehung von Prozessionen und Pilgerfahrten imantiken Griechenland welche ihren Ursprung in sogenannten Delegationen (pompeacute) zu-naumlchst ohne religioumlse Bedeutung hatten Ab dem sechsten Jahrhundert wird der Begriff pom-peacute fuumlr sbquoOpferprozessionlsquo genutzt also fuumlr Veranstaltungen bei denen Goumlttern Geschenkedargeboten wurden Neben den offiziellen von der kulturellen undoder politischen Eliteorganisierten Prozessionen existierten auch private Viele der staatlichen Prozessionen wa-ren regelmaumlszligige Veranstaltungen bei denen Weihrauch prunkvolle Kleider und Musikin-strumente eine wichtige Rolle spielten Im Beitrag wird deren unterschiedliche Darstellungin der Vasenmalerei und auf Toumlpferware analysiert Dabei wird hingewiesen auf verschie-dene Funktionen der Prozessionen die aufgrund ihrer wichtigen gesellschaftlichen undpolitischen Rolle innerhalb der Polis und panhellenistischen Gemeinden uumlber die religioumlseSphaumlre hinausgingen

Keywords Prozessionen Opfer Musik Vasenmalerei bildliche Darstellung

This article was translated by Ute Luig

Ute Luig (ed) | Approaching the Sacred Pilgrimage in Historical and Intercultural Perspective | BerlinStudies of the Ancient World (ISBN - - - - ISSN (Print) - ISSN (Online) -

X URN urnnbndekobv -fudocsdocument - ) | wwwedition-topoiorg

Introduction procession pilgrimages delegations

Linked by streets that were hardly fit for traffic reliant on slow means of transportationsuch as horses wagons and ships and with only a few scribes the ancient cultures ofEgypt Persia Mesopotamia and Greece were nevertheless able to create a cultural unityin language myth and education Greek mobility was predominantly based on the trav-els of merchants traders philosophers and cultural observers fond of traveling such asPausanias Besides these commercial and individual travels there was a large group ofreligiously inspired journeys such as processions and pilgrimages which are the focusof this article These religious voyages were common and occurred with great frequencyin Greek life As Philip Harland points out they ldquoaccount for much of our evidencefor mobility and religionrdquo1 Although the two kinds of travel share many similaritiesthey differ in their motivation organization and function which I will describe in thefollowing

Processions are parades of groups who move towards a sanctuary or altar in order toperform a ritual act2 In ancient Greece this kind of solemn walk was named pomp3 fromthe sixth century BCE onwards Processions were festivities marked by dance musicand incense The participants clad in their best clothes and adorned with jewellerymarched in a given order with the aim of offering gifts and sacrifices to the gods in thetemenos (sacred area)

In contrast pilgrimages do not exhibit a festive atmosphere and may be less clearlydefined than processions they are predominantly religious travels to places of worshipThey belong to the ldquoextraterritorial religious activitiesrdquo in the words of Rutherford4 InGreek antiquity this kind of travel was not necessarily done in groups or in a specificorder as was usual for processions Pilgrims travelled to places such as Olympia DelosEpidauros Athens Delphi and Miletos in order to attend the celebrations as spectatorsto consult an oracle be healed of a disease in a specific sanctuary or to do politics orbusiness in the cult area5 The difference between a traveller and a pilgrim was markedby a wreath worn in the hair (stephanos) which was meant to protect the pilgrim againstenemy attacks6 Perhaps it is because of this great variety that the Greeks did not inventa special term for pilgrimage7

There is a long and rich research tradition regarding Greek processions which goesback to the beginning of the twentieth century However pilgrimages in Greek antiquitycame into the orbit of researchers much later and accordingly the literature dealing with

1 Harland 2 For definitions of Greek processions see Nilsson

Eitrem Boumlmer ndash True et al ndash Tsochos

3 The etymology of pompeacute is discussed in Tsochos ndash

4 Rutherford 5 See Rutherford 6 About the sacred truces of the pilgrims see Dillon

ndash and below section 7 Dillon xv

it is scarce8 Moreover there is no special term for pilgrimage such as theoria before thesixth century BCE9

The two types of travel were seldom compared until recently although the kind ofjourney and the aim of reaching the temenos indicate structural similarities10 Becauseof this there are no clear-cut demarcations between the two terms in classical studiesIt is the aim of this article to stress the structural differences between the two in orderto show that processions and pilgrimages differed in their political social and ritualfunctions

The two religious movement-types were the fabric which held Greek culture to-gether They linked the cities with their hinterland but also the cities with one anotherover smaller or greater distances sometimes even across the sea The performance ofcults included the movement of people objects and gods11 My hypothesis is that pil-grimages were much more responsible for the political cohesion between the manyGreek cities (poleis) whereas processions served much more to strengthen the ties be-tween humans and gods They enabled many people to participate in the sacrifices asworshippers or spectators though only a small group of special cult servants were se-lected to attend the celebrations

Archaeological sources

The reconstruction of processions and pilgrimages is possible with the help of differentsources such as images on ceramics reliefs coinage testimonies such as texts inscrip-tions and architectural remains of procession streets as well as the locations for assem-bling Images from vase paintings and ancient texts are the richest sources and the basisof my research12 The sources that are available to us are not easy to interpret since theycan have different meanings which are difficult to decipher

Since processions are rituals and not artefacts it is quite difficult to assign archaeo-logical data to them We can try to connect processions with architecture such as horoi(boundary stones) temene (areas of the temple including the altar) and agorai (mar-ketplaces) in order to figure out the processional routes Indeed from the Hellenisticperiod (third century BCE) onwards there are architectural manifestations especiallythe so-called processional streets Kristoph Hammerschmied in this volume presents

8 See below section 9 Rutherford ndash

10 In her detailed article Schlesier mentions religiousjourneys and discusses processions but does notmake any reference to pilgrimages (Schlesier

ndash )

11 See Schlesier 12 I refer to the results of my doctoral dissertation

about the role of music in antique Greek proces-sions Kubatzki

the example of Magnesia-on-the-Meander and explains how the processional street canbe read in the order in which it was experienced by the participants13

Written sources give information about the order outlook and performances in-cluding picturesque descriptions of festivals and the accompanying procession and sac-rificial rituals14

Visual reflections are provided by votive reliefs marble reliefs (best known is theParthenon frieze with the longest image of a procession) seals some less well knownpaintings and of course vase depictions which can be regarded as the richest source15

Using these iconographical data the archaeologist Charalampos Tsochos16 has triedto trace back processions to Minoan times and to draw a line from then up to the Hel-lenistic age He stresses the hypothesis that there was a basic consistency in the proces-sional rituals through the ages17 Although this may be acceptable from an iconograph-ical point of view the fact that these pictures only convey a glimpse of the past limitstheir explanatory value In fact they tell us more about the perception of ancient crafts-men and artists than of lsquorealrsquo daily life18 And since these data are few and scattered theymust be seen as mere hints of the processional route and the places that were passed19

Greek Processions

Etymology

The Greek term pompeacute which is translated here as lsquoprocessionrsquo has undergone severalchanges of meaning When the term was first mentioned in the Iliad of Homer20 itmeant to escort or conduct but also to send away in the sense of a mission21 It had noreligious connotation at the time As Fritz Graf suggests a pompeacute was in this earliersense a ldquoprotecting escortrdquo especially from gods for humans22 This brings back to mindthe many passages in Greek texts that describe the difficulties of traveling especially

13 Hammerschmied this volume14 For a brief list of ancient texts concerning proces-

sions see True et al ndash and Boumlmer ndash

15 For a general overview and literature on the archae-ological sources see the catalogs of True et al ndash Boumlmer ndash Tsochos Brand

Lehnstaedt 16 Tsochos ndash 17 ldquoOver a time span of more than ten centuries one

cannot expect otherwise than that rituals undergochanges and variations However their basic char-acteristics remain the samerdquo ndash Originally ldquoUumlber

eine Zeitdauer von mehr als zehn Jahrhundertenhinweg ist es nicht anders zu erwarten dass RitualeAumlnderungen und Variationen erfahren Die grundle-genden Merkmale bleiben jedoch die selbenrdquo (Tso-chos translation U Luig)

18 For a discussion of the representation of Greek lifeon vessel images and other iconographical data seeHoumllscher Kubatzki Laxander

19 True et al 20 Hom Il 21 See Pantelia key-word pompeacute22 Graf

the danger of being ambushed and robbed To address this precariousness the Greeksdeveloped the institution of philoxenia or xenia and a sacred state of inviolability was ne-gotiated23 But additionally these ldquounsafe conditions require greater often supernaturalprotectionrdquo as Graf points out24

From the sixth century onwards the term pompeacute meant a ldquosacrificial processionrdquo re-ferring to the fact that ldquoworshippers escorted gifts and sacrificial animals to the altarrdquoThis use of the term became increasingly widespread in Greek writings25 This changein meaning may reflect a change in the perception of the gods In the Homeric epics thegods were considered the stronger entities which protected the weaker humans Theytook responsibility for their favorites or accompanied humans to other worldsplacessuch as Hades or the battlefield In that respect gods could be regarded as ldquosecurity per-sonnelrdquo in rites de passages or when changing the heterotopics26 From the sixth centurywith Pindar and Pherekydes of Syros pompeacute was a clearly defined concept of a religiousmovement oriented towards a certain place Now the worshippers took the lead in con-ducting the sacrificial offerings and the sacrificial animals to the gods

General characteristics of processions

In general processions can be described as ritual acts of political ethnic and culticgroups which support the cohesion of the community undertaking them because theytake place regularly and are structured in the same way as all rituals which stabilize thecommunity The archaeologist Tsochos declared processions to be ldquoa ceremonial pa-rade of a religious community in connection with a religious ritualrdquo and summarizesin this way the central features of processions27 Other researchers specified that proces-sions consisted of concerted steps towards a place where ritual acts are performed28 Incontrast to other ritual acts such as sacrifices processions have a territorial aspect theyappropriate spaces which link the members of processions with the space they have tra-versed The territorial aspects are joined by social aspects

For scholars of classical studies and sociologists notes about the arrangement of theprocessions are important indices for the hierarchical structure of society29

In Greek antiquity processions were arranged movements by worshippers with theaim of escorting offerings for a god to a sacred site Starting from a central place inside

23 On that issue see Dillon and the article ofKristoph Hammerschmied in this volume

24 Graf 25 Tsochos ndash 26 Graf regards the procession as an institution for

changing spaces ldquoSuch a procession has its clearstructural place in the rite de passage of the sacrificeit belongs to the initial phase which transports the

participants into the sacred space or seen from thesanctuary from outside insiderdquo Graf and n

27 Tsochos 28 True et al 29 Auffahrth Bremmer ndash Chan-

iotis ndash Connor Gengnagel Graf ndash Laxander ndash

the city the destination was the sanctuary especially the altar where the sacrifice wascarried out Two types of procession existed official processions organized by the cul-tural andor political elite and private processions conducted by families30 Many of theofficial state processions were regular events and were established dates in the festive cal-endar The ritual complex of the sacrifice-festival basically consisted of four elementsthe procession the sacrifice the meal and the contest31 Processions formed a majorpart of the cult activities and took place frequently in most of the Greek poleis32

The sacrifice of animals food garments and other precious possessions must beregarded as the central point of the whole cult while the procession was the essentialritual to bring the offerings to the altar33 The sacrificial ritual created the sacred space inwhich communication with the gods could take place34 Usually the altar lay inside thesanctuary (temenos) sometimes also inside the temple itself For that reason the sacrificecould not be witnessed by all citizens since the space around the altar was limited andentrance to the sanctuaries was commonly not allowed to all participants but only to thedignitaries35 The rituals of the procession which were compatible with the masses andthe feast after the sacrifice were necessary in order to bind everyone in the communityto the worship of the gods

My hypothesis is that the processions acquired higher importance with the growingnumber of inhabitants of the cities One can notice a correlation between the increasein population and the growing number of processions from the late archaic period (sev-enth century BCE)36 I suggest that the urgency of tying everyone individually to thegods in the cultic community (since religion was not based on faith but on deeds)37

led to mass rituals such as processions and festivals in which the whole cult-communitycould join and in whose rituals everyone could participate38

Ancient texts reflect the fact that processions were the biggest spectacle of all cultceremonies They are described as well-performed movements with music incense ani-mals gifts and wagons39 In state processions large choirs of maidens sang and danced

30 Official processions were in Hellenistic times ar-ranged by a benefactor (Kavoulaki Voigt

ndash )31 True et al 32 In Hellenistic times they occurred almost every day

(Boumlmer )33 Boumlmer 34 Communication is understood in two directions

the worshippers addressed their requests to thegods and the gods lsquoansweredrsquo by agreeing to receivethe sacrifice or not Without the agreement of thegods the sacrifice could not take place The godsusually communicated by natural phenomena suchas wind rain thunder or animals An interesting

discussion about the manner of religious commu-nication can be found in Scheer Frevel andHesberg and Koller ndash

35 Boumlmer 36 Compare with the schemata and the analysis in my

dissertation (Kubatzki )37 See the discourse on embedded religions38 In the case of sacrifice it meant that everyone got a

piece of the sacrificed animals The anthropologistJean-Pierre Vernant described this phenomenonof sharing flesh in his Cuisine of Sacrifice among theGreeks (Vernant )

39 Presented in the catalog in my dissertation (Ku-batzki )

The procession followed a specific route and probably passed many citizens watchingthe spectacle40 The audience was thus an important part of the ritual Athena Kavoulakiregards processions and theatre in the same category as ldquoviewing occasionsrdquo where thefocus is on the role of the viewer and ldquothe audience is a constitutive factor of perfor-mancerdquo41

The performance of the procession is a frame in which the participants should be-have differently ldquoin front of the eyes of a beholderrdquo it is ldquoa frame which in a way setsperformances apart from other everyday activitiesrdquo42 The texts and depictions also showthat the participants were dressed in their finest garments43 Especially late antique textsdescribe the luxury of the garments such as in Heliodorosrsquo Aithiopika44 It was the mo-ment of being ldquoon stagerdquo and an outstanding moment to represent the status hierarchyand luxury of the polis

The rise of procession scenes in the ancient Greek world aniconographic analysis

Processions are ancient rituals as the early wall depictions in Mesopotamia and Egyptreflect and as is known from the first moments of illustrations and texts (third millen-nium BCE)45 The younger Greek culture also presented processional scenes in its earli-est repertoire of images In contrast to the depictions of the late Geometric and Archaicperiods (eighthndashseventh century BCE) the earliest processional scenes were most fre-quently found on wall paintings and not on vase images46

One of the first depictions the Sarcophagus of Hagia Triada (Fig ) a cultural cen-ter of ancient Crete dates to the middle of the second millennium BCE (late MinoanIII A) Since its excavation in this Minoan sarcophagus has continued to hold theattention of scholars47 since it was made out of limestone (from the island of Poros) andnot clay as was usual in Minoan Crete48 Its painting can be read as a complex narrative

40 Boumlmer 41 Kavoulaki 42 Kavoulaki ndash The philosopher Maria A C

Otto describes the festival as a necessity for master-ing everyday life in its monotony (Otto )

43 ldquoThe wearing of festive garments can be assumed asa matter of courserdquo ndash Originally ldquoTragen von Fest-gewaumlndern darf als selbstverstaumlndlich angenommenwerdenrdquo (Boumlmer translation U Luig ndashSee also True et al and Graf )

44 Hld Aithiopika III 45 ldquoThe historical genesis of the festival (procession

of the gods) in Mesopotamia cannot be grasped

by scholarship because at the moment of the firstwritten record an anthropomorphic image of godexisted and the cults had already established them-selvesrdquo ndash Originally ldquoDie historische Genese desFestes (Goumltterprozession) ist in Mesopotamien fuumlrdie Wissenschaft nicht greifbar da mit dem Mo-ment der ersten schriftlichen Uumlberlieferung ein an-thropomorph gedachtes Goumltterbild existiert undKultetablierungen sich bereits vollzogen habenrdquo(Pongratz-Leisten translation U Luig)

46 Intensively considered by Blakolmer 47 For a recent bibliography see Burke n 48 Long n

Fig Side A Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

Fig Side B Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

referring to ldquolife death sacrifice homage passage and regenerationrdquo as Walgate pointsout49 The sarcophagus is covered in an elaborate polychrome fresco technique and de-picts figures on four sides These scenes show men and women standing or walkingin a row carrying offerings Both long sides show a sacrificial procession with festivelydressed worshippers of both sexes The narrow sides depict goats drawing wagons ledby female figures

Side A (Fig displays five figures stepping to right A captive bull lies on a tableunder which two little goats are squatting Next to the table a man is blowing a Phrygianaulos wearing a mouth band (phorbeia)50 He is followed by four women in processionidentifiable by their garments and white-colored skin51

Side B (Fig ) illustrates five male and two female figures in two different scenesThe women stepping to the left are accompanied by a lyre-playing man The first womanconducts a libation

On the right the men of the second group are walking towards a smaller figuredressed in a long fur-like robe which hides his arms and legs This male figure is receivingtwo goats and a boat in front of a temple or sarcophagus It seems that the two long sides

49 Walgate 50 An aulos (pl auloi) is a wind instrument consist-

ing of two tubes It is more a pipe than a flute andin sound is comparable to present-day oboes ThePhrygian aulos is an aulos with a specially adaptedhorn on one of the pipes This was able to deepen

the sound Auloi were the most common wind in-struments in Greek antiquity and in myth wereconnected with Dionysos the Satyrs Maenads andother ecstatic figures of Greek myths

51 There is discussion over the gender of these figures(Brand ndash )

each with two different scenes essentially belong together and may show either a cultperformance or a funeral52

The interpretation of these scenes depends on the interpretation of the figure infront of the building or sarcophagus If it is regarded as a statue the whole scene mustbe understood as a sacrificial procession with gifts animals and musicians But when itis interpreted as a dead person or a mummy the performance may rather be classifiedas a funeral procession53 A third interpretation is as the epiphany of a god since thefigure has no legs pr arms and seems to grow out of the ground This recalls vegetal godssuch as Zeus Velchanos as Erika Simon suggested54 Since the painted object itself is asarcophagus the funeral context cannot be neglected But whatever the prominent fig-ure may be ndash a dead person statue or god ndash the image represents a sacrificial processionwith sacrificial animals offerings a libation and music For that matter it is striking thatthe blood sacrifice on Side A (Fig ) is accompanied by an aulos while in the libationscene a kithara is shown55 Parallels to the Greek procession scenes a thousand years latercan be observed56 With regard to the iconography it can be concluded that particulardetails of the Greek sacrificial procession have a very long tradition right back to theMinoan age

Geometric Period the absence of processional scenes

This Minoan procession scene with its clear association with an animal sacrifice wasunique for a long time in Greek art Some centuries passed before the next processionscenes appeared in the Geometric period ( ndash BCE) In the Geometric paintingstyle processional acts appeared mainly in funeral contexts as ekphorai and prothesis pro-cessions The depictions of these performances are quite similar to the later processionscenes but sacrificial offerings and animals are absent since this was probably not atypical habit at funerals57

While these Early and Middle Geometric depictions prove that the principle of pro-cessional rites was familiar it is noticeable that no cultic procession scenes outside afuneral context appeared before the Late Geometric style

The first Geometric depictions that can be interpreted as cultic processions did notexist before the seventh century BCE They are iconographical combinations of orien-tal models and Cypriot round dancing scenes as the archaeologist Nota Kourou has

52 For a discussion of the topic depicted see Long Militello ndash Brand ndash Wal-gate ndash

53 Long 54 Simon 55 A kithara is a string instrument that was played with

a plectrum It was connected with Apollo profes-

sional musicians and elaborate music A discussionof the function of music in the procession is offeredbelow

56 See also Kavoulaki 57 Animal sacrifices indicated a ritual for a god or

from classical times for a hero

demonstrated58 Originating from female circle-dancing scenes these scenes representprocessions sometimes conducted or accompanied by a male musician59 Kourou ex-plains this invention of a new subject on vase images as an adoption of oriental pro-cession scenes which were appropriated by Phoenician craftsmen On Cyprus this wascombined with the traditional dancing scenes60 Considering this development we haveto ask why a familiar motif such as the procession which was well known in Minoantimes could be lsquoforgottenrsquo in Greek art for centuries and then be reintroduced by An-cient Near Eastern art The argument of Tsochos that the cult was not completely es-tablished at this time in Greek culture is questionable since the lack of images of acult practice is no evidence for the absence of this practice altogether61 We can only as-sume that for some reason it was more important to depict funeral scenes than sacrificialprocessions in early Greek art before the seventh century BCE

Circular dance scenes as a precursor

Circular dances can be regarded as another precursor of processional scenes since theiriconographical arrangement is very similar Dancing scenes as the archaeologist YosefGarfinkel has been able to show are the earliest depictions found in Mesopotamia theAncient Near East and Southern Europe of the Bronze Age62

Depictions of circular dances and processions coexisted on a few Cretan vessels63 ofthe late eighth century64 Aside from this Cretan exception the motif of figures partici-pating in processions with offerings and sacrificial animals did not appear until the mid-dle of the sixth century BCE The Late Geometric procession scenes mentioned aboveappear more as dance processions than as sacrificial processions It is noticeable that thesacrificial procession scenes enter the stage of Greek art at the time when the scenes ofcircular dances almost disappear

There is one explanation that can be attributed to the style of painting the EarlyGeometric style used human figures like all other ornaments as patterns that circled theround vessel65 The equality of all items is the reason why there is almost no differencebetween the dancing figures Also the arrangement of the figures in Wechselansicht ndashthat is with legs and heads shown from the side but the body shown frontally ndash wasuseful for illustrations of figures holding hands An example is the circular dance withmusicians from the late eighth century BCE on the Hydria Berlin SM A 66

58 Kourou ndash 59 Kourou 60 Kourou 61 Tsochos ndash 62 Garfinkel

63 Kunze ndash 64 Tsochos ndash 65 Kleine 66 See Haug fig

The painting technique of Wechselansicht may explain why dance scenes were favoredin the Geometric period There are hundreds of vessels decorated with circular dancescenes and only a handful of procession scenes which are highly debated67

With the beginning of the Orientalizing episode (seventh century BCE) the paintersstarted to show the figures consistently in profile which marks a break with the Geo-metric style The first scenes that could be regarded as processions show ldquolooserdquo circulardances68 eg figures in a row not holding hands Later in the first third of the seventhcentury circular dance scenes disappeared from vessels for quite a long time but ap-peared again years later Kleine gave a convincing reason for this disappearance sheargued that with the beginning of the profile view it was almost impossible to showfigures in a row holding hands69 However the lack of processional scenes in Wechse-lansicht in paintings where many similar figurative formations of rows did exist (funeralprocessions warriors in a row) is not explained by this argumentation

The absence of processional scenes in ceramics and other objects before the seventhcentury must also be explained with regard to the content not just the form When thesacrificial procession scenes came into existence in the middle of the Archaic periodtheir presentation was quite detailed as is shown on a Boeotian black-figure lekanisfrom about BCE70

It displays a relatively detailed sacrificial procession for the goddess Athena Pro-machos (the armed Athena) who is receiving the offerings Starting from Athena thepicture shows an altar with burning flames a girl with a basket (kanephore) and two sac-rificial animals while the bull is accompanied by an auletes (a male aulos player) somenude worshippers and a wagon pulled by two mules While the men before the wagonare striding towards the altar the men beyond it seem to be dancing since their feetare lifted slightly from the ground Their focus in different directions could also be readas dancing positions This depiction may show both a sacrificial procession and a ritualdance because the first group of men are clearly stepping in the same direction as wasusual in processional scenes

From the middle of the sixth century BCE processional scenes increased in Greekvase painting Tsochos counts hundreds of them in Greek art with their maximum fre-quency in black-figure painting of the Archaic period71 A similar event occurred whenthe sacrifice scenes appeared in Greek art at the end of the black-figure style Their in-crease correlates with the disappearance of procession scenes72 A reason for this devel-

67 See for instance Tsochos ndash and Kourou ndash

68 Mannack ndash Kourou also interpretsthese loose dances as processions as was shown be-fore

69 Kleine ndash On the other hand there are a fewexceptions that show that it was possible to illustrate

circular dancing in profile view The best exampleis a dance row on the Francois krater sixth centuryBCE

70 Kubatzki fig 71 Tsochos catalogue72 See Kubatzki

opment may be found in the painting technique such as the growing figures whichfilled the ground of the image and the lsquozooming inrsquo to the altar Simply put because ofthe new painting technique of bigger more detailed figures it was in the end the lackof space on the vessels that led to more scenes of sacrifice on an altar But socio-politicalreasons may also be important The archaeologist Heike Laxander bases her interpreta-tion on a shift from collective scenes such as dances funerals and processions to moreindividual scenes such as single figures such as a god on the altar or sacrifice sceneswith few figures73

The main difference between the two ritual performances is the way ritual spaceis treated On the one hand circular dance scenes are signified by participants holdinghands and dancing around a meaningful object or place such as an altar This perfor-mance fits well for small groups celebrating their identity by worshipping gods main-taining their social values and rules which are embodied through dancing and by cre-ating a safe frame in which communication could take place74 On the other hand pro-cessions allow a greater number of worshippers to participate They can be interpretedas a broken circle ndash since they have a starting point and a target

Both rituals are about maintaining communal identity and the worship of the godsbut their body language and performance are different Their mission is the same tobring the community together and create a sacred space However since processionscan assemble more worshippers they are therefore more useful for larger communitiessuch as states

Organization composition and ritual performances of processions

Although we have some depictions on vessels showing processions from the seventhcentury up to the Hellenistic period their composition cannot be taken as a one-to-one representation of reality Like all paintings in ancient Greece the particular itemsmust be read as a pictographic language It was Heike Laxander who pointed out thepars pro toto principle75 by which each figure in the procession scene symbolizes theparticipation of one or more persons of a given group (kanephoros musicians servantswarriors priests) Also the order of the participants as shown in the pictures cannotsimply be taken at face value although it does at least inform us about the hierarchy ofthe positions More details about the composition of the procession are therefore drawnfrom ancient texts and epigraphy76

73 Laxander 74 See above Voigt

75 Laxander ndash Kurt Lehnstaedt formulatedthis principle decades previously though withoutnaming it (Lehnstaedt )

76 First and foremost the collection of Franz Boumlmermust be considered who collected more thandata about ancient Greek processions Boumlmer

Processions were not spontaneous happenings in a community but were plannedby a cultural or political elite in Hellenistic times this could have been a benefactor orthe most senior family member in the case of private processions77 The larger officialprocessions most likely followed a special procession route beginning at a central place(most often the agora of the city) and passing the important streets and temples of sev-eral gods78 Special procession streets the hierai horoi are known from Eleusis DelphiAmyklai Sykyrion and Didyma79 The goal of processions was the altar but we haveonly a little knowledge about the starting point were the participants assembled in aspecial place such as the agora or did they start from their own houses as Graf suggests80

At Athens there was a special building for the assembly of the participants fromHellenistic times onwards the pompeion It was built at the beginning of the fourthcentury BCE between two of the boundary gates of Athens the Sacred Gate and theDipylon Gate81 Important Processions such as the Panathenaia or the procession of theMysteries to Eleusis started from there82

The pompeion consisted of a large open court with a surrounding portico and wasbuilt as part of the wall next to Athensrsquo cemetery the Kerameikos Since such special-ized buildings were not known before Hellenistic times I argue that this shows a de-velopment in the organization of processions They became more institutionalized andpresented a higher level of cultic performance The architecture turned these transientperformances into timeless events even when the cultic rituals were conducted Theyembodied a permanent act The position of the pompeion on the boundary between thecity and the Kerameikos which lies outside the city walls created links between the livingand the dead as well as between the outside and the inside of the city Kavoulaki callsthis ldquoa transitional point between the city and the wider peripheryrdquo83

Since the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the goal of the Panathenaia it was nec-essary to traverse the whole city The philologist Fritz Graf has called these inner cityprocessions ldquocentripetalrdquo in opposition to the ldquocentrifugalrdquo ones that started from thecenter (the agora) and led to a sanctuary outside the city84 eg the Mysteria85 It is proba-ble that alongside the procession several ritual performances occurred such as sacrifices

77 Voigt ndash see also Kavoulaki 78 Compare with True et al For a more de-

tailed description of the route of the Athenian Pana-thenaia see Kavoulaki and n

79 Boumlmer see also Hammerschmied thisvolume

80 ldquo[hellip] and whether they had already formed a smallprocession from their home through the city streetsThis would seem to have been likely since theymust have been conspicuous wearing their Sundaybest and crownsrdquo (Graf )

81 For a digital reconstruction of the pompeion see httptravelingclassroomorgwp-contentuploads

Pompeion_aerialjpg (visited on ) ndashOn the dating of the pompeion see Hoepfner

82 Boumlmer True et al 83 Kavoulaki 84 Graf 85 See also Kavoulaki

Introduction procession pilgrimages delegations

Linked by streets that were hardly fit for traffic reliant on slow means of transportationsuch as horses wagons and ships and with only a few scribes the ancient cultures ofEgypt Persia Mesopotamia and Greece were nevertheless able to create a cultural unityin language myth and education Greek mobility was predominantly based on the trav-els of merchants traders philosophers and cultural observers fond of traveling such asPausanias Besides these commercial and individual travels there was a large group ofreligiously inspired journeys such as processions and pilgrimages which are the focusof this article These religious voyages were common and occurred with great frequencyin Greek life As Philip Harland points out they ldquoaccount for much of our evidencefor mobility and religionrdquo1 Although the two kinds of travel share many similaritiesthey differ in their motivation organization and function which I will describe in thefollowing

Processions are parades of groups who move towards a sanctuary or altar in order toperform a ritual act2 In ancient Greece this kind of solemn walk was named pomp3 fromthe sixth century BCE onwards Processions were festivities marked by dance musicand incense The participants clad in their best clothes and adorned with jewellerymarched in a given order with the aim of offering gifts and sacrifices to the gods in thetemenos (sacred area)

In contrast pilgrimages do not exhibit a festive atmosphere and may be less clearlydefined than processions they are predominantly religious travels to places of worshipThey belong to the ldquoextraterritorial religious activitiesrdquo in the words of Rutherford4 InGreek antiquity this kind of travel was not necessarily done in groups or in a specificorder as was usual for processions Pilgrims travelled to places such as Olympia DelosEpidauros Athens Delphi and Miletos in order to attend the celebrations as spectatorsto consult an oracle be healed of a disease in a specific sanctuary or to do politics orbusiness in the cult area5 The difference between a traveller and a pilgrim was markedby a wreath worn in the hair (stephanos) which was meant to protect the pilgrim againstenemy attacks6 Perhaps it is because of this great variety that the Greeks did not inventa special term for pilgrimage7

There is a long and rich research tradition regarding Greek processions which goesback to the beginning of the twentieth century However pilgrimages in Greek antiquitycame into the orbit of researchers much later and accordingly the literature dealing with

1 Harland 2 For definitions of Greek processions see Nilsson

Eitrem Boumlmer ndash True et al ndash Tsochos

3 The etymology of pompeacute is discussed in Tsochos ndash

4 Rutherford 5 See Rutherford 6 About the sacred truces of the pilgrims see Dillon

ndash and below section 7 Dillon xv

it is scarce8 Moreover there is no special term for pilgrimage such as theoria before thesixth century BCE9

The two types of travel were seldom compared until recently although the kind ofjourney and the aim of reaching the temenos indicate structural similarities10 Becauseof this there are no clear-cut demarcations between the two terms in classical studiesIt is the aim of this article to stress the structural differences between the two in orderto show that processions and pilgrimages differed in their political social and ritualfunctions

The two religious movement-types were the fabric which held Greek culture to-gether They linked the cities with their hinterland but also the cities with one anotherover smaller or greater distances sometimes even across the sea The performance ofcults included the movement of people objects and gods11 My hypothesis is that pil-grimages were much more responsible for the political cohesion between the manyGreek cities (poleis) whereas processions served much more to strengthen the ties be-tween humans and gods They enabled many people to participate in the sacrifices asworshippers or spectators though only a small group of special cult servants were se-lected to attend the celebrations

Archaeological sources

The reconstruction of processions and pilgrimages is possible with the help of differentsources such as images on ceramics reliefs coinage testimonies such as texts inscrip-tions and architectural remains of procession streets as well as the locations for assem-bling Images from vase paintings and ancient texts are the richest sources and the basisof my research12 The sources that are available to us are not easy to interpret since theycan have different meanings which are difficult to decipher

Since processions are rituals and not artefacts it is quite difficult to assign archaeo-logical data to them We can try to connect processions with architecture such as horoi(boundary stones) temene (areas of the temple including the altar) and agorai (mar-ketplaces) in order to figure out the processional routes Indeed from the Hellenisticperiod (third century BCE) onwards there are architectural manifestations especiallythe so-called processional streets Kristoph Hammerschmied in this volume presents

8 See below section 9 Rutherford ndash

10 In her detailed article Schlesier mentions religiousjourneys and discusses processions but does notmake any reference to pilgrimages (Schlesier

ndash )

11 See Schlesier 12 I refer to the results of my doctoral dissertation

about the role of music in antique Greek proces-sions Kubatzki

the example of Magnesia-on-the-Meander and explains how the processional street canbe read in the order in which it was experienced by the participants13

Written sources give information about the order outlook and performances in-cluding picturesque descriptions of festivals and the accompanying procession and sac-rificial rituals14

Visual reflections are provided by votive reliefs marble reliefs (best known is theParthenon frieze with the longest image of a procession) seals some less well knownpaintings and of course vase depictions which can be regarded as the richest source15

Using these iconographical data the archaeologist Charalampos Tsochos16 has triedto trace back processions to Minoan times and to draw a line from then up to the Hel-lenistic age He stresses the hypothesis that there was a basic consistency in the proces-sional rituals through the ages17 Although this may be acceptable from an iconograph-ical point of view the fact that these pictures only convey a glimpse of the past limitstheir explanatory value In fact they tell us more about the perception of ancient crafts-men and artists than of lsquorealrsquo daily life18 And since these data are few and scattered theymust be seen as mere hints of the processional route and the places that were passed19

Greek Processions

Etymology

The Greek term pompeacute which is translated here as lsquoprocessionrsquo has undergone severalchanges of meaning When the term was first mentioned in the Iliad of Homer20 itmeant to escort or conduct but also to send away in the sense of a mission21 It had noreligious connotation at the time As Fritz Graf suggests a pompeacute was in this earliersense a ldquoprotecting escortrdquo especially from gods for humans22 This brings back to mindthe many passages in Greek texts that describe the difficulties of traveling especially

13 Hammerschmied this volume14 For a brief list of ancient texts concerning proces-

sions see True et al ndash and Boumlmer ndash

15 For a general overview and literature on the archae-ological sources see the catalogs of True et al ndash Boumlmer ndash Tsochos Brand

Lehnstaedt 16 Tsochos ndash 17 ldquoOver a time span of more than ten centuries one

cannot expect otherwise than that rituals undergochanges and variations However their basic char-acteristics remain the samerdquo ndash Originally ldquoUumlber

eine Zeitdauer von mehr als zehn Jahrhundertenhinweg ist es nicht anders zu erwarten dass RitualeAumlnderungen und Variationen erfahren Die grundle-genden Merkmale bleiben jedoch die selbenrdquo (Tso-chos translation U Luig)

18 For a discussion of the representation of Greek lifeon vessel images and other iconographical data seeHoumllscher Kubatzki Laxander

19 True et al 20 Hom Il 21 See Pantelia key-word pompeacute22 Graf

the danger of being ambushed and robbed To address this precariousness the Greeksdeveloped the institution of philoxenia or xenia and a sacred state of inviolability was ne-gotiated23 But additionally these ldquounsafe conditions require greater often supernaturalprotectionrdquo as Graf points out24

From the sixth century onwards the term pompeacute meant a ldquosacrificial processionrdquo re-ferring to the fact that ldquoworshippers escorted gifts and sacrificial animals to the altarrdquoThis use of the term became increasingly widespread in Greek writings25 This changein meaning may reflect a change in the perception of the gods In the Homeric epics thegods were considered the stronger entities which protected the weaker humans Theytook responsibility for their favorites or accompanied humans to other worldsplacessuch as Hades or the battlefield In that respect gods could be regarded as ldquosecurity per-sonnelrdquo in rites de passages or when changing the heterotopics26 From the sixth centurywith Pindar and Pherekydes of Syros pompeacute was a clearly defined concept of a religiousmovement oriented towards a certain place Now the worshippers took the lead in con-ducting the sacrificial offerings and the sacrificial animals to the gods

General characteristics of processions

In general processions can be described as ritual acts of political ethnic and culticgroups which support the cohesion of the community undertaking them because theytake place regularly and are structured in the same way as all rituals which stabilize thecommunity The archaeologist Tsochos declared processions to be ldquoa ceremonial pa-rade of a religious community in connection with a religious ritualrdquo and summarizesin this way the central features of processions27 Other researchers specified that proces-sions consisted of concerted steps towards a place where ritual acts are performed28 Incontrast to other ritual acts such as sacrifices processions have a territorial aspect theyappropriate spaces which link the members of processions with the space they have tra-versed The territorial aspects are joined by social aspects

For scholars of classical studies and sociologists notes about the arrangement of theprocessions are important indices for the hierarchical structure of society29

In Greek antiquity processions were arranged movements by worshippers with theaim of escorting offerings for a god to a sacred site Starting from a central place inside

23 On that issue see Dillon and the article ofKristoph Hammerschmied in this volume

24 Graf 25 Tsochos ndash 26 Graf regards the procession as an institution for

changing spaces ldquoSuch a procession has its clearstructural place in the rite de passage of the sacrificeit belongs to the initial phase which transports the

participants into the sacred space or seen from thesanctuary from outside insiderdquo Graf and n

27 Tsochos 28 True et al 29 Auffahrth Bremmer ndash Chan-

iotis ndash Connor Gengnagel Graf ndash Laxander ndash

the city the destination was the sanctuary especially the altar where the sacrifice wascarried out Two types of procession existed official processions organized by the cul-tural andor political elite and private processions conducted by families30 Many of theofficial state processions were regular events and were established dates in the festive cal-endar The ritual complex of the sacrifice-festival basically consisted of four elementsthe procession the sacrifice the meal and the contest31 Processions formed a majorpart of the cult activities and took place frequently in most of the Greek poleis32

The sacrifice of animals food garments and other precious possessions must beregarded as the central point of the whole cult while the procession was the essentialritual to bring the offerings to the altar33 The sacrificial ritual created the sacred space inwhich communication with the gods could take place34 Usually the altar lay inside thesanctuary (temenos) sometimes also inside the temple itself For that reason the sacrificecould not be witnessed by all citizens since the space around the altar was limited andentrance to the sanctuaries was commonly not allowed to all participants but only to thedignitaries35 The rituals of the procession which were compatible with the masses andthe feast after the sacrifice were necessary in order to bind everyone in the communityto the worship of the gods

My hypothesis is that the processions acquired higher importance with the growingnumber of inhabitants of the cities One can notice a correlation between the increasein population and the growing number of processions from the late archaic period (sev-enth century BCE)36 I suggest that the urgency of tying everyone individually to thegods in the cultic community (since religion was not based on faith but on deeds)37

led to mass rituals such as processions and festivals in which the whole cult-communitycould join and in whose rituals everyone could participate38

Ancient texts reflect the fact that processions were the biggest spectacle of all cultceremonies They are described as well-performed movements with music incense ani-mals gifts and wagons39 In state processions large choirs of maidens sang and danced

30 Official processions were in Hellenistic times ar-ranged by a benefactor (Kavoulaki Voigt

ndash )31 True et al 32 In Hellenistic times they occurred almost every day

(Boumlmer )33 Boumlmer 34 Communication is understood in two directions

the worshippers addressed their requests to thegods and the gods lsquoansweredrsquo by agreeing to receivethe sacrifice or not Without the agreement of thegods the sacrifice could not take place The godsusually communicated by natural phenomena suchas wind rain thunder or animals An interesting

discussion about the manner of religious commu-nication can be found in Scheer Frevel andHesberg and Koller ndash

35 Boumlmer 36 Compare with the schemata and the analysis in my

dissertation (Kubatzki )37 See the discourse on embedded religions38 In the case of sacrifice it meant that everyone got a

piece of the sacrificed animals The anthropologistJean-Pierre Vernant described this phenomenonof sharing flesh in his Cuisine of Sacrifice among theGreeks (Vernant )

39 Presented in the catalog in my dissertation (Ku-batzki )

The procession followed a specific route and probably passed many citizens watchingthe spectacle40 The audience was thus an important part of the ritual Athena Kavoulakiregards processions and theatre in the same category as ldquoviewing occasionsrdquo where thefocus is on the role of the viewer and ldquothe audience is a constitutive factor of perfor-mancerdquo41

The performance of the procession is a frame in which the participants should be-have differently ldquoin front of the eyes of a beholderrdquo it is ldquoa frame which in a way setsperformances apart from other everyday activitiesrdquo42 The texts and depictions also showthat the participants were dressed in their finest garments43 Especially late antique textsdescribe the luxury of the garments such as in Heliodorosrsquo Aithiopika44 It was the mo-ment of being ldquoon stagerdquo and an outstanding moment to represent the status hierarchyand luxury of the polis

The rise of procession scenes in the ancient Greek world aniconographic analysis

Processions are ancient rituals as the early wall depictions in Mesopotamia and Egyptreflect and as is known from the first moments of illustrations and texts (third millen-nium BCE)45 The younger Greek culture also presented processional scenes in its earli-est repertoire of images In contrast to the depictions of the late Geometric and Archaicperiods (eighthndashseventh century BCE) the earliest processional scenes were most fre-quently found on wall paintings and not on vase images46

One of the first depictions the Sarcophagus of Hagia Triada (Fig ) a cultural cen-ter of ancient Crete dates to the middle of the second millennium BCE (late MinoanIII A) Since its excavation in this Minoan sarcophagus has continued to hold theattention of scholars47 since it was made out of limestone (from the island of Poros) andnot clay as was usual in Minoan Crete48 Its painting can be read as a complex narrative

40 Boumlmer 41 Kavoulaki 42 Kavoulaki ndash The philosopher Maria A C

Otto describes the festival as a necessity for master-ing everyday life in its monotony (Otto )

43 ldquoThe wearing of festive garments can be assumed asa matter of courserdquo ndash Originally ldquoTragen von Fest-gewaumlndern darf als selbstverstaumlndlich angenommenwerdenrdquo (Boumlmer translation U Luig ndashSee also True et al and Graf )

44 Hld Aithiopika III 45 ldquoThe historical genesis of the festival (procession

of the gods) in Mesopotamia cannot be grasped

by scholarship because at the moment of the firstwritten record an anthropomorphic image of godexisted and the cults had already established them-selvesrdquo ndash Originally ldquoDie historische Genese desFestes (Goumltterprozession) ist in Mesopotamien fuumlrdie Wissenschaft nicht greifbar da mit dem Mo-ment der ersten schriftlichen Uumlberlieferung ein an-thropomorph gedachtes Goumltterbild existiert undKultetablierungen sich bereits vollzogen habenrdquo(Pongratz-Leisten translation U Luig)

46 Intensively considered by Blakolmer 47 For a recent bibliography see Burke n 48 Long n

Fig Side A Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

Fig Side B Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

referring to ldquolife death sacrifice homage passage and regenerationrdquo as Walgate pointsout49 The sarcophagus is covered in an elaborate polychrome fresco technique and de-picts figures on four sides These scenes show men and women standing or walkingin a row carrying offerings Both long sides show a sacrificial procession with festivelydressed worshippers of both sexes The narrow sides depict goats drawing wagons ledby female figures

Side A (Fig displays five figures stepping to right A captive bull lies on a tableunder which two little goats are squatting Next to the table a man is blowing a Phrygianaulos wearing a mouth band (phorbeia)50 He is followed by four women in processionidentifiable by their garments and white-colored skin51

Side B (Fig ) illustrates five male and two female figures in two different scenesThe women stepping to the left are accompanied by a lyre-playing man The first womanconducts a libation

On the right the men of the second group are walking towards a smaller figuredressed in a long fur-like robe which hides his arms and legs This male figure is receivingtwo goats and a boat in front of a temple or sarcophagus It seems that the two long sides

49 Walgate 50 An aulos (pl auloi) is a wind instrument consist-

ing of two tubes It is more a pipe than a flute andin sound is comparable to present-day oboes ThePhrygian aulos is an aulos with a specially adaptedhorn on one of the pipes This was able to deepen

the sound Auloi were the most common wind in-struments in Greek antiquity and in myth wereconnected with Dionysos the Satyrs Maenads andother ecstatic figures of Greek myths

51 There is discussion over the gender of these figures(Brand ndash )

each with two different scenes essentially belong together and may show either a cultperformance or a funeral52

The interpretation of these scenes depends on the interpretation of the figure infront of the building or sarcophagus If it is regarded as a statue the whole scene mustbe understood as a sacrificial procession with gifts animals and musicians But when itis interpreted as a dead person or a mummy the performance may rather be classifiedas a funeral procession53 A third interpretation is as the epiphany of a god since thefigure has no legs pr arms and seems to grow out of the ground This recalls vegetal godssuch as Zeus Velchanos as Erika Simon suggested54 Since the painted object itself is asarcophagus the funeral context cannot be neglected But whatever the prominent fig-ure may be ndash a dead person statue or god ndash the image represents a sacrificial processionwith sacrificial animals offerings a libation and music For that matter it is striking thatthe blood sacrifice on Side A (Fig ) is accompanied by an aulos while in the libationscene a kithara is shown55 Parallels to the Greek procession scenes a thousand years latercan be observed56 With regard to the iconography it can be concluded that particulardetails of the Greek sacrificial procession have a very long tradition right back to theMinoan age

Geometric Period the absence of processional scenes

This Minoan procession scene with its clear association with an animal sacrifice wasunique for a long time in Greek art Some centuries passed before the next processionscenes appeared in the Geometric period ( ndash BCE) In the Geometric paintingstyle processional acts appeared mainly in funeral contexts as ekphorai and prothesis pro-cessions The depictions of these performances are quite similar to the later processionscenes but sacrificial offerings and animals are absent since this was probably not atypical habit at funerals57

While these Early and Middle Geometric depictions prove that the principle of pro-cessional rites was familiar it is noticeable that no cultic procession scenes outside afuneral context appeared before the Late Geometric style

The first Geometric depictions that can be interpreted as cultic processions did notexist before the seventh century BCE They are iconographical combinations of orien-tal models and Cypriot round dancing scenes as the archaeologist Nota Kourou has

52 For a discussion of the topic depicted see Long Militello ndash Brand ndash Wal-gate ndash

53 Long 54 Simon 55 A kithara is a string instrument that was played with

a plectrum It was connected with Apollo profes-

sional musicians and elaborate music A discussionof the function of music in the procession is offeredbelow

56 See also Kavoulaki 57 Animal sacrifices indicated a ritual for a god or

from classical times for a hero

demonstrated58 Originating from female circle-dancing scenes these scenes representprocessions sometimes conducted or accompanied by a male musician59 Kourou ex-plains this invention of a new subject on vase images as an adoption of oriental pro-cession scenes which were appropriated by Phoenician craftsmen On Cyprus this wascombined with the traditional dancing scenes60 Considering this development we haveto ask why a familiar motif such as the procession which was well known in Minoantimes could be lsquoforgottenrsquo in Greek art for centuries and then be reintroduced by An-cient Near Eastern art The argument of Tsochos that the cult was not completely es-tablished at this time in Greek culture is questionable since the lack of images of acult practice is no evidence for the absence of this practice altogether61 We can only as-sume that for some reason it was more important to depict funeral scenes than sacrificialprocessions in early Greek art before the seventh century BCE

Circular dance scenes as a precursor

Circular dances can be regarded as another precursor of processional scenes since theiriconographical arrangement is very similar Dancing scenes as the archaeologist YosefGarfinkel has been able to show are the earliest depictions found in Mesopotamia theAncient Near East and Southern Europe of the Bronze Age62

Depictions of circular dances and processions coexisted on a few Cretan vessels63 ofthe late eighth century64 Aside from this Cretan exception the motif of figures partici-pating in processions with offerings and sacrificial animals did not appear until the mid-dle of the sixth century BCE The Late Geometric procession scenes mentioned aboveappear more as dance processions than as sacrificial processions It is noticeable that thesacrificial procession scenes enter the stage of Greek art at the time when the scenes ofcircular dances almost disappear

There is one explanation that can be attributed to the style of painting the EarlyGeometric style used human figures like all other ornaments as patterns that circled theround vessel65 The equality of all items is the reason why there is almost no differencebetween the dancing figures Also the arrangement of the figures in Wechselansicht ndashthat is with legs and heads shown from the side but the body shown frontally ndash wasuseful for illustrations of figures holding hands An example is the circular dance withmusicians from the late eighth century BCE on the Hydria Berlin SM A 66

58 Kourou ndash 59 Kourou 60 Kourou 61 Tsochos ndash 62 Garfinkel

63 Kunze ndash 64 Tsochos ndash 65 Kleine 66 See Haug fig

The painting technique of Wechselansicht may explain why dance scenes were favoredin the Geometric period There are hundreds of vessels decorated with circular dancescenes and only a handful of procession scenes which are highly debated67

With the beginning of the Orientalizing episode (seventh century BCE) the paintersstarted to show the figures consistently in profile which marks a break with the Geo-metric style The first scenes that could be regarded as processions show ldquolooserdquo circulardances68 eg figures in a row not holding hands Later in the first third of the seventhcentury circular dance scenes disappeared from vessels for quite a long time but ap-peared again years later Kleine gave a convincing reason for this disappearance sheargued that with the beginning of the profile view it was almost impossible to showfigures in a row holding hands69 However the lack of processional scenes in Wechse-lansicht in paintings where many similar figurative formations of rows did exist (funeralprocessions warriors in a row) is not explained by this argumentation

The absence of processional scenes in ceramics and other objects before the seventhcentury must also be explained with regard to the content not just the form When thesacrificial procession scenes came into existence in the middle of the Archaic periodtheir presentation was quite detailed as is shown on a Boeotian black-figure lekanisfrom about BCE70

It displays a relatively detailed sacrificial procession for the goddess Athena Pro-machos (the armed Athena) who is receiving the offerings Starting from Athena thepicture shows an altar with burning flames a girl with a basket (kanephore) and two sac-rificial animals while the bull is accompanied by an auletes (a male aulos player) somenude worshippers and a wagon pulled by two mules While the men before the wagonare striding towards the altar the men beyond it seem to be dancing since their feetare lifted slightly from the ground Their focus in different directions could also be readas dancing positions This depiction may show both a sacrificial procession and a ritualdance because the first group of men are clearly stepping in the same direction as wasusual in processional scenes

From the middle of the sixth century BCE processional scenes increased in Greekvase painting Tsochos counts hundreds of them in Greek art with their maximum fre-quency in black-figure painting of the Archaic period71 A similar event occurred whenthe sacrifice scenes appeared in Greek art at the end of the black-figure style Their in-crease correlates with the disappearance of procession scenes72 A reason for this devel-

67 See for instance Tsochos ndash and Kourou ndash

68 Mannack ndash Kourou also interpretsthese loose dances as processions as was shown be-fore

69 Kleine ndash On the other hand there are a fewexceptions that show that it was possible to illustrate

circular dancing in profile view The best exampleis a dance row on the Francois krater sixth centuryBCE

70 Kubatzki fig 71 Tsochos catalogue72 See Kubatzki

opment may be found in the painting technique such as the growing figures whichfilled the ground of the image and the lsquozooming inrsquo to the altar Simply put because ofthe new painting technique of bigger more detailed figures it was in the end the lackof space on the vessels that led to more scenes of sacrifice on an altar But socio-politicalreasons may also be important The archaeologist Heike Laxander bases her interpreta-tion on a shift from collective scenes such as dances funerals and processions to moreindividual scenes such as single figures such as a god on the altar or sacrifice sceneswith few figures73

The main difference between the two ritual performances is the way ritual spaceis treated On the one hand circular dance scenes are signified by participants holdinghands and dancing around a meaningful object or place such as an altar This perfor-mance fits well for small groups celebrating their identity by worshipping gods main-taining their social values and rules which are embodied through dancing and by cre-ating a safe frame in which communication could take place74 On the other hand pro-cessions allow a greater number of worshippers to participate They can be interpretedas a broken circle ndash since they have a starting point and a target

Both rituals are about maintaining communal identity and the worship of the godsbut their body language and performance are different Their mission is the same tobring the community together and create a sacred space However since processionscan assemble more worshippers they are therefore more useful for larger communitiessuch as states

Organization composition and ritual performances of processions

Although we have some depictions on vessels showing processions from the seventhcentury up to the Hellenistic period their composition cannot be taken as a one-to-one representation of reality Like all paintings in ancient Greece the particular itemsmust be read as a pictographic language It was Heike Laxander who pointed out thepars pro toto principle75 by which each figure in the procession scene symbolizes theparticipation of one or more persons of a given group (kanephoros musicians servantswarriors priests) Also the order of the participants as shown in the pictures cannotsimply be taken at face value although it does at least inform us about the hierarchy ofthe positions More details about the composition of the procession are therefore drawnfrom ancient texts and epigraphy76

73 Laxander 74 See above Voigt

75 Laxander ndash Kurt Lehnstaedt formulatedthis principle decades previously though withoutnaming it (Lehnstaedt )

76 First and foremost the collection of Franz Boumlmermust be considered who collected more thandata about ancient Greek processions Boumlmer

Processions were not spontaneous happenings in a community but were plannedby a cultural or political elite in Hellenistic times this could have been a benefactor orthe most senior family member in the case of private processions77 The larger officialprocessions most likely followed a special procession route beginning at a central place(most often the agora of the city) and passing the important streets and temples of sev-eral gods78 Special procession streets the hierai horoi are known from Eleusis DelphiAmyklai Sykyrion and Didyma79 The goal of processions was the altar but we haveonly a little knowledge about the starting point were the participants assembled in aspecial place such as the agora or did they start from their own houses as Graf suggests80

At Athens there was a special building for the assembly of the participants fromHellenistic times onwards the pompeion It was built at the beginning of the fourthcentury BCE between two of the boundary gates of Athens the Sacred Gate and theDipylon Gate81 Important Processions such as the Panathenaia or the procession of theMysteries to Eleusis started from there82

The pompeion consisted of a large open court with a surrounding portico and wasbuilt as part of the wall next to Athensrsquo cemetery the Kerameikos Since such special-ized buildings were not known before Hellenistic times I argue that this shows a de-velopment in the organization of processions They became more institutionalized andpresented a higher level of cultic performance The architecture turned these transientperformances into timeless events even when the cultic rituals were conducted Theyembodied a permanent act The position of the pompeion on the boundary between thecity and the Kerameikos which lies outside the city walls created links between the livingand the dead as well as between the outside and the inside of the city Kavoulaki callsthis ldquoa transitional point between the city and the wider peripheryrdquo83

Since the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the goal of the Panathenaia it was nec-essary to traverse the whole city The philologist Fritz Graf has called these inner cityprocessions ldquocentripetalrdquo in opposition to the ldquocentrifugalrdquo ones that started from thecenter (the agora) and led to a sanctuary outside the city84 eg the Mysteria85 It is proba-ble that alongside the procession several ritual performances occurred such as sacrifices

77 Voigt ndash see also Kavoulaki 78 Compare with True et al For a more de-

tailed description of the route of the Athenian Pana-thenaia see Kavoulaki and n

79 Boumlmer see also Hammerschmied thisvolume

80 ldquo[hellip] and whether they had already formed a smallprocession from their home through the city streetsThis would seem to have been likely since theymust have been conspicuous wearing their Sundaybest and crownsrdquo (Graf )

81 For a digital reconstruction of the pompeion see httptravelingclassroomorgwp-contentuploads

Pompeion_aerialjpg (visited on ) ndashOn the dating of the pompeion see Hoepfner

82 Boumlmer True et al 83 Kavoulaki 84 Graf 85 See also Kavoulaki

it is scarce8 Moreover there is no special term for pilgrimage such as theoria before thesixth century BCE9

The two types of travel were seldom compared until recently although the kind ofjourney and the aim of reaching the temenos indicate structural similarities10 Becauseof this there are no clear-cut demarcations between the two terms in classical studiesIt is the aim of this article to stress the structural differences between the two in orderto show that processions and pilgrimages differed in their political social and ritualfunctions

The two religious movement-types were the fabric which held Greek culture to-gether They linked the cities with their hinterland but also the cities with one anotherover smaller or greater distances sometimes even across the sea The performance ofcults included the movement of people objects and gods11 My hypothesis is that pil-grimages were much more responsible for the political cohesion between the manyGreek cities (poleis) whereas processions served much more to strengthen the ties be-tween humans and gods They enabled many people to participate in the sacrifices asworshippers or spectators though only a small group of special cult servants were se-lected to attend the celebrations

Archaeological sources

The reconstruction of processions and pilgrimages is possible with the help of differentsources such as images on ceramics reliefs coinage testimonies such as texts inscrip-tions and architectural remains of procession streets as well as the locations for assem-bling Images from vase paintings and ancient texts are the richest sources and the basisof my research12 The sources that are available to us are not easy to interpret since theycan have different meanings which are difficult to decipher

Since processions are rituals and not artefacts it is quite difficult to assign archaeo-logical data to them We can try to connect processions with architecture such as horoi(boundary stones) temene (areas of the temple including the altar) and agorai (mar-ketplaces) in order to figure out the processional routes Indeed from the Hellenisticperiod (third century BCE) onwards there are architectural manifestations especiallythe so-called processional streets Kristoph Hammerschmied in this volume presents

8 See below section 9 Rutherford ndash

10 In her detailed article Schlesier mentions religiousjourneys and discusses processions but does notmake any reference to pilgrimages (Schlesier

ndash )

11 See Schlesier 12 I refer to the results of my doctoral dissertation

about the role of music in antique Greek proces-sions Kubatzki

the example of Magnesia-on-the-Meander and explains how the processional street canbe read in the order in which it was experienced by the participants13

Written sources give information about the order outlook and performances in-cluding picturesque descriptions of festivals and the accompanying procession and sac-rificial rituals14

Visual reflections are provided by votive reliefs marble reliefs (best known is theParthenon frieze with the longest image of a procession) seals some less well knownpaintings and of course vase depictions which can be regarded as the richest source15

Using these iconographical data the archaeologist Charalampos Tsochos16 has triedto trace back processions to Minoan times and to draw a line from then up to the Hel-lenistic age He stresses the hypothesis that there was a basic consistency in the proces-sional rituals through the ages17 Although this may be acceptable from an iconograph-ical point of view the fact that these pictures only convey a glimpse of the past limitstheir explanatory value In fact they tell us more about the perception of ancient crafts-men and artists than of lsquorealrsquo daily life18 And since these data are few and scattered theymust be seen as mere hints of the processional route and the places that were passed19

Greek Processions

Etymology

The Greek term pompeacute which is translated here as lsquoprocessionrsquo has undergone severalchanges of meaning When the term was first mentioned in the Iliad of Homer20 itmeant to escort or conduct but also to send away in the sense of a mission21 It had noreligious connotation at the time As Fritz Graf suggests a pompeacute was in this earliersense a ldquoprotecting escortrdquo especially from gods for humans22 This brings back to mindthe many passages in Greek texts that describe the difficulties of traveling especially

13 Hammerschmied this volume14 For a brief list of ancient texts concerning proces-

sions see True et al ndash and Boumlmer ndash

15 For a general overview and literature on the archae-ological sources see the catalogs of True et al ndash Boumlmer ndash Tsochos Brand

Lehnstaedt 16 Tsochos ndash 17 ldquoOver a time span of more than ten centuries one

cannot expect otherwise than that rituals undergochanges and variations However their basic char-acteristics remain the samerdquo ndash Originally ldquoUumlber

eine Zeitdauer von mehr als zehn Jahrhundertenhinweg ist es nicht anders zu erwarten dass RitualeAumlnderungen und Variationen erfahren Die grundle-genden Merkmale bleiben jedoch die selbenrdquo (Tso-chos translation U Luig)

18 For a discussion of the representation of Greek lifeon vessel images and other iconographical data seeHoumllscher Kubatzki Laxander

19 True et al 20 Hom Il 21 See Pantelia key-word pompeacute22 Graf

the danger of being ambushed and robbed To address this precariousness the Greeksdeveloped the institution of philoxenia or xenia and a sacred state of inviolability was ne-gotiated23 But additionally these ldquounsafe conditions require greater often supernaturalprotectionrdquo as Graf points out24

From the sixth century onwards the term pompeacute meant a ldquosacrificial processionrdquo re-ferring to the fact that ldquoworshippers escorted gifts and sacrificial animals to the altarrdquoThis use of the term became increasingly widespread in Greek writings25 This changein meaning may reflect a change in the perception of the gods In the Homeric epics thegods were considered the stronger entities which protected the weaker humans Theytook responsibility for their favorites or accompanied humans to other worldsplacessuch as Hades or the battlefield In that respect gods could be regarded as ldquosecurity per-sonnelrdquo in rites de passages or when changing the heterotopics26 From the sixth centurywith Pindar and Pherekydes of Syros pompeacute was a clearly defined concept of a religiousmovement oriented towards a certain place Now the worshippers took the lead in con-ducting the sacrificial offerings and the sacrificial animals to the gods

General characteristics of processions

In general processions can be described as ritual acts of political ethnic and culticgroups which support the cohesion of the community undertaking them because theytake place regularly and are structured in the same way as all rituals which stabilize thecommunity The archaeologist Tsochos declared processions to be ldquoa ceremonial pa-rade of a religious community in connection with a religious ritualrdquo and summarizesin this way the central features of processions27 Other researchers specified that proces-sions consisted of concerted steps towards a place where ritual acts are performed28 Incontrast to other ritual acts such as sacrifices processions have a territorial aspect theyappropriate spaces which link the members of processions with the space they have tra-versed The territorial aspects are joined by social aspects

For scholars of classical studies and sociologists notes about the arrangement of theprocessions are important indices for the hierarchical structure of society29

In Greek antiquity processions were arranged movements by worshippers with theaim of escorting offerings for a god to a sacred site Starting from a central place inside

23 On that issue see Dillon and the article ofKristoph Hammerschmied in this volume

24 Graf 25 Tsochos ndash 26 Graf regards the procession as an institution for

changing spaces ldquoSuch a procession has its clearstructural place in the rite de passage of the sacrificeit belongs to the initial phase which transports the

participants into the sacred space or seen from thesanctuary from outside insiderdquo Graf and n

27 Tsochos 28 True et al 29 Auffahrth Bremmer ndash Chan-

iotis ndash Connor Gengnagel Graf ndash Laxander ndash

the city the destination was the sanctuary especially the altar where the sacrifice wascarried out Two types of procession existed official processions organized by the cul-tural andor political elite and private processions conducted by families30 Many of theofficial state processions were regular events and were established dates in the festive cal-endar The ritual complex of the sacrifice-festival basically consisted of four elementsthe procession the sacrifice the meal and the contest31 Processions formed a majorpart of the cult activities and took place frequently in most of the Greek poleis32

The sacrifice of animals food garments and other precious possessions must beregarded as the central point of the whole cult while the procession was the essentialritual to bring the offerings to the altar33 The sacrificial ritual created the sacred space inwhich communication with the gods could take place34 Usually the altar lay inside thesanctuary (temenos) sometimes also inside the temple itself For that reason the sacrificecould not be witnessed by all citizens since the space around the altar was limited andentrance to the sanctuaries was commonly not allowed to all participants but only to thedignitaries35 The rituals of the procession which were compatible with the masses andthe feast after the sacrifice were necessary in order to bind everyone in the communityto the worship of the gods

My hypothesis is that the processions acquired higher importance with the growingnumber of inhabitants of the cities One can notice a correlation between the increasein population and the growing number of processions from the late archaic period (sev-enth century BCE)36 I suggest that the urgency of tying everyone individually to thegods in the cultic community (since religion was not based on faith but on deeds)37

led to mass rituals such as processions and festivals in which the whole cult-communitycould join and in whose rituals everyone could participate38

Ancient texts reflect the fact that processions were the biggest spectacle of all cultceremonies They are described as well-performed movements with music incense ani-mals gifts and wagons39 In state processions large choirs of maidens sang and danced

30 Official processions were in Hellenistic times ar-ranged by a benefactor (Kavoulaki Voigt

ndash )31 True et al 32 In Hellenistic times they occurred almost every day

(Boumlmer )33 Boumlmer 34 Communication is understood in two directions

the worshippers addressed their requests to thegods and the gods lsquoansweredrsquo by agreeing to receivethe sacrifice or not Without the agreement of thegods the sacrifice could not take place The godsusually communicated by natural phenomena suchas wind rain thunder or animals An interesting

discussion about the manner of religious commu-nication can be found in Scheer Frevel andHesberg and Koller ndash

35 Boumlmer 36 Compare with the schemata and the analysis in my

dissertation (Kubatzki )37 See the discourse on embedded religions38 In the case of sacrifice it meant that everyone got a

piece of the sacrificed animals The anthropologistJean-Pierre Vernant described this phenomenonof sharing flesh in his Cuisine of Sacrifice among theGreeks (Vernant )

39 Presented in the catalog in my dissertation (Ku-batzki )

The procession followed a specific route and probably passed many citizens watchingthe spectacle40 The audience was thus an important part of the ritual Athena Kavoulakiregards processions and theatre in the same category as ldquoviewing occasionsrdquo where thefocus is on the role of the viewer and ldquothe audience is a constitutive factor of perfor-mancerdquo41

The performance of the procession is a frame in which the participants should be-have differently ldquoin front of the eyes of a beholderrdquo it is ldquoa frame which in a way setsperformances apart from other everyday activitiesrdquo42 The texts and depictions also showthat the participants were dressed in their finest garments43 Especially late antique textsdescribe the luxury of the garments such as in Heliodorosrsquo Aithiopika44 It was the mo-ment of being ldquoon stagerdquo and an outstanding moment to represent the status hierarchyand luxury of the polis

The rise of procession scenes in the ancient Greek world aniconographic analysis

Processions are ancient rituals as the early wall depictions in Mesopotamia and Egyptreflect and as is known from the first moments of illustrations and texts (third millen-nium BCE)45 The younger Greek culture also presented processional scenes in its earli-est repertoire of images In contrast to the depictions of the late Geometric and Archaicperiods (eighthndashseventh century BCE) the earliest processional scenes were most fre-quently found on wall paintings and not on vase images46

One of the first depictions the Sarcophagus of Hagia Triada (Fig ) a cultural cen-ter of ancient Crete dates to the middle of the second millennium BCE (late MinoanIII A) Since its excavation in this Minoan sarcophagus has continued to hold theattention of scholars47 since it was made out of limestone (from the island of Poros) andnot clay as was usual in Minoan Crete48 Its painting can be read as a complex narrative

40 Boumlmer 41 Kavoulaki 42 Kavoulaki ndash The philosopher Maria A C

Otto describes the festival as a necessity for master-ing everyday life in its monotony (Otto )

43 ldquoThe wearing of festive garments can be assumed asa matter of courserdquo ndash Originally ldquoTragen von Fest-gewaumlndern darf als selbstverstaumlndlich angenommenwerdenrdquo (Boumlmer translation U Luig ndashSee also True et al and Graf )

44 Hld Aithiopika III 45 ldquoThe historical genesis of the festival (procession

of the gods) in Mesopotamia cannot be grasped

by scholarship because at the moment of the firstwritten record an anthropomorphic image of godexisted and the cults had already established them-selvesrdquo ndash Originally ldquoDie historische Genese desFestes (Goumltterprozession) ist in Mesopotamien fuumlrdie Wissenschaft nicht greifbar da mit dem Mo-ment der ersten schriftlichen Uumlberlieferung ein an-thropomorph gedachtes Goumltterbild existiert undKultetablierungen sich bereits vollzogen habenrdquo(Pongratz-Leisten translation U Luig)

46 Intensively considered by Blakolmer 47 For a recent bibliography see Burke n 48 Long n

Fig Side A Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

Fig Side B Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

referring to ldquolife death sacrifice homage passage and regenerationrdquo as Walgate pointsout49 The sarcophagus is covered in an elaborate polychrome fresco technique and de-picts figures on four sides These scenes show men and women standing or walkingin a row carrying offerings Both long sides show a sacrificial procession with festivelydressed worshippers of both sexes The narrow sides depict goats drawing wagons ledby female figures

Side A (Fig displays five figures stepping to right A captive bull lies on a tableunder which two little goats are squatting Next to the table a man is blowing a Phrygianaulos wearing a mouth band (phorbeia)50 He is followed by four women in processionidentifiable by their garments and white-colored skin51

Side B (Fig ) illustrates five male and two female figures in two different scenesThe women stepping to the left are accompanied by a lyre-playing man The first womanconducts a libation

On the right the men of the second group are walking towards a smaller figuredressed in a long fur-like robe which hides his arms and legs This male figure is receivingtwo goats and a boat in front of a temple or sarcophagus It seems that the two long sides

49 Walgate 50 An aulos (pl auloi) is a wind instrument consist-

ing of two tubes It is more a pipe than a flute andin sound is comparable to present-day oboes ThePhrygian aulos is an aulos with a specially adaptedhorn on one of the pipes This was able to deepen

the sound Auloi were the most common wind in-struments in Greek antiquity and in myth wereconnected with Dionysos the Satyrs Maenads andother ecstatic figures of Greek myths

51 There is discussion over the gender of these figures(Brand ndash )

each with two different scenes essentially belong together and may show either a cultperformance or a funeral52

The interpretation of these scenes depends on the interpretation of the figure infront of the building or sarcophagus If it is regarded as a statue the whole scene mustbe understood as a sacrificial procession with gifts animals and musicians But when itis interpreted as a dead person or a mummy the performance may rather be classifiedas a funeral procession53 A third interpretation is as the epiphany of a god since thefigure has no legs pr arms and seems to grow out of the ground This recalls vegetal godssuch as Zeus Velchanos as Erika Simon suggested54 Since the painted object itself is asarcophagus the funeral context cannot be neglected But whatever the prominent fig-ure may be ndash a dead person statue or god ndash the image represents a sacrificial processionwith sacrificial animals offerings a libation and music For that matter it is striking thatthe blood sacrifice on Side A (Fig ) is accompanied by an aulos while in the libationscene a kithara is shown55 Parallels to the Greek procession scenes a thousand years latercan be observed56 With regard to the iconography it can be concluded that particulardetails of the Greek sacrificial procession have a very long tradition right back to theMinoan age

Geometric Period the absence of processional scenes

This Minoan procession scene with its clear association with an animal sacrifice wasunique for a long time in Greek art Some centuries passed before the next processionscenes appeared in the Geometric period ( ndash BCE) In the Geometric paintingstyle processional acts appeared mainly in funeral contexts as ekphorai and prothesis pro-cessions The depictions of these performances are quite similar to the later processionscenes but sacrificial offerings and animals are absent since this was probably not atypical habit at funerals57

While these Early and Middle Geometric depictions prove that the principle of pro-cessional rites was familiar it is noticeable that no cultic procession scenes outside afuneral context appeared before the Late Geometric style

The first Geometric depictions that can be interpreted as cultic processions did notexist before the seventh century BCE They are iconographical combinations of orien-tal models and Cypriot round dancing scenes as the archaeologist Nota Kourou has

52 For a discussion of the topic depicted see Long Militello ndash Brand ndash Wal-gate ndash

53 Long 54 Simon 55 A kithara is a string instrument that was played with

a plectrum It was connected with Apollo profes-

sional musicians and elaborate music A discussionof the function of music in the procession is offeredbelow

56 See also Kavoulaki 57 Animal sacrifices indicated a ritual for a god or

from classical times for a hero

demonstrated58 Originating from female circle-dancing scenes these scenes representprocessions sometimes conducted or accompanied by a male musician59 Kourou ex-plains this invention of a new subject on vase images as an adoption of oriental pro-cession scenes which were appropriated by Phoenician craftsmen On Cyprus this wascombined with the traditional dancing scenes60 Considering this development we haveto ask why a familiar motif such as the procession which was well known in Minoantimes could be lsquoforgottenrsquo in Greek art for centuries and then be reintroduced by An-cient Near Eastern art The argument of Tsochos that the cult was not completely es-tablished at this time in Greek culture is questionable since the lack of images of acult practice is no evidence for the absence of this practice altogether61 We can only as-sume that for some reason it was more important to depict funeral scenes than sacrificialprocessions in early Greek art before the seventh century BCE

Circular dance scenes as a precursor

Circular dances can be regarded as another precursor of processional scenes since theiriconographical arrangement is very similar Dancing scenes as the archaeologist YosefGarfinkel has been able to show are the earliest depictions found in Mesopotamia theAncient Near East and Southern Europe of the Bronze Age62

Depictions of circular dances and processions coexisted on a few Cretan vessels63 ofthe late eighth century64 Aside from this Cretan exception the motif of figures partici-pating in processions with offerings and sacrificial animals did not appear until the mid-dle of the sixth century BCE The Late Geometric procession scenes mentioned aboveappear more as dance processions than as sacrificial processions It is noticeable that thesacrificial procession scenes enter the stage of Greek art at the time when the scenes ofcircular dances almost disappear

There is one explanation that can be attributed to the style of painting the EarlyGeometric style used human figures like all other ornaments as patterns that circled theround vessel65 The equality of all items is the reason why there is almost no differencebetween the dancing figures Also the arrangement of the figures in Wechselansicht ndashthat is with legs and heads shown from the side but the body shown frontally ndash wasuseful for illustrations of figures holding hands An example is the circular dance withmusicians from the late eighth century BCE on the Hydria Berlin SM A 66

58 Kourou ndash 59 Kourou 60 Kourou 61 Tsochos ndash 62 Garfinkel

63 Kunze ndash 64 Tsochos ndash 65 Kleine 66 See Haug fig

The painting technique of Wechselansicht may explain why dance scenes were favoredin the Geometric period There are hundreds of vessels decorated with circular dancescenes and only a handful of procession scenes which are highly debated67

With the beginning of the Orientalizing episode (seventh century BCE) the paintersstarted to show the figures consistently in profile which marks a break with the Geo-metric style The first scenes that could be regarded as processions show ldquolooserdquo circulardances68 eg figures in a row not holding hands Later in the first third of the seventhcentury circular dance scenes disappeared from vessels for quite a long time but ap-peared again years later Kleine gave a convincing reason for this disappearance sheargued that with the beginning of the profile view it was almost impossible to showfigures in a row holding hands69 However the lack of processional scenes in Wechse-lansicht in paintings where many similar figurative formations of rows did exist (funeralprocessions warriors in a row) is not explained by this argumentation

The absence of processional scenes in ceramics and other objects before the seventhcentury must also be explained with regard to the content not just the form When thesacrificial procession scenes came into existence in the middle of the Archaic periodtheir presentation was quite detailed as is shown on a Boeotian black-figure lekanisfrom about BCE70

It displays a relatively detailed sacrificial procession for the goddess Athena Pro-machos (the armed Athena) who is receiving the offerings Starting from Athena thepicture shows an altar with burning flames a girl with a basket (kanephore) and two sac-rificial animals while the bull is accompanied by an auletes (a male aulos player) somenude worshippers and a wagon pulled by two mules While the men before the wagonare striding towards the altar the men beyond it seem to be dancing since their feetare lifted slightly from the ground Their focus in different directions could also be readas dancing positions This depiction may show both a sacrificial procession and a ritualdance because the first group of men are clearly stepping in the same direction as wasusual in processional scenes

From the middle of the sixth century BCE processional scenes increased in Greekvase painting Tsochos counts hundreds of them in Greek art with their maximum fre-quency in black-figure painting of the Archaic period71 A similar event occurred whenthe sacrifice scenes appeared in Greek art at the end of the black-figure style Their in-crease correlates with the disappearance of procession scenes72 A reason for this devel-

67 See for instance Tsochos ndash and Kourou ndash

68 Mannack ndash Kourou also interpretsthese loose dances as processions as was shown be-fore

69 Kleine ndash On the other hand there are a fewexceptions that show that it was possible to illustrate

circular dancing in profile view The best exampleis a dance row on the Francois krater sixth centuryBCE

70 Kubatzki fig 71 Tsochos catalogue72 See Kubatzki

opment may be found in the painting technique such as the growing figures whichfilled the ground of the image and the lsquozooming inrsquo to the altar Simply put because ofthe new painting technique of bigger more detailed figures it was in the end the lackof space on the vessels that led to more scenes of sacrifice on an altar But socio-politicalreasons may also be important The archaeologist Heike Laxander bases her interpreta-tion on a shift from collective scenes such as dances funerals and processions to moreindividual scenes such as single figures such as a god on the altar or sacrifice sceneswith few figures73

The main difference between the two ritual performances is the way ritual spaceis treated On the one hand circular dance scenes are signified by participants holdinghands and dancing around a meaningful object or place such as an altar This perfor-mance fits well for small groups celebrating their identity by worshipping gods main-taining their social values and rules which are embodied through dancing and by cre-ating a safe frame in which communication could take place74 On the other hand pro-cessions allow a greater number of worshippers to participate They can be interpretedas a broken circle ndash since they have a starting point and a target

Both rituals are about maintaining communal identity and the worship of the godsbut their body language and performance are different Their mission is the same tobring the community together and create a sacred space However since processionscan assemble more worshippers they are therefore more useful for larger communitiessuch as states

Organization composition and ritual performances of processions

Although we have some depictions on vessels showing processions from the seventhcentury up to the Hellenistic period their composition cannot be taken as a one-to-one representation of reality Like all paintings in ancient Greece the particular itemsmust be read as a pictographic language It was Heike Laxander who pointed out thepars pro toto principle75 by which each figure in the procession scene symbolizes theparticipation of one or more persons of a given group (kanephoros musicians servantswarriors priests) Also the order of the participants as shown in the pictures cannotsimply be taken at face value although it does at least inform us about the hierarchy ofthe positions More details about the composition of the procession are therefore drawnfrom ancient texts and epigraphy76

73 Laxander 74 See above Voigt

75 Laxander ndash Kurt Lehnstaedt formulatedthis principle decades previously though withoutnaming it (Lehnstaedt )

76 First and foremost the collection of Franz Boumlmermust be considered who collected more thandata about ancient Greek processions Boumlmer

Processions were not spontaneous happenings in a community but were plannedby a cultural or political elite in Hellenistic times this could have been a benefactor orthe most senior family member in the case of private processions77 The larger officialprocessions most likely followed a special procession route beginning at a central place(most often the agora of the city) and passing the important streets and temples of sev-eral gods78 Special procession streets the hierai horoi are known from Eleusis DelphiAmyklai Sykyrion and Didyma79 The goal of processions was the altar but we haveonly a little knowledge about the starting point were the participants assembled in aspecial place such as the agora or did they start from their own houses as Graf suggests80

At Athens there was a special building for the assembly of the participants fromHellenistic times onwards the pompeion It was built at the beginning of the fourthcentury BCE between two of the boundary gates of Athens the Sacred Gate and theDipylon Gate81 Important Processions such as the Panathenaia or the procession of theMysteries to Eleusis started from there82

The pompeion consisted of a large open court with a surrounding portico and wasbuilt as part of the wall next to Athensrsquo cemetery the Kerameikos Since such special-ized buildings were not known before Hellenistic times I argue that this shows a de-velopment in the organization of processions They became more institutionalized andpresented a higher level of cultic performance The architecture turned these transientperformances into timeless events even when the cultic rituals were conducted Theyembodied a permanent act The position of the pompeion on the boundary between thecity and the Kerameikos which lies outside the city walls created links between the livingand the dead as well as between the outside and the inside of the city Kavoulaki callsthis ldquoa transitional point between the city and the wider peripheryrdquo83

Since the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the goal of the Panathenaia it was nec-essary to traverse the whole city The philologist Fritz Graf has called these inner cityprocessions ldquocentripetalrdquo in opposition to the ldquocentrifugalrdquo ones that started from thecenter (the agora) and led to a sanctuary outside the city84 eg the Mysteria85 It is proba-ble that alongside the procession several ritual performances occurred such as sacrifices

77 Voigt ndash see also Kavoulaki 78 Compare with True et al For a more de-

tailed description of the route of the Athenian Pana-thenaia see Kavoulaki and n

79 Boumlmer see also Hammerschmied thisvolume

80 ldquo[hellip] and whether they had already formed a smallprocession from their home through the city streetsThis would seem to have been likely since theymust have been conspicuous wearing their Sundaybest and crownsrdquo (Graf )

81 For a digital reconstruction of the pompeion see httptravelingclassroomorgwp-contentuploads

Pompeion_aerialjpg (visited on ) ndashOn the dating of the pompeion see Hoepfner

82 Boumlmer True et al 83 Kavoulaki 84 Graf 85 See also Kavoulaki

the example of Magnesia-on-the-Meander and explains how the processional street canbe read in the order in which it was experienced by the participants13

Written sources give information about the order outlook and performances in-cluding picturesque descriptions of festivals and the accompanying procession and sac-rificial rituals14

Visual reflections are provided by votive reliefs marble reliefs (best known is theParthenon frieze with the longest image of a procession) seals some less well knownpaintings and of course vase depictions which can be regarded as the richest source15

Using these iconographical data the archaeologist Charalampos Tsochos16 has triedto trace back processions to Minoan times and to draw a line from then up to the Hel-lenistic age He stresses the hypothesis that there was a basic consistency in the proces-sional rituals through the ages17 Although this may be acceptable from an iconograph-ical point of view the fact that these pictures only convey a glimpse of the past limitstheir explanatory value In fact they tell us more about the perception of ancient crafts-men and artists than of lsquorealrsquo daily life18 And since these data are few and scattered theymust be seen as mere hints of the processional route and the places that were passed19

Greek Processions

Etymology

The Greek term pompeacute which is translated here as lsquoprocessionrsquo has undergone severalchanges of meaning When the term was first mentioned in the Iliad of Homer20 itmeant to escort or conduct but also to send away in the sense of a mission21 It had noreligious connotation at the time As Fritz Graf suggests a pompeacute was in this earliersense a ldquoprotecting escortrdquo especially from gods for humans22 This brings back to mindthe many passages in Greek texts that describe the difficulties of traveling especially

13 Hammerschmied this volume14 For a brief list of ancient texts concerning proces-

sions see True et al ndash and Boumlmer ndash

15 For a general overview and literature on the archae-ological sources see the catalogs of True et al ndash Boumlmer ndash Tsochos Brand

Lehnstaedt 16 Tsochos ndash 17 ldquoOver a time span of more than ten centuries one

cannot expect otherwise than that rituals undergochanges and variations However their basic char-acteristics remain the samerdquo ndash Originally ldquoUumlber

eine Zeitdauer von mehr als zehn Jahrhundertenhinweg ist es nicht anders zu erwarten dass RitualeAumlnderungen und Variationen erfahren Die grundle-genden Merkmale bleiben jedoch die selbenrdquo (Tso-chos translation U Luig)

18 For a discussion of the representation of Greek lifeon vessel images and other iconographical data seeHoumllscher Kubatzki Laxander

19 True et al 20 Hom Il 21 See Pantelia key-word pompeacute22 Graf

the danger of being ambushed and robbed To address this precariousness the Greeksdeveloped the institution of philoxenia or xenia and a sacred state of inviolability was ne-gotiated23 But additionally these ldquounsafe conditions require greater often supernaturalprotectionrdquo as Graf points out24

From the sixth century onwards the term pompeacute meant a ldquosacrificial processionrdquo re-ferring to the fact that ldquoworshippers escorted gifts and sacrificial animals to the altarrdquoThis use of the term became increasingly widespread in Greek writings25 This changein meaning may reflect a change in the perception of the gods In the Homeric epics thegods were considered the stronger entities which protected the weaker humans Theytook responsibility for their favorites or accompanied humans to other worldsplacessuch as Hades or the battlefield In that respect gods could be regarded as ldquosecurity per-sonnelrdquo in rites de passages or when changing the heterotopics26 From the sixth centurywith Pindar and Pherekydes of Syros pompeacute was a clearly defined concept of a religiousmovement oriented towards a certain place Now the worshippers took the lead in con-ducting the sacrificial offerings and the sacrificial animals to the gods

General characteristics of processions

In general processions can be described as ritual acts of political ethnic and culticgroups which support the cohesion of the community undertaking them because theytake place regularly and are structured in the same way as all rituals which stabilize thecommunity The archaeologist Tsochos declared processions to be ldquoa ceremonial pa-rade of a religious community in connection with a religious ritualrdquo and summarizesin this way the central features of processions27 Other researchers specified that proces-sions consisted of concerted steps towards a place where ritual acts are performed28 Incontrast to other ritual acts such as sacrifices processions have a territorial aspect theyappropriate spaces which link the members of processions with the space they have tra-versed The territorial aspects are joined by social aspects

For scholars of classical studies and sociologists notes about the arrangement of theprocessions are important indices for the hierarchical structure of society29

In Greek antiquity processions were arranged movements by worshippers with theaim of escorting offerings for a god to a sacred site Starting from a central place inside

23 On that issue see Dillon and the article ofKristoph Hammerschmied in this volume

24 Graf 25 Tsochos ndash 26 Graf regards the procession as an institution for

changing spaces ldquoSuch a procession has its clearstructural place in the rite de passage of the sacrificeit belongs to the initial phase which transports the

participants into the sacred space or seen from thesanctuary from outside insiderdquo Graf and n

27 Tsochos 28 True et al 29 Auffahrth Bremmer ndash Chan-

iotis ndash Connor Gengnagel Graf ndash Laxander ndash

the city the destination was the sanctuary especially the altar where the sacrifice wascarried out Two types of procession existed official processions organized by the cul-tural andor political elite and private processions conducted by families30 Many of theofficial state processions were regular events and were established dates in the festive cal-endar The ritual complex of the sacrifice-festival basically consisted of four elementsthe procession the sacrifice the meal and the contest31 Processions formed a majorpart of the cult activities and took place frequently in most of the Greek poleis32

The sacrifice of animals food garments and other precious possessions must beregarded as the central point of the whole cult while the procession was the essentialritual to bring the offerings to the altar33 The sacrificial ritual created the sacred space inwhich communication with the gods could take place34 Usually the altar lay inside thesanctuary (temenos) sometimes also inside the temple itself For that reason the sacrificecould not be witnessed by all citizens since the space around the altar was limited andentrance to the sanctuaries was commonly not allowed to all participants but only to thedignitaries35 The rituals of the procession which were compatible with the masses andthe feast after the sacrifice were necessary in order to bind everyone in the communityto the worship of the gods

My hypothesis is that the processions acquired higher importance with the growingnumber of inhabitants of the cities One can notice a correlation between the increasein population and the growing number of processions from the late archaic period (sev-enth century BCE)36 I suggest that the urgency of tying everyone individually to thegods in the cultic community (since religion was not based on faith but on deeds)37

led to mass rituals such as processions and festivals in which the whole cult-communitycould join and in whose rituals everyone could participate38

Ancient texts reflect the fact that processions were the biggest spectacle of all cultceremonies They are described as well-performed movements with music incense ani-mals gifts and wagons39 In state processions large choirs of maidens sang and danced

30 Official processions were in Hellenistic times ar-ranged by a benefactor (Kavoulaki Voigt

ndash )31 True et al 32 In Hellenistic times they occurred almost every day

(Boumlmer )33 Boumlmer 34 Communication is understood in two directions

the worshippers addressed their requests to thegods and the gods lsquoansweredrsquo by agreeing to receivethe sacrifice or not Without the agreement of thegods the sacrifice could not take place The godsusually communicated by natural phenomena suchas wind rain thunder or animals An interesting

discussion about the manner of religious commu-nication can be found in Scheer Frevel andHesberg and Koller ndash

35 Boumlmer 36 Compare with the schemata and the analysis in my

dissertation (Kubatzki )37 See the discourse on embedded religions38 In the case of sacrifice it meant that everyone got a

piece of the sacrificed animals The anthropologistJean-Pierre Vernant described this phenomenonof sharing flesh in his Cuisine of Sacrifice among theGreeks (Vernant )

39 Presented in the catalog in my dissertation (Ku-batzki )

The procession followed a specific route and probably passed many citizens watchingthe spectacle40 The audience was thus an important part of the ritual Athena Kavoulakiregards processions and theatre in the same category as ldquoviewing occasionsrdquo where thefocus is on the role of the viewer and ldquothe audience is a constitutive factor of perfor-mancerdquo41

The performance of the procession is a frame in which the participants should be-have differently ldquoin front of the eyes of a beholderrdquo it is ldquoa frame which in a way setsperformances apart from other everyday activitiesrdquo42 The texts and depictions also showthat the participants were dressed in their finest garments43 Especially late antique textsdescribe the luxury of the garments such as in Heliodorosrsquo Aithiopika44 It was the mo-ment of being ldquoon stagerdquo and an outstanding moment to represent the status hierarchyand luxury of the polis

The rise of procession scenes in the ancient Greek world aniconographic analysis

Processions are ancient rituals as the early wall depictions in Mesopotamia and Egyptreflect and as is known from the first moments of illustrations and texts (third millen-nium BCE)45 The younger Greek culture also presented processional scenes in its earli-est repertoire of images In contrast to the depictions of the late Geometric and Archaicperiods (eighthndashseventh century BCE) the earliest processional scenes were most fre-quently found on wall paintings and not on vase images46

One of the first depictions the Sarcophagus of Hagia Triada (Fig ) a cultural cen-ter of ancient Crete dates to the middle of the second millennium BCE (late MinoanIII A) Since its excavation in this Minoan sarcophagus has continued to hold theattention of scholars47 since it was made out of limestone (from the island of Poros) andnot clay as was usual in Minoan Crete48 Its painting can be read as a complex narrative

40 Boumlmer 41 Kavoulaki 42 Kavoulaki ndash The philosopher Maria A C

Otto describes the festival as a necessity for master-ing everyday life in its monotony (Otto )

43 ldquoThe wearing of festive garments can be assumed asa matter of courserdquo ndash Originally ldquoTragen von Fest-gewaumlndern darf als selbstverstaumlndlich angenommenwerdenrdquo (Boumlmer translation U Luig ndashSee also True et al and Graf )

44 Hld Aithiopika III 45 ldquoThe historical genesis of the festival (procession

of the gods) in Mesopotamia cannot be grasped

by scholarship because at the moment of the firstwritten record an anthropomorphic image of godexisted and the cults had already established them-selvesrdquo ndash Originally ldquoDie historische Genese desFestes (Goumltterprozession) ist in Mesopotamien fuumlrdie Wissenschaft nicht greifbar da mit dem Mo-ment der ersten schriftlichen Uumlberlieferung ein an-thropomorph gedachtes Goumltterbild existiert undKultetablierungen sich bereits vollzogen habenrdquo(Pongratz-Leisten translation U Luig)

46 Intensively considered by Blakolmer 47 For a recent bibliography see Burke n 48 Long n

Fig Side A Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

Fig Side B Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

referring to ldquolife death sacrifice homage passage and regenerationrdquo as Walgate pointsout49 The sarcophagus is covered in an elaborate polychrome fresco technique and de-picts figures on four sides These scenes show men and women standing or walkingin a row carrying offerings Both long sides show a sacrificial procession with festivelydressed worshippers of both sexes The narrow sides depict goats drawing wagons ledby female figures

Side A (Fig displays five figures stepping to right A captive bull lies on a tableunder which two little goats are squatting Next to the table a man is blowing a Phrygianaulos wearing a mouth band (phorbeia)50 He is followed by four women in processionidentifiable by their garments and white-colored skin51

Side B (Fig ) illustrates five male and two female figures in two different scenesThe women stepping to the left are accompanied by a lyre-playing man The first womanconducts a libation

On the right the men of the second group are walking towards a smaller figuredressed in a long fur-like robe which hides his arms and legs This male figure is receivingtwo goats and a boat in front of a temple or sarcophagus It seems that the two long sides

49 Walgate 50 An aulos (pl auloi) is a wind instrument consist-

ing of two tubes It is more a pipe than a flute andin sound is comparable to present-day oboes ThePhrygian aulos is an aulos with a specially adaptedhorn on one of the pipes This was able to deepen

the sound Auloi were the most common wind in-struments in Greek antiquity and in myth wereconnected with Dionysos the Satyrs Maenads andother ecstatic figures of Greek myths

51 There is discussion over the gender of these figures(Brand ndash )

each with two different scenes essentially belong together and may show either a cultperformance or a funeral52

The interpretation of these scenes depends on the interpretation of the figure infront of the building or sarcophagus If it is regarded as a statue the whole scene mustbe understood as a sacrificial procession with gifts animals and musicians But when itis interpreted as a dead person or a mummy the performance may rather be classifiedas a funeral procession53 A third interpretation is as the epiphany of a god since thefigure has no legs pr arms and seems to grow out of the ground This recalls vegetal godssuch as Zeus Velchanos as Erika Simon suggested54 Since the painted object itself is asarcophagus the funeral context cannot be neglected But whatever the prominent fig-ure may be ndash a dead person statue or god ndash the image represents a sacrificial processionwith sacrificial animals offerings a libation and music For that matter it is striking thatthe blood sacrifice on Side A (Fig ) is accompanied by an aulos while in the libationscene a kithara is shown55 Parallels to the Greek procession scenes a thousand years latercan be observed56 With regard to the iconography it can be concluded that particulardetails of the Greek sacrificial procession have a very long tradition right back to theMinoan age

Geometric Period the absence of processional scenes

This Minoan procession scene with its clear association with an animal sacrifice wasunique for a long time in Greek art Some centuries passed before the next processionscenes appeared in the Geometric period ( ndash BCE) In the Geometric paintingstyle processional acts appeared mainly in funeral contexts as ekphorai and prothesis pro-cessions The depictions of these performances are quite similar to the later processionscenes but sacrificial offerings and animals are absent since this was probably not atypical habit at funerals57

While these Early and Middle Geometric depictions prove that the principle of pro-cessional rites was familiar it is noticeable that no cultic procession scenes outside afuneral context appeared before the Late Geometric style

The first Geometric depictions that can be interpreted as cultic processions did notexist before the seventh century BCE They are iconographical combinations of orien-tal models and Cypriot round dancing scenes as the archaeologist Nota Kourou has

52 For a discussion of the topic depicted see Long Militello ndash Brand ndash Wal-gate ndash

53 Long 54 Simon 55 A kithara is a string instrument that was played with

a plectrum It was connected with Apollo profes-

sional musicians and elaborate music A discussionof the function of music in the procession is offeredbelow

56 See also Kavoulaki 57 Animal sacrifices indicated a ritual for a god or

from classical times for a hero

demonstrated58 Originating from female circle-dancing scenes these scenes representprocessions sometimes conducted or accompanied by a male musician59 Kourou ex-plains this invention of a new subject on vase images as an adoption of oriental pro-cession scenes which were appropriated by Phoenician craftsmen On Cyprus this wascombined with the traditional dancing scenes60 Considering this development we haveto ask why a familiar motif such as the procession which was well known in Minoantimes could be lsquoforgottenrsquo in Greek art for centuries and then be reintroduced by An-cient Near Eastern art The argument of Tsochos that the cult was not completely es-tablished at this time in Greek culture is questionable since the lack of images of acult practice is no evidence for the absence of this practice altogether61 We can only as-sume that for some reason it was more important to depict funeral scenes than sacrificialprocessions in early Greek art before the seventh century BCE

Circular dance scenes as a precursor

Circular dances can be regarded as another precursor of processional scenes since theiriconographical arrangement is very similar Dancing scenes as the archaeologist YosefGarfinkel has been able to show are the earliest depictions found in Mesopotamia theAncient Near East and Southern Europe of the Bronze Age62

Depictions of circular dances and processions coexisted on a few Cretan vessels63 ofthe late eighth century64 Aside from this Cretan exception the motif of figures partici-pating in processions with offerings and sacrificial animals did not appear until the mid-dle of the sixth century BCE The Late Geometric procession scenes mentioned aboveappear more as dance processions than as sacrificial processions It is noticeable that thesacrificial procession scenes enter the stage of Greek art at the time when the scenes ofcircular dances almost disappear

There is one explanation that can be attributed to the style of painting the EarlyGeometric style used human figures like all other ornaments as patterns that circled theround vessel65 The equality of all items is the reason why there is almost no differencebetween the dancing figures Also the arrangement of the figures in Wechselansicht ndashthat is with legs and heads shown from the side but the body shown frontally ndash wasuseful for illustrations of figures holding hands An example is the circular dance withmusicians from the late eighth century BCE on the Hydria Berlin SM A 66

58 Kourou ndash 59 Kourou 60 Kourou 61 Tsochos ndash 62 Garfinkel

63 Kunze ndash 64 Tsochos ndash 65 Kleine 66 See Haug fig

The painting technique of Wechselansicht may explain why dance scenes were favoredin the Geometric period There are hundreds of vessels decorated with circular dancescenes and only a handful of procession scenes which are highly debated67

With the beginning of the Orientalizing episode (seventh century BCE) the paintersstarted to show the figures consistently in profile which marks a break with the Geo-metric style The first scenes that could be regarded as processions show ldquolooserdquo circulardances68 eg figures in a row not holding hands Later in the first third of the seventhcentury circular dance scenes disappeared from vessels for quite a long time but ap-peared again years later Kleine gave a convincing reason for this disappearance sheargued that with the beginning of the profile view it was almost impossible to showfigures in a row holding hands69 However the lack of processional scenes in Wechse-lansicht in paintings where many similar figurative formations of rows did exist (funeralprocessions warriors in a row) is not explained by this argumentation

The absence of processional scenes in ceramics and other objects before the seventhcentury must also be explained with regard to the content not just the form When thesacrificial procession scenes came into existence in the middle of the Archaic periodtheir presentation was quite detailed as is shown on a Boeotian black-figure lekanisfrom about BCE70

It displays a relatively detailed sacrificial procession for the goddess Athena Pro-machos (the armed Athena) who is receiving the offerings Starting from Athena thepicture shows an altar with burning flames a girl with a basket (kanephore) and two sac-rificial animals while the bull is accompanied by an auletes (a male aulos player) somenude worshippers and a wagon pulled by two mules While the men before the wagonare striding towards the altar the men beyond it seem to be dancing since their feetare lifted slightly from the ground Their focus in different directions could also be readas dancing positions This depiction may show both a sacrificial procession and a ritualdance because the first group of men are clearly stepping in the same direction as wasusual in processional scenes

From the middle of the sixth century BCE processional scenes increased in Greekvase painting Tsochos counts hundreds of them in Greek art with their maximum fre-quency in black-figure painting of the Archaic period71 A similar event occurred whenthe sacrifice scenes appeared in Greek art at the end of the black-figure style Their in-crease correlates with the disappearance of procession scenes72 A reason for this devel-

67 See for instance Tsochos ndash and Kourou ndash

68 Mannack ndash Kourou also interpretsthese loose dances as processions as was shown be-fore

69 Kleine ndash On the other hand there are a fewexceptions that show that it was possible to illustrate

circular dancing in profile view The best exampleis a dance row on the Francois krater sixth centuryBCE

70 Kubatzki fig 71 Tsochos catalogue72 See Kubatzki

opment may be found in the painting technique such as the growing figures whichfilled the ground of the image and the lsquozooming inrsquo to the altar Simply put because ofthe new painting technique of bigger more detailed figures it was in the end the lackof space on the vessels that led to more scenes of sacrifice on an altar But socio-politicalreasons may also be important The archaeologist Heike Laxander bases her interpreta-tion on a shift from collective scenes such as dances funerals and processions to moreindividual scenes such as single figures such as a god on the altar or sacrifice sceneswith few figures73

The main difference between the two ritual performances is the way ritual spaceis treated On the one hand circular dance scenes are signified by participants holdinghands and dancing around a meaningful object or place such as an altar This perfor-mance fits well for small groups celebrating their identity by worshipping gods main-taining their social values and rules which are embodied through dancing and by cre-ating a safe frame in which communication could take place74 On the other hand pro-cessions allow a greater number of worshippers to participate They can be interpretedas a broken circle ndash since they have a starting point and a target

Both rituals are about maintaining communal identity and the worship of the godsbut their body language and performance are different Their mission is the same tobring the community together and create a sacred space However since processionscan assemble more worshippers they are therefore more useful for larger communitiessuch as states

Organization composition and ritual performances of processions

Although we have some depictions on vessels showing processions from the seventhcentury up to the Hellenistic period their composition cannot be taken as a one-to-one representation of reality Like all paintings in ancient Greece the particular itemsmust be read as a pictographic language It was Heike Laxander who pointed out thepars pro toto principle75 by which each figure in the procession scene symbolizes theparticipation of one or more persons of a given group (kanephoros musicians servantswarriors priests) Also the order of the participants as shown in the pictures cannotsimply be taken at face value although it does at least inform us about the hierarchy ofthe positions More details about the composition of the procession are therefore drawnfrom ancient texts and epigraphy76

73 Laxander 74 See above Voigt

75 Laxander ndash Kurt Lehnstaedt formulatedthis principle decades previously though withoutnaming it (Lehnstaedt )

76 First and foremost the collection of Franz Boumlmermust be considered who collected more thandata about ancient Greek processions Boumlmer

Processions were not spontaneous happenings in a community but were plannedby a cultural or political elite in Hellenistic times this could have been a benefactor orthe most senior family member in the case of private processions77 The larger officialprocessions most likely followed a special procession route beginning at a central place(most often the agora of the city) and passing the important streets and temples of sev-eral gods78 Special procession streets the hierai horoi are known from Eleusis DelphiAmyklai Sykyrion and Didyma79 The goal of processions was the altar but we haveonly a little knowledge about the starting point were the participants assembled in aspecial place such as the agora or did they start from their own houses as Graf suggests80

At Athens there was a special building for the assembly of the participants fromHellenistic times onwards the pompeion It was built at the beginning of the fourthcentury BCE between two of the boundary gates of Athens the Sacred Gate and theDipylon Gate81 Important Processions such as the Panathenaia or the procession of theMysteries to Eleusis started from there82

The pompeion consisted of a large open court with a surrounding portico and wasbuilt as part of the wall next to Athensrsquo cemetery the Kerameikos Since such special-ized buildings were not known before Hellenistic times I argue that this shows a de-velopment in the organization of processions They became more institutionalized andpresented a higher level of cultic performance The architecture turned these transientperformances into timeless events even when the cultic rituals were conducted Theyembodied a permanent act The position of the pompeion on the boundary between thecity and the Kerameikos which lies outside the city walls created links between the livingand the dead as well as between the outside and the inside of the city Kavoulaki callsthis ldquoa transitional point between the city and the wider peripheryrdquo83

Since the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the goal of the Panathenaia it was nec-essary to traverse the whole city The philologist Fritz Graf has called these inner cityprocessions ldquocentripetalrdquo in opposition to the ldquocentrifugalrdquo ones that started from thecenter (the agora) and led to a sanctuary outside the city84 eg the Mysteria85 It is proba-ble that alongside the procession several ritual performances occurred such as sacrifices

77 Voigt ndash see also Kavoulaki 78 Compare with True et al For a more de-

tailed description of the route of the Athenian Pana-thenaia see Kavoulaki and n

79 Boumlmer see also Hammerschmied thisvolume

80 ldquo[hellip] and whether they had already formed a smallprocession from their home through the city streetsThis would seem to have been likely since theymust have been conspicuous wearing their Sundaybest and crownsrdquo (Graf )

81 For a digital reconstruction of the pompeion see httptravelingclassroomorgwp-contentuploads

Pompeion_aerialjpg (visited on ) ndashOn the dating of the pompeion see Hoepfner

82 Boumlmer True et al 83 Kavoulaki 84 Graf 85 See also Kavoulaki

the danger of being ambushed and robbed To address this precariousness the Greeksdeveloped the institution of philoxenia or xenia and a sacred state of inviolability was ne-gotiated23 But additionally these ldquounsafe conditions require greater often supernaturalprotectionrdquo as Graf points out24

From the sixth century onwards the term pompeacute meant a ldquosacrificial processionrdquo re-ferring to the fact that ldquoworshippers escorted gifts and sacrificial animals to the altarrdquoThis use of the term became increasingly widespread in Greek writings25 This changein meaning may reflect a change in the perception of the gods In the Homeric epics thegods were considered the stronger entities which protected the weaker humans Theytook responsibility for their favorites or accompanied humans to other worldsplacessuch as Hades or the battlefield In that respect gods could be regarded as ldquosecurity per-sonnelrdquo in rites de passages or when changing the heterotopics26 From the sixth centurywith Pindar and Pherekydes of Syros pompeacute was a clearly defined concept of a religiousmovement oriented towards a certain place Now the worshippers took the lead in con-ducting the sacrificial offerings and the sacrificial animals to the gods

General characteristics of processions

In general processions can be described as ritual acts of political ethnic and culticgroups which support the cohesion of the community undertaking them because theytake place regularly and are structured in the same way as all rituals which stabilize thecommunity The archaeologist Tsochos declared processions to be ldquoa ceremonial pa-rade of a religious community in connection with a religious ritualrdquo and summarizesin this way the central features of processions27 Other researchers specified that proces-sions consisted of concerted steps towards a place where ritual acts are performed28 Incontrast to other ritual acts such as sacrifices processions have a territorial aspect theyappropriate spaces which link the members of processions with the space they have tra-versed The territorial aspects are joined by social aspects

For scholars of classical studies and sociologists notes about the arrangement of theprocessions are important indices for the hierarchical structure of society29

In Greek antiquity processions were arranged movements by worshippers with theaim of escorting offerings for a god to a sacred site Starting from a central place inside

23 On that issue see Dillon and the article ofKristoph Hammerschmied in this volume

24 Graf 25 Tsochos ndash 26 Graf regards the procession as an institution for

changing spaces ldquoSuch a procession has its clearstructural place in the rite de passage of the sacrificeit belongs to the initial phase which transports the

participants into the sacred space or seen from thesanctuary from outside insiderdquo Graf and n

27 Tsochos 28 True et al 29 Auffahrth Bremmer ndash Chan-

iotis ndash Connor Gengnagel Graf ndash Laxander ndash

the city the destination was the sanctuary especially the altar where the sacrifice wascarried out Two types of procession existed official processions organized by the cul-tural andor political elite and private processions conducted by families30 Many of theofficial state processions were regular events and were established dates in the festive cal-endar The ritual complex of the sacrifice-festival basically consisted of four elementsthe procession the sacrifice the meal and the contest31 Processions formed a majorpart of the cult activities and took place frequently in most of the Greek poleis32

The sacrifice of animals food garments and other precious possessions must beregarded as the central point of the whole cult while the procession was the essentialritual to bring the offerings to the altar33 The sacrificial ritual created the sacred space inwhich communication with the gods could take place34 Usually the altar lay inside thesanctuary (temenos) sometimes also inside the temple itself For that reason the sacrificecould not be witnessed by all citizens since the space around the altar was limited andentrance to the sanctuaries was commonly not allowed to all participants but only to thedignitaries35 The rituals of the procession which were compatible with the masses andthe feast after the sacrifice were necessary in order to bind everyone in the communityto the worship of the gods

My hypothesis is that the processions acquired higher importance with the growingnumber of inhabitants of the cities One can notice a correlation between the increasein population and the growing number of processions from the late archaic period (sev-enth century BCE)36 I suggest that the urgency of tying everyone individually to thegods in the cultic community (since religion was not based on faith but on deeds)37

led to mass rituals such as processions and festivals in which the whole cult-communitycould join and in whose rituals everyone could participate38

Ancient texts reflect the fact that processions were the biggest spectacle of all cultceremonies They are described as well-performed movements with music incense ani-mals gifts and wagons39 In state processions large choirs of maidens sang and danced

30 Official processions were in Hellenistic times ar-ranged by a benefactor (Kavoulaki Voigt

ndash )31 True et al 32 In Hellenistic times they occurred almost every day

(Boumlmer )33 Boumlmer 34 Communication is understood in two directions

the worshippers addressed their requests to thegods and the gods lsquoansweredrsquo by agreeing to receivethe sacrifice or not Without the agreement of thegods the sacrifice could not take place The godsusually communicated by natural phenomena suchas wind rain thunder or animals An interesting

discussion about the manner of religious commu-nication can be found in Scheer Frevel andHesberg and Koller ndash

35 Boumlmer 36 Compare with the schemata and the analysis in my

dissertation (Kubatzki )37 See the discourse on embedded religions38 In the case of sacrifice it meant that everyone got a

piece of the sacrificed animals The anthropologistJean-Pierre Vernant described this phenomenonof sharing flesh in his Cuisine of Sacrifice among theGreeks (Vernant )

39 Presented in the catalog in my dissertation (Ku-batzki )

The procession followed a specific route and probably passed many citizens watchingthe spectacle40 The audience was thus an important part of the ritual Athena Kavoulakiregards processions and theatre in the same category as ldquoviewing occasionsrdquo where thefocus is on the role of the viewer and ldquothe audience is a constitutive factor of perfor-mancerdquo41

The performance of the procession is a frame in which the participants should be-have differently ldquoin front of the eyes of a beholderrdquo it is ldquoa frame which in a way setsperformances apart from other everyday activitiesrdquo42 The texts and depictions also showthat the participants were dressed in their finest garments43 Especially late antique textsdescribe the luxury of the garments such as in Heliodorosrsquo Aithiopika44 It was the mo-ment of being ldquoon stagerdquo and an outstanding moment to represent the status hierarchyand luxury of the polis

The rise of procession scenes in the ancient Greek world aniconographic analysis

Processions are ancient rituals as the early wall depictions in Mesopotamia and Egyptreflect and as is known from the first moments of illustrations and texts (third millen-nium BCE)45 The younger Greek culture also presented processional scenes in its earli-est repertoire of images In contrast to the depictions of the late Geometric and Archaicperiods (eighthndashseventh century BCE) the earliest processional scenes were most fre-quently found on wall paintings and not on vase images46

One of the first depictions the Sarcophagus of Hagia Triada (Fig ) a cultural cen-ter of ancient Crete dates to the middle of the second millennium BCE (late MinoanIII A) Since its excavation in this Minoan sarcophagus has continued to hold theattention of scholars47 since it was made out of limestone (from the island of Poros) andnot clay as was usual in Minoan Crete48 Its painting can be read as a complex narrative

40 Boumlmer 41 Kavoulaki 42 Kavoulaki ndash The philosopher Maria A C

Otto describes the festival as a necessity for master-ing everyday life in its monotony (Otto )

43 ldquoThe wearing of festive garments can be assumed asa matter of courserdquo ndash Originally ldquoTragen von Fest-gewaumlndern darf als selbstverstaumlndlich angenommenwerdenrdquo (Boumlmer translation U Luig ndashSee also True et al and Graf )

44 Hld Aithiopika III 45 ldquoThe historical genesis of the festival (procession

of the gods) in Mesopotamia cannot be grasped

by scholarship because at the moment of the firstwritten record an anthropomorphic image of godexisted and the cults had already established them-selvesrdquo ndash Originally ldquoDie historische Genese desFestes (Goumltterprozession) ist in Mesopotamien fuumlrdie Wissenschaft nicht greifbar da mit dem Mo-ment der ersten schriftlichen Uumlberlieferung ein an-thropomorph gedachtes Goumltterbild existiert undKultetablierungen sich bereits vollzogen habenrdquo(Pongratz-Leisten translation U Luig)

46 Intensively considered by Blakolmer 47 For a recent bibliography see Burke n 48 Long n

Fig Side A Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

Fig Side B Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

referring to ldquolife death sacrifice homage passage and regenerationrdquo as Walgate pointsout49 The sarcophagus is covered in an elaborate polychrome fresco technique and de-picts figures on four sides These scenes show men and women standing or walkingin a row carrying offerings Both long sides show a sacrificial procession with festivelydressed worshippers of both sexes The narrow sides depict goats drawing wagons ledby female figures

Side A (Fig displays five figures stepping to right A captive bull lies on a tableunder which two little goats are squatting Next to the table a man is blowing a Phrygianaulos wearing a mouth band (phorbeia)50 He is followed by four women in processionidentifiable by their garments and white-colored skin51

Side B (Fig ) illustrates five male and two female figures in two different scenesThe women stepping to the left are accompanied by a lyre-playing man The first womanconducts a libation

On the right the men of the second group are walking towards a smaller figuredressed in a long fur-like robe which hides his arms and legs This male figure is receivingtwo goats and a boat in front of a temple or sarcophagus It seems that the two long sides

49 Walgate 50 An aulos (pl auloi) is a wind instrument consist-

ing of two tubes It is more a pipe than a flute andin sound is comparable to present-day oboes ThePhrygian aulos is an aulos with a specially adaptedhorn on one of the pipes This was able to deepen

the sound Auloi were the most common wind in-struments in Greek antiquity and in myth wereconnected with Dionysos the Satyrs Maenads andother ecstatic figures of Greek myths

51 There is discussion over the gender of these figures(Brand ndash )

each with two different scenes essentially belong together and may show either a cultperformance or a funeral52

The interpretation of these scenes depends on the interpretation of the figure infront of the building or sarcophagus If it is regarded as a statue the whole scene mustbe understood as a sacrificial procession with gifts animals and musicians But when itis interpreted as a dead person or a mummy the performance may rather be classifiedas a funeral procession53 A third interpretation is as the epiphany of a god since thefigure has no legs pr arms and seems to grow out of the ground This recalls vegetal godssuch as Zeus Velchanos as Erika Simon suggested54 Since the painted object itself is asarcophagus the funeral context cannot be neglected But whatever the prominent fig-ure may be ndash a dead person statue or god ndash the image represents a sacrificial processionwith sacrificial animals offerings a libation and music For that matter it is striking thatthe blood sacrifice on Side A (Fig ) is accompanied by an aulos while in the libationscene a kithara is shown55 Parallels to the Greek procession scenes a thousand years latercan be observed56 With regard to the iconography it can be concluded that particulardetails of the Greek sacrificial procession have a very long tradition right back to theMinoan age

Geometric Period the absence of processional scenes

This Minoan procession scene with its clear association with an animal sacrifice wasunique for a long time in Greek art Some centuries passed before the next processionscenes appeared in the Geometric period ( ndash BCE) In the Geometric paintingstyle processional acts appeared mainly in funeral contexts as ekphorai and prothesis pro-cessions The depictions of these performances are quite similar to the later processionscenes but sacrificial offerings and animals are absent since this was probably not atypical habit at funerals57

While these Early and Middle Geometric depictions prove that the principle of pro-cessional rites was familiar it is noticeable that no cultic procession scenes outside afuneral context appeared before the Late Geometric style

The first Geometric depictions that can be interpreted as cultic processions did notexist before the seventh century BCE They are iconographical combinations of orien-tal models and Cypriot round dancing scenes as the archaeologist Nota Kourou has

52 For a discussion of the topic depicted see Long Militello ndash Brand ndash Wal-gate ndash

53 Long 54 Simon 55 A kithara is a string instrument that was played with

a plectrum It was connected with Apollo profes-

sional musicians and elaborate music A discussionof the function of music in the procession is offeredbelow

56 See also Kavoulaki 57 Animal sacrifices indicated a ritual for a god or

from classical times for a hero

demonstrated58 Originating from female circle-dancing scenes these scenes representprocessions sometimes conducted or accompanied by a male musician59 Kourou ex-plains this invention of a new subject on vase images as an adoption of oriental pro-cession scenes which were appropriated by Phoenician craftsmen On Cyprus this wascombined with the traditional dancing scenes60 Considering this development we haveto ask why a familiar motif such as the procession which was well known in Minoantimes could be lsquoforgottenrsquo in Greek art for centuries and then be reintroduced by An-cient Near Eastern art The argument of Tsochos that the cult was not completely es-tablished at this time in Greek culture is questionable since the lack of images of acult practice is no evidence for the absence of this practice altogether61 We can only as-sume that for some reason it was more important to depict funeral scenes than sacrificialprocessions in early Greek art before the seventh century BCE

Circular dance scenes as a precursor

Circular dances can be regarded as another precursor of processional scenes since theiriconographical arrangement is very similar Dancing scenes as the archaeologist YosefGarfinkel has been able to show are the earliest depictions found in Mesopotamia theAncient Near East and Southern Europe of the Bronze Age62

Depictions of circular dances and processions coexisted on a few Cretan vessels63 ofthe late eighth century64 Aside from this Cretan exception the motif of figures partici-pating in processions with offerings and sacrificial animals did not appear until the mid-dle of the sixth century BCE The Late Geometric procession scenes mentioned aboveappear more as dance processions than as sacrificial processions It is noticeable that thesacrificial procession scenes enter the stage of Greek art at the time when the scenes ofcircular dances almost disappear

There is one explanation that can be attributed to the style of painting the EarlyGeometric style used human figures like all other ornaments as patterns that circled theround vessel65 The equality of all items is the reason why there is almost no differencebetween the dancing figures Also the arrangement of the figures in Wechselansicht ndashthat is with legs and heads shown from the side but the body shown frontally ndash wasuseful for illustrations of figures holding hands An example is the circular dance withmusicians from the late eighth century BCE on the Hydria Berlin SM A 66

58 Kourou ndash 59 Kourou 60 Kourou 61 Tsochos ndash 62 Garfinkel

63 Kunze ndash 64 Tsochos ndash 65 Kleine 66 See Haug fig

The painting technique of Wechselansicht may explain why dance scenes were favoredin the Geometric period There are hundreds of vessels decorated with circular dancescenes and only a handful of procession scenes which are highly debated67

With the beginning of the Orientalizing episode (seventh century BCE) the paintersstarted to show the figures consistently in profile which marks a break with the Geo-metric style The first scenes that could be regarded as processions show ldquolooserdquo circulardances68 eg figures in a row not holding hands Later in the first third of the seventhcentury circular dance scenes disappeared from vessels for quite a long time but ap-peared again years later Kleine gave a convincing reason for this disappearance sheargued that with the beginning of the profile view it was almost impossible to showfigures in a row holding hands69 However the lack of processional scenes in Wechse-lansicht in paintings where many similar figurative formations of rows did exist (funeralprocessions warriors in a row) is not explained by this argumentation

The absence of processional scenes in ceramics and other objects before the seventhcentury must also be explained with regard to the content not just the form When thesacrificial procession scenes came into existence in the middle of the Archaic periodtheir presentation was quite detailed as is shown on a Boeotian black-figure lekanisfrom about BCE70

It displays a relatively detailed sacrificial procession for the goddess Athena Pro-machos (the armed Athena) who is receiving the offerings Starting from Athena thepicture shows an altar with burning flames a girl with a basket (kanephore) and two sac-rificial animals while the bull is accompanied by an auletes (a male aulos player) somenude worshippers and a wagon pulled by two mules While the men before the wagonare striding towards the altar the men beyond it seem to be dancing since their feetare lifted slightly from the ground Their focus in different directions could also be readas dancing positions This depiction may show both a sacrificial procession and a ritualdance because the first group of men are clearly stepping in the same direction as wasusual in processional scenes

From the middle of the sixth century BCE processional scenes increased in Greekvase painting Tsochos counts hundreds of them in Greek art with their maximum fre-quency in black-figure painting of the Archaic period71 A similar event occurred whenthe sacrifice scenes appeared in Greek art at the end of the black-figure style Their in-crease correlates with the disappearance of procession scenes72 A reason for this devel-

67 See for instance Tsochos ndash and Kourou ndash

68 Mannack ndash Kourou also interpretsthese loose dances as processions as was shown be-fore

69 Kleine ndash On the other hand there are a fewexceptions that show that it was possible to illustrate

circular dancing in profile view The best exampleis a dance row on the Francois krater sixth centuryBCE

70 Kubatzki fig 71 Tsochos catalogue72 See Kubatzki

opment may be found in the painting technique such as the growing figures whichfilled the ground of the image and the lsquozooming inrsquo to the altar Simply put because ofthe new painting technique of bigger more detailed figures it was in the end the lackof space on the vessels that led to more scenes of sacrifice on an altar But socio-politicalreasons may also be important The archaeologist Heike Laxander bases her interpreta-tion on a shift from collective scenes such as dances funerals and processions to moreindividual scenes such as single figures such as a god on the altar or sacrifice sceneswith few figures73

The main difference between the two ritual performances is the way ritual spaceis treated On the one hand circular dance scenes are signified by participants holdinghands and dancing around a meaningful object or place such as an altar This perfor-mance fits well for small groups celebrating their identity by worshipping gods main-taining their social values and rules which are embodied through dancing and by cre-ating a safe frame in which communication could take place74 On the other hand pro-cessions allow a greater number of worshippers to participate They can be interpretedas a broken circle ndash since they have a starting point and a target

Both rituals are about maintaining communal identity and the worship of the godsbut their body language and performance are different Their mission is the same tobring the community together and create a sacred space However since processionscan assemble more worshippers they are therefore more useful for larger communitiessuch as states

Organization composition and ritual performances of processions

Although we have some depictions on vessels showing processions from the seventhcentury up to the Hellenistic period their composition cannot be taken as a one-to-one representation of reality Like all paintings in ancient Greece the particular itemsmust be read as a pictographic language It was Heike Laxander who pointed out thepars pro toto principle75 by which each figure in the procession scene symbolizes theparticipation of one or more persons of a given group (kanephoros musicians servantswarriors priests) Also the order of the participants as shown in the pictures cannotsimply be taken at face value although it does at least inform us about the hierarchy ofthe positions More details about the composition of the procession are therefore drawnfrom ancient texts and epigraphy76

73 Laxander 74 See above Voigt

75 Laxander ndash Kurt Lehnstaedt formulatedthis principle decades previously though withoutnaming it (Lehnstaedt )

76 First and foremost the collection of Franz Boumlmermust be considered who collected more thandata about ancient Greek processions Boumlmer

Processions were not spontaneous happenings in a community but were plannedby a cultural or political elite in Hellenistic times this could have been a benefactor orthe most senior family member in the case of private processions77 The larger officialprocessions most likely followed a special procession route beginning at a central place(most often the agora of the city) and passing the important streets and temples of sev-eral gods78 Special procession streets the hierai horoi are known from Eleusis DelphiAmyklai Sykyrion and Didyma79 The goal of processions was the altar but we haveonly a little knowledge about the starting point were the participants assembled in aspecial place such as the agora or did they start from their own houses as Graf suggests80

At Athens there was a special building for the assembly of the participants fromHellenistic times onwards the pompeion It was built at the beginning of the fourthcentury BCE between two of the boundary gates of Athens the Sacred Gate and theDipylon Gate81 Important Processions such as the Panathenaia or the procession of theMysteries to Eleusis started from there82

The pompeion consisted of a large open court with a surrounding portico and wasbuilt as part of the wall next to Athensrsquo cemetery the Kerameikos Since such special-ized buildings were not known before Hellenistic times I argue that this shows a de-velopment in the organization of processions They became more institutionalized andpresented a higher level of cultic performance The architecture turned these transientperformances into timeless events even when the cultic rituals were conducted Theyembodied a permanent act The position of the pompeion on the boundary between thecity and the Kerameikos which lies outside the city walls created links between the livingand the dead as well as between the outside and the inside of the city Kavoulaki callsthis ldquoa transitional point between the city and the wider peripheryrdquo83

Since the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the goal of the Panathenaia it was nec-essary to traverse the whole city The philologist Fritz Graf has called these inner cityprocessions ldquocentripetalrdquo in opposition to the ldquocentrifugalrdquo ones that started from thecenter (the agora) and led to a sanctuary outside the city84 eg the Mysteria85 It is proba-ble that alongside the procession several ritual performances occurred such as sacrifices

77 Voigt ndash see also Kavoulaki 78 Compare with True et al For a more de-

tailed description of the route of the Athenian Pana-thenaia see Kavoulaki and n

79 Boumlmer see also Hammerschmied thisvolume

80 ldquo[hellip] and whether they had already formed a smallprocession from their home through the city streetsThis would seem to have been likely since theymust have been conspicuous wearing their Sundaybest and crownsrdquo (Graf )

81 For a digital reconstruction of the pompeion see httptravelingclassroomorgwp-contentuploads

Pompeion_aerialjpg (visited on ) ndashOn the dating of the pompeion see Hoepfner

82 Boumlmer True et al 83 Kavoulaki 84 Graf 85 See also Kavoulaki

the city the destination was the sanctuary especially the altar where the sacrifice wascarried out Two types of procession existed official processions organized by the cul-tural andor political elite and private processions conducted by families30 Many of theofficial state processions were regular events and were established dates in the festive cal-endar The ritual complex of the sacrifice-festival basically consisted of four elementsthe procession the sacrifice the meal and the contest31 Processions formed a majorpart of the cult activities and took place frequently in most of the Greek poleis32

The sacrifice of animals food garments and other precious possessions must beregarded as the central point of the whole cult while the procession was the essentialritual to bring the offerings to the altar33 The sacrificial ritual created the sacred space inwhich communication with the gods could take place34 Usually the altar lay inside thesanctuary (temenos) sometimes also inside the temple itself For that reason the sacrificecould not be witnessed by all citizens since the space around the altar was limited andentrance to the sanctuaries was commonly not allowed to all participants but only to thedignitaries35 The rituals of the procession which were compatible with the masses andthe feast after the sacrifice were necessary in order to bind everyone in the communityto the worship of the gods

My hypothesis is that the processions acquired higher importance with the growingnumber of inhabitants of the cities One can notice a correlation between the increasein population and the growing number of processions from the late archaic period (sev-enth century BCE)36 I suggest that the urgency of tying everyone individually to thegods in the cultic community (since religion was not based on faith but on deeds)37

led to mass rituals such as processions and festivals in which the whole cult-communitycould join and in whose rituals everyone could participate38

Ancient texts reflect the fact that processions were the biggest spectacle of all cultceremonies They are described as well-performed movements with music incense ani-mals gifts and wagons39 In state processions large choirs of maidens sang and danced

30 Official processions were in Hellenistic times ar-ranged by a benefactor (Kavoulaki Voigt

ndash )31 True et al 32 In Hellenistic times they occurred almost every day

(Boumlmer )33 Boumlmer 34 Communication is understood in two directions

the worshippers addressed their requests to thegods and the gods lsquoansweredrsquo by agreeing to receivethe sacrifice or not Without the agreement of thegods the sacrifice could not take place The godsusually communicated by natural phenomena suchas wind rain thunder or animals An interesting

discussion about the manner of religious commu-nication can be found in Scheer Frevel andHesberg and Koller ndash

35 Boumlmer 36 Compare with the schemata and the analysis in my

dissertation (Kubatzki )37 See the discourse on embedded religions38 In the case of sacrifice it meant that everyone got a

piece of the sacrificed animals The anthropologistJean-Pierre Vernant described this phenomenonof sharing flesh in his Cuisine of Sacrifice among theGreeks (Vernant )

39 Presented in the catalog in my dissertation (Ku-batzki )

The procession followed a specific route and probably passed many citizens watchingthe spectacle40 The audience was thus an important part of the ritual Athena Kavoulakiregards processions and theatre in the same category as ldquoviewing occasionsrdquo where thefocus is on the role of the viewer and ldquothe audience is a constitutive factor of perfor-mancerdquo41

The performance of the procession is a frame in which the participants should be-have differently ldquoin front of the eyes of a beholderrdquo it is ldquoa frame which in a way setsperformances apart from other everyday activitiesrdquo42 The texts and depictions also showthat the participants were dressed in their finest garments43 Especially late antique textsdescribe the luxury of the garments such as in Heliodorosrsquo Aithiopika44 It was the mo-ment of being ldquoon stagerdquo and an outstanding moment to represent the status hierarchyand luxury of the polis

The rise of procession scenes in the ancient Greek world aniconographic analysis

Processions are ancient rituals as the early wall depictions in Mesopotamia and Egyptreflect and as is known from the first moments of illustrations and texts (third millen-nium BCE)45 The younger Greek culture also presented processional scenes in its earli-est repertoire of images In contrast to the depictions of the late Geometric and Archaicperiods (eighthndashseventh century BCE) the earliest processional scenes were most fre-quently found on wall paintings and not on vase images46

One of the first depictions the Sarcophagus of Hagia Triada (Fig ) a cultural cen-ter of ancient Crete dates to the middle of the second millennium BCE (late MinoanIII A) Since its excavation in this Minoan sarcophagus has continued to hold theattention of scholars47 since it was made out of limestone (from the island of Poros) andnot clay as was usual in Minoan Crete48 Its painting can be read as a complex narrative

40 Boumlmer 41 Kavoulaki 42 Kavoulaki ndash The philosopher Maria A C

Otto describes the festival as a necessity for master-ing everyday life in its monotony (Otto )

43 ldquoThe wearing of festive garments can be assumed asa matter of courserdquo ndash Originally ldquoTragen von Fest-gewaumlndern darf als selbstverstaumlndlich angenommenwerdenrdquo (Boumlmer translation U Luig ndashSee also True et al and Graf )

44 Hld Aithiopika III 45 ldquoThe historical genesis of the festival (procession

of the gods) in Mesopotamia cannot be grasped

by scholarship because at the moment of the firstwritten record an anthropomorphic image of godexisted and the cults had already established them-selvesrdquo ndash Originally ldquoDie historische Genese desFestes (Goumltterprozession) ist in Mesopotamien fuumlrdie Wissenschaft nicht greifbar da mit dem Mo-ment der ersten schriftlichen Uumlberlieferung ein an-thropomorph gedachtes Goumltterbild existiert undKultetablierungen sich bereits vollzogen habenrdquo(Pongratz-Leisten translation U Luig)

46 Intensively considered by Blakolmer 47 For a recent bibliography see Burke n 48 Long n

Fig Side A Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

Fig Side B Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

referring to ldquolife death sacrifice homage passage and regenerationrdquo as Walgate pointsout49 The sarcophagus is covered in an elaborate polychrome fresco technique and de-picts figures on four sides These scenes show men and women standing or walkingin a row carrying offerings Both long sides show a sacrificial procession with festivelydressed worshippers of both sexes The narrow sides depict goats drawing wagons ledby female figures

Side A (Fig displays five figures stepping to right A captive bull lies on a tableunder which two little goats are squatting Next to the table a man is blowing a Phrygianaulos wearing a mouth band (phorbeia)50 He is followed by four women in processionidentifiable by their garments and white-colored skin51

Side B (Fig ) illustrates five male and two female figures in two different scenesThe women stepping to the left are accompanied by a lyre-playing man The first womanconducts a libation

On the right the men of the second group are walking towards a smaller figuredressed in a long fur-like robe which hides his arms and legs This male figure is receivingtwo goats and a boat in front of a temple or sarcophagus It seems that the two long sides

49 Walgate 50 An aulos (pl auloi) is a wind instrument consist-

ing of two tubes It is more a pipe than a flute andin sound is comparable to present-day oboes ThePhrygian aulos is an aulos with a specially adaptedhorn on one of the pipes This was able to deepen

the sound Auloi were the most common wind in-struments in Greek antiquity and in myth wereconnected with Dionysos the Satyrs Maenads andother ecstatic figures of Greek myths

51 There is discussion over the gender of these figures(Brand ndash )

each with two different scenes essentially belong together and may show either a cultperformance or a funeral52

The interpretation of these scenes depends on the interpretation of the figure infront of the building or sarcophagus If it is regarded as a statue the whole scene mustbe understood as a sacrificial procession with gifts animals and musicians But when itis interpreted as a dead person or a mummy the performance may rather be classifiedas a funeral procession53 A third interpretation is as the epiphany of a god since thefigure has no legs pr arms and seems to grow out of the ground This recalls vegetal godssuch as Zeus Velchanos as Erika Simon suggested54 Since the painted object itself is asarcophagus the funeral context cannot be neglected But whatever the prominent fig-ure may be ndash a dead person statue or god ndash the image represents a sacrificial processionwith sacrificial animals offerings a libation and music For that matter it is striking thatthe blood sacrifice on Side A (Fig ) is accompanied by an aulos while in the libationscene a kithara is shown55 Parallels to the Greek procession scenes a thousand years latercan be observed56 With regard to the iconography it can be concluded that particulardetails of the Greek sacrificial procession have a very long tradition right back to theMinoan age

Geometric Period the absence of processional scenes

This Minoan procession scene with its clear association with an animal sacrifice wasunique for a long time in Greek art Some centuries passed before the next processionscenes appeared in the Geometric period ( ndash BCE) In the Geometric paintingstyle processional acts appeared mainly in funeral contexts as ekphorai and prothesis pro-cessions The depictions of these performances are quite similar to the later processionscenes but sacrificial offerings and animals are absent since this was probably not atypical habit at funerals57

While these Early and Middle Geometric depictions prove that the principle of pro-cessional rites was familiar it is noticeable that no cultic procession scenes outside afuneral context appeared before the Late Geometric style

The first Geometric depictions that can be interpreted as cultic processions did notexist before the seventh century BCE They are iconographical combinations of orien-tal models and Cypriot round dancing scenes as the archaeologist Nota Kourou has

52 For a discussion of the topic depicted see Long Militello ndash Brand ndash Wal-gate ndash

53 Long 54 Simon 55 A kithara is a string instrument that was played with

a plectrum It was connected with Apollo profes-

sional musicians and elaborate music A discussionof the function of music in the procession is offeredbelow

56 See also Kavoulaki 57 Animal sacrifices indicated a ritual for a god or

from classical times for a hero

demonstrated58 Originating from female circle-dancing scenes these scenes representprocessions sometimes conducted or accompanied by a male musician59 Kourou ex-plains this invention of a new subject on vase images as an adoption of oriental pro-cession scenes which were appropriated by Phoenician craftsmen On Cyprus this wascombined with the traditional dancing scenes60 Considering this development we haveto ask why a familiar motif such as the procession which was well known in Minoantimes could be lsquoforgottenrsquo in Greek art for centuries and then be reintroduced by An-cient Near Eastern art The argument of Tsochos that the cult was not completely es-tablished at this time in Greek culture is questionable since the lack of images of acult practice is no evidence for the absence of this practice altogether61 We can only as-sume that for some reason it was more important to depict funeral scenes than sacrificialprocessions in early Greek art before the seventh century BCE

Circular dance scenes as a precursor

Circular dances can be regarded as another precursor of processional scenes since theiriconographical arrangement is very similar Dancing scenes as the archaeologist YosefGarfinkel has been able to show are the earliest depictions found in Mesopotamia theAncient Near East and Southern Europe of the Bronze Age62

Depictions of circular dances and processions coexisted on a few Cretan vessels63 ofthe late eighth century64 Aside from this Cretan exception the motif of figures partici-pating in processions with offerings and sacrificial animals did not appear until the mid-dle of the sixth century BCE The Late Geometric procession scenes mentioned aboveappear more as dance processions than as sacrificial processions It is noticeable that thesacrificial procession scenes enter the stage of Greek art at the time when the scenes ofcircular dances almost disappear

There is one explanation that can be attributed to the style of painting the EarlyGeometric style used human figures like all other ornaments as patterns that circled theround vessel65 The equality of all items is the reason why there is almost no differencebetween the dancing figures Also the arrangement of the figures in Wechselansicht ndashthat is with legs and heads shown from the side but the body shown frontally ndash wasuseful for illustrations of figures holding hands An example is the circular dance withmusicians from the late eighth century BCE on the Hydria Berlin SM A 66

58 Kourou ndash 59 Kourou 60 Kourou 61 Tsochos ndash 62 Garfinkel

63 Kunze ndash 64 Tsochos ndash 65 Kleine 66 See Haug fig

The painting technique of Wechselansicht may explain why dance scenes were favoredin the Geometric period There are hundreds of vessels decorated with circular dancescenes and only a handful of procession scenes which are highly debated67

With the beginning of the Orientalizing episode (seventh century BCE) the paintersstarted to show the figures consistently in profile which marks a break with the Geo-metric style The first scenes that could be regarded as processions show ldquolooserdquo circulardances68 eg figures in a row not holding hands Later in the first third of the seventhcentury circular dance scenes disappeared from vessels for quite a long time but ap-peared again years later Kleine gave a convincing reason for this disappearance sheargued that with the beginning of the profile view it was almost impossible to showfigures in a row holding hands69 However the lack of processional scenes in Wechse-lansicht in paintings where many similar figurative formations of rows did exist (funeralprocessions warriors in a row) is not explained by this argumentation

The absence of processional scenes in ceramics and other objects before the seventhcentury must also be explained with regard to the content not just the form When thesacrificial procession scenes came into existence in the middle of the Archaic periodtheir presentation was quite detailed as is shown on a Boeotian black-figure lekanisfrom about BCE70

It displays a relatively detailed sacrificial procession for the goddess Athena Pro-machos (the armed Athena) who is receiving the offerings Starting from Athena thepicture shows an altar with burning flames a girl with a basket (kanephore) and two sac-rificial animals while the bull is accompanied by an auletes (a male aulos player) somenude worshippers and a wagon pulled by two mules While the men before the wagonare striding towards the altar the men beyond it seem to be dancing since their feetare lifted slightly from the ground Their focus in different directions could also be readas dancing positions This depiction may show both a sacrificial procession and a ritualdance because the first group of men are clearly stepping in the same direction as wasusual in processional scenes

From the middle of the sixth century BCE processional scenes increased in Greekvase painting Tsochos counts hundreds of them in Greek art with their maximum fre-quency in black-figure painting of the Archaic period71 A similar event occurred whenthe sacrifice scenes appeared in Greek art at the end of the black-figure style Their in-crease correlates with the disappearance of procession scenes72 A reason for this devel-

67 See for instance Tsochos ndash and Kourou ndash

68 Mannack ndash Kourou also interpretsthese loose dances as processions as was shown be-fore

69 Kleine ndash On the other hand there are a fewexceptions that show that it was possible to illustrate

circular dancing in profile view The best exampleis a dance row on the Francois krater sixth centuryBCE

70 Kubatzki fig 71 Tsochos catalogue72 See Kubatzki

opment may be found in the painting technique such as the growing figures whichfilled the ground of the image and the lsquozooming inrsquo to the altar Simply put because ofthe new painting technique of bigger more detailed figures it was in the end the lackof space on the vessels that led to more scenes of sacrifice on an altar But socio-politicalreasons may also be important The archaeologist Heike Laxander bases her interpreta-tion on a shift from collective scenes such as dances funerals and processions to moreindividual scenes such as single figures such as a god on the altar or sacrifice sceneswith few figures73

The main difference between the two ritual performances is the way ritual spaceis treated On the one hand circular dance scenes are signified by participants holdinghands and dancing around a meaningful object or place such as an altar This perfor-mance fits well for small groups celebrating their identity by worshipping gods main-taining their social values and rules which are embodied through dancing and by cre-ating a safe frame in which communication could take place74 On the other hand pro-cessions allow a greater number of worshippers to participate They can be interpretedas a broken circle ndash since they have a starting point and a target

Both rituals are about maintaining communal identity and the worship of the godsbut their body language and performance are different Their mission is the same tobring the community together and create a sacred space However since processionscan assemble more worshippers they are therefore more useful for larger communitiessuch as states

Organization composition and ritual performances of processions

Although we have some depictions on vessels showing processions from the seventhcentury up to the Hellenistic period their composition cannot be taken as a one-to-one representation of reality Like all paintings in ancient Greece the particular itemsmust be read as a pictographic language It was Heike Laxander who pointed out thepars pro toto principle75 by which each figure in the procession scene symbolizes theparticipation of one or more persons of a given group (kanephoros musicians servantswarriors priests) Also the order of the participants as shown in the pictures cannotsimply be taken at face value although it does at least inform us about the hierarchy ofthe positions More details about the composition of the procession are therefore drawnfrom ancient texts and epigraphy76

73 Laxander 74 See above Voigt

75 Laxander ndash Kurt Lehnstaedt formulatedthis principle decades previously though withoutnaming it (Lehnstaedt )

76 First and foremost the collection of Franz Boumlmermust be considered who collected more thandata about ancient Greek processions Boumlmer

Processions were not spontaneous happenings in a community but were plannedby a cultural or political elite in Hellenistic times this could have been a benefactor orthe most senior family member in the case of private processions77 The larger officialprocessions most likely followed a special procession route beginning at a central place(most often the agora of the city) and passing the important streets and temples of sev-eral gods78 Special procession streets the hierai horoi are known from Eleusis DelphiAmyklai Sykyrion and Didyma79 The goal of processions was the altar but we haveonly a little knowledge about the starting point were the participants assembled in aspecial place such as the agora or did they start from their own houses as Graf suggests80

At Athens there was a special building for the assembly of the participants fromHellenistic times onwards the pompeion It was built at the beginning of the fourthcentury BCE between two of the boundary gates of Athens the Sacred Gate and theDipylon Gate81 Important Processions such as the Panathenaia or the procession of theMysteries to Eleusis started from there82

The pompeion consisted of a large open court with a surrounding portico and wasbuilt as part of the wall next to Athensrsquo cemetery the Kerameikos Since such special-ized buildings were not known before Hellenistic times I argue that this shows a de-velopment in the organization of processions They became more institutionalized andpresented a higher level of cultic performance The architecture turned these transientperformances into timeless events even when the cultic rituals were conducted Theyembodied a permanent act The position of the pompeion on the boundary between thecity and the Kerameikos which lies outside the city walls created links between the livingand the dead as well as between the outside and the inside of the city Kavoulaki callsthis ldquoa transitional point between the city and the wider peripheryrdquo83

Since the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the goal of the Panathenaia it was nec-essary to traverse the whole city The philologist Fritz Graf has called these inner cityprocessions ldquocentripetalrdquo in opposition to the ldquocentrifugalrdquo ones that started from thecenter (the agora) and led to a sanctuary outside the city84 eg the Mysteria85 It is proba-ble that alongside the procession several ritual performances occurred such as sacrifices

77 Voigt ndash see also Kavoulaki 78 Compare with True et al For a more de-

tailed description of the route of the Athenian Pana-thenaia see Kavoulaki and n

79 Boumlmer see also Hammerschmied thisvolume

80 ldquo[hellip] and whether they had already formed a smallprocession from their home through the city streetsThis would seem to have been likely since theymust have been conspicuous wearing their Sundaybest and crownsrdquo (Graf )

81 For a digital reconstruction of the pompeion see httptravelingclassroomorgwp-contentuploads

Pompeion_aerialjpg (visited on ) ndashOn the dating of the pompeion see Hoepfner

82 Boumlmer True et al 83 Kavoulaki 84 Graf 85 See also Kavoulaki

The procession followed a specific route and probably passed many citizens watchingthe spectacle40 The audience was thus an important part of the ritual Athena Kavoulakiregards processions and theatre in the same category as ldquoviewing occasionsrdquo where thefocus is on the role of the viewer and ldquothe audience is a constitutive factor of perfor-mancerdquo41

The performance of the procession is a frame in which the participants should be-have differently ldquoin front of the eyes of a beholderrdquo it is ldquoa frame which in a way setsperformances apart from other everyday activitiesrdquo42 The texts and depictions also showthat the participants were dressed in their finest garments43 Especially late antique textsdescribe the luxury of the garments such as in Heliodorosrsquo Aithiopika44 It was the mo-ment of being ldquoon stagerdquo and an outstanding moment to represent the status hierarchyand luxury of the polis

The rise of procession scenes in the ancient Greek world aniconographic analysis

Processions are ancient rituals as the early wall depictions in Mesopotamia and Egyptreflect and as is known from the first moments of illustrations and texts (third millen-nium BCE)45 The younger Greek culture also presented processional scenes in its earli-est repertoire of images In contrast to the depictions of the late Geometric and Archaicperiods (eighthndashseventh century BCE) the earliest processional scenes were most fre-quently found on wall paintings and not on vase images46

One of the first depictions the Sarcophagus of Hagia Triada (Fig ) a cultural cen-ter of ancient Crete dates to the middle of the second millennium BCE (late MinoanIII A) Since its excavation in this Minoan sarcophagus has continued to hold theattention of scholars47 since it was made out of limestone (from the island of Poros) andnot clay as was usual in Minoan Crete48 Its painting can be read as a complex narrative

40 Boumlmer 41 Kavoulaki 42 Kavoulaki ndash The philosopher Maria A C

Otto describes the festival as a necessity for master-ing everyday life in its monotony (Otto )

43 ldquoThe wearing of festive garments can be assumed asa matter of courserdquo ndash Originally ldquoTragen von Fest-gewaumlndern darf als selbstverstaumlndlich angenommenwerdenrdquo (Boumlmer translation U Luig ndashSee also True et al and Graf )

44 Hld Aithiopika III 45 ldquoThe historical genesis of the festival (procession

of the gods) in Mesopotamia cannot be grasped

by scholarship because at the moment of the firstwritten record an anthropomorphic image of godexisted and the cults had already established them-selvesrdquo ndash Originally ldquoDie historische Genese desFestes (Goumltterprozession) ist in Mesopotamien fuumlrdie Wissenschaft nicht greifbar da mit dem Mo-ment der ersten schriftlichen Uumlberlieferung ein an-thropomorph gedachtes Goumltterbild existiert undKultetablierungen sich bereits vollzogen habenrdquo(Pongratz-Leisten translation U Luig)

46 Intensively considered by Blakolmer 47 For a recent bibliography see Burke n 48 Long n

Fig Side A Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

Fig Side B Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

referring to ldquolife death sacrifice homage passage and regenerationrdquo as Walgate pointsout49 The sarcophagus is covered in an elaborate polychrome fresco technique and de-picts figures on four sides These scenes show men and women standing or walkingin a row carrying offerings Both long sides show a sacrificial procession with festivelydressed worshippers of both sexes The narrow sides depict goats drawing wagons ledby female figures

Side A (Fig displays five figures stepping to right A captive bull lies on a tableunder which two little goats are squatting Next to the table a man is blowing a Phrygianaulos wearing a mouth band (phorbeia)50 He is followed by four women in processionidentifiable by their garments and white-colored skin51

Side B (Fig ) illustrates five male and two female figures in two different scenesThe women stepping to the left are accompanied by a lyre-playing man The first womanconducts a libation

On the right the men of the second group are walking towards a smaller figuredressed in a long fur-like robe which hides his arms and legs This male figure is receivingtwo goats and a boat in front of a temple or sarcophagus It seems that the two long sides

49 Walgate 50 An aulos (pl auloi) is a wind instrument consist-

ing of two tubes It is more a pipe than a flute andin sound is comparable to present-day oboes ThePhrygian aulos is an aulos with a specially adaptedhorn on one of the pipes This was able to deepen

the sound Auloi were the most common wind in-struments in Greek antiquity and in myth wereconnected with Dionysos the Satyrs Maenads andother ecstatic figures of Greek myths

51 There is discussion over the gender of these figures(Brand ndash )

each with two different scenes essentially belong together and may show either a cultperformance or a funeral52

The interpretation of these scenes depends on the interpretation of the figure infront of the building or sarcophagus If it is regarded as a statue the whole scene mustbe understood as a sacrificial procession with gifts animals and musicians But when itis interpreted as a dead person or a mummy the performance may rather be classifiedas a funeral procession53 A third interpretation is as the epiphany of a god since thefigure has no legs pr arms and seems to grow out of the ground This recalls vegetal godssuch as Zeus Velchanos as Erika Simon suggested54 Since the painted object itself is asarcophagus the funeral context cannot be neglected But whatever the prominent fig-ure may be ndash a dead person statue or god ndash the image represents a sacrificial processionwith sacrificial animals offerings a libation and music For that matter it is striking thatthe blood sacrifice on Side A (Fig ) is accompanied by an aulos while in the libationscene a kithara is shown55 Parallels to the Greek procession scenes a thousand years latercan be observed56 With regard to the iconography it can be concluded that particulardetails of the Greek sacrificial procession have a very long tradition right back to theMinoan age

Geometric Period the absence of processional scenes

This Minoan procession scene with its clear association with an animal sacrifice wasunique for a long time in Greek art Some centuries passed before the next processionscenes appeared in the Geometric period ( ndash BCE) In the Geometric paintingstyle processional acts appeared mainly in funeral contexts as ekphorai and prothesis pro-cessions The depictions of these performances are quite similar to the later processionscenes but sacrificial offerings and animals are absent since this was probably not atypical habit at funerals57

While these Early and Middle Geometric depictions prove that the principle of pro-cessional rites was familiar it is noticeable that no cultic procession scenes outside afuneral context appeared before the Late Geometric style

The first Geometric depictions that can be interpreted as cultic processions did notexist before the seventh century BCE They are iconographical combinations of orien-tal models and Cypriot round dancing scenes as the archaeologist Nota Kourou has

52 For a discussion of the topic depicted see Long Militello ndash Brand ndash Wal-gate ndash

53 Long 54 Simon 55 A kithara is a string instrument that was played with

a plectrum It was connected with Apollo profes-

sional musicians and elaborate music A discussionof the function of music in the procession is offeredbelow

56 See also Kavoulaki 57 Animal sacrifices indicated a ritual for a god or

from classical times for a hero

demonstrated58 Originating from female circle-dancing scenes these scenes representprocessions sometimes conducted or accompanied by a male musician59 Kourou ex-plains this invention of a new subject on vase images as an adoption of oriental pro-cession scenes which were appropriated by Phoenician craftsmen On Cyprus this wascombined with the traditional dancing scenes60 Considering this development we haveto ask why a familiar motif such as the procession which was well known in Minoantimes could be lsquoforgottenrsquo in Greek art for centuries and then be reintroduced by An-cient Near Eastern art The argument of Tsochos that the cult was not completely es-tablished at this time in Greek culture is questionable since the lack of images of acult practice is no evidence for the absence of this practice altogether61 We can only as-sume that for some reason it was more important to depict funeral scenes than sacrificialprocessions in early Greek art before the seventh century BCE

Circular dance scenes as a precursor

Circular dances can be regarded as another precursor of processional scenes since theiriconographical arrangement is very similar Dancing scenes as the archaeologist YosefGarfinkel has been able to show are the earliest depictions found in Mesopotamia theAncient Near East and Southern Europe of the Bronze Age62

Depictions of circular dances and processions coexisted on a few Cretan vessels63 ofthe late eighth century64 Aside from this Cretan exception the motif of figures partici-pating in processions with offerings and sacrificial animals did not appear until the mid-dle of the sixth century BCE The Late Geometric procession scenes mentioned aboveappear more as dance processions than as sacrificial processions It is noticeable that thesacrificial procession scenes enter the stage of Greek art at the time when the scenes ofcircular dances almost disappear

There is one explanation that can be attributed to the style of painting the EarlyGeometric style used human figures like all other ornaments as patterns that circled theround vessel65 The equality of all items is the reason why there is almost no differencebetween the dancing figures Also the arrangement of the figures in Wechselansicht ndashthat is with legs and heads shown from the side but the body shown frontally ndash wasuseful for illustrations of figures holding hands An example is the circular dance withmusicians from the late eighth century BCE on the Hydria Berlin SM A 66

58 Kourou ndash 59 Kourou 60 Kourou 61 Tsochos ndash 62 Garfinkel

63 Kunze ndash 64 Tsochos ndash 65 Kleine 66 See Haug fig

The painting technique of Wechselansicht may explain why dance scenes were favoredin the Geometric period There are hundreds of vessels decorated with circular dancescenes and only a handful of procession scenes which are highly debated67

With the beginning of the Orientalizing episode (seventh century BCE) the paintersstarted to show the figures consistently in profile which marks a break with the Geo-metric style The first scenes that could be regarded as processions show ldquolooserdquo circulardances68 eg figures in a row not holding hands Later in the first third of the seventhcentury circular dance scenes disappeared from vessels for quite a long time but ap-peared again years later Kleine gave a convincing reason for this disappearance sheargued that with the beginning of the profile view it was almost impossible to showfigures in a row holding hands69 However the lack of processional scenes in Wechse-lansicht in paintings where many similar figurative formations of rows did exist (funeralprocessions warriors in a row) is not explained by this argumentation

The absence of processional scenes in ceramics and other objects before the seventhcentury must also be explained with regard to the content not just the form When thesacrificial procession scenes came into existence in the middle of the Archaic periodtheir presentation was quite detailed as is shown on a Boeotian black-figure lekanisfrom about BCE70

It displays a relatively detailed sacrificial procession for the goddess Athena Pro-machos (the armed Athena) who is receiving the offerings Starting from Athena thepicture shows an altar with burning flames a girl with a basket (kanephore) and two sac-rificial animals while the bull is accompanied by an auletes (a male aulos player) somenude worshippers and a wagon pulled by two mules While the men before the wagonare striding towards the altar the men beyond it seem to be dancing since their feetare lifted slightly from the ground Their focus in different directions could also be readas dancing positions This depiction may show both a sacrificial procession and a ritualdance because the first group of men are clearly stepping in the same direction as wasusual in processional scenes

From the middle of the sixth century BCE processional scenes increased in Greekvase painting Tsochos counts hundreds of them in Greek art with their maximum fre-quency in black-figure painting of the Archaic period71 A similar event occurred whenthe sacrifice scenes appeared in Greek art at the end of the black-figure style Their in-crease correlates with the disappearance of procession scenes72 A reason for this devel-

67 See for instance Tsochos ndash and Kourou ndash

68 Mannack ndash Kourou also interpretsthese loose dances as processions as was shown be-fore

69 Kleine ndash On the other hand there are a fewexceptions that show that it was possible to illustrate

circular dancing in profile view The best exampleis a dance row on the Francois krater sixth centuryBCE

70 Kubatzki fig 71 Tsochos catalogue72 See Kubatzki

opment may be found in the painting technique such as the growing figures whichfilled the ground of the image and the lsquozooming inrsquo to the altar Simply put because ofthe new painting technique of bigger more detailed figures it was in the end the lackof space on the vessels that led to more scenes of sacrifice on an altar But socio-politicalreasons may also be important The archaeologist Heike Laxander bases her interpreta-tion on a shift from collective scenes such as dances funerals and processions to moreindividual scenes such as single figures such as a god on the altar or sacrifice sceneswith few figures73

The main difference between the two ritual performances is the way ritual spaceis treated On the one hand circular dance scenes are signified by participants holdinghands and dancing around a meaningful object or place such as an altar This perfor-mance fits well for small groups celebrating their identity by worshipping gods main-taining their social values and rules which are embodied through dancing and by cre-ating a safe frame in which communication could take place74 On the other hand pro-cessions allow a greater number of worshippers to participate They can be interpretedas a broken circle ndash since they have a starting point and a target

Both rituals are about maintaining communal identity and the worship of the godsbut their body language and performance are different Their mission is the same tobring the community together and create a sacred space However since processionscan assemble more worshippers they are therefore more useful for larger communitiessuch as states

Organization composition and ritual performances of processions

Although we have some depictions on vessels showing processions from the seventhcentury up to the Hellenistic period their composition cannot be taken as a one-to-one representation of reality Like all paintings in ancient Greece the particular itemsmust be read as a pictographic language It was Heike Laxander who pointed out thepars pro toto principle75 by which each figure in the procession scene symbolizes theparticipation of one or more persons of a given group (kanephoros musicians servantswarriors priests) Also the order of the participants as shown in the pictures cannotsimply be taken at face value although it does at least inform us about the hierarchy ofthe positions More details about the composition of the procession are therefore drawnfrom ancient texts and epigraphy76

73 Laxander 74 See above Voigt

75 Laxander ndash Kurt Lehnstaedt formulatedthis principle decades previously though withoutnaming it (Lehnstaedt )

76 First and foremost the collection of Franz Boumlmermust be considered who collected more thandata about ancient Greek processions Boumlmer

Processions were not spontaneous happenings in a community but were plannedby a cultural or political elite in Hellenistic times this could have been a benefactor orthe most senior family member in the case of private processions77 The larger officialprocessions most likely followed a special procession route beginning at a central place(most often the agora of the city) and passing the important streets and temples of sev-eral gods78 Special procession streets the hierai horoi are known from Eleusis DelphiAmyklai Sykyrion and Didyma79 The goal of processions was the altar but we haveonly a little knowledge about the starting point were the participants assembled in aspecial place such as the agora or did they start from their own houses as Graf suggests80

At Athens there was a special building for the assembly of the participants fromHellenistic times onwards the pompeion It was built at the beginning of the fourthcentury BCE between two of the boundary gates of Athens the Sacred Gate and theDipylon Gate81 Important Processions such as the Panathenaia or the procession of theMysteries to Eleusis started from there82

The pompeion consisted of a large open court with a surrounding portico and wasbuilt as part of the wall next to Athensrsquo cemetery the Kerameikos Since such special-ized buildings were not known before Hellenistic times I argue that this shows a de-velopment in the organization of processions They became more institutionalized andpresented a higher level of cultic performance The architecture turned these transientperformances into timeless events even when the cultic rituals were conducted Theyembodied a permanent act The position of the pompeion on the boundary between thecity and the Kerameikos which lies outside the city walls created links between the livingand the dead as well as between the outside and the inside of the city Kavoulaki callsthis ldquoa transitional point between the city and the wider peripheryrdquo83

Since the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the goal of the Panathenaia it was nec-essary to traverse the whole city The philologist Fritz Graf has called these inner cityprocessions ldquocentripetalrdquo in opposition to the ldquocentrifugalrdquo ones that started from thecenter (the agora) and led to a sanctuary outside the city84 eg the Mysteria85 It is proba-ble that alongside the procession several ritual performances occurred such as sacrifices

77 Voigt ndash see also Kavoulaki 78 Compare with True et al For a more de-

tailed description of the route of the Athenian Pana-thenaia see Kavoulaki and n

79 Boumlmer see also Hammerschmied thisvolume

80 ldquo[hellip] and whether they had already formed a smallprocession from their home through the city streetsThis would seem to have been likely since theymust have been conspicuous wearing their Sundaybest and crownsrdquo (Graf )

81 For a digital reconstruction of the pompeion see httptravelingclassroomorgwp-contentuploads

Pompeion_aerialjpg (visited on ) ndashOn the dating of the pompeion see Hoepfner

82 Boumlmer True et al 83 Kavoulaki 84 Graf 85 See also Kavoulaki

Fig Side A Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

Fig Side B Sarcophagus ofHagia Triada ArchaeologicalMuseum Iraklio Greece

referring to ldquolife death sacrifice homage passage and regenerationrdquo as Walgate pointsout49 The sarcophagus is covered in an elaborate polychrome fresco technique and de-picts figures on four sides These scenes show men and women standing or walkingin a row carrying offerings Both long sides show a sacrificial procession with festivelydressed worshippers of both sexes The narrow sides depict goats drawing wagons ledby female figures

Side A (Fig displays five figures stepping to right A captive bull lies on a tableunder which two little goats are squatting Next to the table a man is blowing a Phrygianaulos wearing a mouth band (phorbeia)50 He is followed by four women in processionidentifiable by their garments and white-colored skin51

Side B (Fig ) illustrates five male and two female figures in two different scenesThe women stepping to the left are accompanied by a lyre-playing man The first womanconducts a libation

On the right the men of the second group are walking towards a smaller figuredressed in a long fur-like robe which hides his arms and legs This male figure is receivingtwo goats and a boat in front of a temple or sarcophagus It seems that the two long sides

49 Walgate 50 An aulos (pl auloi) is a wind instrument consist-

ing of two tubes It is more a pipe than a flute andin sound is comparable to present-day oboes ThePhrygian aulos is an aulos with a specially adaptedhorn on one of the pipes This was able to deepen

the sound Auloi were the most common wind in-struments in Greek antiquity and in myth wereconnected with Dionysos the Satyrs Maenads andother ecstatic figures of Greek myths

51 There is discussion over the gender of these figures(Brand ndash )

each with two different scenes essentially belong together and may show either a cultperformance or a funeral52

The interpretation of these scenes depends on the interpretation of the figure infront of the building or sarcophagus If it is regarded as a statue the whole scene mustbe understood as a sacrificial procession with gifts animals and musicians But when itis interpreted as a dead person or a mummy the performance may rather be classifiedas a funeral procession53 A third interpretation is as the epiphany of a god since thefigure has no legs pr arms and seems to grow out of the ground This recalls vegetal godssuch as Zeus Velchanos as Erika Simon suggested54 Since the painted object itself is asarcophagus the funeral context cannot be neglected But whatever the prominent fig-ure may be ndash a dead person statue or god ndash the image represents a sacrificial processionwith sacrificial animals offerings a libation and music For that matter it is striking thatthe blood sacrifice on Side A (Fig ) is accompanied by an aulos while in the libationscene a kithara is shown55 Parallels to the Greek procession scenes a thousand years latercan be observed56 With regard to the iconography it can be concluded that particulardetails of the Greek sacrificial procession have a very long tradition right back to theMinoan age

Geometric Period the absence of processional scenes

This Minoan procession scene with its clear association with an animal sacrifice wasunique for a long time in Greek art Some centuries passed before the next processionscenes appeared in the Geometric period ( ndash BCE) In the Geometric paintingstyle processional acts appeared mainly in funeral contexts as ekphorai and prothesis pro-cessions The depictions of these performances are quite similar to the later processionscenes but sacrificial offerings and animals are absent since this was probably not atypical habit at funerals57

While these Early and Middle Geometric depictions prove that the principle of pro-cessional rites was familiar it is noticeable that no cultic procession scenes outside afuneral context appeared before the Late Geometric style

The first Geometric depictions that can be interpreted as cultic processions did notexist before the seventh century BCE They are iconographical combinations of orien-tal models and Cypriot round dancing scenes as the archaeologist Nota Kourou has

52 For a discussion of the topic depicted see Long Militello ndash Brand ndash Wal-gate ndash

53 Long 54 Simon 55 A kithara is a string instrument that was played with

a plectrum It was connected with Apollo profes-

sional musicians and elaborate music A discussionof the function of music in the procession is offeredbelow

56 See also Kavoulaki 57 Animal sacrifices indicated a ritual for a god or

from classical times for a hero

demonstrated58 Originating from female circle-dancing scenes these scenes representprocessions sometimes conducted or accompanied by a male musician59 Kourou ex-plains this invention of a new subject on vase images as an adoption of oriental pro-cession scenes which were appropriated by Phoenician craftsmen On Cyprus this wascombined with the traditional dancing scenes60 Considering this development we haveto ask why a familiar motif such as the procession which was well known in Minoantimes could be lsquoforgottenrsquo in Greek art for centuries and then be reintroduced by An-cient Near Eastern art The argument of Tsochos that the cult was not completely es-tablished at this time in Greek culture is questionable since the lack of images of acult practice is no evidence for the absence of this practice altogether61 We can only as-sume that for some reason it was more important to depict funeral scenes than sacrificialprocessions in early Greek art before the seventh century BCE

Circular dance scenes as a precursor

Circular dances can be regarded as another precursor of processional scenes since theiriconographical arrangement is very similar Dancing scenes as the archaeologist YosefGarfinkel has been able to show are the earliest depictions found in Mesopotamia theAncient Near East and Southern Europe of the Bronze Age62

Depictions of circular dances and processions coexisted on a few Cretan vessels63 ofthe late eighth century64 Aside from this Cretan exception the motif of figures partici-pating in processions with offerings and sacrificial animals did not appear until the mid-dle of the sixth century BCE The Late Geometric procession scenes mentioned aboveappear more as dance processions than as sacrificial processions It is noticeable that thesacrificial procession scenes enter the stage of Greek art at the time when the scenes ofcircular dances almost disappear

There is one explanation that can be attributed to the style of painting the EarlyGeometric style used human figures like all other ornaments as patterns that circled theround vessel65 The equality of all items is the reason why there is almost no differencebetween the dancing figures Also the arrangement of the figures in Wechselansicht ndashthat is with legs and heads shown from the side but the body shown frontally ndash wasuseful for illustrations of figures holding hands An example is the circular dance withmusicians from the late eighth century BCE on the Hydria Berlin SM A 66

58 Kourou ndash 59 Kourou 60 Kourou 61 Tsochos ndash 62 Garfinkel

63 Kunze ndash 64 Tsochos ndash 65 Kleine 66 See Haug fig

The painting technique of Wechselansicht may explain why dance scenes were favoredin the Geometric period There are hundreds of vessels decorated with circular dancescenes and only a handful of procession scenes which are highly debated67

With the beginning of the Orientalizing episode (seventh century BCE) the paintersstarted to show the figures consistently in profile which marks a break with the Geo-metric style The first scenes that could be regarded as processions show ldquolooserdquo circulardances68 eg figures in a row not holding hands Later in the first third of the seventhcentury circular dance scenes disappeared from vessels for quite a long time but ap-peared again years later Kleine gave a convincing reason for this disappearance sheargued that with the beginning of the profile view it was almost impossible to showfigures in a row holding hands69 However the lack of processional scenes in Wechse-lansicht in paintings where many similar figurative formations of rows did exist (funeralprocessions warriors in a row) is not explained by this argumentation

The absence of processional scenes in ceramics and other objects before the seventhcentury must also be explained with regard to the content not just the form When thesacrificial procession scenes came into existence in the middle of the Archaic periodtheir presentation was quite detailed as is shown on a Boeotian black-figure lekanisfrom about BCE70

It displays a relatively detailed sacrificial procession for the goddess Athena Pro-machos (the armed Athena) who is receiving the offerings Starting from Athena thepicture shows an altar with burning flames a girl with a basket (kanephore) and two sac-rificial animals while the bull is accompanied by an auletes (a male aulos player) somenude worshippers and a wagon pulled by two mules While the men before the wagonare striding towards the altar the men beyond it seem to be dancing since their feetare lifted slightly from the ground Their focus in different directions could also be readas dancing positions This depiction may show both a sacrificial procession and a ritualdance because the first group of men are clearly stepping in the same direction as wasusual in processional scenes

From the middle of the sixth century BCE processional scenes increased in Greekvase painting Tsochos counts hundreds of them in Greek art with their maximum fre-quency in black-figure painting of the Archaic period71 A similar event occurred whenthe sacrifice scenes appeared in Greek art at the end of the black-figure style Their in-crease correlates with the disappearance of procession scenes72 A reason for this devel-

67 See for instance Tsochos ndash and Kourou ndash

68 Mannack ndash Kourou also interpretsthese loose dances as processions as was shown be-fore

69 Kleine ndash On the other hand there are a fewexceptions that show that it was possible to illustrate

circular dancing in profile view The best exampleis a dance row on the Francois krater sixth centuryBCE

70 Kubatzki fig 71 Tsochos catalogue72 See Kubatzki

opment may be found in the painting technique such as the growing figures whichfilled the ground of the image and the lsquozooming inrsquo to the altar Simply put because ofthe new painting technique of bigger more detailed figures it was in the end the lackof space on the vessels that led to more scenes of sacrifice on an altar But socio-politicalreasons may also be important The archaeologist Heike Laxander bases her interpreta-tion on a shift from collective scenes such as dances funerals and processions to moreindividual scenes such as single figures such as a god on the altar or sacrifice sceneswith few figures73

The main difference between the two ritual performances is the way ritual spaceis treated On the one hand circular dance scenes are signified by participants holdinghands and dancing around a meaningful object or place such as an altar This perfor-mance fits well for small groups celebrating their identity by worshipping gods main-taining their social values and rules which are embodied through dancing and by cre-ating a safe frame in which communication could take place74 On the other hand pro-cessions allow a greater number of worshippers to participate They can be interpretedas a broken circle ndash since they have a starting point and a target

Both rituals are about maintaining communal identity and the worship of the godsbut their body language and performance are different Their mission is the same tobring the community together and create a sacred space However since processionscan assemble more worshippers they are therefore more useful for larger communitiessuch as states

Organization composition and ritual performances of processions

Although we have some depictions on vessels showing processions from the seventhcentury up to the Hellenistic period their composition cannot be taken as a one-to-one representation of reality Like all paintings in ancient Greece the particular itemsmust be read as a pictographic language It was Heike Laxander who pointed out thepars pro toto principle75 by which each figure in the procession scene symbolizes theparticipation of one or more persons of a given group (kanephoros musicians servantswarriors priests) Also the order of the participants as shown in the pictures cannotsimply be taken at face value although it does at least inform us about the hierarchy ofthe positions More details about the composition of the procession are therefore drawnfrom ancient texts and epigraphy76

73 Laxander 74 See above Voigt

75 Laxander ndash Kurt Lehnstaedt formulatedthis principle decades previously though withoutnaming it (Lehnstaedt )

76 First and foremost the collection of Franz Boumlmermust be considered who collected more thandata about ancient Greek processions Boumlmer

Processions were not spontaneous happenings in a community but were plannedby a cultural or political elite in Hellenistic times this could have been a benefactor orthe most senior family member in the case of private processions77 The larger officialprocessions most likely followed a special procession route beginning at a central place(most often the agora of the city) and passing the important streets and temples of sev-eral gods78 Special procession streets the hierai horoi are known from Eleusis DelphiAmyklai Sykyrion and Didyma79 The goal of processions was the altar but we haveonly a little knowledge about the starting point were the participants assembled in aspecial place such as the agora or did they start from their own houses as Graf suggests80

At Athens there was a special building for the assembly of the participants fromHellenistic times onwards the pompeion It was built at the beginning of the fourthcentury BCE between two of the boundary gates of Athens the Sacred Gate and theDipylon Gate81 Important Processions such as the Panathenaia or the procession of theMysteries to Eleusis started from there82

The pompeion consisted of a large open court with a surrounding portico and wasbuilt as part of the wall next to Athensrsquo cemetery the Kerameikos Since such special-ized buildings were not known before Hellenistic times I argue that this shows a de-velopment in the organization of processions They became more institutionalized andpresented a higher level of cultic performance The architecture turned these transientperformances into timeless events even when the cultic rituals were conducted Theyembodied a permanent act The position of the pompeion on the boundary between thecity and the Kerameikos which lies outside the city walls created links between the livingand the dead as well as between the outside and the inside of the city Kavoulaki callsthis ldquoa transitional point between the city and the wider peripheryrdquo83

Since the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the goal of the Panathenaia it was nec-essary to traverse the whole city The philologist Fritz Graf has called these inner cityprocessions ldquocentripetalrdquo in opposition to the ldquocentrifugalrdquo ones that started from thecenter (the agora) and led to a sanctuary outside the city84 eg the Mysteria85 It is proba-ble that alongside the procession several ritual performances occurred such as sacrifices

77 Voigt ndash see also Kavoulaki 78 Compare with True et al For a more de-

tailed description of the route of the Athenian Pana-thenaia see Kavoulaki and n

79 Boumlmer see also Hammerschmied thisvolume

80 ldquo[hellip] and whether they had already formed a smallprocession from their home through the city streetsThis would seem to have been likely since theymust have been conspicuous wearing their Sundaybest and crownsrdquo (Graf )

81 For a digital reconstruction of the pompeion see httptravelingclassroomorgwp-contentuploads

Pompeion_aerialjpg (visited on ) ndashOn the dating of the pompeion see Hoepfner

82 Boumlmer True et al 83 Kavoulaki 84 Graf 85 See also Kavoulaki

each with two different scenes essentially belong together and may show either a cultperformance or a funeral52

The interpretation of these scenes depends on the interpretation of the figure infront of the building or sarcophagus If it is regarded as a statue the whole scene mustbe understood as a sacrificial procession with gifts animals and musicians But when itis interpreted as a dead person or a mummy the performance may rather be classifiedas a funeral procession53 A third interpretation is as the epiphany of a god since thefigure has no legs pr arms and seems to grow out of the ground This recalls vegetal godssuch as Zeus Velchanos as Erika Simon suggested54 Since the painted object itself is asarcophagus the funeral context cannot be neglected But whatever the prominent fig-ure may be ndash a dead person statue or god ndash the image represents a sacrificial processionwith sacrificial animals offerings a libation and music For that matter it is striking thatthe blood sacrifice on Side A (Fig ) is accompanied by an aulos while in the libationscene a kithara is shown55 Parallels to the Greek procession scenes a thousand years latercan be observed56 With regard to the iconography it can be concluded that particulardetails of the Greek sacrificial procession have a very long tradition right back to theMinoan age

Geometric Period the absence of processional scenes

This Minoan procession scene with its clear association with an animal sacrifice wasunique for a long time in Greek art Some centuries passed before the next processionscenes appeared in the Geometric period ( ndash BCE) In the Geometric paintingstyle processional acts appeared mainly in funeral contexts as ekphorai and prothesis pro-cessions The depictions of these performances are quite similar to the later processionscenes but sacrificial offerings and animals are absent since this was probably not atypical habit at funerals57

While these Early and Middle Geometric depictions prove that the principle of pro-cessional rites was familiar it is noticeable that no cultic procession scenes outside afuneral context appeared before the Late Geometric style

The first Geometric depictions that can be interpreted as cultic processions did notexist before the seventh century BCE They are iconographical combinations of orien-tal models and Cypriot round dancing scenes as the archaeologist Nota Kourou has

52 For a discussion of the topic depicted see Long Militello ndash Brand ndash Wal-gate ndash

53 Long 54 Simon 55 A kithara is a string instrument that was played with

a plectrum It was connected with Apollo profes-

sional musicians and elaborate music A discussionof the function of music in the procession is offeredbelow

56 See also Kavoulaki 57 Animal sacrifices indicated a ritual for a god or

from classical times for a hero

demonstrated58 Originating from female circle-dancing scenes these scenes representprocessions sometimes conducted or accompanied by a male musician59 Kourou ex-plains this invention of a new subject on vase images as an adoption of oriental pro-cession scenes which were appropriated by Phoenician craftsmen On Cyprus this wascombined with the traditional dancing scenes60 Considering this development we haveto ask why a familiar motif such as the procession which was well known in Minoantimes could be lsquoforgottenrsquo in Greek art for centuries and then be reintroduced by An-cient Near Eastern art The argument of Tsochos that the cult was not completely es-tablished at this time in Greek culture is questionable since the lack of images of acult practice is no evidence for the absence of this practice altogether61 We can only as-sume that for some reason it was more important to depict funeral scenes than sacrificialprocessions in early Greek art before the seventh century BCE

Circular dance scenes as a precursor

Circular dances can be regarded as another precursor of processional scenes since theiriconographical arrangement is very similar Dancing scenes as the archaeologist YosefGarfinkel has been able to show are the earliest depictions found in Mesopotamia theAncient Near East and Southern Europe of the Bronze Age62

Depictions of circular dances and processions coexisted on a few Cretan vessels63 ofthe late eighth century64 Aside from this Cretan exception the motif of figures partici-pating in processions with offerings and sacrificial animals did not appear until the mid-dle of the sixth century BCE The Late Geometric procession scenes mentioned aboveappear more as dance processions than as sacrificial processions It is noticeable that thesacrificial procession scenes enter the stage of Greek art at the time when the scenes ofcircular dances almost disappear

There is one explanation that can be attributed to the style of painting the EarlyGeometric style used human figures like all other ornaments as patterns that circled theround vessel65 The equality of all items is the reason why there is almost no differencebetween the dancing figures Also the arrangement of the figures in Wechselansicht ndashthat is with legs and heads shown from the side but the body shown frontally ndash wasuseful for illustrations of figures holding hands An example is the circular dance withmusicians from the late eighth century BCE on the Hydria Berlin SM A 66

58 Kourou ndash 59 Kourou 60 Kourou 61 Tsochos ndash 62 Garfinkel

63 Kunze ndash 64 Tsochos ndash 65 Kleine 66 See Haug fig

The painting technique of Wechselansicht may explain why dance scenes were favoredin the Geometric period There are hundreds of vessels decorated with circular dancescenes and only a handful of procession scenes which are highly debated67

With the beginning of the Orientalizing episode (seventh century BCE) the paintersstarted to show the figures consistently in profile which marks a break with the Geo-metric style The first scenes that could be regarded as processions show ldquolooserdquo circulardances68 eg figures in a row not holding hands Later in the first third of the seventhcentury circular dance scenes disappeared from vessels for quite a long time but ap-peared again years later Kleine gave a convincing reason for this disappearance sheargued that with the beginning of the profile view it was almost impossible to showfigures in a row holding hands69 However the lack of processional scenes in Wechse-lansicht in paintings where many similar figurative formations of rows did exist (funeralprocessions warriors in a row) is not explained by this argumentation

The absence of processional scenes in ceramics and other objects before the seventhcentury must also be explained with regard to the content not just the form When thesacrificial procession scenes came into existence in the middle of the Archaic periodtheir presentation was quite detailed as is shown on a Boeotian black-figure lekanisfrom about BCE70

It displays a relatively detailed sacrificial procession for the goddess Athena Pro-machos (the armed Athena) who is receiving the offerings Starting from Athena thepicture shows an altar with burning flames a girl with a basket (kanephore) and two sac-rificial animals while the bull is accompanied by an auletes (a male aulos player) somenude worshippers and a wagon pulled by two mules While the men before the wagonare striding towards the altar the men beyond it seem to be dancing since their feetare lifted slightly from the ground Their focus in different directions could also be readas dancing positions This depiction may show both a sacrificial procession and a ritualdance because the first group of men are clearly stepping in the same direction as wasusual in processional scenes

From the middle of the sixth century BCE processional scenes increased in Greekvase painting Tsochos counts hundreds of them in Greek art with their maximum fre-quency in black-figure painting of the Archaic period71 A similar event occurred whenthe sacrifice scenes appeared in Greek art at the end of the black-figure style Their in-crease correlates with the disappearance of procession scenes72 A reason for this devel-

67 See for instance Tsochos ndash and Kourou ndash

68 Mannack ndash Kourou also interpretsthese loose dances as processions as was shown be-fore

69 Kleine ndash On the other hand there are a fewexceptions that show that it was possible to illustrate

circular dancing in profile view The best exampleis a dance row on the Francois krater sixth centuryBCE

70 Kubatzki fig 71 Tsochos catalogue72 See Kubatzki

opment may be found in the painting technique such as the growing figures whichfilled the ground of the image and the lsquozooming inrsquo to the altar Simply put because ofthe new painting technique of bigger more detailed figures it was in the end the lackof space on the vessels that led to more scenes of sacrifice on an altar But socio-politicalreasons may also be important The archaeologist Heike Laxander bases her interpreta-tion on a shift from collective scenes such as dances funerals and processions to moreindividual scenes such as single figures such as a god on the altar or sacrifice sceneswith few figures73

The main difference between the two ritual performances is the way ritual spaceis treated On the one hand circular dance scenes are signified by participants holdinghands and dancing around a meaningful object or place such as an altar This perfor-mance fits well for small groups celebrating their identity by worshipping gods main-taining their social values and rules which are embodied through dancing and by cre-ating a safe frame in which communication could take place74 On the other hand pro-cessions allow a greater number of worshippers to participate They can be interpretedas a broken circle ndash since they have a starting point and a target

Both rituals are about maintaining communal identity and the worship of the godsbut their body language and performance are different Their mission is the same tobring the community together and create a sacred space However since processionscan assemble more worshippers they are therefore more useful for larger communitiessuch as states

Organization composition and ritual performances of processions

Although we have some depictions on vessels showing processions from the seventhcentury up to the Hellenistic period their composition cannot be taken as a one-to-one representation of reality Like all paintings in ancient Greece the particular itemsmust be read as a pictographic language It was Heike Laxander who pointed out thepars pro toto principle75 by which each figure in the procession scene symbolizes theparticipation of one or more persons of a given group (kanephoros musicians servantswarriors priests) Also the order of the participants as shown in the pictures cannotsimply be taken at face value although it does at least inform us about the hierarchy ofthe positions More details about the composition of the procession are therefore drawnfrom ancient texts and epigraphy76

73 Laxander 74 See above Voigt

75 Laxander ndash Kurt Lehnstaedt formulatedthis principle decades previously though withoutnaming it (Lehnstaedt )

76 First and foremost the collection of Franz Boumlmermust be considered who collected more thandata about ancient Greek processions Boumlmer

Processions were not spontaneous happenings in a community but were plannedby a cultural or political elite in Hellenistic times this could have been a benefactor orthe most senior family member in the case of private processions77 The larger officialprocessions most likely followed a special procession route beginning at a central place(most often the agora of the city) and passing the important streets and temples of sev-eral gods78 Special procession streets the hierai horoi are known from Eleusis DelphiAmyklai Sykyrion and Didyma79 The goal of processions was the altar but we haveonly a little knowledge about the starting point were the participants assembled in aspecial place such as the agora or did they start from their own houses as Graf suggests80

At Athens there was a special building for the assembly of the participants fromHellenistic times onwards the pompeion It was built at the beginning of the fourthcentury BCE between two of the boundary gates of Athens the Sacred Gate and theDipylon Gate81 Important Processions such as the Panathenaia or the procession of theMysteries to Eleusis started from there82

The pompeion consisted of a large open court with a surrounding portico and wasbuilt as part of the wall next to Athensrsquo cemetery the Kerameikos Since such special-ized buildings were not known before Hellenistic times I argue that this shows a de-velopment in the organization of processions They became more institutionalized andpresented a higher level of cultic performance The architecture turned these transientperformances into timeless events even when the cultic rituals were conducted Theyembodied a permanent act The position of the pompeion on the boundary between thecity and the Kerameikos which lies outside the city walls created links between the livingand the dead as well as between the outside and the inside of the city Kavoulaki callsthis ldquoa transitional point between the city and the wider peripheryrdquo83

Since the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the goal of the Panathenaia it was nec-essary to traverse the whole city The philologist Fritz Graf has called these inner cityprocessions ldquocentripetalrdquo in opposition to the ldquocentrifugalrdquo ones that started from thecenter (the agora) and led to a sanctuary outside the city84 eg the Mysteria85 It is proba-ble that alongside the procession several ritual performances occurred such as sacrifices

77 Voigt ndash see also Kavoulaki 78 Compare with True et al For a more de-

tailed description of the route of the Athenian Pana-thenaia see Kavoulaki and n

79 Boumlmer see also Hammerschmied thisvolume

80 ldquo[hellip] and whether they had already formed a smallprocession from their home through the city streetsThis would seem to have been likely since theymust have been conspicuous wearing their Sundaybest and crownsrdquo (Graf )

81 For a digital reconstruction of the pompeion see httptravelingclassroomorgwp-contentuploads

Pompeion_aerialjpg (visited on ) ndashOn the dating of the pompeion see Hoepfner

82 Boumlmer True et al 83 Kavoulaki 84 Graf 85 See also Kavoulaki

demonstrated58 Originating from female circle-dancing scenes these scenes representprocessions sometimes conducted or accompanied by a male musician59 Kourou ex-plains this invention of a new subject on vase images as an adoption of oriental pro-cession scenes which were appropriated by Phoenician craftsmen On Cyprus this wascombined with the traditional dancing scenes60 Considering this development we haveto ask why a familiar motif such as the procession which was well known in Minoantimes could be lsquoforgottenrsquo in Greek art for centuries and then be reintroduced by An-cient Near Eastern art The argument of Tsochos that the cult was not completely es-tablished at this time in Greek culture is questionable since the lack of images of acult practice is no evidence for the absence of this practice altogether61 We can only as-sume that for some reason it was more important to depict funeral scenes than sacrificialprocessions in early Greek art before the seventh century BCE

Circular dance scenes as a precursor

Circular dances can be regarded as another precursor of processional scenes since theiriconographical arrangement is very similar Dancing scenes as the archaeologist YosefGarfinkel has been able to show are the earliest depictions found in Mesopotamia theAncient Near East and Southern Europe of the Bronze Age62

Depictions of circular dances and processions coexisted on a few Cretan vessels63 ofthe late eighth century64 Aside from this Cretan exception the motif of figures partici-pating in processions with offerings and sacrificial animals did not appear until the mid-dle of the sixth century BCE The Late Geometric procession scenes mentioned aboveappear more as dance processions than as sacrificial processions It is noticeable that thesacrificial procession scenes enter the stage of Greek art at the time when the scenes ofcircular dances almost disappear

There is one explanation that can be attributed to the style of painting the EarlyGeometric style used human figures like all other ornaments as patterns that circled theround vessel65 The equality of all items is the reason why there is almost no differencebetween the dancing figures Also the arrangement of the figures in Wechselansicht ndashthat is with legs and heads shown from the side but the body shown frontally ndash wasuseful for illustrations of figures holding hands An example is the circular dance withmusicians from the late eighth century BCE on the Hydria Berlin SM A 66

58 Kourou ndash 59 Kourou 60 Kourou 61 Tsochos ndash 62 Garfinkel

63 Kunze ndash 64 Tsochos ndash 65 Kleine 66 See Haug fig

The painting technique of Wechselansicht may explain why dance scenes were favoredin the Geometric period There are hundreds of vessels decorated with circular dancescenes and only a handful of procession scenes which are highly debated67

With the beginning of the Orientalizing episode (seventh century BCE) the paintersstarted to show the figures consistently in profile which marks a break with the Geo-metric style The first scenes that could be regarded as processions show ldquolooserdquo circulardances68 eg figures in a row not holding hands Later in the first third of the seventhcentury circular dance scenes disappeared from vessels for quite a long time but ap-peared again years later Kleine gave a convincing reason for this disappearance sheargued that with the beginning of the profile view it was almost impossible to showfigures in a row holding hands69 However the lack of processional scenes in Wechse-lansicht in paintings where many similar figurative formations of rows did exist (funeralprocessions warriors in a row) is not explained by this argumentation

The absence of processional scenes in ceramics and other objects before the seventhcentury must also be explained with regard to the content not just the form When thesacrificial procession scenes came into existence in the middle of the Archaic periodtheir presentation was quite detailed as is shown on a Boeotian black-figure lekanisfrom about BCE70

It displays a relatively detailed sacrificial procession for the goddess Athena Pro-machos (the armed Athena) who is receiving the offerings Starting from Athena thepicture shows an altar with burning flames a girl with a basket (kanephore) and two sac-rificial animals while the bull is accompanied by an auletes (a male aulos player) somenude worshippers and a wagon pulled by two mules While the men before the wagonare striding towards the altar the men beyond it seem to be dancing since their feetare lifted slightly from the ground Their focus in different directions could also be readas dancing positions This depiction may show both a sacrificial procession and a ritualdance because the first group of men are clearly stepping in the same direction as wasusual in processional scenes

From the middle of the sixth century BCE processional scenes increased in Greekvase painting Tsochos counts hundreds of them in Greek art with their maximum fre-quency in black-figure painting of the Archaic period71 A similar event occurred whenthe sacrifice scenes appeared in Greek art at the end of the black-figure style Their in-crease correlates with the disappearance of procession scenes72 A reason for this devel-

67 See for instance Tsochos ndash and Kourou ndash

68 Mannack ndash Kourou also interpretsthese loose dances as processions as was shown be-fore

69 Kleine ndash On the other hand there are a fewexceptions that show that it was possible to illustrate

circular dancing in profile view The best exampleis a dance row on the Francois krater sixth centuryBCE

70 Kubatzki fig 71 Tsochos catalogue72 See Kubatzki

opment may be found in the painting technique such as the growing figures whichfilled the ground of the image and the lsquozooming inrsquo to the altar Simply put because ofthe new painting technique of bigger more detailed figures it was in the end the lackof space on the vessels that led to more scenes of sacrifice on an altar But socio-politicalreasons may also be important The archaeologist Heike Laxander bases her interpreta-tion on a shift from collective scenes such as dances funerals and processions to moreindividual scenes such as single figures such as a god on the altar or sacrifice sceneswith few figures73

The main difference between the two ritual performances is the way ritual spaceis treated On the one hand circular dance scenes are signified by participants holdinghands and dancing around a meaningful object or place such as an altar This perfor-mance fits well for small groups celebrating their identity by worshipping gods main-taining their social values and rules which are embodied through dancing and by cre-ating a safe frame in which communication could take place74 On the other hand pro-cessions allow a greater number of worshippers to participate They can be interpretedas a broken circle ndash since they have a starting point and a target

Both rituals are about maintaining communal identity and the worship of the godsbut their body language and performance are different Their mission is the same tobring the community together and create a sacred space However since processionscan assemble more worshippers they are therefore more useful for larger communitiessuch as states

Organization composition and ritual performances of processions

Although we have some depictions on vessels showing processions from the seventhcentury up to the Hellenistic period their composition cannot be taken as a one-to-one representation of reality Like all paintings in ancient Greece the particular itemsmust be read as a pictographic language It was Heike Laxander who pointed out thepars pro toto principle75 by which each figure in the procession scene symbolizes theparticipation of one or more persons of a given group (kanephoros musicians servantswarriors priests) Also the order of the participants as shown in the pictures cannotsimply be taken at face value although it does at least inform us about the hierarchy ofthe positions More details about the composition of the procession are therefore drawnfrom ancient texts and epigraphy76

73 Laxander 74 See above Voigt

75 Laxander ndash Kurt Lehnstaedt formulatedthis principle decades previously though withoutnaming it (Lehnstaedt )

76 First and foremost the collection of Franz Boumlmermust be considered who collected more thandata about ancient Greek processions Boumlmer

Processions were not spontaneous happenings in a community but were plannedby a cultural or political elite in Hellenistic times this could have been a benefactor orthe most senior family member in the case of private processions77 The larger officialprocessions most likely followed a special procession route beginning at a central place(most often the agora of the city) and passing the important streets and temples of sev-eral gods78 Special procession streets the hierai horoi are known from Eleusis DelphiAmyklai Sykyrion and Didyma79 The goal of processions was the altar but we haveonly a little knowledge about the starting point were the participants assembled in aspecial place such as the agora or did they start from their own houses as Graf suggests80

At Athens there was a special building for the assembly of the participants fromHellenistic times onwards the pompeion It was built at the beginning of the fourthcentury BCE between two of the boundary gates of Athens the Sacred Gate and theDipylon Gate81 Important Processions such as the Panathenaia or the procession of theMysteries to Eleusis started from there82

The pompeion consisted of a large open court with a surrounding portico and wasbuilt as part of the wall next to Athensrsquo cemetery the Kerameikos Since such special-ized buildings were not known before Hellenistic times I argue that this shows a de-velopment in the organization of processions They became more institutionalized andpresented a higher level of cultic performance The architecture turned these transientperformances into timeless events even when the cultic rituals were conducted Theyembodied a permanent act The position of the pompeion on the boundary between thecity and the Kerameikos which lies outside the city walls created links between the livingand the dead as well as between the outside and the inside of the city Kavoulaki callsthis ldquoa transitional point between the city and the wider peripheryrdquo83

Since the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the goal of the Panathenaia it was nec-essary to traverse the whole city The philologist Fritz Graf has called these inner cityprocessions ldquocentripetalrdquo in opposition to the ldquocentrifugalrdquo ones that started from thecenter (the agora) and led to a sanctuary outside the city84 eg the Mysteria85 It is proba-ble that alongside the procession several ritual performances occurred such as sacrifices

77 Voigt ndash see also Kavoulaki 78 Compare with True et al For a more de-

tailed description of the route of the Athenian Pana-thenaia see Kavoulaki and n

79 Boumlmer see also Hammerschmied thisvolume

80 ldquo[hellip] and whether they had already formed a smallprocession from their home through the city streetsThis would seem to have been likely since theymust have been conspicuous wearing their Sundaybest and crownsrdquo (Graf )

81 For a digital reconstruction of the pompeion see httptravelingclassroomorgwp-contentuploads

Pompeion_aerialjpg (visited on ) ndashOn the dating of the pompeion see Hoepfner

82 Boumlmer True et al 83 Kavoulaki 84 Graf 85 See also Kavoulaki

The painting technique of Wechselansicht may explain why dance scenes were favoredin the Geometric period There are hundreds of vessels decorated with circular dancescenes and only a handful of procession scenes which are highly debated67

With the beginning of the Orientalizing episode (seventh century BCE) the paintersstarted to show the figures consistently in profile which marks a break with the Geo-metric style The first scenes that could be regarded as processions show ldquolooserdquo circulardances68 eg figures in a row not holding hands Later in the first third of the seventhcentury circular dance scenes disappeared from vessels for quite a long time but ap-peared again years later Kleine gave a convincing reason for this disappearance sheargued that with the beginning of the profile view it was almost impossible to showfigures in a row holding hands69 However the lack of processional scenes in Wechse-lansicht in paintings where many similar figurative formations of rows did exist (funeralprocessions warriors in a row) is not explained by this argumentation

The absence of processional scenes in ceramics and other objects before the seventhcentury must also be explained with regard to the content not just the form When thesacrificial procession scenes came into existence in the middle of the Archaic periodtheir presentation was quite detailed as is shown on a Boeotian black-figure lekanisfrom about BCE70

It displays a relatively detailed sacrificial procession for the goddess Athena Pro-machos (the armed Athena) who is receiving the offerings Starting from Athena thepicture shows an altar with burning flames a girl with a basket (kanephore) and two sac-rificial animals while the bull is accompanied by an auletes (a male aulos player) somenude worshippers and a wagon pulled by two mules While the men before the wagonare striding towards the altar the men beyond it seem to be dancing since their feetare lifted slightly from the ground Their focus in different directions could also be readas dancing positions This depiction may show both a sacrificial procession and a ritualdance because the first group of men are clearly stepping in the same direction as wasusual in processional scenes

From the middle of the sixth century BCE processional scenes increased in Greekvase painting Tsochos counts hundreds of them in Greek art with their maximum fre-quency in black-figure painting of the Archaic period71 A similar event occurred whenthe sacrifice scenes appeared in Greek art at the end of the black-figure style Their in-crease correlates with the disappearance of procession scenes72 A reason for this devel-

67 See for instance Tsochos ndash and Kourou ndash

68 Mannack ndash Kourou also interpretsthese loose dances as processions as was shown be-fore

69 Kleine ndash On the other hand there are a fewexceptions that show that it was possible to illustrate

circular dancing in profile view The best exampleis a dance row on the Francois krater sixth centuryBCE

70 Kubatzki fig 71 Tsochos catalogue72 See Kubatzki

opment may be found in the painting technique such as the growing figures whichfilled the ground of the image and the lsquozooming inrsquo to the altar Simply put because ofthe new painting technique of bigger more detailed figures it was in the end the lackof space on the vessels that led to more scenes of sacrifice on an altar But socio-politicalreasons may also be important The archaeologist Heike Laxander bases her interpreta-tion on a shift from collective scenes such as dances funerals and processions to moreindividual scenes such as single figures such as a god on the altar or sacrifice sceneswith few figures73

The main difference between the two ritual performances is the way ritual spaceis treated On the one hand circular dance scenes are signified by participants holdinghands and dancing around a meaningful object or place such as an altar This perfor-mance fits well for small groups celebrating their identity by worshipping gods main-taining their social values and rules which are embodied through dancing and by cre-ating a safe frame in which communication could take place74 On the other hand pro-cessions allow a greater number of worshippers to participate They can be interpretedas a broken circle ndash since they have a starting point and a target

Both rituals are about maintaining communal identity and the worship of the godsbut their body language and performance are different Their mission is the same tobring the community together and create a sacred space However since processionscan assemble more worshippers they are therefore more useful for larger communitiessuch as states

Organization composition and ritual performances of processions

Although we have some depictions on vessels showing processions from the seventhcentury up to the Hellenistic period their composition cannot be taken as a one-to-one representation of reality Like all paintings in ancient Greece the particular itemsmust be read as a pictographic language It was Heike Laxander who pointed out thepars pro toto principle75 by which each figure in the procession scene symbolizes theparticipation of one or more persons of a given group (kanephoros musicians servantswarriors priests) Also the order of the participants as shown in the pictures cannotsimply be taken at face value although it does at least inform us about the hierarchy ofthe positions More details about the composition of the procession are therefore drawnfrom ancient texts and epigraphy76

73 Laxander 74 See above Voigt

75 Laxander ndash Kurt Lehnstaedt formulatedthis principle decades previously though withoutnaming it (Lehnstaedt )

76 First and foremost the collection of Franz Boumlmermust be considered who collected more thandata about ancient Greek processions Boumlmer

Processions were not spontaneous happenings in a community but were plannedby a cultural or political elite in Hellenistic times this could have been a benefactor orthe most senior family member in the case of private processions77 The larger officialprocessions most likely followed a special procession route beginning at a central place(most often the agora of the city) and passing the important streets and temples of sev-eral gods78 Special procession streets the hierai horoi are known from Eleusis DelphiAmyklai Sykyrion and Didyma79 The goal of processions was the altar but we haveonly a little knowledge about the starting point were the participants assembled in aspecial place such as the agora or did they start from their own houses as Graf suggests80

At Athens there was a special building for the assembly of the participants fromHellenistic times onwards the pompeion It was built at the beginning of the fourthcentury BCE between two of the boundary gates of Athens the Sacred Gate and theDipylon Gate81 Important Processions such as the Panathenaia or the procession of theMysteries to Eleusis started from there82

The pompeion consisted of a large open court with a surrounding portico and wasbuilt as part of the wall next to Athensrsquo cemetery the Kerameikos Since such special-ized buildings were not known before Hellenistic times I argue that this shows a de-velopment in the organization of processions They became more institutionalized andpresented a higher level of cultic performance The architecture turned these transientperformances into timeless events even when the cultic rituals were conducted Theyembodied a permanent act The position of the pompeion on the boundary between thecity and the Kerameikos which lies outside the city walls created links between the livingand the dead as well as between the outside and the inside of the city Kavoulaki callsthis ldquoa transitional point between the city and the wider peripheryrdquo83

Since the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the goal of the Panathenaia it was nec-essary to traverse the whole city The philologist Fritz Graf has called these inner cityprocessions ldquocentripetalrdquo in opposition to the ldquocentrifugalrdquo ones that started from thecenter (the agora) and led to a sanctuary outside the city84 eg the Mysteria85 It is proba-ble that alongside the procession several ritual performances occurred such as sacrifices

77 Voigt ndash see also Kavoulaki 78 Compare with True et al For a more de-

tailed description of the route of the Athenian Pana-thenaia see Kavoulaki and n

79 Boumlmer see also Hammerschmied thisvolume

80 ldquo[hellip] and whether they had already formed a smallprocession from their home through the city streetsThis would seem to have been likely since theymust have been conspicuous wearing their Sundaybest and crownsrdquo (Graf )

81 For a digital reconstruction of the pompeion see httptravelingclassroomorgwp-contentuploads

Pompeion_aerialjpg (visited on ) ndashOn the dating of the pompeion see Hoepfner

82 Boumlmer True et al 83 Kavoulaki 84 Graf 85 See also Kavoulaki

opment may be found in the painting technique such as the growing figures whichfilled the ground of the image and the lsquozooming inrsquo to the altar Simply put because ofthe new painting technique of bigger more detailed figures it was in the end the lackof space on the vessels that led to more scenes of sacrifice on an altar But socio-politicalreasons may also be important The archaeologist Heike Laxander bases her interpreta-tion on a shift from collective scenes such as dances funerals and processions to moreindividual scenes such as single figures such as a god on the altar or sacrifice sceneswith few figures73

The main difference between the two ritual performances is the way ritual spaceis treated On the one hand circular dance scenes are signified by participants holdinghands and dancing around a meaningful object or place such as an altar This perfor-mance fits well for small groups celebrating their identity by worshipping gods main-taining their social values and rules which are embodied through dancing and by cre-ating a safe frame in which communication could take place74 On the other hand pro-cessions allow a greater number of worshippers to participate They can be interpretedas a broken circle ndash since they have a starting point and a target

Both rituals are about maintaining communal identity and the worship of the godsbut their body language and performance are different Their mission is the same tobring the community together and create a sacred space However since processionscan assemble more worshippers they are therefore more useful for larger communitiessuch as states

Organization composition and ritual performances of processions

Although we have some depictions on vessels showing processions from the seventhcentury up to the Hellenistic period their composition cannot be taken as a one-to-one representation of reality Like all paintings in ancient Greece the particular itemsmust be read as a pictographic language It was Heike Laxander who pointed out thepars pro toto principle75 by which each figure in the procession scene symbolizes theparticipation of one or more persons of a given group (kanephoros musicians servantswarriors priests) Also the order of the participants as shown in the pictures cannotsimply be taken at face value although it does at least inform us about the hierarchy ofthe positions More details about the composition of the procession are therefore drawnfrom ancient texts and epigraphy76

73 Laxander 74 See above Voigt

75 Laxander ndash Kurt Lehnstaedt formulatedthis principle decades previously though withoutnaming it (Lehnstaedt )

76 First and foremost the collection of Franz Boumlmermust be considered who collected more thandata about ancient Greek processions Boumlmer

Processions were not spontaneous happenings in a community but were plannedby a cultural or political elite in Hellenistic times this could have been a benefactor orthe most senior family member in the case of private processions77 The larger officialprocessions most likely followed a special procession route beginning at a central place(most often the agora of the city) and passing the important streets and temples of sev-eral gods78 Special procession streets the hierai horoi are known from Eleusis DelphiAmyklai Sykyrion and Didyma79 The goal of processions was the altar but we haveonly a little knowledge about the starting point were the participants assembled in aspecial place such as the agora or did they start from their own houses as Graf suggests80

At Athens there was a special building for the assembly of the participants fromHellenistic times onwards the pompeion It was built at the beginning of the fourthcentury BCE between two of the boundary gates of Athens the Sacred Gate and theDipylon Gate81 Important Processions such as the Panathenaia or the procession of theMysteries to Eleusis started from there82

The pompeion consisted of a large open court with a surrounding portico and wasbuilt as part of the wall next to Athensrsquo cemetery the Kerameikos Since such special-ized buildings were not known before Hellenistic times I argue that this shows a de-velopment in the organization of processions They became more institutionalized andpresented a higher level of cultic performance The architecture turned these transientperformances into timeless events even when the cultic rituals were conducted Theyembodied a permanent act The position of the pompeion on the boundary between thecity and the Kerameikos which lies outside the city walls created links between the livingand the dead as well as between the outside and the inside of the city Kavoulaki callsthis ldquoa transitional point between the city and the wider peripheryrdquo83

Since the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the goal of the Panathenaia it was nec-essary to traverse the whole city The philologist Fritz Graf has called these inner cityprocessions ldquocentripetalrdquo in opposition to the ldquocentrifugalrdquo ones that started from thecenter (the agora) and led to a sanctuary outside the city84 eg the Mysteria85 It is proba-ble that alongside the procession several ritual performances occurred such as sacrifices

77 Voigt ndash see also Kavoulaki 78 Compare with True et al For a more de-

tailed description of the route of the Athenian Pana-thenaia see Kavoulaki and n

79 Boumlmer see also Hammerschmied thisvolume

80 ldquo[hellip] and whether they had already formed a smallprocession from their home through the city streetsThis would seem to have been likely since theymust have been conspicuous wearing their Sundaybest and crownsrdquo (Graf )

81 For a digital reconstruction of the pompeion see httptravelingclassroomorgwp-contentuploads

Pompeion_aerialjpg (visited on ) ndashOn the dating of the pompeion see Hoepfner

82 Boumlmer True et al 83 Kavoulaki 84 Graf 85 See also Kavoulaki

Processions were not spontaneous happenings in a community but were plannedby a cultural or political elite in Hellenistic times this could have been a benefactor orthe most senior family member in the case of private processions77 The larger officialprocessions most likely followed a special procession route beginning at a central place(most often the agora of the city) and passing the important streets and temples of sev-eral gods78 Special procession streets the hierai horoi are known from Eleusis DelphiAmyklai Sykyrion and Didyma79 The goal of processions was the altar but we haveonly a little knowledge about the starting point were the participants assembled in aspecial place such as the agora or did they start from their own houses as Graf suggests80

At Athens there was a special building for the assembly of the participants fromHellenistic times onwards the pompeion It was built at the beginning of the fourthcentury BCE between two of the boundary gates of Athens the Sacred Gate and theDipylon Gate81 Important Processions such as the Panathenaia or the procession of theMysteries to Eleusis started from there82

The pompeion consisted of a large open court with a surrounding portico and wasbuilt as part of the wall next to Athensrsquo cemetery the Kerameikos Since such special-ized buildings were not known before Hellenistic times I argue that this shows a de-velopment in the organization of processions They became more institutionalized andpresented a higher level of cultic performance The architecture turned these transientperformances into timeless events even when the cultic rituals were conducted Theyembodied a permanent act The position of the pompeion on the boundary between thecity and the Kerameikos which lies outside the city walls created links between the livingand the dead as well as between the outside and the inside of the city Kavoulaki callsthis ldquoa transitional point between the city and the wider peripheryrdquo83

Since the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the goal of the Panathenaia it was nec-essary to traverse the whole city The philologist Fritz Graf has called these inner cityprocessions ldquocentripetalrdquo in opposition to the ldquocentrifugalrdquo ones that started from thecenter (the agora) and led to a sanctuary outside the city84 eg the Mysteria85 It is proba-ble that alongside the procession several ritual performances occurred such as sacrifices

77 Voigt ndash see also Kavoulaki 78 Compare with True et al For a more de-

tailed description of the route of the Athenian Pana-thenaia see Kavoulaki and n

79 Boumlmer see also Hammerschmied thisvolume

80 ldquo[hellip] and whether they had already formed a smallprocession from their home through the city streetsThis would seem to have been likely since theymust have been conspicuous wearing their Sundaybest and crownsrdquo (Graf )

81 For a digital reconstruction of the pompeion see httptravelingclassroomorgwp-contentuploads

Pompeion_aerialjpg (visited on ) ndashOn the dating of the pompeion see Hoepfner

82 Boumlmer True et al 83 Kavoulaki 84 Graf 85 See also Kavoulaki

for deities dances and musical and mimetic performances86 The duration of proces-sions could last from some hours to several days depending on the length of the route87

Wagons such as can be seen in the Boeotian lekanis88 refer to those longer trips

Order and composition

The procession was usually led by the highest dignitary but there were also private pro-cessions such as marriages or funerals which were led by single musicians or choirs ofgirls or boys89 Behind them the community followed in a special order that was con-trolled by official ushers90 The placing of the different social and political groups inthe procession is an essential element for their characterization A position in the firstthird of the procession near to the sacrificial animals or the wooden cult image of agod (xoanon) or a position next to the altar marks a high rank in the hierarchy of thepolis91 These arrangements yield insights into the values that were authoritative at thatparticular time92 Thus the order of the groups was an opportunity to indicate changesin the political order and in the social hierarchy This flexibility turned processions intoan important political tool by bringing constitutional changes of the polis to a generallevel of consciousness93 ldquoThe ritual in other words does not support or confirm an or-der of things but this order is shaped through and by ritual activityrdquo writes Kavoulaki94

And Boris Voigt points out that the cultic manifestation of the political order could havebeen one of the essential aims of the festivals ldquoPerhaps the celebrations offered the firstpossibility for the citizens to connect the new stratification of the polis with their ownactions and gain some kind of familiarity with it Therefore the preoccupation of theAthenians with the new structure of the polis was for an important part the worry aboutits cultic manifestations In them the political order experienced its sensual-meaningfulreadabilityrdquo95

The possibility of transforming administrative processes into a ldquosensual-meaningfulreadabilityrdquo turned festivals regular rites and other public exercises into exceptionalperformances to maintain socio-political systems96 One of those translation-capable

86 Xenophon tells us about such performances themain procession of the Attic Dionysia stopped atdifferent altars for musical performances and sacri-fices Satirical songs are also attested (Xen Hipp)see also Kavoulaki

87 See Schlesier ndash 88 Kubatzki Abb 89 True et al 90 True et al 91 Boumlmer regards the middle of the proces-

sion as the most important place inside the proces-sion

92 Compare Graf ndash 93 As Connor points out festivals have been

used in situations of important political changeldquoSolon need have done little more than utilize afestival pattern that antedated his reform and extendit to the political privileges as allocated in his newsystemrdquo

94 Kavoulaki 95 Voigt 96 See Kavoulaki on processions as perfor-

mances they are ldquophysically inscribed it becomes amode of the bodyrdquo

performances in ancient Greek processions is the music ndash including dances plays choirsand musical instruments

Music and musicians in ancient Greek processions97

Music must be regarded as an important cultural factor in ancient Greek society98 Lead-ing philosophers such as Plato Aristotle and also some Pythagoreans wrote about musicas a political institutional element99 As the ancient writers thought music to be in clos-est connection with the soul and assumed that music was able to change the mood andalso the character a deep relation to cult is apparent100 ldquoBoth the visual impressionof colorful objects and choreographic movement as well as the acoustic impression ofinstrumental and often vocal music show that processional performance was an elabo-rate event with symbolic and highly aesthetic qualitiesrdquo101 It is therefore surprising thatonly a third of all processional scenes on Greek ceramics depict musicians On vesselswith images of processional scenes musicians are more often depicted with sacrificial an-imals than without This closeness gives us a hint that there was a functional connectionbetween music and sacrificial animals

The common musical instruments were the kithara the lyra and the aulos102 Stringinstruments were common in Geometric-style processionscircle dances whereas auloidominate the procession and sacrifice scenes from the sixth century BCE With only afew exceptions all depictions of musical processions feature an aulos The second mostcommon combination is an ensemble of aulos and string instruments Some musicalinstruments such as idiophones (rattles sistra103 bells) and percussion instrumentsnever appear in processional scenes In contrast mystery cults such as for DionysosKybele or Demeter are known for their use of ecstasy-inducing musical instruments asthe Bacchae of Euripides illustrate colorfully104

It is also remarkable that the singing and dancing in musical processional perfor-mances which are best described in ancient Greek texts105 are almost never displayed in

97 For further information see Kubatzki 98 The ancient Greek term mousikeacute includes more than

just instrumental and vocal music it also encom-passes circular and individual dancing acting ina play and poetry The famous Muses embody allthese different performances by each standing fora different kind of lsquomusicrsquo For a detailed introduc-tion to that term see Murray and Wilson ndash and Kaden ndash For a comprehensive intro-duction to Greek music in general see West Anderson Landels Murray and Wilson

99 Plato Pol III d see West

100 Hermann Koller traces musical compositions(songs) back to the invocation of the gods by thepriests (Koller ndash )

101 Kavoulaki 102 While the kithara is made of wood the lyra is a

smaller string instrument made of tortoise shell103 Sistrum (pl sistra) a metal hand clapper that reached

Greece from the Egyptian Isis cult104 Eu Bacch ndash 105 These forms of ancient music must be regarded as

the central performance at every ancient Greek festi-val in all periods

procession scenes106 In this case we cannot argue from the painting technique since weknow countless representations of singing andor dancing figures in other contexts107

Obviously there was no need or desire to show choirs or singers as part of the processionPossibly singing was so common that it was not worth mentioning but in contrast mu-sical instruments could have been regarded as a kind of luxury This may be the reasonwhy they were depicted

At any rate there is a big gap between the illustrations on ceramics and the ancientGreek texts concerning the reference to musical performances In spite of the icono-graphic record it seems likely that music was mandatory in every festival because an-cient writers emphasize festive situations that had to omit music such as chthonic cultsor songs of grief and sorrow108

Complex functions of processions

The involvement of large parts of the population either as participants or as spectatorsturned the processions into lively events at which the Greeks could pay homage to theirgods in a very complex and elaborate way109 Processional performances can be read asthe staging of Greek identity which could be renewed changed fixed and commentedupon110 Greek processions were complex rituals with multiple functions concerningdifferent spheres in human and superhuman life

But in comparison with present religious processions the foundation of ancientGreek procession was the very close connection with a sacrificial act mainly of animalsIts aim probably arose from the wish to accompany the offerings (animals or gifts) ina reverent way to the altar or temple During the time of the procession the route wastransformed into a sacred space ndash it no longer represented a banal street or a commercialroute but a sacred trajectory where other rules were in operation This was expressed inthe festive atmosphere which was characterized by the garments and movements of theparticipants the musical performances the smells etc all of which marked a differenceto daily life111

106 See the analysis of the instruments and musical per-formances in processional scenes in Kubatzkiand Brand

107 For example the singing kithara player on an Atticred-figure amphora dated to the fifth century by theBerlin Painter Metropolitan Art Museum Gallery

108 See West ndash Zschaumltzsch 109 The function of Greek processions has been of in-

terest to several scholars in the last decades Geng-

nagel Connor Rutherford Graf Schlesier Polignac [ ] True et

al Kavoulaki and even more110 For the comparison of processional performances

and theatrical performances see also Kavoulaki

111 Boumlmer ndash Since processions are festivalsthe same rules were in operation such as behaving ndashdifferently and festively (Kavoulaki ndash )

Greek processions touched two different spheres the human and the superhumanHence different functions can be analyzed Processions had a territorial aspect112 Theywere the expression of a wide cross-section of the Greek population which connectedthe single phylai (clans or tribes) with the central sanctuaries ldquoThe procession demar-cates space and symbolically appropriates it The group builds a relation to spatial en-vironment and organizes space but at the same time it organizes itself through the ar-rangement of the procession in the space which is available to the community humanrelations are formed and power associations are manipulated and negotiatedrdquo113 Otherfunctions included political communication social interaction and cultic transforma-tion

Religious aspects

The religious motive must be regarded as the most essential and the initial factor for pro-cessions At its core a procession is an offering the pomp and glory was meant to delightthe gods114 The offering was always an exchange a reciprocal trade For the most pre-cious gifts a community could afford the gods offered in return shelter power over theprocesses of nature and support in matters of war But as Kavoulaki argues ldquoThe proces-sion remains always an attempt The community hierarchically arranged approachesthe divinity but divine reciprocity cannot be guaranteedrdquo115 On the one hand there is theinsurance character of ritual processions which can be interpreted as an expression of thepowerlessness of humans in the face of superhuman power116 On the other hand thereis the aspect of communication The contact between human and superhuman spherescan become physical The first aspect is the shared meat by eating the same meat allparticipants are connected with each other and with the god who received some partsof the sacrificial animal The second aspect is the epiphany of the gods as described forArtemis Dionysos Apollo Zeus Athena and others their ldquoappearancerdquo may have beena sensual effect (natural phenomena such as wind earthquakes birds and so on) or realepiphanies Apollo was said to dance with his followers and Dionysos appeared in theBacchae of Euripides117 Communication during processions and sacrifices representsan interaction between the two spheres

112 The territorial aim of processions is discussed inseveral texts See for instance Polignac [ ]Graf Kavoulaki Kubatzki

113 Kavoulaki 114 The uniqueness of the processions regards their

character as offerings (Voigt ) ndash ldquoBy pre-senting itself the marching community becomes agiftrdquo (Kavoulaki )

115 Kavoulaki 116 Nowadays this insecurity still exists but the gods

have changed into large insurance agencies whichtake the offerings (money)

117 Eur Bacch Prologue and other verses (Apolloepiphany Kall Ap ) other epiphanies of deitiesPapadopoulou b Papadopoulou a

Rituals such as processions offered a safe space for the interaction on vertical andhorizontal levels with the gods and with other people118 A sacrifice always includedmediation between the two realms119 In this context there is no longer any distinctionbetween religious and psychological aspects feasting coming together with others andoverstepping social borders by acting differently are needs of anyone living in any soci-ety

The psychological aspect

The psychological aspect must be seen as the real first motive for organizing festivalssuch as processions The gods were perceived as the most powerful entities who re-ceived the gifts and attention (by performing rituals) The embodying of communityin a procession the closeness to other polis members communitas120 feasting and thecreation of another world in which different rules apply (masquerade marking socialboundaries by crossing them) embodied the psychosocial order and were necessary tomaintain the identity of both realms namely the individual member of a polis and thepolis itself The participants were to call to mind their position inside the polis by re-enacting their social status by dressing in their best garments and presenting luxury ofany kind which also underlined their economic power In the context of daily life torelax in the festivity was a regularly used outlet for destructive emotions and a means ofempowerment for facing the everyday hard work again

Socio-political aspects

The organization inside the procession of the Great Panathenaia is a mirror of the polisstructure and as Graf points out ldquogives a spatial model of how the polis was structuredwhich individuals and which groups were part of the polis [city JK] and what their roleswere Again the procession manifests what Athens is not only to foreign by-standers butto the citizens and the participants The moment is well chosen when the annual cyclebegins the polis remembers and manifests the way in which it is orderedrdquo121

Kavoulaki describes it as a kind of self-organization of the polis ldquoThe group buildsa relation to spatial environment and organizes space but at the same time it organizesitself through the arrangement of the procession in the space which is available to thecommunity human relations are formed and power associations are manipulated and

118 Cf Koumlpping and Rao 119 See Graf 120 The term communitas was coined by ethnologist Vic-

tor Turner Communitas means the opposite of struc-ture it keeps people together in their social struc-

ture At the same time communitas is an always de-sired spontaneity an intuitive togetherness (Turner

[ ] ndash )121 Graf

negotiatedrdquo122 Both authors emphasize that ritual performances give insight into thepolitical body revealing its social and political order but do not change it Anotherauthor Jan Assmann underlines the important role of processions and festivals in pro-viding a frame in which the citizens could meet interact connect and trade123 As aldquomarriage marketrdquo he considers them to be the original reason for a tribal festival

Another sociopolitical function is probably the regulation of social conflicts W RConnor noticed a correlation between festivals and war situations in Greek antiquity124

Thomas Figueira has also suggested that there was a convergence of the Great Pana-thenaia and the years of instability in the early sixth century BCE125 Romans used thesame mechanism of manipulation they became very famous for their panem et circenses(bread and games) to appease the public in rough times with meals festivals and circusshows

Cultural aspects

In the research literature festivals such as processions have been described as communi-cation systems and as stages for politicians to establish a new political order (see chap-ter above) I would like to go a step further and add the sensual expressions of Greekprocessions aesthetic performances such as dances plays choirs and instrumental musicsensual acts such as smelling incense and the scent of meat and the festive self-expression ofthe worshippers through Sunday clothing and decoration126 Among these events musicwas important for bringing political ideas to a level of awareness since it enabled theworshippers to remember and maintain ideas by dancing and singing

Territorial aspects

Processions that followed a route outside the cities can also be regarded as territorialexpressions that connected the single clan or tribe (phyle) with the central sanctuariesby moving through landscapes and cities processions are like flexible borders Wher-ever processions made their way they marked the territory and so the organizing cityclaimed the space127 The sociologist Franccedilois de Polignac was one of the first scholarsto focus attention on the territorial role of processions by realizing that growing popu-lations from the Greek Archaic period onwards tended to install their sanctuaries in thesuburban area128 By this the city space was expanded and activated by regular festivals

122 Kavoulaki 123 Assmann 124 Connor 125 Figueira cited from Connor n

126 Boumlmer 127 Gengnagel Graf ndash Polignac

[ ] ndash 128 Polignac [ ] ndash

Who was reachedby processions

Individuals Cities Community of states

How were theyreached

ReligiousPsychologicalSocialPolitical

SocialPolitical Political

What happened Communication with godscultic engagementCoordination andchanneling of emotionsCommunitas (feeling oftogetherness)Identification with the polis

Channeling anti-socialenergiesRemembering andrealization of socialhierarchyMarriage marketMarket place for trade(economic sphere)Political demonstration ofpowerIdentification with polis

Demonstration ofpolis-powerMarking the territoryCreating and maintaining aGreek identity

Tab Systematizing the different functions of processions in ancient Greece

in these sacred sites Table and systematize the different functions of processions inancient Greece

Pilgrimages

Although scholars in the fields of archaeology and the science of religion have since thes focused on the different forms of travel by the Greek populations the term ldquopil-

grimagerdquo was not mentioned in these studies129 Only in did M Dillon publish anoverview of Greek pilgrimages differentiating them according to their structures des-tinations and ethnic groups130 Rutherford and Elsner edited a volume on the ancientworld and late antique period in in which the delegationembassy (theoria)131 andthe consultation of oracles took centre stage In that volume S Scullion published acritical article on the use of the term lsquopilgrimagersquo in relation to ancient Greece132 Heargued that pilgrimage according to our present understanding as the ldquojourney of a sin-gle person or a group of persons with a religious motivationrdquo had not existed in ancientGreece ndash at least as a special term Yet a vast number of Greeks travelled to the many

129 A detailed bibliography is found in Schlesier n and

130 Dillon xiiindashxviii

131 For introductory articles about theoriai see Nilsson Dillon ndash Schlesier

Tsochos ndash 132 Scullion

Spheresrealms HumanSocial level Mythological level Level ofwriting

DivineSpiritualDimension

EffectWhat did theprocession effect

Perception Realizationand Preservation of the self

Creating or maintainingthe collective memory ofmyth

Satisfactiongratification ofgods

HowHow did it work

Participation Staging the story Offering performance

Mode of actionWhat did they do

Same action by allparticipants

Bringing down to earth thefictive the imaginary

Processing

ActivityWhat were theconcrete actions

Sensual perceptions (massof people music smellsoptical attraction festivalatmosphere)Trade commerce exchangeof goods

Sensual experience of gods FeastingOffering donations andanimalsMaking great efforts tocelebrate festivalsWaste of precious goods

Tab A more comprehensive overview including all spheres that shows the differences in the way that proces-sions may have had effect

Panhellenic festivals in order to compete as athletes to consult an oracle to be healedof a disease to make an offering as a representative of their hometown to participate inthe festival as spectator or last but not least to engage in trade

A pilgrimage without being specified as such in ancient Greece was a journey toa place of worship The motivation for such a journey was not necessarily religious buthad different reasons individual economic or political In contrast to the present un-derstanding of pilgrimage the journey was not ritualized as Scullion remarks ldquo[hellip]whereas the notion of pilgrimage implies that the journey is ritualised there is littleevidence of this in classical Greecerdquo133

Most scholars argue that there was not one form of pilgrimage as a ldquojourney un-dertaken by a person in quest of a place or a state that he or she believes to embody asacred idealrdquo134 in ancient Greece but many types of pilgrimage135 Elsner and Ruther-ford singled out fourteen motives for a pilgrimage such as theoriai healing oreibasiaoracle consultation and sacred tourism

In the following I want to focus on the delegations since they seem to be highlyimportant for the political connections of Greek cities and were iconographical quitesimilar to processions

133 Scullion 134 Morinis

135 Elsner and Rutherford

Delegations theoriai

Theoria means the seeing watching witnessing of a spectacle and derives from the termtheoreo (= watching)136 A theoria is here defined as a delegation of dignitaries sent fromanother polis to participate in a sacrifice137 Through this practice their city of origincould participate in the ritual pars pro toto without the real presence of the whole cityldquoPossibly the original function of the theoroi was to observe the celebrations on behalfof their cities and to provide official representationrdquo Dillon points out138 This was ofgreat importance since rituals only worked for those who attended them139 Kavoulakiunderlines that the term and practice of theoria align participation most closely with theaspect of viewing ldquowatching the heorteacute (= festival) seeing what was taking place meantactually participating in the heorteacuterdquo140 There were two forms of delegates the hosts andthe guests but mostly these were the same persons Theorodokoi was the term used forthe people who were sent out to Greek cities to invite other delegates to a festival asambassadors whereas theoroi were the visiting delegates141

In general theoriai were religiously motivated delegations that represented the ab-sent polis in large national festivals such as those at Olympia Eleusis and Delos Be-sides pursuing religious and individual purposes consultations and healing delega-tions were highly political as regards the question of which city invited which otherpoleis The movements of societiesrsquo noble and aristocratic men meant a constant con-tact between different cities and between particular cities and their gods142 Delegatesserved as diplomats carried information (letters documents and gifts) and discussedterritorial borders143 Theoriai were necessary movements in order to sustain the fragileGreek world with its widespread poleis but in contrast to processions theoriai were notsacred themselves although in the words of Barbara Kowalzig both movements wereldquomapping out the religious spacerdquo144

136 Pantelia keywords theoreo theoria137 Dillon 138 Dillon 139 ldquoThe whole community asks for the deityrsquos recipro-

cal protectionrdquo (Kavoulaki )140 Kavoulaki 141 Pantelia keyword theorodokos Dillon

ndash 142 ldquoEvidence points towards a high level of inter-city

contact based on religious activityrdquo (Dillon )

143 For a brief overview of all the functions of theoroisee Dillon ndash

144 Kowalzig ndash That expression she used es-pecially for the songs that were sung by choirsboth in theoria and in processions These songs andmelodies more than other performances and of-ferings conveyed the character of the participatingcity The great significance of musical performanceswas briefly considered at the beginning of this ar-ticle but of course an intensive analysis cannot beoffered here

Iconographic differentiations processions and theoriai

Using archaeological data especially vase depictions it is hardly possible to differentiateprocessional scenes from scenes with theoriai Quite often depictions consist of two ormore people in fine garments with wreaths in their hair holding branches vessels andother cult objects in their hands Sometimes an animal is shown appearing with orwithout musicians as shown above

Sometimes there are trees columns altars vessels on a wall and other characteris-tics that indicate the place of the performance Basically the depictions suggest an open-air procession On the first depiction (Fig ) we have an almost complete processionalscene

The depictions from the Archaic period show these characteristics of a long proces-sion but they did not last long after their appearance in the sixth century when theywere replaced by shorter procession scenes These black-figure paintings are character-ized by figures and architectural elements designed in more detail but they show fewerpeople

I propose that short procession scenes without an altar may display a delegationWhereas ceramics with processional scenes must mainly be understood as offerings forthe gods to show the efforts of the worshippers the political dimension of scenes withdelegations on ceramics is more explicit145 Here the effort of communities is shownthe readiness of several cities to interact and participate in Panhellenic festivals Oneinterpretation may be that the iconic code of procession scenes could signal lsquoofferingsfor godsrsquo Another interpretation would draw attention to the iconic code of delega-tions which refers to cultural identity symbolizing lsquowe are Greeksrsquo If these differentmeanings of iconic codes of processional rituals are accepted it seems clear that scenesof delegations replaced processional scenes on ceramics at the end of the sixth centuryBCE

Conclusion

Concerning scenes of pilgrimage (here delegation) and procession an interrelation be-tween political bias and the iconic codes created by the Greeks is possible Depictionswere not only about representing the daily life of the ancient Greeks but about com-munication Iconic codes could be treated as a language that was understandable toeveryone in the Greek community These iconic codes could be deciphered by ancientrecipients through the meaning of the rituals presented In my analysis I discussed the

145 Laxander

complex meaning and practices of processions and theoriai and also of circular dancesI have linked them to aspects of identity social hierarchy and channelling antisocialenergies (Tab ) I have also drawn attention to their political dimensions Processionswere ndash more than sacrifices ndash the place for the demonstration of power and rule In abroader context they were active performances which created the identity of Greece asa community of states

Altogether processions and delegations can be regarded as a glue that connected thefragmented Greek cities Before alphabetical writing became the common medium totransfer values ideas techniques and common notions the medium had always beenthe traveling people Panhellenic festivals were most effective in connecting commu-nities by worshipping the same gods exchanging goods (arts garments food) and ofcourse by marriage as shown above

Processions and theoriai are communication systems that helped to create and main-tain such innovations as a common Greek language Greek myths and Greek democ-racy Regarding both types of movement (that is processions and theoriai) it is remark-able that the different arts and media of ancient Greece show an increase in religiousmovements which parallels the increase in population in Greece Smaller communitiesndash Yosef Garfinkel speaks of pre-state communities in the early Greek eras ndash produceda different iconic code that of circular dance scenes which were the main subject inseveral arts146 Procession scenes marked the era of the beginning democracy while thetheoriai became commonplace in the fifth and fourth century BCE

I would like to hypothesize a contextual relation between the growth of cities andpopulation and the need to perform ritual acts that involved the whole community Thedensity of those movements increased in parallel to the development of Greek state or-ganization and the growth of population from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period147

146 Garfinkel ndash 147 Kavoulaki ndash speaks of some kind ofcorrelation between processions and democraticpolitics

Bibliography

AndersonWarren D Anderson Music and Musicians in An-cient Greece Ithaka and New York Cornell Univer-sity Press

AssmannJan Assmann ldquoDer zweidimensionale MenschrdquoIn Das Fest und das Heilige Religioumlse Kontrapunktezur Arbeitswelt Ed by Jan Assmann Studien zumVerstehen fremder Religionen Guumltersloh Guumlter-sloher Verlagshaus Mohn ndash

AuffahrthChristoph Auffahrth ldquoFeste als Medium antikerReligionen Methodische Konzeptionen zur Er-forschung komplexer Ritualerdquo In Zwischen Alltagund Krise Antike Religionen im Mittelmeerraum Edby C Batsch U Egelhaaf-Gaiser and R StepperStuttgart Franz Steiner ndash

BlakolmerFritz Blakolmer ldquoMinoisch-mykenische Prozes-sionsfresken Uumlberlegungen zu den dargestelltenund den nicht dargestellten Gabenrdquo In KeimelionElitenbildung und elitaumlrer Konsum von der mykenischenPalastzeit bis zur homerischen Epoche The Formationof Elites and Elitist Lifestyles from Mycenaean PalatialTimes to the Homeric Period Akten des internationalenKongresses vom bis Februar in SalzburgEd by E Alram-Stern and G Nightingale Vol Veroumlffentlichungen der Mykenischen KommissionWien Verlag der Oumlsterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften ndash

BoumlmerFranz Boumlmer ldquoPompardquo In Paulys Realencyclopaumldieder classischen Altertumswissenschaft Ed by KZiegler Vol Stuttgart Metzler ndash

BrandHelmut Brand Griechische Musikanten im Kult Vonder Fruumlhzeit bis zum Beginn der Spaumltklassik Vol Wuumlrzburger Studien zur Sprache amp Kultur Dettel-bach J H Roumlll

BremmerJan N Bremmer Goumltter Mythen und Heiligtuumlmer imantiken Griechenland Darmstadt WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft

BurkeBrendan Burke ldquoMaterialization of MycenaeanIdeology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagusrdquo Ameri-can Journal of Archaeology ( ) ndash

ChaniotisAngelos Chaniotis ldquoGedenktage der GriechenIhre Bedeutung fuumlr das Geschichtsbewusstseingriechischer Poleisrdquo In Das Fest und das HeiligeReligioumlse Kontrapunkte zur Arbeitswelt Ed by J Ass-mann Guumltersloh Guumltersloher Verlagshaus Mohn

ndash

ConnorW R Connor ldquoTribes Festivals and ProcessionsCivic Ceremonial and Political Manipulation inArchaic Greecerdquo In Oxford Readings in Greek Reli-gion Ed by R Buxton Oxford Oxford UniversityPress ndash

DillonMatthew Dillon Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in AncientGreece London Routledge

EitremSamson Eitrem Beitraumlge zur griechischen Religion-sgeschichte Skrifter Videnskabs-Selskabets histor-filos Kl Christiana Dybwad

Elsner and RutherfordJaś Elsner and Ian Rutherford ldquoIntroductionrdquo InPilgrimage in Graeco-Roman amp Early Christian Antiq-uity Seeing the Gods Ed by J Elsner and I Ruther-ford Oxford Oxford University Press ndash

Frevel and HesbergC Frevel and H von Hesberg eds Kult und Kom-munikation Medien in Heiligtuumlmern der AntikeSchriften des Lehr- und Forschungszentrumsfuumlr die antiken Kulturen des Mittelmeerraumesndash Centre for Mediterranean cultures (ZAKMIRA)

Wiesbaden Ludwig Reichert

GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel Dancing at the Dawn of AgricultureAustin University of Texas Press

GengnagelJoumlrg Gengnagel ldquoEinleitungrdquo In Prozessionen Wall-fahrten Aufmaumlrsche Bewegung zwischen Religion undPolitik in Europa und Asien seit dem Mittelalter Ed byJ Gengnagel M Horstmann and G SchwedlerVol Menschen und Kulturen Koumlln Boumlhlau

ndash

GrafFritz Graf ldquoPompai in Greece Some Consider-ations about Space and Ritual in the Greek Po-lisrdquo In The Role of Religion in the Early Greek PolisProceedings of the Third International Seminar on An-cient Greek Cult organised by the Swedish Instituteat Athens ndash October Ed by R HaumlggVol Acta Instituti atheniensis regni SueciaeSeries in Stockholm P Aringstroumlm ndash

HarlandPhilip A Harland Travel and Religion in AntiquityStudies in Christianity and Judaism WaterlooON Wilfried Laurier University Press

HaugAnnette Haug Die Entdeckung des Koumlrpers Berlinand Boston De Gruyter

HoepfnerWolfram Hoepfner Das Pompeion und seine Nachfol-gerbauten Kerameikos Ergebnisse der Ausgrabun-gen Berlin De Gruyter

HoumllscherTonio Houmllscher ldquoBilderwelt Lebensordnung unddie Rolle des Betrachters im antiken Griechen-landrdquo In Bild-Raum-Handlung Perspektiven derArchaumlologie Ed by O Dally S Moraw and HZiemssen Berlin Studies of the Ancient World Berlin and Boston MA De Gruyter ndash

KadenChristian Kaden Das Unerhoumlrte und das UnhoumlrbareWas Musik ist was Musik sein kann Kassel Baumlrenrei-ter

KavoulakiAthena Kavoulaki ldquoProcessional Performancesand the Democratic Polisrdquo In Performance Cultureand Athenian Democracy Ed by S Goldhill and ROsborne Cambridge Cambridge University Press

ndash

KleineBaumlrbel Kleine Bilder tanzender Frauen in fruumlhgriechi-scher und klassischer Zeit Internationale Archaumlologie

RahdenWestf Marie Leidorf

KollerHermann Koller Musik und Dichtung im AltenGriechenland Bern and Muumlnchen Francke

Koumlpping and RaoKlaus-Peter Koumlpping and Ursula Rao eds ImRausch des Rituals Gestaltung und Transformationder Wirklichkeit in koumlrperlicher Performanz Perfor-manzen Interkulturelle Studien zu Ritual Spielund Theater Muumlnster LIT Verlag

KourouNota Kourou ldquoMusical Procession Scenes in EarlyGreek Artrdquo Praktika ( ) ndash

KowalzigBarbara Kowalzig ldquoMapping out lsquoCommunitasrsquoPerformances of lsquoTheoriarsquo in their Sacred and Po-litical Contextrdquo In Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman ampEarly Christian Antiquity Seeing the Gods Ed by JElsner and I Rutherford Oxford Oxford Univer-sity Press ndash

KubatzkiJana Kubatzki Die Rolle der Musik in antikengriechischen Prozessionen Ikonographische Unter-suchung griechischer Gefaumlszlige mit dem Schwerpunkt im und Jh v Chr PhD thesis Berlin Humboldt-

Universitaumlt zu Berlin

KunzeEmil Kunze Kretische Bronzereliefs StuttgartKohlhammer

performances in ancient Greek processions is the music ndash including dances plays choirsand musical instruments

Music and musicians in ancient Greek processions97

Music must be regarded as an important cultural factor in ancient Greek society98 Lead-ing philosophers such as Plato Aristotle and also some Pythagoreans wrote about musicas a political institutional element99 As the ancient writers thought music to be in clos-est connection with the soul and assumed that music was able to change the mood andalso the character a deep relation to cult is apparent100 ldquoBoth the visual impressionof colorful objects and choreographic movement as well as the acoustic impression ofinstrumental and often vocal music show that processional performance was an elabo-rate event with symbolic and highly aesthetic qualitiesrdquo101 It is therefore surprising thatonly a third of all processional scenes on Greek ceramics depict musicians On vesselswith images of processional scenes musicians are more often depicted with sacrificial an-imals than without This closeness gives us a hint that there was a functional connectionbetween music and sacrificial animals

The common musical instruments were the kithara the lyra and the aulos102 Stringinstruments were common in Geometric-style processionscircle dances whereas auloidominate the procession and sacrifice scenes from the sixth century BCE With only afew exceptions all depictions of musical processions feature an aulos The second mostcommon combination is an ensemble of aulos and string instruments Some musicalinstruments such as idiophones (rattles sistra103 bells) and percussion instrumentsnever appear in processional scenes In contrast mystery cults such as for DionysosKybele or Demeter are known for their use of ecstasy-inducing musical instruments asthe Bacchae of Euripides illustrate colorfully104

It is also remarkable that the singing and dancing in musical processional perfor-mances which are best described in ancient Greek texts105 are almost never displayed in

97 For further information see Kubatzki 98 The ancient Greek term mousikeacute includes more than

just instrumental and vocal music it also encom-passes circular and individual dancing acting ina play and poetry The famous Muses embody allthese different performances by each standing fora different kind of lsquomusicrsquo For a detailed introduc-tion to that term see Murray and Wilson ndash and Kaden ndash For a comprehensive intro-duction to Greek music in general see West Anderson Landels Murray and Wilson

99 Plato Pol III d see West

100 Hermann Koller traces musical compositions(songs) back to the invocation of the gods by thepriests (Koller ndash )

101 Kavoulaki 102 While the kithara is made of wood the lyra is a

smaller string instrument made of tortoise shell103 Sistrum (pl sistra) a metal hand clapper that reached

Greece from the Egyptian Isis cult104 Eu Bacch ndash 105 These forms of ancient music must be regarded as

the central performance at every ancient Greek festi-val in all periods

procession scenes106 In this case we cannot argue from the painting technique since weknow countless representations of singing andor dancing figures in other contexts107

Obviously there was no need or desire to show choirs or singers as part of the processionPossibly singing was so common that it was not worth mentioning but in contrast mu-sical instruments could have been regarded as a kind of luxury This may be the reasonwhy they were depicted

At any rate there is a big gap between the illustrations on ceramics and the ancientGreek texts concerning the reference to musical performances In spite of the icono-graphic record it seems likely that music was mandatory in every festival because an-cient writers emphasize festive situations that had to omit music such as chthonic cultsor songs of grief and sorrow108

Complex functions of processions

The involvement of large parts of the population either as participants or as spectatorsturned the processions into lively events at which the Greeks could pay homage to theirgods in a very complex and elaborate way109 Processional performances can be read asthe staging of Greek identity which could be renewed changed fixed and commentedupon110 Greek processions were complex rituals with multiple functions concerningdifferent spheres in human and superhuman life

But in comparison with present religious processions the foundation of ancientGreek procession was the very close connection with a sacrificial act mainly of animalsIts aim probably arose from the wish to accompany the offerings (animals or gifts) ina reverent way to the altar or temple During the time of the procession the route wastransformed into a sacred space ndash it no longer represented a banal street or a commercialroute but a sacred trajectory where other rules were in operation This was expressed inthe festive atmosphere which was characterized by the garments and movements of theparticipants the musical performances the smells etc all of which marked a differenceto daily life111

106 See the analysis of the instruments and musical per-formances in processional scenes in Kubatzkiand Brand

107 For example the singing kithara player on an Atticred-figure amphora dated to the fifth century by theBerlin Painter Metropolitan Art Museum Gallery

108 See West ndash Zschaumltzsch 109 The function of Greek processions has been of in-

terest to several scholars in the last decades Geng-

nagel Connor Rutherford Graf Schlesier Polignac [ ] True et

al Kavoulaki and even more110 For the comparison of processional performances

and theatrical performances see also Kavoulaki

111 Boumlmer ndash Since processions are festivalsthe same rules were in operation such as behaving ndashdifferently and festively (Kavoulaki ndash )

Greek processions touched two different spheres the human and the superhumanHence different functions can be analyzed Processions had a territorial aspect112 Theywere the expression of a wide cross-section of the Greek population which connectedthe single phylai (clans or tribes) with the central sanctuaries ldquoThe procession demar-cates space and symbolically appropriates it The group builds a relation to spatial en-vironment and organizes space but at the same time it organizes itself through the ar-rangement of the procession in the space which is available to the community humanrelations are formed and power associations are manipulated and negotiatedrdquo113 Otherfunctions included political communication social interaction and cultic transforma-tion

Religious aspects

The religious motive must be regarded as the most essential and the initial factor for pro-cessions At its core a procession is an offering the pomp and glory was meant to delightthe gods114 The offering was always an exchange a reciprocal trade For the most pre-cious gifts a community could afford the gods offered in return shelter power over theprocesses of nature and support in matters of war But as Kavoulaki argues ldquoThe proces-sion remains always an attempt The community hierarchically arranged approachesthe divinity but divine reciprocity cannot be guaranteedrdquo115 On the one hand there is theinsurance character of ritual processions which can be interpreted as an expression of thepowerlessness of humans in the face of superhuman power116 On the other hand thereis the aspect of communication The contact between human and superhuman spherescan become physical The first aspect is the shared meat by eating the same meat allparticipants are connected with each other and with the god who received some partsof the sacrificial animal The second aspect is the epiphany of the gods as described forArtemis Dionysos Apollo Zeus Athena and others their ldquoappearancerdquo may have beena sensual effect (natural phenomena such as wind earthquakes birds and so on) or realepiphanies Apollo was said to dance with his followers and Dionysos appeared in theBacchae of Euripides117 Communication during processions and sacrifices representsan interaction between the two spheres

112 The territorial aim of processions is discussed inseveral texts See for instance Polignac [ ]Graf Kavoulaki Kubatzki

113 Kavoulaki 114 The uniqueness of the processions regards their

character as offerings (Voigt ) ndash ldquoBy pre-senting itself the marching community becomes agiftrdquo (Kavoulaki )

115 Kavoulaki 116 Nowadays this insecurity still exists but the gods

have changed into large insurance agencies whichtake the offerings (money)

117 Eur Bacch Prologue and other verses (Apolloepiphany Kall Ap ) other epiphanies of deitiesPapadopoulou b Papadopoulou a

Rituals such as processions offered a safe space for the interaction on vertical andhorizontal levels with the gods and with other people118 A sacrifice always includedmediation between the two realms119 In this context there is no longer any distinctionbetween religious and psychological aspects feasting coming together with others andoverstepping social borders by acting differently are needs of anyone living in any soci-ety

The psychological aspect

The psychological aspect must be seen as the real first motive for organizing festivalssuch as processions The gods were perceived as the most powerful entities who re-ceived the gifts and attention (by performing rituals) The embodying of communityin a procession the closeness to other polis members communitas120 feasting and thecreation of another world in which different rules apply (masquerade marking socialboundaries by crossing them) embodied the psychosocial order and were necessary tomaintain the identity of both realms namely the individual member of a polis and thepolis itself The participants were to call to mind their position inside the polis by re-enacting their social status by dressing in their best garments and presenting luxury ofany kind which also underlined their economic power In the context of daily life torelax in the festivity was a regularly used outlet for destructive emotions and a means ofempowerment for facing the everyday hard work again

Socio-political aspects

The organization inside the procession of the Great Panathenaia is a mirror of the polisstructure and as Graf points out ldquogives a spatial model of how the polis was structuredwhich individuals and which groups were part of the polis [city JK] and what their roleswere Again the procession manifests what Athens is not only to foreign by-standers butto the citizens and the participants The moment is well chosen when the annual cyclebegins the polis remembers and manifests the way in which it is orderedrdquo121

Kavoulaki describes it as a kind of self-organization of the polis ldquoThe group buildsa relation to spatial environment and organizes space but at the same time it organizesitself through the arrangement of the procession in the space which is available to thecommunity human relations are formed and power associations are manipulated and

118 Cf Koumlpping and Rao 119 See Graf 120 The term communitas was coined by ethnologist Vic-

tor Turner Communitas means the opposite of struc-ture it keeps people together in their social struc-

ture At the same time communitas is an always de-sired spontaneity an intuitive togetherness (Turner

[ ] ndash )121 Graf

negotiatedrdquo122 Both authors emphasize that ritual performances give insight into thepolitical body revealing its social and political order but do not change it Anotherauthor Jan Assmann underlines the important role of processions and festivals in pro-viding a frame in which the citizens could meet interact connect and trade123 As aldquomarriage marketrdquo he considers them to be the original reason for a tribal festival

Another sociopolitical function is probably the regulation of social conflicts W RConnor noticed a correlation between festivals and war situations in Greek antiquity124

Thomas Figueira has also suggested that there was a convergence of the Great Pana-thenaia and the years of instability in the early sixth century BCE125 Romans used thesame mechanism of manipulation they became very famous for their panem et circenses(bread and games) to appease the public in rough times with meals festivals and circusshows

Cultural aspects

In the research literature festivals such as processions have been described as communi-cation systems and as stages for politicians to establish a new political order (see chap-ter above) I would like to go a step further and add the sensual expressions of Greekprocessions aesthetic performances such as dances plays choirs and instrumental musicsensual acts such as smelling incense and the scent of meat and the festive self-expression ofthe worshippers through Sunday clothing and decoration126 Among these events musicwas important for bringing political ideas to a level of awareness since it enabled theworshippers to remember and maintain ideas by dancing and singing

Territorial aspects

Processions that followed a route outside the cities can also be regarded as territorialexpressions that connected the single clan or tribe (phyle) with the central sanctuariesby moving through landscapes and cities processions are like flexible borders Wher-ever processions made their way they marked the territory and so the organizing cityclaimed the space127 The sociologist Franccedilois de Polignac was one of the first scholarsto focus attention on the territorial role of processions by realizing that growing popu-lations from the Greek Archaic period onwards tended to install their sanctuaries in thesuburban area128 By this the city space was expanded and activated by regular festivals

122 Kavoulaki 123 Assmann 124 Connor 125 Figueira cited from Connor n

126 Boumlmer 127 Gengnagel Graf ndash Polignac

[ ] ndash 128 Polignac [ ] ndash

Who was reachedby processions

Individuals Cities Community of states

How were theyreached

ReligiousPsychologicalSocialPolitical

SocialPolitical Political

What happened Communication with godscultic engagementCoordination andchanneling of emotionsCommunitas (feeling oftogetherness)Identification with the polis

Channeling anti-socialenergiesRemembering andrealization of socialhierarchyMarriage marketMarket place for trade(economic sphere)Political demonstration ofpowerIdentification with polis

Demonstration ofpolis-powerMarking the territoryCreating and maintaining aGreek identity

Tab Systematizing the different functions of processions in ancient Greece

in these sacred sites Table and systematize the different functions of processions inancient Greece

Pilgrimages

Although scholars in the fields of archaeology and the science of religion have since thes focused on the different forms of travel by the Greek populations the term ldquopil-

grimagerdquo was not mentioned in these studies129 Only in did M Dillon publish anoverview of Greek pilgrimages differentiating them according to their structures des-tinations and ethnic groups130 Rutherford and Elsner edited a volume on the ancientworld and late antique period in in which the delegationembassy (theoria)131 andthe consultation of oracles took centre stage In that volume S Scullion published acritical article on the use of the term lsquopilgrimagersquo in relation to ancient Greece132 Heargued that pilgrimage according to our present understanding as the ldquojourney of a sin-gle person or a group of persons with a religious motivationrdquo had not existed in ancientGreece ndash at least as a special term Yet a vast number of Greeks travelled to the many

129 A detailed bibliography is found in Schlesier n and

130 Dillon xiiindashxviii

131 For introductory articles about theoriai see Nilsson Dillon ndash Schlesier

Tsochos ndash 132 Scullion

Spheresrealms HumanSocial level Mythological level Level ofwriting

DivineSpiritualDimension

EffectWhat did theprocession effect

Perception Realizationand Preservation of the self

Creating or maintainingthe collective memory ofmyth

Satisfactiongratification ofgods

HowHow did it work

Participation Staging the story Offering performance

Mode of actionWhat did they do

Same action by allparticipants

Bringing down to earth thefictive the imaginary

Processing

ActivityWhat were theconcrete actions

Sensual perceptions (massof people music smellsoptical attraction festivalatmosphere)Trade commerce exchangeof goods

Sensual experience of gods FeastingOffering donations andanimalsMaking great efforts tocelebrate festivalsWaste of precious goods

Tab A more comprehensive overview including all spheres that shows the differences in the way that proces-sions may have had effect

Panhellenic festivals in order to compete as athletes to consult an oracle to be healedof a disease to make an offering as a representative of their hometown to participate inthe festival as spectator or last but not least to engage in trade

A pilgrimage without being specified as such in ancient Greece was a journey toa place of worship The motivation for such a journey was not necessarily religious buthad different reasons individual economic or political In contrast to the present un-derstanding of pilgrimage the journey was not ritualized as Scullion remarks ldquo[hellip]whereas the notion of pilgrimage implies that the journey is ritualised there is littleevidence of this in classical Greecerdquo133

Most scholars argue that there was not one form of pilgrimage as a ldquojourney un-dertaken by a person in quest of a place or a state that he or she believes to embody asacred idealrdquo134 in ancient Greece but many types of pilgrimage135 Elsner and Ruther-ford singled out fourteen motives for a pilgrimage such as theoriai healing oreibasiaoracle consultation and sacred tourism

In the following I want to focus on the delegations since they seem to be highlyimportant for the political connections of Greek cities and were iconographical quitesimilar to processions

133 Scullion 134 Morinis

135 Elsner and Rutherford

Delegations theoriai

Theoria means the seeing watching witnessing of a spectacle and derives from the termtheoreo (= watching)136 A theoria is here defined as a delegation of dignitaries sent fromanother polis to participate in a sacrifice137 Through this practice their city of origincould participate in the ritual pars pro toto without the real presence of the whole cityldquoPossibly the original function of the theoroi was to observe the celebrations on behalfof their cities and to provide official representationrdquo Dillon points out138 This was ofgreat importance since rituals only worked for those who attended them139 Kavoulakiunderlines that the term and practice of theoria align participation most closely with theaspect of viewing ldquowatching the heorteacute (= festival) seeing what was taking place meantactually participating in the heorteacuterdquo140 There were two forms of delegates the hosts andthe guests but mostly these were the same persons Theorodokoi was the term used forthe people who were sent out to Greek cities to invite other delegates to a festival asambassadors whereas theoroi were the visiting delegates141

In general theoriai were religiously motivated delegations that represented the ab-sent polis in large national festivals such as those at Olympia Eleusis and Delos Be-sides pursuing religious and individual purposes consultations and healing delega-tions were highly political as regards the question of which city invited which otherpoleis The movements of societiesrsquo noble and aristocratic men meant a constant con-tact between different cities and between particular cities and their gods142 Delegatesserved as diplomats carried information (letters documents and gifts) and discussedterritorial borders143 Theoriai were necessary movements in order to sustain the fragileGreek world with its widespread poleis but in contrast to processions theoriai were notsacred themselves although in the words of Barbara Kowalzig both movements wereldquomapping out the religious spacerdquo144

136 Pantelia keywords theoreo theoria137 Dillon 138 Dillon 139 ldquoThe whole community asks for the deityrsquos recipro-

cal protectionrdquo (Kavoulaki )140 Kavoulaki 141 Pantelia keyword theorodokos Dillon

ndash 142 ldquoEvidence points towards a high level of inter-city

contact based on religious activityrdquo (Dillon )

143 For a brief overview of all the functions of theoroisee Dillon ndash

144 Kowalzig ndash That expression she used es-pecially for the songs that were sung by choirsboth in theoria and in processions These songs andmelodies more than other performances and of-ferings conveyed the character of the participatingcity The great significance of musical performanceswas briefly considered at the beginning of this ar-ticle but of course an intensive analysis cannot beoffered here

Iconographic differentiations processions and theoriai

Using archaeological data especially vase depictions it is hardly possible to differentiateprocessional scenes from scenes with theoriai Quite often depictions consist of two ormore people in fine garments with wreaths in their hair holding branches vessels andother cult objects in their hands Sometimes an animal is shown appearing with orwithout musicians as shown above

Sometimes there are trees columns altars vessels on a wall and other characteris-tics that indicate the place of the performance Basically the depictions suggest an open-air procession On the first depiction (Fig ) we have an almost complete processionalscene

The depictions from the Archaic period show these characteristics of a long proces-sion but they did not last long after their appearance in the sixth century when theywere replaced by shorter procession scenes These black-figure paintings are character-ized by figures and architectural elements designed in more detail but they show fewerpeople

I propose that short procession scenes without an altar may display a delegationWhereas ceramics with processional scenes must mainly be understood as offerings forthe gods to show the efforts of the worshippers the political dimension of scenes withdelegations on ceramics is more explicit145 Here the effort of communities is shownthe readiness of several cities to interact and participate in Panhellenic festivals Oneinterpretation may be that the iconic code of procession scenes could signal lsquoofferingsfor godsrsquo Another interpretation would draw attention to the iconic code of delega-tions which refers to cultural identity symbolizing lsquowe are Greeksrsquo If these differentmeanings of iconic codes of processional rituals are accepted it seems clear that scenesof delegations replaced processional scenes on ceramics at the end of the sixth centuryBCE

Conclusion

Concerning scenes of pilgrimage (here delegation) and procession an interrelation be-tween political bias and the iconic codes created by the Greeks is possible Depictionswere not only about representing the daily life of the ancient Greeks but about com-munication Iconic codes could be treated as a language that was understandable toeveryone in the Greek community These iconic codes could be deciphered by ancientrecipients through the meaning of the rituals presented In my analysis I discussed the

145 Laxander

complex meaning and practices of processions and theoriai and also of circular dancesI have linked them to aspects of identity social hierarchy and channelling antisocialenergies (Tab ) I have also drawn attention to their political dimensions Processionswere ndash more than sacrifices ndash the place for the demonstration of power and rule In abroader context they were active performances which created the identity of Greece asa community of states

Altogether processions and delegations can be regarded as a glue that connected thefragmented Greek cities Before alphabetical writing became the common medium totransfer values ideas techniques and common notions the medium had always beenthe traveling people Panhellenic festivals were most effective in connecting commu-nities by worshipping the same gods exchanging goods (arts garments food) and ofcourse by marriage as shown above

Processions and theoriai are communication systems that helped to create and main-tain such innovations as a common Greek language Greek myths and Greek democ-racy Regarding both types of movement (that is processions and theoriai) it is remark-able that the different arts and media of ancient Greece show an increase in religiousmovements which parallels the increase in population in Greece Smaller communitiesndash Yosef Garfinkel speaks of pre-state communities in the early Greek eras ndash produceda different iconic code that of circular dance scenes which were the main subject inseveral arts146 Procession scenes marked the era of the beginning democracy while thetheoriai became commonplace in the fifth and fourth century BCE

I would like to hypothesize a contextual relation between the growth of cities andpopulation and the need to perform ritual acts that involved the whole community Thedensity of those movements increased in parallel to the development of Greek state or-ganization and the growth of population from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period147

146 Garfinkel ndash 147 Kavoulaki ndash speaks of some kind ofcorrelation between processions and democraticpolitics

Bibliography

AndersonWarren D Anderson Music and Musicians in An-cient Greece Ithaka and New York Cornell Univer-sity Press

AssmannJan Assmann ldquoDer zweidimensionale MenschrdquoIn Das Fest und das Heilige Religioumlse Kontrapunktezur Arbeitswelt Ed by Jan Assmann Studien zumVerstehen fremder Religionen Guumltersloh Guumlter-sloher Verlagshaus Mohn ndash

AuffahrthChristoph Auffahrth ldquoFeste als Medium antikerReligionen Methodische Konzeptionen zur Er-forschung komplexer Ritualerdquo In Zwischen Alltagund Krise Antike Religionen im Mittelmeerraum Edby C Batsch U Egelhaaf-Gaiser and R StepperStuttgart Franz Steiner ndash

BlakolmerFritz Blakolmer ldquoMinoisch-mykenische Prozes-sionsfresken Uumlberlegungen zu den dargestelltenund den nicht dargestellten Gabenrdquo In KeimelionElitenbildung und elitaumlrer Konsum von der mykenischenPalastzeit bis zur homerischen Epoche The Formationof Elites and Elitist Lifestyles from Mycenaean PalatialTimes to the Homeric Period Akten des internationalenKongresses vom bis Februar in SalzburgEd by E Alram-Stern and G Nightingale Vol Veroumlffentlichungen der Mykenischen KommissionWien Verlag der Oumlsterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften ndash

BoumlmerFranz Boumlmer ldquoPompardquo In Paulys Realencyclopaumldieder classischen Altertumswissenschaft Ed by KZiegler Vol Stuttgart Metzler ndash

BrandHelmut Brand Griechische Musikanten im Kult Vonder Fruumlhzeit bis zum Beginn der Spaumltklassik Vol Wuumlrzburger Studien zur Sprache amp Kultur Dettel-bach J H Roumlll

BremmerJan N Bremmer Goumltter Mythen und Heiligtuumlmer imantiken Griechenland Darmstadt WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft

BurkeBrendan Burke ldquoMaterialization of MycenaeanIdeology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagusrdquo Ameri-can Journal of Archaeology ( ) ndash

ChaniotisAngelos Chaniotis ldquoGedenktage der GriechenIhre Bedeutung fuumlr das Geschichtsbewusstseingriechischer Poleisrdquo In Das Fest und das HeiligeReligioumlse Kontrapunkte zur Arbeitswelt Ed by J Ass-mann Guumltersloh Guumltersloher Verlagshaus Mohn

ndash

ConnorW R Connor ldquoTribes Festivals and ProcessionsCivic Ceremonial and Political Manipulation inArchaic Greecerdquo In Oxford Readings in Greek Reli-gion Ed by R Buxton Oxford Oxford UniversityPress ndash

DillonMatthew Dillon Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in AncientGreece London Routledge

EitremSamson Eitrem Beitraumlge zur griechischen Religion-sgeschichte Skrifter Videnskabs-Selskabets histor-filos Kl Christiana Dybwad

Elsner and RutherfordJaś Elsner and Ian Rutherford ldquoIntroductionrdquo InPilgrimage in Graeco-Roman amp Early Christian Antiq-uity Seeing the Gods Ed by J Elsner and I Ruther-ford Oxford Oxford University Press ndash

Frevel and HesbergC Frevel and H von Hesberg eds Kult und Kom-munikation Medien in Heiligtuumlmern der AntikeSchriften des Lehr- und Forschungszentrumsfuumlr die antiken Kulturen des Mittelmeerraumesndash Centre for Mediterranean cultures (ZAKMIRA)

Wiesbaden Ludwig Reichert

GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel Dancing at the Dawn of AgricultureAustin University of Texas Press

GengnagelJoumlrg Gengnagel ldquoEinleitungrdquo In Prozessionen Wall-fahrten Aufmaumlrsche Bewegung zwischen Religion undPolitik in Europa und Asien seit dem Mittelalter Ed byJ Gengnagel M Horstmann and G SchwedlerVol Menschen und Kulturen Koumlln Boumlhlau

ndash

GrafFritz Graf ldquoPompai in Greece Some Consider-ations about Space and Ritual in the Greek Po-lisrdquo In The Role of Religion in the Early Greek PolisProceedings of the Third International Seminar on An-cient Greek Cult organised by the Swedish Instituteat Athens ndash October Ed by R HaumlggVol Acta Instituti atheniensis regni SueciaeSeries in Stockholm P Aringstroumlm ndash

HarlandPhilip A Harland Travel and Religion in AntiquityStudies in Christianity and Judaism WaterlooON Wilfried Laurier University Press

HaugAnnette Haug Die Entdeckung des Koumlrpers Berlinand Boston De Gruyter

HoepfnerWolfram Hoepfner Das Pompeion und seine Nachfol-gerbauten Kerameikos Ergebnisse der Ausgrabun-gen Berlin De Gruyter

HoumllscherTonio Houmllscher ldquoBilderwelt Lebensordnung unddie Rolle des Betrachters im antiken Griechen-landrdquo In Bild-Raum-Handlung Perspektiven derArchaumlologie Ed by O Dally S Moraw and HZiemssen Berlin Studies of the Ancient World Berlin and Boston MA De Gruyter ndash

KadenChristian Kaden Das Unerhoumlrte und das UnhoumlrbareWas Musik ist was Musik sein kann Kassel Baumlrenrei-ter

KavoulakiAthena Kavoulaki ldquoProcessional Performancesand the Democratic Polisrdquo In Performance Cultureand Athenian Democracy Ed by S Goldhill and ROsborne Cambridge Cambridge University Press

ndash

KleineBaumlrbel Kleine Bilder tanzender Frauen in fruumlhgriechi-scher und klassischer Zeit Internationale Archaumlologie

RahdenWestf Marie Leidorf

KollerHermann Koller Musik und Dichtung im AltenGriechenland Bern and Muumlnchen Francke

Koumlpping and RaoKlaus-Peter Koumlpping and Ursula Rao eds ImRausch des Rituals Gestaltung und Transformationder Wirklichkeit in koumlrperlicher Performanz Perfor-manzen Interkulturelle Studien zu Ritual Spielund Theater Muumlnster LIT Verlag

KourouNota Kourou ldquoMusical Procession Scenes in EarlyGreek Artrdquo Praktika ( ) ndash

KowalzigBarbara Kowalzig ldquoMapping out lsquoCommunitasrsquoPerformances of lsquoTheoriarsquo in their Sacred and Po-litical Contextrdquo In Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman ampEarly Christian Antiquity Seeing the Gods Ed by JElsner and I Rutherford Oxford Oxford Univer-sity Press ndash

KubatzkiJana Kubatzki Die Rolle der Musik in antikengriechischen Prozessionen Ikonographische Unter-suchung griechischer Gefaumlszlige mit dem Schwerpunkt im und Jh v Chr PhD thesis Berlin Humboldt-

Universitaumlt zu Berlin

KunzeEmil Kunze Kretische Bronzereliefs StuttgartKohlhammer

procession scenes106 In this case we cannot argue from the painting technique since weknow countless representations of singing andor dancing figures in other contexts107

Obviously there was no need or desire to show choirs or singers as part of the processionPossibly singing was so common that it was not worth mentioning but in contrast mu-sical instruments could have been regarded as a kind of luxury This may be the reasonwhy they were depicted

At any rate there is a big gap between the illustrations on ceramics and the ancientGreek texts concerning the reference to musical performances In spite of the icono-graphic record it seems likely that music was mandatory in every festival because an-cient writers emphasize festive situations that had to omit music such as chthonic cultsor songs of grief and sorrow108

Complex functions of processions

The involvement of large parts of the population either as participants or as spectatorsturned the processions into lively events at which the Greeks could pay homage to theirgods in a very complex and elaborate way109 Processional performances can be read asthe staging of Greek identity which could be renewed changed fixed and commentedupon110 Greek processions were complex rituals with multiple functions concerningdifferent spheres in human and superhuman life

But in comparison with present religious processions the foundation of ancientGreek procession was the very close connection with a sacrificial act mainly of animalsIts aim probably arose from the wish to accompany the offerings (animals or gifts) ina reverent way to the altar or temple During the time of the procession the route wastransformed into a sacred space ndash it no longer represented a banal street or a commercialroute but a sacred trajectory where other rules were in operation This was expressed inthe festive atmosphere which was characterized by the garments and movements of theparticipants the musical performances the smells etc all of which marked a differenceto daily life111

106 See the analysis of the instruments and musical per-formances in processional scenes in Kubatzkiand Brand

107 For example the singing kithara player on an Atticred-figure amphora dated to the fifth century by theBerlin Painter Metropolitan Art Museum Gallery

108 See West ndash Zschaumltzsch 109 The function of Greek processions has been of in-

terest to several scholars in the last decades Geng-

nagel Connor Rutherford Graf Schlesier Polignac [ ] True et

al Kavoulaki and even more110 For the comparison of processional performances

and theatrical performances see also Kavoulaki

111 Boumlmer ndash Since processions are festivalsthe same rules were in operation such as behaving ndashdifferently and festively (Kavoulaki ndash )

Greek processions touched two different spheres the human and the superhumanHence different functions can be analyzed Processions had a territorial aspect112 Theywere the expression of a wide cross-section of the Greek population which connectedthe single phylai (clans or tribes) with the central sanctuaries ldquoThe procession demar-cates space and symbolically appropriates it The group builds a relation to spatial en-vironment and organizes space but at the same time it organizes itself through the ar-rangement of the procession in the space which is available to the community humanrelations are formed and power associations are manipulated and negotiatedrdquo113 Otherfunctions included political communication social interaction and cultic transforma-tion

Religious aspects

The religious motive must be regarded as the most essential and the initial factor for pro-cessions At its core a procession is an offering the pomp and glory was meant to delightthe gods114 The offering was always an exchange a reciprocal trade For the most pre-cious gifts a community could afford the gods offered in return shelter power over theprocesses of nature and support in matters of war But as Kavoulaki argues ldquoThe proces-sion remains always an attempt The community hierarchically arranged approachesthe divinity but divine reciprocity cannot be guaranteedrdquo115 On the one hand there is theinsurance character of ritual processions which can be interpreted as an expression of thepowerlessness of humans in the face of superhuman power116 On the other hand thereis the aspect of communication The contact between human and superhuman spherescan become physical The first aspect is the shared meat by eating the same meat allparticipants are connected with each other and with the god who received some partsof the sacrificial animal The second aspect is the epiphany of the gods as described forArtemis Dionysos Apollo Zeus Athena and others their ldquoappearancerdquo may have beena sensual effect (natural phenomena such as wind earthquakes birds and so on) or realepiphanies Apollo was said to dance with his followers and Dionysos appeared in theBacchae of Euripides117 Communication during processions and sacrifices representsan interaction between the two spheres

112 The territorial aim of processions is discussed inseveral texts See for instance Polignac [ ]Graf Kavoulaki Kubatzki

113 Kavoulaki 114 The uniqueness of the processions regards their

character as offerings (Voigt ) ndash ldquoBy pre-senting itself the marching community becomes agiftrdquo (Kavoulaki )

115 Kavoulaki 116 Nowadays this insecurity still exists but the gods

have changed into large insurance agencies whichtake the offerings (money)

117 Eur Bacch Prologue and other verses (Apolloepiphany Kall Ap ) other epiphanies of deitiesPapadopoulou b Papadopoulou a

Rituals such as processions offered a safe space for the interaction on vertical andhorizontal levels with the gods and with other people118 A sacrifice always includedmediation between the two realms119 In this context there is no longer any distinctionbetween religious and psychological aspects feasting coming together with others andoverstepping social borders by acting differently are needs of anyone living in any soci-ety

The psychological aspect

The psychological aspect must be seen as the real first motive for organizing festivalssuch as processions The gods were perceived as the most powerful entities who re-ceived the gifts and attention (by performing rituals) The embodying of communityin a procession the closeness to other polis members communitas120 feasting and thecreation of another world in which different rules apply (masquerade marking socialboundaries by crossing them) embodied the psychosocial order and were necessary tomaintain the identity of both realms namely the individual member of a polis and thepolis itself The participants were to call to mind their position inside the polis by re-enacting their social status by dressing in their best garments and presenting luxury ofany kind which also underlined their economic power In the context of daily life torelax in the festivity was a regularly used outlet for destructive emotions and a means ofempowerment for facing the everyday hard work again

Socio-political aspects

The organization inside the procession of the Great Panathenaia is a mirror of the polisstructure and as Graf points out ldquogives a spatial model of how the polis was structuredwhich individuals and which groups were part of the polis [city JK] and what their roleswere Again the procession manifests what Athens is not only to foreign by-standers butto the citizens and the participants The moment is well chosen when the annual cyclebegins the polis remembers and manifests the way in which it is orderedrdquo121

Kavoulaki describes it as a kind of self-organization of the polis ldquoThe group buildsa relation to spatial environment and organizes space but at the same time it organizesitself through the arrangement of the procession in the space which is available to thecommunity human relations are formed and power associations are manipulated and

118 Cf Koumlpping and Rao 119 See Graf 120 The term communitas was coined by ethnologist Vic-

tor Turner Communitas means the opposite of struc-ture it keeps people together in their social struc-

ture At the same time communitas is an always de-sired spontaneity an intuitive togetherness (Turner

[ ] ndash )121 Graf

negotiatedrdquo122 Both authors emphasize that ritual performances give insight into thepolitical body revealing its social and political order but do not change it Anotherauthor Jan Assmann underlines the important role of processions and festivals in pro-viding a frame in which the citizens could meet interact connect and trade123 As aldquomarriage marketrdquo he considers them to be the original reason for a tribal festival

Another sociopolitical function is probably the regulation of social conflicts W RConnor noticed a correlation between festivals and war situations in Greek antiquity124

Thomas Figueira has also suggested that there was a convergence of the Great Pana-thenaia and the years of instability in the early sixth century BCE125 Romans used thesame mechanism of manipulation they became very famous for their panem et circenses(bread and games) to appease the public in rough times with meals festivals and circusshows

Cultural aspects

In the research literature festivals such as processions have been described as communi-cation systems and as stages for politicians to establish a new political order (see chap-ter above) I would like to go a step further and add the sensual expressions of Greekprocessions aesthetic performances such as dances plays choirs and instrumental musicsensual acts such as smelling incense and the scent of meat and the festive self-expression ofthe worshippers through Sunday clothing and decoration126 Among these events musicwas important for bringing political ideas to a level of awareness since it enabled theworshippers to remember and maintain ideas by dancing and singing

Territorial aspects

Processions that followed a route outside the cities can also be regarded as territorialexpressions that connected the single clan or tribe (phyle) with the central sanctuariesby moving through landscapes and cities processions are like flexible borders Wher-ever processions made their way they marked the territory and so the organizing cityclaimed the space127 The sociologist Franccedilois de Polignac was one of the first scholarsto focus attention on the territorial role of processions by realizing that growing popu-lations from the Greek Archaic period onwards tended to install their sanctuaries in thesuburban area128 By this the city space was expanded and activated by regular festivals

122 Kavoulaki 123 Assmann 124 Connor 125 Figueira cited from Connor n

126 Boumlmer 127 Gengnagel Graf ndash Polignac

[ ] ndash 128 Polignac [ ] ndash

Who was reachedby processions

Individuals Cities Community of states

How were theyreached

ReligiousPsychologicalSocialPolitical

SocialPolitical Political

What happened Communication with godscultic engagementCoordination andchanneling of emotionsCommunitas (feeling oftogetherness)Identification with the polis

Channeling anti-socialenergiesRemembering andrealization of socialhierarchyMarriage marketMarket place for trade(economic sphere)Political demonstration ofpowerIdentification with polis

Demonstration ofpolis-powerMarking the territoryCreating and maintaining aGreek identity

Tab Systematizing the different functions of processions in ancient Greece

in these sacred sites Table and systematize the different functions of processions inancient Greece

Pilgrimages

Although scholars in the fields of archaeology and the science of religion have since thes focused on the different forms of travel by the Greek populations the term ldquopil-

grimagerdquo was not mentioned in these studies129 Only in did M Dillon publish anoverview of Greek pilgrimages differentiating them according to their structures des-tinations and ethnic groups130 Rutherford and Elsner edited a volume on the ancientworld and late antique period in in which the delegationembassy (theoria)131 andthe consultation of oracles took centre stage In that volume S Scullion published acritical article on the use of the term lsquopilgrimagersquo in relation to ancient Greece132 Heargued that pilgrimage according to our present understanding as the ldquojourney of a sin-gle person or a group of persons with a religious motivationrdquo had not existed in ancientGreece ndash at least as a special term Yet a vast number of Greeks travelled to the many

129 A detailed bibliography is found in Schlesier n and

130 Dillon xiiindashxviii

131 For introductory articles about theoriai see Nilsson Dillon ndash Schlesier

Tsochos ndash 132 Scullion

Spheresrealms HumanSocial level Mythological level Level ofwriting

DivineSpiritualDimension

EffectWhat did theprocession effect

Perception Realizationand Preservation of the self

Creating or maintainingthe collective memory ofmyth

Satisfactiongratification ofgods

HowHow did it work

Participation Staging the story Offering performance

Mode of actionWhat did they do

Same action by allparticipants

Bringing down to earth thefictive the imaginary

Processing

ActivityWhat were theconcrete actions

Sensual perceptions (massof people music smellsoptical attraction festivalatmosphere)Trade commerce exchangeof goods

Sensual experience of gods FeastingOffering donations andanimalsMaking great efforts tocelebrate festivalsWaste of precious goods

Tab A more comprehensive overview including all spheres that shows the differences in the way that proces-sions may have had effect

Panhellenic festivals in order to compete as athletes to consult an oracle to be healedof a disease to make an offering as a representative of their hometown to participate inthe festival as spectator or last but not least to engage in trade

A pilgrimage without being specified as such in ancient Greece was a journey toa place of worship The motivation for such a journey was not necessarily religious buthad different reasons individual economic or political In contrast to the present un-derstanding of pilgrimage the journey was not ritualized as Scullion remarks ldquo[hellip]whereas the notion of pilgrimage implies that the journey is ritualised there is littleevidence of this in classical Greecerdquo133

Most scholars argue that there was not one form of pilgrimage as a ldquojourney un-dertaken by a person in quest of a place or a state that he or she believes to embody asacred idealrdquo134 in ancient Greece but many types of pilgrimage135 Elsner and Ruther-ford singled out fourteen motives for a pilgrimage such as theoriai healing oreibasiaoracle consultation and sacred tourism

In the following I want to focus on the delegations since they seem to be highlyimportant for the political connections of Greek cities and were iconographical quitesimilar to processions

133 Scullion 134 Morinis

135 Elsner and Rutherford

Delegations theoriai

Theoria means the seeing watching witnessing of a spectacle and derives from the termtheoreo (= watching)136 A theoria is here defined as a delegation of dignitaries sent fromanother polis to participate in a sacrifice137 Through this practice their city of origincould participate in the ritual pars pro toto without the real presence of the whole cityldquoPossibly the original function of the theoroi was to observe the celebrations on behalfof their cities and to provide official representationrdquo Dillon points out138 This was ofgreat importance since rituals only worked for those who attended them139 Kavoulakiunderlines that the term and practice of theoria align participation most closely with theaspect of viewing ldquowatching the heorteacute (= festival) seeing what was taking place meantactually participating in the heorteacuterdquo140 There were two forms of delegates the hosts andthe guests but mostly these were the same persons Theorodokoi was the term used forthe people who were sent out to Greek cities to invite other delegates to a festival asambassadors whereas theoroi were the visiting delegates141

In general theoriai were religiously motivated delegations that represented the ab-sent polis in large national festivals such as those at Olympia Eleusis and Delos Be-sides pursuing religious and individual purposes consultations and healing delega-tions were highly political as regards the question of which city invited which otherpoleis The movements of societiesrsquo noble and aristocratic men meant a constant con-tact between different cities and between particular cities and their gods142 Delegatesserved as diplomats carried information (letters documents and gifts) and discussedterritorial borders143 Theoriai were necessary movements in order to sustain the fragileGreek world with its widespread poleis but in contrast to processions theoriai were notsacred themselves although in the words of Barbara Kowalzig both movements wereldquomapping out the religious spacerdquo144

136 Pantelia keywords theoreo theoria137 Dillon 138 Dillon 139 ldquoThe whole community asks for the deityrsquos recipro-

cal protectionrdquo (Kavoulaki )140 Kavoulaki 141 Pantelia keyword theorodokos Dillon

ndash 142 ldquoEvidence points towards a high level of inter-city

contact based on religious activityrdquo (Dillon )

143 For a brief overview of all the functions of theoroisee Dillon ndash

144 Kowalzig ndash That expression she used es-pecially for the songs that were sung by choirsboth in theoria and in processions These songs andmelodies more than other performances and of-ferings conveyed the character of the participatingcity The great significance of musical performanceswas briefly considered at the beginning of this ar-ticle but of course an intensive analysis cannot beoffered here

Iconographic differentiations processions and theoriai

Using archaeological data especially vase depictions it is hardly possible to differentiateprocessional scenes from scenes with theoriai Quite often depictions consist of two ormore people in fine garments with wreaths in their hair holding branches vessels andother cult objects in their hands Sometimes an animal is shown appearing with orwithout musicians as shown above

Sometimes there are trees columns altars vessels on a wall and other characteris-tics that indicate the place of the performance Basically the depictions suggest an open-air procession On the first depiction (Fig ) we have an almost complete processionalscene

The depictions from the Archaic period show these characteristics of a long proces-sion but they did not last long after their appearance in the sixth century when theywere replaced by shorter procession scenes These black-figure paintings are character-ized by figures and architectural elements designed in more detail but they show fewerpeople

I propose that short procession scenes without an altar may display a delegationWhereas ceramics with processional scenes must mainly be understood as offerings forthe gods to show the efforts of the worshippers the political dimension of scenes withdelegations on ceramics is more explicit145 Here the effort of communities is shownthe readiness of several cities to interact and participate in Panhellenic festivals Oneinterpretation may be that the iconic code of procession scenes could signal lsquoofferingsfor godsrsquo Another interpretation would draw attention to the iconic code of delega-tions which refers to cultural identity symbolizing lsquowe are Greeksrsquo If these differentmeanings of iconic codes of processional rituals are accepted it seems clear that scenesof delegations replaced processional scenes on ceramics at the end of the sixth centuryBCE

Conclusion

Concerning scenes of pilgrimage (here delegation) and procession an interrelation be-tween political bias and the iconic codes created by the Greeks is possible Depictionswere not only about representing the daily life of the ancient Greeks but about com-munication Iconic codes could be treated as a language that was understandable toeveryone in the Greek community These iconic codes could be deciphered by ancientrecipients through the meaning of the rituals presented In my analysis I discussed the

145 Laxander

complex meaning and practices of processions and theoriai and also of circular dancesI have linked them to aspects of identity social hierarchy and channelling antisocialenergies (Tab ) I have also drawn attention to their political dimensions Processionswere ndash more than sacrifices ndash the place for the demonstration of power and rule In abroader context they were active performances which created the identity of Greece asa community of states

Altogether processions and delegations can be regarded as a glue that connected thefragmented Greek cities Before alphabetical writing became the common medium totransfer values ideas techniques and common notions the medium had always beenthe traveling people Panhellenic festivals were most effective in connecting commu-nities by worshipping the same gods exchanging goods (arts garments food) and ofcourse by marriage as shown above

Processions and theoriai are communication systems that helped to create and main-tain such innovations as a common Greek language Greek myths and Greek democ-racy Regarding both types of movement (that is processions and theoriai) it is remark-able that the different arts and media of ancient Greece show an increase in religiousmovements which parallels the increase in population in Greece Smaller communitiesndash Yosef Garfinkel speaks of pre-state communities in the early Greek eras ndash produceda different iconic code that of circular dance scenes which were the main subject inseveral arts146 Procession scenes marked the era of the beginning democracy while thetheoriai became commonplace in the fifth and fourth century BCE

I would like to hypothesize a contextual relation between the growth of cities andpopulation and the need to perform ritual acts that involved the whole community Thedensity of those movements increased in parallel to the development of Greek state or-ganization and the growth of population from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period147

146 Garfinkel ndash 147 Kavoulaki ndash speaks of some kind ofcorrelation between processions and democraticpolitics

Bibliography

AndersonWarren D Anderson Music and Musicians in An-cient Greece Ithaka and New York Cornell Univer-sity Press

AssmannJan Assmann ldquoDer zweidimensionale MenschrdquoIn Das Fest und das Heilige Religioumlse Kontrapunktezur Arbeitswelt Ed by Jan Assmann Studien zumVerstehen fremder Religionen Guumltersloh Guumlter-sloher Verlagshaus Mohn ndash

AuffahrthChristoph Auffahrth ldquoFeste als Medium antikerReligionen Methodische Konzeptionen zur Er-forschung komplexer Ritualerdquo In Zwischen Alltagund Krise Antike Religionen im Mittelmeerraum Edby C Batsch U Egelhaaf-Gaiser and R StepperStuttgart Franz Steiner ndash

BlakolmerFritz Blakolmer ldquoMinoisch-mykenische Prozes-sionsfresken Uumlberlegungen zu den dargestelltenund den nicht dargestellten Gabenrdquo In KeimelionElitenbildung und elitaumlrer Konsum von der mykenischenPalastzeit bis zur homerischen Epoche The Formationof Elites and Elitist Lifestyles from Mycenaean PalatialTimes to the Homeric Period Akten des internationalenKongresses vom bis Februar in SalzburgEd by E Alram-Stern and G Nightingale Vol Veroumlffentlichungen der Mykenischen KommissionWien Verlag der Oumlsterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften ndash

BoumlmerFranz Boumlmer ldquoPompardquo In Paulys Realencyclopaumldieder classischen Altertumswissenschaft Ed by KZiegler Vol Stuttgart Metzler ndash

BrandHelmut Brand Griechische Musikanten im Kult Vonder Fruumlhzeit bis zum Beginn der Spaumltklassik Vol Wuumlrzburger Studien zur Sprache amp Kultur Dettel-bach J H Roumlll

BremmerJan N Bremmer Goumltter Mythen und Heiligtuumlmer imantiken Griechenland Darmstadt WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft

BurkeBrendan Burke ldquoMaterialization of MycenaeanIdeology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagusrdquo Ameri-can Journal of Archaeology ( ) ndash

ChaniotisAngelos Chaniotis ldquoGedenktage der GriechenIhre Bedeutung fuumlr das Geschichtsbewusstseingriechischer Poleisrdquo In Das Fest und das HeiligeReligioumlse Kontrapunkte zur Arbeitswelt Ed by J Ass-mann Guumltersloh Guumltersloher Verlagshaus Mohn

ndash

ConnorW R Connor ldquoTribes Festivals and ProcessionsCivic Ceremonial and Political Manipulation inArchaic Greecerdquo In Oxford Readings in Greek Reli-gion Ed by R Buxton Oxford Oxford UniversityPress ndash

DillonMatthew Dillon Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in AncientGreece London Routledge

EitremSamson Eitrem Beitraumlge zur griechischen Religion-sgeschichte Skrifter Videnskabs-Selskabets histor-filos Kl Christiana Dybwad

Elsner and RutherfordJaś Elsner and Ian Rutherford ldquoIntroductionrdquo InPilgrimage in Graeco-Roman amp Early Christian Antiq-uity Seeing the Gods Ed by J Elsner and I Ruther-ford Oxford Oxford University Press ndash

Frevel and HesbergC Frevel and H von Hesberg eds Kult und Kom-munikation Medien in Heiligtuumlmern der AntikeSchriften des Lehr- und Forschungszentrumsfuumlr die antiken Kulturen des Mittelmeerraumesndash Centre for Mediterranean cultures (ZAKMIRA)

Wiesbaden Ludwig Reichert

GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel Dancing at the Dawn of AgricultureAustin University of Texas Press

GengnagelJoumlrg Gengnagel ldquoEinleitungrdquo In Prozessionen Wall-fahrten Aufmaumlrsche Bewegung zwischen Religion undPolitik in Europa und Asien seit dem Mittelalter Ed byJ Gengnagel M Horstmann and G SchwedlerVol Menschen und Kulturen Koumlln Boumlhlau

ndash

GrafFritz Graf ldquoPompai in Greece Some Consider-ations about Space and Ritual in the Greek Po-lisrdquo In The Role of Religion in the Early Greek PolisProceedings of the Third International Seminar on An-cient Greek Cult organised by the Swedish Instituteat Athens ndash October Ed by R HaumlggVol Acta Instituti atheniensis regni SueciaeSeries in Stockholm P Aringstroumlm ndash

HarlandPhilip A Harland Travel and Religion in AntiquityStudies in Christianity and Judaism WaterlooON Wilfried Laurier University Press

HaugAnnette Haug Die Entdeckung des Koumlrpers Berlinand Boston De Gruyter

HoepfnerWolfram Hoepfner Das Pompeion und seine Nachfol-gerbauten Kerameikos Ergebnisse der Ausgrabun-gen Berlin De Gruyter

HoumllscherTonio Houmllscher ldquoBilderwelt Lebensordnung unddie Rolle des Betrachters im antiken Griechen-landrdquo In Bild-Raum-Handlung Perspektiven derArchaumlologie Ed by O Dally S Moraw and HZiemssen Berlin Studies of the Ancient World Berlin and Boston MA De Gruyter ndash

KadenChristian Kaden Das Unerhoumlrte und das UnhoumlrbareWas Musik ist was Musik sein kann Kassel Baumlrenrei-ter

KavoulakiAthena Kavoulaki ldquoProcessional Performancesand the Democratic Polisrdquo In Performance Cultureand Athenian Democracy Ed by S Goldhill and ROsborne Cambridge Cambridge University Press

ndash

KleineBaumlrbel Kleine Bilder tanzender Frauen in fruumlhgriechi-scher und klassischer Zeit Internationale Archaumlologie

RahdenWestf Marie Leidorf

KollerHermann Koller Musik und Dichtung im AltenGriechenland Bern and Muumlnchen Francke

Koumlpping and RaoKlaus-Peter Koumlpping and Ursula Rao eds ImRausch des Rituals Gestaltung und Transformationder Wirklichkeit in koumlrperlicher Performanz Perfor-manzen Interkulturelle Studien zu Ritual Spielund Theater Muumlnster LIT Verlag

KourouNota Kourou ldquoMusical Procession Scenes in EarlyGreek Artrdquo Praktika ( ) ndash

KowalzigBarbara Kowalzig ldquoMapping out lsquoCommunitasrsquoPerformances of lsquoTheoriarsquo in their Sacred and Po-litical Contextrdquo In Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman ampEarly Christian Antiquity Seeing the Gods Ed by JElsner and I Rutherford Oxford Oxford Univer-sity Press ndash

KubatzkiJana Kubatzki Die Rolle der Musik in antikengriechischen Prozessionen Ikonographische Unter-suchung griechischer Gefaumlszlige mit dem Schwerpunkt im und Jh v Chr PhD thesis Berlin Humboldt-

Universitaumlt zu Berlin

KunzeEmil Kunze Kretische Bronzereliefs StuttgartKohlhammer

Greek processions touched two different spheres the human and the superhumanHence different functions can be analyzed Processions had a territorial aspect112 Theywere the expression of a wide cross-section of the Greek population which connectedthe single phylai (clans or tribes) with the central sanctuaries ldquoThe procession demar-cates space and symbolically appropriates it The group builds a relation to spatial en-vironment and organizes space but at the same time it organizes itself through the ar-rangement of the procession in the space which is available to the community humanrelations are formed and power associations are manipulated and negotiatedrdquo113 Otherfunctions included political communication social interaction and cultic transforma-tion

Religious aspects

The religious motive must be regarded as the most essential and the initial factor for pro-cessions At its core a procession is an offering the pomp and glory was meant to delightthe gods114 The offering was always an exchange a reciprocal trade For the most pre-cious gifts a community could afford the gods offered in return shelter power over theprocesses of nature and support in matters of war But as Kavoulaki argues ldquoThe proces-sion remains always an attempt The community hierarchically arranged approachesthe divinity but divine reciprocity cannot be guaranteedrdquo115 On the one hand there is theinsurance character of ritual processions which can be interpreted as an expression of thepowerlessness of humans in the face of superhuman power116 On the other hand thereis the aspect of communication The contact between human and superhuman spherescan become physical The first aspect is the shared meat by eating the same meat allparticipants are connected with each other and with the god who received some partsof the sacrificial animal The second aspect is the epiphany of the gods as described forArtemis Dionysos Apollo Zeus Athena and others their ldquoappearancerdquo may have beena sensual effect (natural phenomena such as wind earthquakes birds and so on) or realepiphanies Apollo was said to dance with his followers and Dionysos appeared in theBacchae of Euripides117 Communication during processions and sacrifices representsan interaction between the two spheres

112 The territorial aim of processions is discussed inseveral texts See for instance Polignac [ ]Graf Kavoulaki Kubatzki

113 Kavoulaki 114 The uniqueness of the processions regards their

character as offerings (Voigt ) ndash ldquoBy pre-senting itself the marching community becomes agiftrdquo (Kavoulaki )

115 Kavoulaki 116 Nowadays this insecurity still exists but the gods

have changed into large insurance agencies whichtake the offerings (money)

117 Eur Bacch Prologue and other verses (Apolloepiphany Kall Ap ) other epiphanies of deitiesPapadopoulou b Papadopoulou a

Rituals such as processions offered a safe space for the interaction on vertical andhorizontal levels with the gods and with other people118 A sacrifice always includedmediation between the two realms119 In this context there is no longer any distinctionbetween religious and psychological aspects feasting coming together with others andoverstepping social borders by acting differently are needs of anyone living in any soci-ety

The psychological aspect

The psychological aspect must be seen as the real first motive for organizing festivalssuch as processions The gods were perceived as the most powerful entities who re-ceived the gifts and attention (by performing rituals) The embodying of communityin a procession the closeness to other polis members communitas120 feasting and thecreation of another world in which different rules apply (masquerade marking socialboundaries by crossing them) embodied the psychosocial order and were necessary tomaintain the identity of both realms namely the individual member of a polis and thepolis itself The participants were to call to mind their position inside the polis by re-enacting their social status by dressing in their best garments and presenting luxury ofany kind which also underlined their economic power In the context of daily life torelax in the festivity was a regularly used outlet for destructive emotions and a means ofempowerment for facing the everyday hard work again

Socio-political aspects

The organization inside the procession of the Great Panathenaia is a mirror of the polisstructure and as Graf points out ldquogives a spatial model of how the polis was structuredwhich individuals and which groups were part of the polis [city JK] and what their roleswere Again the procession manifests what Athens is not only to foreign by-standers butto the citizens and the participants The moment is well chosen when the annual cyclebegins the polis remembers and manifests the way in which it is orderedrdquo121

Kavoulaki describes it as a kind of self-organization of the polis ldquoThe group buildsa relation to spatial environment and organizes space but at the same time it organizesitself through the arrangement of the procession in the space which is available to thecommunity human relations are formed and power associations are manipulated and

118 Cf Koumlpping and Rao 119 See Graf 120 The term communitas was coined by ethnologist Vic-

tor Turner Communitas means the opposite of struc-ture it keeps people together in their social struc-

ture At the same time communitas is an always de-sired spontaneity an intuitive togetherness (Turner

[ ] ndash )121 Graf

negotiatedrdquo122 Both authors emphasize that ritual performances give insight into thepolitical body revealing its social and political order but do not change it Anotherauthor Jan Assmann underlines the important role of processions and festivals in pro-viding a frame in which the citizens could meet interact connect and trade123 As aldquomarriage marketrdquo he considers them to be the original reason for a tribal festival

Another sociopolitical function is probably the regulation of social conflicts W RConnor noticed a correlation between festivals and war situations in Greek antiquity124

Thomas Figueira has also suggested that there was a convergence of the Great Pana-thenaia and the years of instability in the early sixth century BCE125 Romans used thesame mechanism of manipulation they became very famous for their panem et circenses(bread and games) to appease the public in rough times with meals festivals and circusshows

Cultural aspects

In the research literature festivals such as processions have been described as communi-cation systems and as stages for politicians to establish a new political order (see chap-ter above) I would like to go a step further and add the sensual expressions of Greekprocessions aesthetic performances such as dances plays choirs and instrumental musicsensual acts such as smelling incense and the scent of meat and the festive self-expression ofthe worshippers through Sunday clothing and decoration126 Among these events musicwas important for bringing political ideas to a level of awareness since it enabled theworshippers to remember and maintain ideas by dancing and singing

Territorial aspects

Processions that followed a route outside the cities can also be regarded as territorialexpressions that connected the single clan or tribe (phyle) with the central sanctuariesby moving through landscapes and cities processions are like flexible borders Wher-ever processions made their way they marked the territory and so the organizing cityclaimed the space127 The sociologist Franccedilois de Polignac was one of the first scholarsto focus attention on the territorial role of processions by realizing that growing popu-lations from the Greek Archaic period onwards tended to install their sanctuaries in thesuburban area128 By this the city space was expanded and activated by regular festivals

122 Kavoulaki 123 Assmann 124 Connor 125 Figueira cited from Connor n

126 Boumlmer 127 Gengnagel Graf ndash Polignac

[ ] ndash 128 Polignac [ ] ndash

Who was reachedby processions

Individuals Cities Community of states

How were theyreached

ReligiousPsychologicalSocialPolitical

SocialPolitical Political

What happened Communication with godscultic engagementCoordination andchanneling of emotionsCommunitas (feeling oftogetherness)Identification with the polis

Channeling anti-socialenergiesRemembering andrealization of socialhierarchyMarriage marketMarket place for trade(economic sphere)Political demonstration ofpowerIdentification with polis

Demonstration ofpolis-powerMarking the territoryCreating and maintaining aGreek identity

Tab Systematizing the different functions of processions in ancient Greece

in these sacred sites Table and systematize the different functions of processions inancient Greece

Pilgrimages

Although scholars in the fields of archaeology and the science of religion have since thes focused on the different forms of travel by the Greek populations the term ldquopil-

grimagerdquo was not mentioned in these studies129 Only in did M Dillon publish anoverview of Greek pilgrimages differentiating them according to their structures des-tinations and ethnic groups130 Rutherford and Elsner edited a volume on the ancientworld and late antique period in in which the delegationembassy (theoria)131 andthe consultation of oracles took centre stage In that volume S Scullion published acritical article on the use of the term lsquopilgrimagersquo in relation to ancient Greece132 Heargued that pilgrimage according to our present understanding as the ldquojourney of a sin-gle person or a group of persons with a religious motivationrdquo had not existed in ancientGreece ndash at least as a special term Yet a vast number of Greeks travelled to the many

129 A detailed bibliography is found in Schlesier n and

130 Dillon xiiindashxviii

131 For introductory articles about theoriai see Nilsson Dillon ndash Schlesier

Tsochos ndash 132 Scullion

Spheresrealms HumanSocial level Mythological level Level ofwriting

DivineSpiritualDimension

EffectWhat did theprocession effect

Perception Realizationand Preservation of the self

Creating or maintainingthe collective memory ofmyth

Satisfactiongratification ofgods

HowHow did it work

Participation Staging the story Offering performance

Mode of actionWhat did they do

Same action by allparticipants

Bringing down to earth thefictive the imaginary

Processing

ActivityWhat were theconcrete actions

Sensual perceptions (massof people music smellsoptical attraction festivalatmosphere)Trade commerce exchangeof goods

Sensual experience of gods FeastingOffering donations andanimalsMaking great efforts tocelebrate festivalsWaste of precious goods

Tab A more comprehensive overview including all spheres that shows the differences in the way that proces-sions may have had effect

Panhellenic festivals in order to compete as athletes to consult an oracle to be healedof a disease to make an offering as a representative of their hometown to participate inthe festival as spectator or last but not least to engage in trade

A pilgrimage without being specified as such in ancient Greece was a journey toa place of worship The motivation for such a journey was not necessarily religious buthad different reasons individual economic or political In contrast to the present un-derstanding of pilgrimage the journey was not ritualized as Scullion remarks ldquo[hellip]whereas the notion of pilgrimage implies that the journey is ritualised there is littleevidence of this in classical Greecerdquo133

Most scholars argue that there was not one form of pilgrimage as a ldquojourney un-dertaken by a person in quest of a place or a state that he or she believes to embody asacred idealrdquo134 in ancient Greece but many types of pilgrimage135 Elsner and Ruther-ford singled out fourteen motives for a pilgrimage such as theoriai healing oreibasiaoracle consultation and sacred tourism

In the following I want to focus on the delegations since they seem to be highlyimportant for the political connections of Greek cities and were iconographical quitesimilar to processions

133 Scullion 134 Morinis

135 Elsner and Rutherford

Delegations theoriai

Theoria means the seeing watching witnessing of a spectacle and derives from the termtheoreo (= watching)136 A theoria is here defined as a delegation of dignitaries sent fromanother polis to participate in a sacrifice137 Through this practice their city of origincould participate in the ritual pars pro toto without the real presence of the whole cityldquoPossibly the original function of the theoroi was to observe the celebrations on behalfof their cities and to provide official representationrdquo Dillon points out138 This was ofgreat importance since rituals only worked for those who attended them139 Kavoulakiunderlines that the term and practice of theoria align participation most closely with theaspect of viewing ldquowatching the heorteacute (= festival) seeing what was taking place meantactually participating in the heorteacuterdquo140 There were two forms of delegates the hosts andthe guests but mostly these were the same persons Theorodokoi was the term used forthe people who were sent out to Greek cities to invite other delegates to a festival asambassadors whereas theoroi were the visiting delegates141

In general theoriai were religiously motivated delegations that represented the ab-sent polis in large national festivals such as those at Olympia Eleusis and Delos Be-sides pursuing religious and individual purposes consultations and healing delega-tions were highly political as regards the question of which city invited which otherpoleis The movements of societiesrsquo noble and aristocratic men meant a constant con-tact between different cities and between particular cities and their gods142 Delegatesserved as diplomats carried information (letters documents and gifts) and discussedterritorial borders143 Theoriai were necessary movements in order to sustain the fragileGreek world with its widespread poleis but in contrast to processions theoriai were notsacred themselves although in the words of Barbara Kowalzig both movements wereldquomapping out the religious spacerdquo144

136 Pantelia keywords theoreo theoria137 Dillon 138 Dillon 139 ldquoThe whole community asks for the deityrsquos recipro-

cal protectionrdquo (Kavoulaki )140 Kavoulaki 141 Pantelia keyword theorodokos Dillon

ndash 142 ldquoEvidence points towards a high level of inter-city

contact based on religious activityrdquo (Dillon )

143 For a brief overview of all the functions of theoroisee Dillon ndash

144 Kowalzig ndash That expression she used es-pecially for the songs that were sung by choirsboth in theoria and in processions These songs andmelodies more than other performances and of-ferings conveyed the character of the participatingcity The great significance of musical performanceswas briefly considered at the beginning of this ar-ticle but of course an intensive analysis cannot beoffered here

Iconographic differentiations processions and theoriai

Using archaeological data especially vase depictions it is hardly possible to differentiateprocessional scenes from scenes with theoriai Quite often depictions consist of two ormore people in fine garments with wreaths in their hair holding branches vessels andother cult objects in their hands Sometimes an animal is shown appearing with orwithout musicians as shown above

Sometimes there are trees columns altars vessels on a wall and other characteris-tics that indicate the place of the performance Basically the depictions suggest an open-air procession On the first depiction (Fig ) we have an almost complete processionalscene

The depictions from the Archaic period show these characteristics of a long proces-sion but they did not last long after their appearance in the sixth century when theywere replaced by shorter procession scenes These black-figure paintings are character-ized by figures and architectural elements designed in more detail but they show fewerpeople

I propose that short procession scenes without an altar may display a delegationWhereas ceramics with processional scenes must mainly be understood as offerings forthe gods to show the efforts of the worshippers the political dimension of scenes withdelegations on ceramics is more explicit145 Here the effort of communities is shownthe readiness of several cities to interact and participate in Panhellenic festivals Oneinterpretation may be that the iconic code of procession scenes could signal lsquoofferingsfor godsrsquo Another interpretation would draw attention to the iconic code of delega-tions which refers to cultural identity symbolizing lsquowe are Greeksrsquo If these differentmeanings of iconic codes of processional rituals are accepted it seems clear that scenesof delegations replaced processional scenes on ceramics at the end of the sixth centuryBCE

Conclusion

Concerning scenes of pilgrimage (here delegation) and procession an interrelation be-tween political bias and the iconic codes created by the Greeks is possible Depictionswere not only about representing the daily life of the ancient Greeks but about com-munication Iconic codes could be treated as a language that was understandable toeveryone in the Greek community These iconic codes could be deciphered by ancientrecipients through the meaning of the rituals presented In my analysis I discussed the

145 Laxander

complex meaning and practices of processions and theoriai and also of circular dancesI have linked them to aspects of identity social hierarchy and channelling antisocialenergies (Tab ) I have also drawn attention to their political dimensions Processionswere ndash more than sacrifices ndash the place for the demonstration of power and rule In abroader context they were active performances which created the identity of Greece asa community of states

Altogether processions and delegations can be regarded as a glue that connected thefragmented Greek cities Before alphabetical writing became the common medium totransfer values ideas techniques and common notions the medium had always beenthe traveling people Panhellenic festivals were most effective in connecting commu-nities by worshipping the same gods exchanging goods (arts garments food) and ofcourse by marriage as shown above

Processions and theoriai are communication systems that helped to create and main-tain such innovations as a common Greek language Greek myths and Greek democ-racy Regarding both types of movement (that is processions and theoriai) it is remark-able that the different arts and media of ancient Greece show an increase in religiousmovements which parallels the increase in population in Greece Smaller communitiesndash Yosef Garfinkel speaks of pre-state communities in the early Greek eras ndash produceda different iconic code that of circular dance scenes which were the main subject inseveral arts146 Procession scenes marked the era of the beginning democracy while thetheoriai became commonplace in the fifth and fourth century BCE

I would like to hypothesize a contextual relation between the growth of cities andpopulation and the need to perform ritual acts that involved the whole community Thedensity of those movements increased in parallel to the development of Greek state or-ganization and the growth of population from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period147

146 Garfinkel ndash 147 Kavoulaki ndash speaks of some kind ofcorrelation between processions and democraticpolitics

Bibliography

AndersonWarren D Anderson Music and Musicians in An-cient Greece Ithaka and New York Cornell Univer-sity Press

AssmannJan Assmann ldquoDer zweidimensionale MenschrdquoIn Das Fest und das Heilige Religioumlse Kontrapunktezur Arbeitswelt Ed by Jan Assmann Studien zumVerstehen fremder Religionen Guumltersloh Guumlter-sloher Verlagshaus Mohn ndash

AuffahrthChristoph Auffahrth ldquoFeste als Medium antikerReligionen Methodische Konzeptionen zur Er-forschung komplexer Ritualerdquo In Zwischen Alltagund Krise Antike Religionen im Mittelmeerraum Edby C Batsch U Egelhaaf-Gaiser and R StepperStuttgart Franz Steiner ndash

BlakolmerFritz Blakolmer ldquoMinoisch-mykenische Prozes-sionsfresken Uumlberlegungen zu den dargestelltenund den nicht dargestellten Gabenrdquo In KeimelionElitenbildung und elitaumlrer Konsum von der mykenischenPalastzeit bis zur homerischen Epoche The Formationof Elites and Elitist Lifestyles from Mycenaean PalatialTimes to the Homeric Period Akten des internationalenKongresses vom bis Februar in SalzburgEd by E Alram-Stern and G Nightingale Vol Veroumlffentlichungen der Mykenischen KommissionWien Verlag der Oumlsterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften ndash

BoumlmerFranz Boumlmer ldquoPompardquo In Paulys Realencyclopaumldieder classischen Altertumswissenschaft Ed by KZiegler Vol Stuttgart Metzler ndash

BrandHelmut Brand Griechische Musikanten im Kult Vonder Fruumlhzeit bis zum Beginn der Spaumltklassik Vol Wuumlrzburger Studien zur Sprache amp Kultur Dettel-bach J H Roumlll

BremmerJan N Bremmer Goumltter Mythen und Heiligtuumlmer imantiken Griechenland Darmstadt WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft

BurkeBrendan Burke ldquoMaterialization of MycenaeanIdeology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagusrdquo Ameri-can Journal of Archaeology ( ) ndash

ChaniotisAngelos Chaniotis ldquoGedenktage der GriechenIhre Bedeutung fuumlr das Geschichtsbewusstseingriechischer Poleisrdquo In Das Fest und das HeiligeReligioumlse Kontrapunkte zur Arbeitswelt Ed by J Ass-mann Guumltersloh Guumltersloher Verlagshaus Mohn

ndash

ConnorW R Connor ldquoTribes Festivals and ProcessionsCivic Ceremonial and Political Manipulation inArchaic Greecerdquo In Oxford Readings in Greek Reli-gion Ed by R Buxton Oxford Oxford UniversityPress ndash

DillonMatthew Dillon Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in AncientGreece London Routledge

EitremSamson Eitrem Beitraumlge zur griechischen Religion-sgeschichte Skrifter Videnskabs-Selskabets histor-filos Kl Christiana Dybwad

Elsner and RutherfordJaś Elsner and Ian Rutherford ldquoIntroductionrdquo InPilgrimage in Graeco-Roman amp Early Christian Antiq-uity Seeing the Gods Ed by J Elsner and I Ruther-ford Oxford Oxford University Press ndash

Frevel and HesbergC Frevel and H von Hesberg eds Kult und Kom-munikation Medien in Heiligtuumlmern der AntikeSchriften des Lehr- und Forschungszentrumsfuumlr die antiken Kulturen des Mittelmeerraumesndash Centre for Mediterranean cultures (ZAKMIRA)

Wiesbaden Ludwig Reichert

GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel Dancing at the Dawn of AgricultureAustin University of Texas Press

GengnagelJoumlrg Gengnagel ldquoEinleitungrdquo In Prozessionen Wall-fahrten Aufmaumlrsche Bewegung zwischen Religion undPolitik in Europa und Asien seit dem Mittelalter Ed byJ Gengnagel M Horstmann and G SchwedlerVol Menschen und Kulturen Koumlln Boumlhlau

ndash

GrafFritz Graf ldquoPompai in Greece Some Consider-ations about Space and Ritual in the Greek Po-lisrdquo In The Role of Religion in the Early Greek PolisProceedings of the Third International Seminar on An-cient Greek Cult organised by the Swedish Instituteat Athens ndash October Ed by R HaumlggVol Acta Instituti atheniensis regni SueciaeSeries in Stockholm P Aringstroumlm ndash

HarlandPhilip A Harland Travel and Religion in AntiquityStudies in Christianity and Judaism WaterlooON Wilfried Laurier University Press

HaugAnnette Haug Die Entdeckung des Koumlrpers Berlinand Boston De Gruyter

HoepfnerWolfram Hoepfner Das Pompeion und seine Nachfol-gerbauten Kerameikos Ergebnisse der Ausgrabun-gen Berlin De Gruyter

HoumllscherTonio Houmllscher ldquoBilderwelt Lebensordnung unddie Rolle des Betrachters im antiken Griechen-landrdquo In Bild-Raum-Handlung Perspektiven derArchaumlologie Ed by O Dally S Moraw and HZiemssen Berlin Studies of the Ancient World Berlin and Boston MA De Gruyter ndash

KadenChristian Kaden Das Unerhoumlrte und das UnhoumlrbareWas Musik ist was Musik sein kann Kassel Baumlrenrei-ter

KavoulakiAthena Kavoulaki ldquoProcessional Performancesand the Democratic Polisrdquo In Performance Cultureand Athenian Democracy Ed by S Goldhill and ROsborne Cambridge Cambridge University Press

ndash

KleineBaumlrbel Kleine Bilder tanzender Frauen in fruumlhgriechi-scher und klassischer Zeit Internationale Archaumlologie

RahdenWestf Marie Leidorf

KollerHermann Koller Musik und Dichtung im AltenGriechenland Bern and Muumlnchen Francke

Koumlpping and RaoKlaus-Peter Koumlpping and Ursula Rao eds ImRausch des Rituals Gestaltung und Transformationder Wirklichkeit in koumlrperlicher Performanz Perfor-manzen Interkulturelle Studien zu Ritual Spielund Theater Muumlnster LIT Verlag

KourouNota Kourou ldquoMusical Procession Scenes in EarlyGreek Artrdquo Praktika ( ) ndash

KowalzigBarbara Kowalzig ldquoMapping out lsquoCommunitasrsquoPerformances of lsquoTheoriarsquo in their Sacred and Po-litical Contextrdquo In Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman ampEarly Christian Antiquity Seeing the Gods Ed by JElsner and I Rutherford Oxford Oxford Univer-sity Press ndash

KubatzkiJana Kubatzki Die Rolle der Musik in antikengriechischen Prozessionen Ikonographische Unter-suchung griechischer Gefaumlszlige mit dem Schwerpunkt im und Jh v Chr PhD thesis Berlin Humboldt-

Universitaumlt zu Berlin

KunzeEmil Kunze Kretische Bronzereliefs StuttgartKohlhammer

Rituals such as processions offered a safe space for the interaction on vertical andhorizontal levels with the gods and with other people118 A sacrifice always includedmediation between the two realms119 In this context there is no longer any distinctionbetween religious and psychological aspects feasting coming together with others andoverstepping social borders by acting differently are needs of anyone living in any soci-ety

The psychological aspect

The psychological aspect must be seen as the real first motive for organizing festivalssuch as processions The gods were perceived as the most powerful entities who re-ceived the gifts and attention (by performing rituals) The embodying of communityin a procession the closeness to other polis members communitas120 feasting and thecreation of another world in which different rules apply (masquerade marking socialboundaries by crossing them) embodied the psychosocial order and were necessary tomaintain the identity of both realms namely the individual member of a polis and thepolis itself The participants were to call to mind their position inside the polis by re-enacting their social status by dressing in their best garments and presenting luxury ofany kind which also underlined their economic power In the context of daily life torelax in the festivity was a regularly used outlet for destructive emotions and a means ofempowerment for facing the everyday hard work again

Socio-political aspects

The organization inside the procession of the Great Panathenaia is a mirror of the polisstructure and as Graf points out ldquogives a spatial model of how the polis was structuredwhich individuals and which groups were part of the polis [city JK] and what their roleswere Again the procession manifests what Athens is not only to foreign by-standers butto the citizens and the participants The moment is well chosen when the annual cyclebegins the polis remembers and manifests the way in which it is orderedrdquo121

Kavoulaki describes it as a kind of self-organization of the polis ldquoThe group buildsa relation to spatial environment and organizes space but at the same time it organizesitself through the arrangement of the procession in the space which is available to thecommunity human relations are formed and power associations are manipulated and

118 Cf Koumlpping and Rao 119 See Graf 120 The term communitas was coined by ethnologist Vic-

tor Turner Communitas means the opposite of struc-ture it keeps people together in their social struc-

ture At the same time communitas is an always de-sired spontaneity an intuitive togetherness (Turner

[ ] ndash )121 Graf

negotiatedrdquo122 Both authors emphasize that ritual performances give insight into thepolitical body revealing its social and political order but do not change it Anotherauthor Jan Assmann underlines the important role of processions and festivals in pro-viding a frame in which the citizens could meet interact connect and trade123 As aldquomarriage marketrdquo he considers them to be the original reason for a tribal festival

Another sociopolitical function is probably the regulation of social conflicts W RConnor noticed a correlation between festivals and war situations in Greek antiquity124

Thomas Figueira has also suggested that there was a convergence of the Great Pana-thenaia and the years of instability in the early sixth century BCE125 Romans used thesame mechanism of manipulation they became very famous for their panem et circenses(bread and games) to appease the public in rough times with meals festivals and circusshows

Cultural aspects

In the research literature festivals such as processions have been described as communi-cation systems and as stages for politicians to establish a new political order (see chap-ter above) I would like to go a step further and add the sensual expressions of Greekprocessions aesthetic performances such as dances plays choirs and instrumental musicsensual acts such as smelling incense and the scent of meat and the festive self-expression ofthe worshippers through Sunday clothing and decoration126 Among these events musicwas important for bringing political ideas to a level of awareness since it enabled theworshippers to remember and maintain ideas by dancing and singing

Territorial aspects

Processions that followed a route outside the cities can also be regarded as territorialexpressions that connected the single clan or tribe (phyle) with the central sanctuariesby moving through landscapes and cities processions are like flexible borders Wher-ever processions made their way they marked the territory and so the organizing cityclaimed the space127 The sociologist Franccedilois de Polignac was one of the first scholarsto focus attention on the territorial role of processions by realizing that growing popu-lations from the Greek Archaic period onwards tended to install their sanctuaries in thesuburban area128 By this the city space was expanded and activated by regular festivals

122 Kavoulaki 123 Assmann 124 Connor 125 Figueira cited from Connor n

126 Boumlmer 127 Gengnagel Graf ndash Polignac

[ ] ndash 128 Polignac [ ] ndash

Who was reachedby processions

Individuals Cities Community of states

How were theyreached

ReligiousPsychologicalSocialPolitical

SocialPolitical Political

What happened Communication with godscultic engagementCoordination andchanneling of emotionsCommunitas (feeling oftogetherness)Identification with the polis

Channeling anti-socialenergiesRemembering andrealization of socialhierarchyMarriage marketMarket place for trade(economic sphere)Political demonstration ofpowerIdentification with polis

Demonstration ofpolis-powerMarking the territoryCreating and maintaining aGreek identity

Tab Systematizing the different functions of processions in ancient Greece

in these sacred sites Table and systematize the different functions of processions inancient Greece

Pilgrimages

Although scholars in the fields of archaeology and the science of religion have since thes focused on the different forms of travel by the Greek populations the term ldquopil-

grimagerdquo was not mentioned in these studies129 Only in did M Dillon publish anoverview of Greek pilgrimages differentiating them according to their structures des-tinations and ethnic groups130 Rutherford and Elsner edited a volume on the ancientworld and late antique period in in which the delegationembassy (theoria)131 andthe consultation of oracles took centre stage In that volume S Scullion published acritical article on the use of the term lsquopilgrimagersquo in relation to ancient Greece132 Heargued that pilgrimage according to our present understanding as the ldquojourney of a sin-gle person or a group of persons with a religious motivationrdquo had not existed in ancientGreece ndash at least as a special term Yet a vast number of Greeks travelled to the many

129 A detailed bibliography is found in Schlesier n and

130 Dillon xiiindashxviii

131 For introductory articles about theoriai see Nilsson Dillon ndash Schlesier

Tsochos ndash 132 Scullion

Spheresrealms HumanSocial level Mythological level Level ofwriting

DivineSpiritualDimension

EffectWhat did theprocession effect

Perception Realizationand Preservation of the self

Creating or maintainingthe collective memory ofmyth

Satisfactiongratification ofgods

HowHow did it work

Participation Staging the story Offering performance

Mode of actionWhat did they do

Same action by allparticipants

Bringing down to earth thefictive the imaginary

Processing

ActivityWhat were theconcrete actions

Sensual perceptions (massof people music smellsoptical attraction festivalatmosphere)Trade commerce exchangeof goods

Sensual experience of gods FeastingOffering donations andanimalsMaking great efforts tocelebrate festivalsWaste of precious goods

Tab A more comprehensive overview including all spheres that shows the differences in the way that proces-sions may have had effect

Panhellenic festivals in order to compete as athletes to consult an oracle to be healedof a disease to make an offering as a representative of their hometown to participate inthe festival as spectator or last but not least to engage in trade

A pilgrimage without being specified as such in ancient Greece was a journey toa place of worship The motivation for such a journey was not necessarily religious buthad different reasons individual economic or political In contrast to the present un-derstanding of pilgrimage the journey was not ritualized as Scullion remarks ldquo[hellip]whereas the notion of pilgrimage implies that the journey is ritualised there is littleevidence of this in classical Greecerdquo133

Most scholars argue that there was not one form of pilgrimage as a ldquojourney un-dertaken by a person in quest of a place or a state that he or she believes to embody asacred idealrdquo134 in ancient Greece but many types of pilgrimage135 Elsner and Ruther-ford singled out fourteen motives for a pilgrimage such as theoriai healing oreibasiaoracle consultation and sacred tourism

In the following I want to focus on the delegations since they seem to be highlyimportant for the political connections of Greek cities and were iconographical quitesimilar to processions

133 Scullion 134 Morinis

135 Elsner and Rutherford

Delegations theoriai

Theoria means the seeing watching witnessing of a spectacle and derives from the termtheoreo (= watching)136 A theoria is here defined as a delegation of dignitaries sent fromanother polis to participate in a sacrifice137 Through this practice their city of origincould participate in the ritual pars pro toto without the real presence of the whole cityldquoPossibly the original function of the theoroi was to observe the celebrations on behalfof their cities and to provide official representationrdquo Dillon points out138 This was ofgreat importance since rituals only worked for those who attended them139 Kavoulakiunderlines that the term and practice of theoria align participation most closely with theaspect of viewing ldquowatching the heorteacute (= festival) seeing what was taking place meantactually participating in the heorteacuterdquo140 There were two forms of delegates the hosts andthe guests but mostly these were the same persons Theorodokoi was the term used forthe people who were sent out to Greek cities to invite other delegates to a festival asambassadors whereas theoroi were the visiting delegates141

In general theoriai were religiously motivated delegations that represented the ab-sent polis in large national festivals such as those at Olympia Eleusis and Delos Be-sides pursuing religious and individual purposes consultations and healing delega-tions were highly political as regards the question of which city invited which otherpoleis The movements of societiesrsquo noble and aristocratic men meant a constant con-tact between different cities and between particular cities and their gods142 Delegatesserved as diplomats carried information (letters documents and gifts) and discussedterritorial borders143 Theoriai were necessary movements in order to sustain the fragileGreek world with its widespread poleis but in contrast to processions theoriai were notsacred themselves although in the words of Barbara Kowalzig both movements wereldquomapping out the religious spacerdquo144

136 Pantelia keywords theoreo theoria137 Dillon 138 Dillon 139 ldquoThe whole community asks for the deityrsquos recipro-

cal protectionrdquo (Kavoulaki )140 Kavoulaki 141 Pantelia keyword theorodokos Dillon

ndash 142 ldquoEvidence points towards a high level of inter-city

contact based on religious activityrdquo (Dillon )

143 For a brief overview of all the functions of theoroisee Dillon ndash

144 Kowalzig ndash That expression she used es-pecially for the songs that were sung by choirsboth in theoria and in processions These songs andmelodies more than other performances and of-ferings conveyed the character of the participatingcity The great significance of musical performanceswas briefly considered at the beginning of this ar-ticle but of course an intensive analysis cannot beoffered here

Iconographic differentiations processions and theoriai

Using archaeological data especially vase depictions it is hardly possible to differentiateprocessional scenes from scenes with theoriai Quite often depictions consist of two ormore people in fine garments with wreaths in their hair holding branches vessels andother cult objects in their hands Sometimes an animal is shown appearing with orwithout musicians as shown above

Sometimes there are trees columns altars vessels on a wall and other characteris-tics that indicate the place of the performance Basically the depictions suggest an open-air procession On the first depiction (Fig ) we have an almost complete processionalscene

The depictions from the Archaic period show these characteristics of a long proces-sion but they did not last long after their appearance in the sixth century when theywere replaced by shorter procession scenes These black-figure paintings are character-ized by figures and architectural elements designed in more detail but they show fewerpeople

I propose that short procession scenes without an altar may display a delegationWhereas ceramics with processional scenes must mainly be understood as offerings forthe gods to show the efforts of the worshippers the political dimension of scenes withdelegations on ceramics is more explicit145 Here the effort of communities is shownthe readiness of several cities to interact and participate in Panhellenic festivals Oneinterpretation may be that the iconic code of procession scenes could signal lsquoofferingsfor godsrsquo Another interpretation would draw attention to the iconic code of delega-tions which refers to cultural identity symbolizing lsquowe are Greeksrsquo If these differentmeanings of iconic codes of processional rituals are accepted it seems clear that scenesof delegations replaced processional scenes on ceramics at the end of the sixth centuryBCE

Conclusion

Concerning scenes of pilgrimage (here delegation) and procession an interrelation be-tween political bias and the iconic codes created by the Greeks is possible Depictionswere not only about representing the daily life of the ancient Greeks but about com-munication Iconic codes could be treated as a language that was understandable toeveryone in the Greek community These iconic codes could be deciphered by ancientrecipients through the meaning of the rituals presented In my analysis I discussed the

145 Laxander

complex meaning and practices of processions and theoriai and also of circular dancesI have linked them to aspects of identity social hierarchy and channelling antisocialenergies (Tab ) I have also drawn attention to their political dimensions Processionswere ndash more than sacrifices ndash the place for the demonstration of power and rule In abroader context they were active performances which created the identity of Greece asa community of states

Altogether processions and delegations can be regarded as a glue that connected thefragmented Greek cities Before alphabetical writing became the common medium totransfer values ideas techniques and common notions the medium had always beenthe traveling people Panhellenic festivals were most effective in connecting commu-nities by worshipping the same gods exchanging goods (arts garments food) and ofcourse by marriage as shown above

Processions and theoriai are communication systems that helped to create and main-tain such innovations as a common Greek language Greek myths and Greek democ-racy Regarding both types of movement (that is processions and theoriai) it is remark-able that the different arts and media of ancient Greece show an increase in religiousmovements which parallels the increase in population in Greece Smaller communitiesndash Yosef Garfinkel speaks of pre-state communities in the early Greek eras ndash produceda different iconic code that of circular dance scenes which were the main subject inseveral arts146 Procession scenes marked the era of the beginning democracy while thetheoriai became commonplace in the fifth and fourth century BCE

I would like to hypothesize a contextual relation between the growth of cities andpopulation and the need to perform ritual acts that involved the whole community Thedensity of those movements increased in parallel to the development of Greek state or-ganization and the growth of population from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period147

146 Garfinkel ndash 147 Kavoulaki ndash speaks of some kind ofcorrelation between processions and democraticpolitics

Bibliography

AndersonWarren D Anderson Music and Musicians in An-cient Greece Ithaka and New York Cornell Univer-sity Press

AssmannJan Assmann ldquoDer zweidimensionale MenschrdquoIn Das Fest und das Heilige Religioumlse Kontrapunktezur Arbeitswelt Ed by Jan Assmann Studien zumVerstehen fremder Religionen Guumltersloh Guumlter-sloher Verlagshaus Mohn ndash

AuffahrthChristoph Auffahrth ldquoFeste als Medium antikerReligionen Methodische Konzeptionen zur Er-forschung komplexer Ritualerdquo In Zwischen Alltagund Krise Antike Religionen im Mittelmeerraum Edby C Batsch U Egelhaaf-Gaiser and R StepperStuttgart Franz Steiner ndash

BlakolmerFritz Blakolmer ldquoMinoisch-mykenische Prozes-sionsfresken Uumlberlegungen zu den dargestelltenund den nicht dargestellten Gabenrdquo In KeimelionElitenbildung und elitaumlrer Konsum von der mykenischenPalastzeit bis zur homerischen Epoche The Formationof Elites and Elitist Lifestyles from Mycenaean PalatialTimes to the Homeric Period Akten des internationalenKongresses vom bis Februar in SalzburgEd by E Alram-Stern and G Nightingale Vol Veroumlffentlichungen der Mykenischen KommissionWien Verlag der Oumlsterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften ndash

BoumlmerFranz Boumlmer ldquoPompardquo In Paulys Realencyclopaumldieder classischen Altertumswissenschaft Ed by KZiegler Vol Stuttgart Metzler ndash

BrandHelmut Brand Griechische Musikanten im Kult Vonder Fruumlhzeit bis zum Beginn der Spaumltklassik Vol Wuumlrzburger Studien zur Sprache amp Kultur Dettel-bach J H Roumlll

BremmerJan N Bremmer Goumltter Mythen und Heiligtuumlmer imantiken Griechenland Darmstadt WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft

BurkeBrendan Burke ldquoMaterialization of MycenaeanIdeology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagusrdquo Ameri-can Journal of Archaeology ( ) ndash

ChaniotisAngelos Chaniotis ldquoGedenktage der GriechenIhre Bedeutung fuumlr das Geschichtsbewusstseingriechischer Poleisrdquo In Das Fest und das HeiligeReligioumlse Kontrapunkte zur Arbeitswelt Ed by J Ass-mann Guumltersloh Guumltersloher Verlagshaus Mohn

ndash

ConnorW R Connor ldquoTribes Festivals and ProcessionsCivic Ceremonial and Political Manipulation inArchaic Greecerdquo In Oxford Readings in Greek Reli-gion Ed by R Buxton Oxford Oxford UniversityPress ndash

DillonMatthew Dillon Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in AncientGreece London Routledge

EitremSamson Eitrem Beitraumlge zur griechischen Religion-sgeschichte Skrifter Videnskabs-Selskabets histor-filos Kl Christiana Dybwad

Elsner and RutherfordJaś Elsner and Ian Rutherford ldquoIntroductionrdquo InPilgrimage in Graeco-Roman amp Early Christian Antiq-uity Seeing the Gods Ed by J Elsner and I Ruther-ford Oxford Oxford University Press ndash

Frevel and HesbergC Frevel and H von Hesberg eds Kult und Kom-munikation Medien in Heiligtuumlmern der AntikeSchriften des Lehr- und Forschungszentrumsfuumlr die antiken Kulturen des Mittelmeerraumesndash Centre for Mediterranean cultures (ZAKMIRA)

Wiesbaden Ludwig Reichert

GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel Dancing at the Dawn of AgricultureAustin University of Texas Press

GengnagelJoumlrg Gengnagel ldquoEinleitungrdquo In Prozessionen Wall-fahrten Aufmaumlrsche Bewegung zwischen Religion undPolitik in Europa und Asien seit dem Mittelalter Ed byJ Gengnagel M Horstmann and G SchwedlerVol Menschen und Kulturen Koumlln Boumlhlau

ndash

GrafFritz Graf ldquoPompai in Greece Some Consider-ations about Space and Ritual in the Greek Po-lisrdquo In The Role of Religion in the Early Greek PolisProceedings of the Third International Seminar on An-cient Greek Cult organised by the Swedish Instituteat Athens ndash October Ed by R HaumlggVol Acta Instituti atheniensis regni SueciaeSeries in Stockholm P Aringstroumlm ndash

HarlandPhilip A Harland Travel and Religion in AntiquityStudies in Christianity and Judaism WaterlooON Wilfried Laurier University Press

HaugAnnette Haug Die Entdeckung des Koumlrpers Berlinand Boston De Gruyter

HoepfnerWolfram Hoepfner Das Pompeion und seine Nachfol-gerbauten Kerameikos Ergebnisse der Ausgrabun-gen Berlin De Gruyter

HoumllscherTonio Houmllscher ldquoBilderwelt Lebensordnung unddie Rolle des Betrachters im antiken Griechen-landrdquo In Bild-Raum-Handlung Perspektiven derArchaumlologie Ed by O Dally S Moraw and HZiemssen Berlin Studies of the Ancient World Berlin and Boston MA De Gruyter ndash

KadenChristian Kaden Das Unerhoumlrte und das UnhoumlrbareWas Musik ist was Musik sein kann Kassel Baumlrenrei-ter

KavoulakiAthena Kavoulaki ldquoProcessional Performancesand the Democratic Polisrdquo In Performance Cultureand Athenian Democracy Ed by S Goldhill and ROsborne Cambridge Cambridge University Press

ndash

KleineBaumlrbel Kleine Bilder tanzender Frauen in fruumlhgriechi-scher und klassischer Zeit Internationale Archaumlologie

RahdenWestf Marie Leidorf

KollerHermann Koller Musik und Dichtung im AltenGriechenland Bern and Muumlnchen Francke

Koumlpping and RaoKlaus-Peter Koumlpping and Ursula Rao eds ImRausch des Rituals Gestaltung und Transformationder Wirklichkeit in koumlrperlicher Performanz Perfor-manzen Interkulturelle Studien zu Ritual Spielund Theater Muumlnster LIT Verlag

KourouNota Kourou ldquoMusical Procession Scenes in EarlyGreek Artrdquo Praktika ( ) ndash

KowalzigBarbara Kowalzig ldquoMapping out lsquoCommunitasrsquoPerformances of lsquoTheoriarsquo in their Sacred and Po-litical Contextrdquo In Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman ampEarly Christian Antiquity Seeing the Gods Ed by JElsner and I Rutherford Oxford Oxford Univer-sity Press ndash

KubatzkiJana Kubatzki Die Rolle der Musik in antikengriechischen Prozessionen Ikonographische Unter-suchung griechischer Gefaumlszlige mit dem Schwerpunkt im und Jh v Chr PhD thesis Berlin Humboldt-

Universitaumlt zu Berlin

KunzeEmil Kunze Kretische Bronzereliefs StuttgartKohlhammer

negotiatedrdquo122 Both authors emphasize that ritual performances give insight into thepolitical body revealing its social and political order but do not change it Anotherauthor Jan Assmann underlines the important role of processions and festivals in pro-viding a frame in which the citizens could meet interact connect and trade123 As aldquomarriage marketrdquo he considers them to be the original reason for a tribal festival

Another sociopolitical function is probably the regulation of social conflicts W RConnor noticed a correlation between festivals and war situations in Greek antiquity124

Thomas Figueira has also suggested that there was a convergence of the Great Pana-thenaia and the years of instability in the early sixth century BCE125 Romans used thesame mechanism of manipulation they became very famous for their panem et circenses(bread and games) to appease the public in rough times with meals festivals and circusshows

Cultural aspects

In the research literature festivals such as processions have been described as communi-cation systems and as stages for politicians to establish a new political order (see chap-ter above) I would like to go a step further and add the sensual expressions of Greekprocessions aesthetic performances such as dances plays choirs and instrumental musicsensual acts such as smelling incense and the scent of meat and the festive self-expression ofthe worshippers through Sunday clothing and decoration126 Among these events musicwas important for bringing political ideas to a level of awareness since it enabled theworshippers to remember and maintain ideas by dancing and singing

Territorial aspects

Processions that followed a route outside the cities can also be regarded as territorialexpressions that connected the single clan or tribe (phyle) with the central sanctuariesby moving through landscapes and cities processions are like flexible borders Wher-ever processions made their way they marked the territory and so the organizing cityclaimed the space127 The sociologist Franccedilois de Polignac was one of the first scholarsto focus attention on the territorial role of processions by realizing that growing popu-lations from the Greek Archaic period onwards tended to install their sanctuaries in thesuburban area128 By this the city space was expanded and activated by regular festivals

122 Kavoulaki 123 Assmann 124 Connor 125 Figueira cited from Connor n

126 Boumlmer 127 Gengnagel Graf ndash Polignac

[ ] ndash 128 Polignac [ ] ndash

Who was reachedby processions

Individuals Cities Community of states

How were theyreached

ReligiousPsychologicalSocialPolitical

SocialPolitical Political

What happened Communication with godscultic engagementCoordination andchanneling of emotionsCommunitas (feeling oftogetherness)Identification with the polis

Channeling anti-socialenergiesRemembering andrealization of socialhierarchyMarriage marketMarket place for trade(economic sphere)Political demonstration ofpowerIdentification with polis

Demonstration ofpolis-powerMarking the territoryCreating and maintaining aGreek identity

Tab Systematizing the different functions of processions in ancient Greece

in these sacred sites Table and systematize the different functions of processions inancient Greece

Pilgrimages

Although scholars in the fields of archaeology and the science of religion have since thes focused on the different forms of travel by the Greek populations the term ldquopil-

grimagerdquo was not mentioned in these studies129 Only in did M Dillon publish anoverview of Greek pilgrimages differentiating them according to their structures des-tinations and ethnic groups130 Rutherford and Elsner edited a volume on the ancientworld and late antique period in in which the delegationembassy (theoria)131 andthe consultation of oracles took centre stage In that volume S Scullion published acritical article on the use of the term lsquopilgrimagersquo in relation to ancient Greece132 Heargued that pilgrimage according to our present understanding as the ldquojourney of a sin-gle person or a group of persons with a religious motivationrdquo had not existed in ancientGreece ndash at least as a special term Yet a vast number of Greeks travelled to the many

129 A detailed bibliography is found in Schlesier n and

130 Dillon xiiindashxviii

131 For introductory articles about theoriai see Nilsson Dillon ndash Schlesier

Tsochos ndash 132 Scullion

Spheresrealms HumanSocial level Mythological level Level ofwriting

DivineSpiritualDimension

EffectWhat did theprocession effect

Perception Realizationand Preservation of the self

Creating or maintainingthe collective memory ofmyth

Satisfactiongratification ofgods

HowHow did it work

Participation Staging the story Offering performance

Mode of actionWhat did they do

Same action by allparticipants

Bringing down to earth thefictive the imaginary

Processing

ActivityWhat were theconcrete actions

Sensual perceptions (massof people music smellsoptical attraction festivalatmosphere)Trade commerce exchangeof goods

Sensual experience of gods FeastingOffering donations andanimalsMaking great efforts tocelebrate festivalsWaste of precious goods

Tab A more comprehensive overview including all spheres that shows the differences in the way that proces-sions may have had effect

Panhellenic festivals in order to compete as athletes to consult an oracle to be healedof a disease to make an offering as a representative of their hometown to participate inthe festival as spectator or last but not least to engage in trade

A pilgrimage without being specified as such in ancient Greece was a journey toa place of worship The motivation for such a journey was not necessarily religious buthad different reasons individual economic or political In contrast to the present un-derstanding of pilgrimage the journey was not ritualized as Scullion remarks ldquo[hellip]whereas the notion of pilgrimage implies that the journey is ritualised there is littleevidence of this in classical Greecerdquo133

Most scholars argue that there was not one form of pilgrimage as a ldquojourney un-dertaken by a person in quest of a place or a state that he or she believes to embody asacred idealrdquo134 in ancient Greece but many types of pilgrimage135 Elsner and Ruther-ford singled out fourteen motives for a pilgrimage such as theoriai healing oreibasiaoracle consultation and sacred tourism

In the following I want to focus on the delegations since they seem to be highlyimportant for the political connections of Greek cities and were iconographical quitesimilar to processions

133 Scullion 134 Morinis

135 Elsner and Rutherford

Delegations theoriai

Theoria means the seeing watching witnessing of a spectacle and derives from the termtheoreo (= watching)136 A theoria is here defined as a delegation of dignitaries sent fromanother polis to participate in a sacrifice137 Through this practice their city of origincould participate in the ritual pars pro toto without the real presence of the whole cityldquoPossibly the original function of the theoroi was to observe the celebrations on behalfof their cities and to provide official representationrdquo Dillon points out138 This was ofgreat importance since rituals only worked for those who attended them139 Kavoulakiunderlines that the term and practice of theoria align participation most closely with theaspect of viewing ldquowatching the heorteacute (= festival) seeing what was taking place meantactually participating in the heorteacuterdquo140 There were two forms of delegates the hosts andthe guests but mostly these were the same persons Theorodokoi was the term used forthe people who were sent out to Greek cities to invite other delegates to a festival asambassadors whereas theoroi were the visiting delegates141

In general theoriai were religiously motivated delegations that represented the ab-sent polis in large national festivals such as those at Olympia Eleusis and Delos Be-sides pursuing religious and individual purposes consultations and healing delega-tions were highly political as regards the question of which city invited which otherpoleis The movements of societiesrsquo noble and aristocratic men meant a constant con-tact between different cities and between particular cities and their gods142 Delegatesserved as diplomats carried information (letters documents and gifts) and discussedterritorial borders143 Theoriai were necessary movements in order to sustain the fragileGreek world with its widespread poleis but in contrast to processions theoriai were notsacred themselves although in the words of Barbara Kowalzig both movements wereldquomapping out the religious spacerdquo144

136 Pantelia keywords theoreo theoria137 Dillon 138 Dillon 139 ldquoThe whole community asks for the deityrsquos recipro-

cal protectionrdquo (Kavoulaki )140 Kavoulaki 141 Pantelia keyword theorodokos Dillon

ndash 142 ldquoEvidence points towards a high level of inter-city

contact based on religious activityrdquo (Dillon )

143 For a brief overview of all the functions of theoroisee Dillon ndash

144 Kowalzig ndash That expression she used es-pecially for the songs that were sung by choirsboth in theoria and in processions These songs andmelodies more than other performances and of-ferings conveyed the character of the participatingcity The great significance of musical performanceswas briefly considered at the beginning of this ar-ticle but of course an intensive analysis cannot beoffered here

Iconographic differentiations processions and theoriai

Using archaeological data especially vase depictions it is hardly possible to differentiateprocessional scenes from scenes with theoriai Quite often depictions consist of two ormore people in fine garments with wreaths in their hair holding branches vessels andother cult objects in their hands Sometimes an animal is shown appearing with orwithout musicians as shown above

Sometimes there are trees columns altars vessels on a wall and other characteris-tics that indicate the place of the performance Basically the depictions suggest an open-air procession On the first depiction (Fig ) we have an almost complete processionalscene

The depictions from the Archaic period show these characteristics of a long proces-sion but they did not last long after their appearance in the sixth century when theywere replaced by shorter procession scenes These black-figure paintings are character-ized by figures and architectural elements designed in more detail but they show fewerpeople

I propose that short procession scenes without an altar may display a delegationWhereas ceramics with processional scenes must mainly be understood as offerings forthe gods to show the efforts of the worshippers the political dimension of scenes withdelegations on ceramics is more explicit145 Here the effort of communities is shownthe readiness of several cities to interact and participate in Panhellenic festivals Oneinterpretation may be that the iconic code of procession scenes could signal lsquoofferingsfor godsrsquo Another interpretation would draw attention to the iconic code of delega-tions which refers to cultural identity symbolizing lsquowe are Greeksrsquo If these differentmeanings of iconic codes of processional rituals are accepted it seems clear that scenesof delegations replaced processional scenes on ceramics at the end of the sixth centuryBCE

Conclusion

Concerning scenes of pilgrimage (here delegation) and procession an interrelation be-tween political bias and the iconic codes created by the Greeks is possible Depictionswere not only about representing the daily life of the ancient Greeks but about com-munication Iconic codes could be treated as a language that was understandable toeveryone in the Greek community These iconic codes could be deciphered by ancientrecipients through the meaning of the rituals presented In my analysis I discussed the

145 Laxander

complex meaning and practices of processions and theoriai and also of circular dancesI have linked them to aspects of identity social hierarchy and channelling antisocialenergies (Tab ) I have also drawn attention to their political dimensions Processionswere ndash more than sacrifices ndash the place for the demonstration of power and rule In abroader context they were active performances which created the identity of Greece asa community of states

Altogether processions and delegations can be regarded as a glue that connected thefragmented Greek cities Before alphabetical writing became the common medium totransfer values ideas techniques and common notions the medium had always beenthe traveling people Panhellenic festivals were most effective in connecting commu-nities by worshipping the same gods exchanging goods (arts garments food) and ofcourse by marriage as shown above

Processions and theoriai are communication systems that helped to create and main-tain such innovations as a common Greek language Greek myths and Greek democ-racy Regarding both types of movement (that is processions and theoriai) it is remark-able that the different arts and media of ancient Greece show an increase in religiousmovements which parallels the increase in population in Greece Smaller communitiesndash Yosef Garfinkel speaks of pre-state communities in the early Greek eras ndash produceda different iconic code that of circular dance scenes which were the main subject inseveral arts146 Procession scenes marked the era of the beginning democracy while thetheoriai became commonplace in the fifth and fourth century BCE

I would like to hypothesize a contextual relation between the growth of cities andpopulation and the need to perform ritual acts that involved the whole community Thedensity of those movements increased in parallel to the development of Greek state or-ganization and the growth of population from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period147

146 Garfinkel ndash 147 Kavoulaki ndash speaks of some kind ofcorrelation between processions and democraticpolitics

Bibliography

AndersonWarren D Anderson Music and Musicians in An-cient Greece Ithaka and New York Cornell Univer-sity Press

AssmannJan Assmann ldquoDer zweidimensionale MenschrdquoIn Das Fest und das Heilige Religioumlse Kontrapunktezur Arbeitswelt Ed by Jan Assmann Studien zumVerstehen fremder Religionen Guumltersloh Guumlter-sloher Verlagshaus Mohn ndash

AuffahrthChristoph Auffahrth ldquoFeste als Medium antikerReligionen Methodische Konzeptionen zur Er-forschung komplexer Ritualerdquo In Zwischen Alltagund Krise Antike Religionen im Mittelmeerraum Edby C Batsch U Egelhaaf-Gaiser and R StepperStuttgart Franz Steiner ndash

BlakolmerFritz Blakolmer ldquoMinoisch-mykenische Prozes-sionsfresken Uumlberlegungen zu den dargestelltenund den nicht dargestellten Gabenrdquo In KeimelionElitenbildung und elitaumlrer Konsum von der mykenischenPalastzeit bis zur homerischen Epoche The Formationof Elites and Elitist Lifestyles from Mycenaean PalatialTimes to the Homeric Period Akten des internationalenKongresses vom bis Februar in SalzburgEd by E Alram-Stern and G Nightingale Vol Veroumlffentlichungen der Mykenischen KommissionWien Verlag der Oumlsterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften ndash

BoumlmerFranz Boumlmer ldquoPompardquo In Paulys Realencyclopaumldieder classischen Altertumswissenschaft Ed by KZiegler Vol Stuttgart Metzler ndash

BrandHelmut Brand Griechische Musikanten im Kult Vonder Fruumlhzeit bis zum Beginn der Spaumltklassik Vol Wuumlrzburger Studien zur Sprache amp Kultur Dettel-bach J H Roumlll

BremmerJan N Bremmer Goumltter Mythen und Heiligtuumlmer imantiken Griechenland Darmstadt WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft

BurkeBrendan Burke ldquoMaterialization of MycenaeanIdeology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagusrdquo Ameri-can Journal of Archaeology ( ) ndash

ChaniotisAngelos Chaniotis ldquoGedenktage der GriechenIhre Bedeutung fuumlr das Geschichtsbewusstseingriechischer Poleisrdquo In Das Fest und das HeiligeReligioumlse Kontrapunkte zur Arbeitswelt Ed by J Ass-mann Guumltersloh Guumltersloher Verlagshaus Mohn

ndash

ConnorW R Connor ldquoTribes Festivals and ProcessionsCivic Ceremonial and Political Manipulation inArchaic Greecerdquo In Oxford Readings in Greek Reli-gion Ed by R Buxton Oxford Oxford UniversityPress ndash

DillonMatthew Dillon Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in AncientGreece London Routledge

EitremSamson Eitrem Beitraumlge zur griechischen Religion-sgeschichte Skrifter Videnskabs-Selskabets histor-filos Kl Christiana Dybwad

Elsner and RutherfordJaś Elsner and Ian Rutherford ldquoIntroductionrdquo InPilgrimage in Graeco-Roman amp Early Christian Antiq-uity Seeing the Gods Ed by J Elsner and I Ruther-ford Oxford Oxford University Press ndash

Frevel and HesbergC Frevel and H von Hesberg eds Kult und Kom-munikation Medien in Heiligtuumlmern der AntikeSchriften des Lehr- und Forschungszentrumsfuumlr die antiken Kulturen des Mittelmeerraumesndash Centre for Mediterranean cultures (ZAKMIRA)

Wiesbaden Ludwig Reichert

GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel Dancing at the Dawn of AgricultureAustin University of Texas Press

GengnagelJoumlrg Gengnagel ldquoEinleitungrdquo In Prozessionen Wall-fahrten Aufmaumlrsche Bewegung zwischen Religion undPolitik in Europa und Asien seit dem Mittelalter Ed byJ Gengnagel M Horstmann and G SchwedlerVol Menschen und Kulturen Koumlln Boumlhlau

ndash

GrafFritz Graf ldquoPompai in Greece Some Consider-ations about Space and Ritual in the Greek Po-lisrdquo In The Role of Religion in the Early Greek PolisProceedings of the Third International Seminar on An-cient Greek Cult organised by the Swedish Instituteat Athens ndash October Ed by R HaumlggVol Acta Instituti atheniensis regni SueciaeSeries in Stockholm P Aringstroumlm ndash

HarlandPhilip A Harland Travel and Religion in AntiquityStudies in Christianity and Judaism WaterlooON Wilfried Laurier University Press

HaugAnnette Haug Die Entdeckung des Koumlrpers Berlinand Boston De Gruyter

HoepfnerWolfram Hoepfner Das Pompeion und seine Nachfol-gerbauten Kerameikos Ergebnisse der Ausgrabun-gen Berlin De Gruyter

HoumllscherTonio Houmllscher ldquoBilderwelt Lebensordnung unddie Rolle des Betrachters im antiken Griechen-landrdquo In Bild-Raum-Handlung Perspektiven derArchaumlologie Ed by O Dally S Moraw and HZiemssen Berlin Studies of the Ancient World Berlin and Boston MA De Gruyter ndash

KadenChristian Kaden Das Unerhoumlrte und das UnhoumlrbareWas Musik ist was Musik sein kann Kassel Baumlrenrei-ter

KavoulakiAthena Kavoulaki ldquoProcessional Performancesand the Democratic Polisrdquo In Performance Cultureand Athenian Democracy Ed by S Goldhill and ROsborne Cambridge Cambridge University Press

ndash

KleineBaumlrbel Kleine Bilder tanzender Frauen in fruumlhgriechi-scher und klassischer Zeit Internationale Archaumlologie

RahdenWestf Marie Leidorf

KollerHermann Koller Musik und Dichtung im AltenGriechenland Bern and Muumlnchen Francke

Koumlpping and RaoKlaus-Peter Koumlpping and Ursula Rao eds ImRausch des Rituals Gestaltung und Transformationder Wirklichkeit in koumlrperlicher Performanz Perfor-manzen Interkulturelle Studien zu Ritual Spielund Theater Muumlnster LIT Verlag

KourouNota Kourou ldquoMusical Procession Scenes in EarlyGreek Artrdquo Praktika ( ) ndash

KowalzigBarbara Kowalzig ldquoMapping out lsquoCommunitasrsquoPerformances of lsquoTheoriarsquo in their Sacred and Po-litical Contextrdquo In Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman ampEarly Christian Antiquity Seeing the Gods Ed by JElsner and I Rutherford Oxford Oxford Univer-sity Press ndash

KubatzkiJana Kubatzki Die Rolle der Musik in antikengriechischen Prozessionen Ikonographische Unter-suchung griechischer Gefaumlszlige mit dem Schwerpunkt im und Jh v Chr PhD thesis Berlin Humboldt-

Universitaumlt zu Berlin

KunzeEmil Kunze Kretische Bronzereliefs StuttgartKohlhammer

Who was reachedby processions

Individuals Cities Community of states

How were theyreached

ReligiousPsychologicalSocialPolitical

SocialPolitical Political

What happened Communication with godscultic engagementCoordination andchanneling of emotionsCommunitas (feeling oftogetherness)Identification with the polis

Channeling anti-socialenergiesRemembering andrealization of socialhierarchyMarriage marketMarket place for trade(economic sphere)Political demonstration ofpowerIdentification with polis

Demonstration ofpolis-powerMarking the territoryCreating and maintaining aGreek identity

Tab Systematizing the different functions of processions in ancient Greece

in these sacred sites Table and systematize the different functions of processions inancient Greece

Pilgrimages

Although scholars in the fields of archaeology and the science of religion have since thes focused on the different forms of travel by the Greek populations the term ldquopil-

grimagerdquo was not mentioned in these studies129 Only in did M Dillon publish anoverview of Greek pilgrimages differentiating them according to their structures des-tinations and ethnic groups130 Rutherford and Elsner edited a volume on the ancientworld and late antique period in in which the delegationembassy (theoria)131 andthe consultation of oracles took centre stage In that volume S Scullion published acritical article on the use of the term lsquopilgrimagersquo in relation to ancient Greece132 Heargued that pilgrimage according to our present understanding as the ldquojourney of a sin-gle person or a group of persons with a religious motivationrdquo had not existed in ancientGreece ndash at least as a special term Yet a vast number of Greeks travelled to the many

129 A detailed bibliography is found in Schlesier n and

130 Dillon xiiindashxviii

131 For introductory articles about theoriai see Nilsson Dillon ndash Schlesier

Tsochos ndash 132 Scullion

Spheresrealms HumanSocial level Mythological level Level ofwriting

DivineSpiritualDimension

EffectWhat did theprocession effect

Perception Realizationand Preservation of the self

Creating or maintainingthe collective memory ofmyth

Satisfactiongratification ofgods

HowHow did it work

Participation Staging the story Offering performance

Mode of actionWhat did they do

Same action by allparticipants

Bringing down to earth thefictive the imaginary

Processing

ActivityWhat were theconcrete actions

Sensual perceptions (massof people music smellsoptical attraction festivalatmosphere)Trade commerce exchangeof goods

Sensual experience of gods FeastingOffering donations andanimalsMaking great efforts tocelebrate festivalsWaste of precious goods

Tab A more comprehensive overview including all spheres that shows the differences in the way that proces-sions may have had effect

Panhellenic festivals in order to compete as athletes to consult an oracle to be healedof a disease to make an offering as a representative of their hometown to participate inthe festival as spectator or last but not least to engage in trade

A pilgrimage without being specified as such in ancient Greece was a journey toa place of worship The motivation for such a journey was not necessarily religious buthad different reasons individual economic or political In contrast to the present un-derstanding of pilgrimage the journey was not ritualized as Scullion remarks ldquo[hellip]whereas the notion of pilgrimage implies that the journey is ritualised there is littleevidence of this in classical Greecerdquo133

Most scholars argue that there was not one form of pilgrimage as a ldquojourney un-dertaken by a person in quest of a place or a state that he or she believes to embody asacred idealrdquo134 in ancient Greece but many types of pilgrimage135 Elsner and Ruther-ford singled out fourteen motives for a pilgrimage such as theoriai healing oreibasiaoracle consultation and sacred tourism

In the following I want to focus on the delegations since they seem to be highlyimportant for the political connections of Greek cities and were iconographical quitesimilar to processions

133 Scullion 134 Morinis

135 Elsner and Rutherford

Delegations theoriai

Theoria means the seeing watching witnessing of a spectacle and derives from the termtheoreo (= watching)136 A theoria is here defined as a delegation of dignitaries sent fromanother polis to participate in a sacrifice137 Through this practice their city of origincould participate in the ritual pars pro toto without the real presence of the whole cityldquoPossibly the original function of the theoroi was to observe the celebrations on behalfof their cities and to provide official representationrdquo Dillon points out138 This was ofgreat importance since rituals only worked for those who attended them139 Kavoulakiunderlines that the term and practice of theoria align participation most closely with theaspect of viewing ldquowatching the heorteacute (= festival) seeing what was taking place meantactually participating in the heorteacuterdquo140 There were two forms of delegates the hosts andthe guests but mostly these were the same persons Theorodokoi was the term used forthe people who were sent out to Greek cities to invite other delegates to a festival asambassadors whereas theoroi were the visiting delegates141

In general theoriai were religiously motivated delegations that represented the ab-sent polis in large national festivals such as those at Olympia Eleusis and Delos Be-sides pursuing religious and individual purposes consultations and healing delega-tions were highly political as regards the question of which city invited which otherpoleis The movements of societiesrsquo noble and aristocratic men meant a constant con-tact between different cities and between particular cities and their gods142 Delegatesserved as diplomats carried information (letters documents and gifts) and discussedterritorial borders143 Theoriai were necessary movements in order to sustain the fragileGreek world with its widespread poleis but in contrast to processions theoriai were notsacred themselves although in the words of Barbara Kowalzig both movements wereldquomapping out the religious spacerdquo144

136 Pantelia keywords theoreo theoria137 Dillon 138 Dillon 139 ldquoThe whole community asks for the deityrsquos recipro-

cal protectionrdquo (Kavoulaki )140 Kavoulaki 141 Pantelia keyword theorodokos Dillon

ndash 142 ldquoEvidence points towards a high level of inter-city

contact based on religious activityrdquo (Dillon )

143 For a brief overview of all the functions of theoroisee Dillon ndash

144 Kowalzig ndash That expression she used es-pecially for the songs that were sung by choirsboth in theoria and in processions These songs andmelodies more than other performances and of-ferings conveyed the character of the participatingcity The great significance of musical performanceswas briefly considered at the beginning of this ar-ticle but of course an intensive analysis cannot beoffered here

Iconographic differentiations processions and theoriai

Using archaeological data especially vase depictions it is hardly possible to differentiateprocessional scenes from scenes with theoriai Quite often depictions consist of two ormore people in fine garments with wreaths in their hair holding branches vessels andother cult objects in their hands Sometimes an animal is shown appearing with orwithout musicians as shown above

Sometimes there are trees columns altars vessels on a wall and other characteris-tics that indicate the place of the performance Basically the depictions suggest an open-air procession On the first depiction (Fig ) we have an almost complete processionalscene

The depictions from the Archaic period show these characteristics of a long proces-sion but they did not last long after their appearance in the sixth century when theywere replaced by shorter procession scenes These black-figure paintings are character-ized by figures and architectural elements designed in more detail but they show fewerpeople

I propose that short procession scenes without an altar may display a delegationWhereas ceramics with processional scenes must mainly be understood as offerings forthe gods to show the efforts of the worshippers the political dimension of scenes withdelegations on ceramics is more explicit145 Here the effort of communities is shownthe readiness of several cities to interact and participate in Panhellenic festivals Oneinterpretation may be that the iconic code of procession scenes could signal lsquoofferingsfor godsrsquo Another interpretation would draw attention to the iconic code of delega-tions which refers to cultural identity symbolizing lsquowe are Greeksrsquo If these differentmeanings of iconic codes of processional rituals are accepted it seems clear that scenesof delegations replaced processional scenes on ceramics at the end of the sixth centuryBCE

Conclusion

Concerning scenes of pilgrimage (here delegation) and procession an interrelation be-tween political bias and the iconic codes created by the Greeks is possible Depictionswere not only about representing the daily life of the ancient Greeks but about com-munication Iconic codes could be treated as a language that was understandable toeveryone in the Greek community These iconic codes could be deciphered by ancientrecipients through the meaning of the rituals presented In my analysis I discussed the

145 Laxander

complex meaning and practices of processions and theoriai and also of circular dancesI have linked them to aspects of identity social hierarchy and channelling antisocialenergies (Tab ) I have also drawn attention to their political dimensions Processionswere ndash more than sacrifices ndash the place for the demonstration of power and rule In abroader context they were active performances which created the identity of Greece asa community of states

Altogether processions and delegations can be regarded as a glue that connected thefragmented Greek cities Before alphabetical writing became the common medium totransfer values ideas techniques and common notions the medium had always beenthe traveling people Panhellenic festivals were most effective in connecting commu-nities by worshipping the same gods exchanging goods (arts garments food) and ofcourse by marriage as shown above

Processions and theoriai are communication systems that helped to create and main-tain such innovations as a common Greek language Greek myths and Greek democ-racy Regarding both types of movement (that is processions and theoriai) it is remark-able that the different arts and media of ancient Greece show an increase in religiousmovements which parallels the increase in population in Greece Smaller communitiesndash Yosef Garfinkel speaks of pre-state communities in the early Greek eras ndash produceda different iconic code that of circular dance scenes which were the main subject inseveral arts146 Procession scenes marked the era of the beginning democracy while thetheoriai became commonplace in the fifth and fourth century BCE

I would like to hypothesize a contextual relation between the growth of cities andpopulation and the need to perform ritual acts that involved the whole community Thedensity of those movements increased in parallel to the development of Greek state or-ganization and the growth of population from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period147

146 Garfinkel ndash 147 Kavoulaki ndash speaks of some kind ofcorrelation between processions and democraticpolitics

Bibliography

AndersonWarren D Anderson Music and Musicians in An-cient Greece Ithaka and New York Cornell Univer-sity Press

AssmannJan Assmann ldquoDer zweidimensionale MenschrdquoIn Das Fest und das Heilige Religioumlse Kontrapunktezur Arbeitswelt Ed by Jan Assmann Studien zumVerstehen fremder Religionen Guumltersloh Guumlter-sloher Verlagshaus Mohn ndash

AuffahrthChristoph Auffahrth ldquoFeste als Medium antikerReligionen Methodische Konzeptionen zur Er-forschung komplexer Ritualerdquo In Zwischen Alltagund Krise Antike Religionen im Mittelmeerraum Edby C Batsch U Egelhaaf-Gaiser and R StepperStuttgart Franz Steiner ndash

BlakolmerFritz Blakolmer ldquoMinoisch-mykenische Prozes-sionsfresken Uumlberlegungen zu den dargestelltenund den nicht dargestellten Gabenrdquo In KeimelionElitenbildung und elitaumlrer Konsum von der mykenischenPalastzeit bis zur homerischen Epoche The Formationof Elites and Elitist Lifestyles from Mycenaean PalatialTimes to the Homeric Period Akten des internationalenKongresses vom bis Februar in SalzburgEd by E Alram-Stern and G Nightingale Vol Veroumlffentlichungen der Mykenischen KommissionWien Verlag der Oumlsterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften ndash

BoumlmerFranz Boumlmer ldquoPompardquo In Paulys Realencyclopaumldieder classischen Altertumswissenschaft Ed by KZiegler Vol Stuttgart Metzler ndash

BrandHelmut Brand Griechische Musikanten im Kult Vonder Fruumlhzeit bis zum Beginn der Spaumltklassik Vol Wuumlrzburger Studien zur Sprache amp Kultur Dettel-bach J H Roumlll

BremmerJan N Bremmer Goumltter Mythen und Heiligtuumlmer imantiken Griechenland Darmstadt WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft

BurkeBrendan Burke ldquoMaterialization of MycenaeanIdeology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagusrdquo Ameri-can Journal of Archaeology ( ) ndash

ChaniotisAngelos Chaniotis ldquoGedenktage der GriechenIhre Bedeutung fuumlr das Geschichtsbewusstseingriechischer Poleisrdquo In Das Fest und das HeiligeReligioumlse Kontrapunkte zur Arbeitswelt Ed by J Ass-mann Guumltersloh Guumltersloher Verlagshaus Mohn

ndash

ConnorW R Connor ldquoTribes Festivals and ProcessionsCivic Ceremonial and Political Manipulation inArchaic Greecerdquo In Oxford Readings in Greek Reli-gion Ed by R Buxton Oxford Oxford UniversityPress ndash

DillonMatthew Dillon Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in AncientGreece London Routledge

EitremSamson Eitrem Beitraumlge zur griechischen Religion-sgeschichte Skrifter Videnskabs-Selskabets histor-filos Kl Christiana Dybwad

Elsner and RutherfordJaś Elsner and Ian Rutherford ldquoIntroductionrdquo InPilgrimage in Graeco-Roman amp Early Christian Antiq-uity Seeing the Gods Ed by J Elsner and I Ruther-ford Oxford Oxford University Press ndash

Frevel and HesbergC Frevel and H von Hesberg eds Kult und Kom-munikation Medien in Heiligtuumlmern der AntikeSchriften des Lehr- und Forschungszentrumsfuumlr die antiken Kulturen des Mittelmeerraumesndash Centre for Mediterranean cultures (ZAKMIRA)

Wiesbaden Ludwig Reichert

GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel Dancing at the Dawn of AgricultureAustin University of Texas Press

GengnagelJoumlrg Gengnagel ldquoEinleitungrdquo In Prozessionen Wall-fahrten Aufmaumlrsche Bewegung zwischen Religion undPolitik in Europa und Asien seit dem Mittelalter Ed byJ Gengnagel M Horstmann and G SchwedlerVol Menschen und Kulturen Koumlln Boumlhlau

ndash

GrafFritz Graf ldquoPompai in Greece Some Consider-ations about Space and Ritual in the Greek Po-lisrdquo In The Role of Religion in the Early Greek PolisProceedings of the Third International Seminar on An-cient Greek Cult organised by the Swedish Instituteat Athens ndash October Ed by R HaumlggVol Acta Instituti atheniensis regni SueciaeSeries in Stockholm P Aringstroumlm ndash

HarlandPhilip A Harland Travel and Religion in AntiquityStudies in Christianity and Judaism WaterlooON Wilfried Laurier University Press

HaugAnnette Haug Die Entdeckung des Koumlrpers Berlinand Boston De Gruyter

HoepfnerWolfram Hoepfner Das Pompeion und seine Nachfol-gerbauten Kerameikos Ergebnisse der Ausgrabun-gen Berlin De Gruyter

HoumllscherTonio Houmllscher ldquoBilderwelt Lebensordnung unddie Rolle des Betrachters im antiken Griechen-landrdquo In Bild-Raum-Handlung Perspektiven derArchaumlologie Ed by O Dally S Moraw and HZiemssen Berlin Studies of the Ancient World Berlin and Boston MA De Gruyter ndash

KadenChristian Kaden Das Unerhoumlrte und das UnhoumlrbareWas Musik ist was Musik sein kann Kassel Baumlrenrei-ter

KavoulakiAthena Kavoulaki ldquoProcessional Performancesand the Democratic Polisrdquo In Performance Cultureand Athenian Democracy Ed by S Goldhill and ROsborne Cambridge Cambridge University Press

ndash

KleineBaumlrbel Kleine Bilder tanzender Frauen in fruumlhgriechi-scher und klassischer Zeit Internationale Archaumlologie

RahdenWestf Marie Leidorf

KollerHermann Koller Musik und Dichtung im AltenGriechenland Bern and Muumlnchen Francke

Koumlpping and RaoKlaus-Peter Koumlpping and Ursula Rao eds ImRausch des Rituals Gestaltung und Transformationder Wirklichkeit in koumlrperlicher Performanz Perfor-manzen Interkulturelle Studien zu Ritual Spielund Theater Muumlnster LIT Verlag

KourouNota Kourou ldquoMusical Procession Scenes in EarlyGreek Artrdquo Praktika ( ) ndash

KowalzigBarbara Kowalzig ldquoMapping out lsquoCommunitasrsquoPerformances of lsquoTheoriarsquo in their Sacred and Po-litical Contextrdquo In Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman ampEarly Christian Antiquity Seeing the Gods Ed by JElsner and I Rutherford Oxford Oxford Univer-sity Press ndash

KubatzkiJana Kubatzki Die Rolle der Musik in antikengriechischen Prozessionen Ikonographische Unter-suchung griechischer Gefaumlszlige mit dem Schwerpunkt im und Jh v Chr PhD thesis Berlin Humboldt-

Universitaumlt zu Berlin

KunzeEmil Kunze Kretische Bronzereliefs StuttgartKohlhammer

Spheresrealms HumanSocial level Mythological level Level ofwriting

DivineSpiritualDimension

EffectWhat did theprocession effect

Perception Realizationand Preservation of the self

Creating or maintainingthe collective memory ofmyth

Satisfactiongratification ofgods

HowHow did it work

Participation Staging the story Offering performance

Mode of actionWhat did they do

Same action by allparticipants

Bringing down to earth thefictive the imaginary

Processing

ActivityWhat were theconcrete actions

Sensual perceptions (massof people music smellsoptical attraction festivalatmosphere)Trade commerce exchangeof goods

Sensual experience of gods FeastingOffering donations andanimalsMaking great efforts tocelebrate festivalsWaste of precious goods

Tab A more comprehensive overview including all spheres that shows the differences in the way that proces-sions may have had effect

Panhellenic festivals in order to compete as athletes to consult an oracle to be healedof a disease to make an offering as a representative of their hometown to participate inthe festival as spectator or last but not least to engage in trade

A pilgrimage without being specified as such in ancient Greece was a journey toa place of worship The motivation for such a journey was not necessarily religious buthad different reasons individual economic or political In contrast to the present un-derstanding of pilgrimage the journey was not ritualized as Scullion remarks ldquo[hellip]whereas the notion of pilgrimage implies that the journey is ritualised there is littleevidence of this in classical Greecerdquo133

Most scholars argue that there was not one form of pilgrimage as a ldquojourney un-dertaken by a person in quest of a place or a state that he or she believes to embody asacred idealrdquo134 in ancient Greece but many types of pilgrimage135 Elsner and Ruther-ford singled out fourteen motives for a pilgrimage such as theoriai healing oreibasiaoracle consultation and sacred tourism

In the following I want to focus on the delegations since they seem to be highlyimportant for the political connections of Greek cities and were iconographical quitesimilar to processions

133 Scullion 134 Morinis

135 Elsner and Rutherford

Delegations theoriai

Theoria means the seeing watching witnessing of a spectacle and derives from the termtheoreo (= watching)136 A theoria is here defined as a delegation of dignitaries sent fromanother polis to participate in a sacrifice137 Through this practice their city of origincould participate in the ritual pars pro toto without the real presence of the whole cityldquoPossibly the original function of the theoroi was to observe the celebrations on behalfof their cities and to provide official representationrdquo Dillon points out138 This was ofgreat importance since rituals only worked for those who attended them139 Kavoulakiunderlines that the term and practice of theoria align participation most closely with theaspect of viewing ldquowatching the heorteacute (= festival) seeing what was taking place meantactually participating in the heorteacuterdquo140 There were two forms of delegates the hosts andthe guests but mostly these were the same persons Theorodokoi was the term used forthe people who were sent out to Greek cities to invite other delegates to a festival asambassadors whereas theoroi were the visiting delegates141

In general theoriai were religiously motivated delegations that represented the ab-sent polis in large national festivals such as those at Olympia Eleusis and Delos Be-sides pursuing religious and individual purposes consultations and healing delega-tions were highly political as regards the question of which city invited which otherpoleis The movements of societiesrsquo noble and aristocratic men meant a constant con-tact between different cities and between particular cities and their gods142 Delegatesserved as diplomats carried information (letters documents and gifts) and discussedterritorial borders143 Theoriai were necessary movements in order to sustain the fragileGreek world with its widespread poleis but in contrast to processions theoriai were notsacred themselves although in the words of Barbara Kowalzig both movements wereldquomapping out the religious spacerdquo144

136 Pantelia keywords theoreo theoria137 Dillon 138 Dillon 139 ldquoThe whole community asks for the deityrsquos recipro-

cal protectionrdquo (Kavoulaki )140 Kavoulaki 141 Pantelia keyword theorodokos Dillon

ndash 142 ldquoEvidence points towards a high level of inter-city

contact based on religious activityrdquo (Dillon )

143 For a brief overview of all the functions of theoroisee Dillon ndash

144 Kowalzig ndash That expression she used es-pecially for the songs that were sung by choirsboth in theoria and in processions These songs andmelodies more than other performances and of-ferings conveyed the character of the participatingcity The great significance of musical performanceswas briefly considered at the beginning of this ar-ticle but of course an intensive analysis cannot beoffered here

Iconographic differentiations processions and theoriai

Using archaeological data especially vase depictions it is hardly possible to differentiateprocessional scenes from scenes with theoriai Quite often depictions consist of two ormore people in fine garments with wreaths in their hair holding branches vessels andother cult objects in their hands Sometimes an animal is shown appearing with orwithout musicians as shown above

Sometimes there are trees columns altars vessels on a wall and other characteris-tics that indicate the place of the performance Basically the depictions suggest an open-air procession On the first depiction (Fig ) we have an almost complete processionalscene

The depictions from the Archaic period show these characteristics of a long proces-sion but they did not last long after their appearance in the sixth century when theywere replaced by shorter procession scenes These black-figure paintings are character-ized by figures and architectural elements designed in more detail but they show fewerpeople

I propose that short procession scenes without an altar may display a delegationWhereas ceramics with processional scenes must mainly be understood as offerings forthe gods to show the efforts of the worshippers the political dimension of scenes withdelegations on ceramics is more explicit145 Here the effort of communities is shownthe readiness of several cities to interact and participate in Panhellenic festivals Oneinterpretation may be that the iconic code of procession scenes could signal lsquoofferingsfor godsrsquo Another interpretation would draw attention to the iconic code of delega-tions which refers to cultural identity symbolizing lsquowe are Greeksrsquo If these differentmeanings of iconic codes of processional rituals are accepted it seems clear that scenesof delegations replaced processional scenes on ceramics at the end of the sixth centuryBCE

Conclusion

Concerning scenes of pilgrimage (here delegation) and procession an interrelation be-tween political bias and the iconic codes created by the Greeks is possible Depictionswere not only about representing the daily life of the ancient Greeks but about com-munication Iconic codes could be treated as a language that was understandable toeveryone in the Greek community These iconic codes could be deciphered by ancientrecipients through the meaning of the rituals presented In my analysis I discussed the

145 Laxander

complex meaning and practices of processions and theoriai and also of circular dancesI have linked them to aspects of identity social hierarchy and channelling antisocialenergies (Tab ) I have also drawn attention to their political dimensions Processionswere ndash more than sacrifices ndash the place for the demonstration of power and rule In abroader context they were active performances which created the identity of Greece asa community of states

Altogether processions and delegations can be regarded as a glue that connected thefragmented Greek cities Before alphabetical writing became the common medium totransfer values ideas techniques and common notions the medium had always beenthe traveling people Panhellenic festivals were most effective in connecting commu-nities by worshipping the same gods exchanging goods (arts garments food) and ofcourse by marriage as shown above

Processions and theoriai are communication systems that helped to create and main-tain such innovations as a common Greek language Greek myths and Greek democ-racy Regarding both types of movement (that is processions and theoriai) it is remark-able that the different arts and media of ancient Greece show an increase in religiousmovements which parallels the increase in population in Greece Smaller communitiesndash Yosef Garfinkel speaks of pre-state communities in the early Greek eras ndash produceda different iconic code that of circular dance scenes which were the main subject inseveral arts146 Procession scenes marked the era of the beginning democracy while thetheoriai became commonplace in the fifth and fourth century BCE

I would like to hypothesize a contextual relation between the growth of cities andpopulation and the need to perform ritual acts that involved the whole community Thedensity of those movements increased in parallel to the development of Greek state or-ganization and the growth of population from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period147

146 Garfinkel ndash 147 Kavoulaki ndash speaks of some kind ofcorrelation between processions and democraticpolitics

Bibliography

AndersonWarren D Anderson Music and Musicians in An-cient Greece Ithaka and New York Cornell Univer-sity Press

AssmannJan Assmann ldquoDer zweidimensionale MenschrdquoIn Das Fest und das Heilige Religioumlse Kontrapunktezur Arbeitswelt Ed by Jan Assmann Studien zumVerstehen fremder Religionen Guumltersloh Guumlter-sloher Verlagshaus Mohn ndash

AuffahrthChristoph Auffahrth ldquoFeste als Medium antikerReligionen Methodische Konzeptionen zur Er-forschung komplexer Ritualerdquo In Zwischen Alltagund Krise Antike Religionen im Mittelmeerraum Edby C Batsch U Egelhaaf-Gaiser and R StepperStuttgart Franz Steiner ndash

BlakolmerFritz Blakolmer ldquoMinoisch-mykenische Prozes-sionsfresken Uumlberlegungen zu den dargestelltenund den nicht dargestellten Gabenrdquo In KeimelionElitenbildung und elitaumlrer Konsum von der mykenischenPalastzeit bis zur homerischen Epoche The Formationof Elites and Elitist Lifestyles from Mycenaean PalatialTimes to the Homeric Period Akten des internationalenKongresses vom bis Februar in SalzburgEd by E Alram-Stern and G Nightingale Vol Veroumlffentlichungen der Mykenischen KommissionWien Verlag der Oumlsterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften ndash

BoumlmerFranz Boumlmer ldquoPompardquo In Paulys Realencyclopaumldieder classischen Altertumswissenschaft Ed by KZiegler Vol Stuttgart Metzler ndash

BrandHelmut Brand Griechische Musikanten im Kult Vonder Fruumlhzeit bis zum Beginn der Spaumltklassik Vol Wuumlrzburger Studien zur Sprache amp Kultur Dettel-bach J H Roumlll

BremmerJan N Bremmer Goumltter Mythen und Heiligtuumlmer imantiken Griechenland Darmstadt WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft

BurkeBrendan Burke ldquoMaterialization of MycenaeanIdeology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagusrdquo Ameri-can Journal of Archaeology ( ) ndash

ChaniotisAngelos Chaniotis ldquoGedenktage der GriechenIhre Bedeutung fuumlr das Geschichtsbewusstseingriechischer Poleisrdquo In Das Fest und das HeiligeReligioumlse Kontrapunkte zur Arbeitswelt Ed by J Ass-mann Guumltersloh Guumltersloher Verlagshaus Mohn

ndash

ConnorW R Connor ldquoTribes Festivals and ProcessionsCivic Ceremonial and Political Manipulation inArchaic Greecerdquo In Oxford Readings in Greek Reli-gion Ed by R Buxton Oxford Oxford UniversityPress ndash

DillonMatthew Dillon Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in AncientGreece London Routledge

EitremSamson Eitrem Beitraumlge zur griechischen Religion-sgeschichte Skrifter Videnskabs-Selskabets histor-filos Kl Christiana Dybwad

Elsner and RutherfordJaś Elsner and Ian Rutherford ldquoIntroductionrdquo InPilgrimage in Graeco-Roman amp Early Christian Antiq-uity Seeing the Gods Ed by J Elsner and I Ruther-ford Oxford Oxford University Press ndash

Frevel and HesbergC Frevel and H von Hesberg eds Kult und Kom-munikation Medien in Heiligtuumlmern der AntikeSchriften des Lehr- und Forschungszentrumsfuumlr die antiken Kulturen des Mittelmeerraumesndash Centre for Mediterranean cultures (ZAKMIRA)

Wiesbaden Ludwig Reichert

GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel Dancing at the Dawn of AgricultureAustin University of Texas Press

GengnagelJoumlrg Gengnagel ldquoEinleitungrdquo In Prozessionen Wall-fahrten Aufmaumlrsche Bewegung zwischen Religion undPolitik in Europa und Asien seit dem Mittelalter Ed byJ Gengnagel M Horstmann and G SchwedlerVol Menschen und Kulturen Koumlln Boumlhlau

ndash

GrafFritz Graf ldquoPompai in Greece Some Consider-ations about Space and Ritual in the Greek Po-lisrdquo In The Role of Religion in the Early Greek PolisProceedings of the Third International Seminar on An-cient Greek Cult organised by the Swedish Instituteat Athens ndash October Ed by R HaumlggVol Acta Instituti atheniensis regni SueciaeSeries in Stockholm P Aringstroumlm ndash

HarlandPhilip A Harland Travel and Religion in AntiquityStudies in Christianity and Judaism WaterlooON Wilfried Laurier University Press

HaugAnnette Haug Die Entdeckung des Koumlrpers Berlinand Boston De Gruyter

HoepfnerWolfram Hoepfner Das Pompeion und seine Nachfol-gerbauten Kerameikos Ergebnisse der Ausgrabun-gen Berlin De Gruyter

HoumllscherTonio Houmllscher ldquoBilderwelt Lebensordnung unddie Rolle des Betrachters im antiken Griechen-landrdquo In Bild-Raum-Handlung Perspektiven derArchaumlologie Ed by O Dally S Moraw and HZiemssen Berlin Studies of the Ancient World Berlin and Boston MA De Gruyter ndash

KadenChristian Kaden Das Unerhoumlrte und das UnhoumlrbareWas Musik ist was Musik sein kann Kassel Baumlrenrei-ter

KavoulakiAthena Kavoulaki ldquoProcessional Performancesand the Democratic Polisrdquo In Performance Cultureand Athenian Democracy Ed by S Goldhill and ROsborne Cambridge Cambridge University Press

ndash

KleineBaumlrbel Kleine Bilder tanzender Frauen in fruumlhgriechi-scher und klassischer Zeit Internationale Archaumlologie

RahdenWestf Marie Leidorf

KollerHermann Koller Musik und Dichtung im AltenGriechenland Bern and Muumlnchen Francke

Koumlpping and RaoKlaus-Peter Koumlpping and Ursula Rao eds ImRausch des Rituals Gestaltung und Transformationder Wirklichkeit in koumlrperlicher Performanz Perfor-manzen Interkulturelle Studien zu Ritual Spielund Theater Muumlnster LIT Verlag

KourouNota Kourou ldquoMusical Procession Scenes in EarlyGreek Artrdquo Praktika ( ) ndash

KowalzigBarbara Kowalzig ldquoMapping out lsquoCommunitasrsquoPerformances of lsquoTheoriarsquo in their Sacred and Po-litical Contextrdquo In Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman ampEarly Christian Antiquity Seeing the Gods Ed by JElsner and I Rutherford Oxford Oxford Univer-sity Press ndash

KubatzkiJana Kubatzki Die Rolle der Musik in antikengriechischen Prozessionen Ikonographische Unter-suchung griechischer Gefaumlszlige mit dem Schwerpunkt im und Jh v Chr PhD thesis Berlin Humboldt-

Universitaumlt zu Berlin

KunzeEmil Kunze Kretische Bronzereliefs StuttgartKohlhammer

Delegations theoriai

Theoria means the seeing watching witnessing of a spectacle and derives from the termtheoreo (= watching)136 A theoria is here defined as a delegation of dignitaries sent fromanother polis to participate in a sacrifice137 Through this practice their city of origincould participate in the ritual pars pro toto without the real presence of the whole cityldquoPossibly the original function of the theoroi was to observe the celebrations on behalfof their cities and to provide official representationrdquo Dillon points out138 This was ofgreat importance since rituals only worked for those who attended them139 Kavoulakiunderlines that the term and practice of theoria align participation most closely with theaspect of viewing ldquowatching the heorteacute (= festival) seeing what was taking place meantactually participating in the heorteacuterdquo140 There were two forms of delegates the hosts andthe guests but mostly these were the same persons Theorodokoi was the term used forthe people who were sent out to Greek cities to invite other delegates to a festival asambassadors whereas theoroi were the visiting delegates141

In general theoriai were religiously motivated delegations that represented the ab-sent polis in large national festivals such as those at Olympia Eleusis and Delos Be-sides pursuing religious and individual purposes consultations and healing delega-tions were highly political as regards the question of which city invited which otherpoleis The movements of societiesrsquo noble and aristocratic men meant a constant con-tact between different cities and between particular cities and their gods142 Delegatesserved as diplomats carried information (letters documents and gifts) and discussedterritorial borders143 Theoriai were necessary movements in order to sustain the fragileGreek world with its widespread poleis but in contrast to processions theoriai were notsacred themselves although in the words of Barbara Kowalzig both movements wereldquomapping out the religious spacerdquo144

136 Pantelia keywords theoreo theoria137 Dillon 138 Dillon 139 ldquoThe whole community asks for the deityrsquos recipro-

cal protectionrdquo (Kavoulaki )140 Kavoulaki 141 Pantelia keyword theorodokos Dillon

ndash 142 ldquoEvidence points towards a high level of inter-city

contact based on religious activityrdquo (Dillon )

143 For a brief overview of all the functions of theoroisee Dillon ndash

144 Kowalzig ndash That expression she used es-pecially for the songs that were sung by choirsboth in theoria and in processions These songs andmelodies more than other performances and of-ferings conveyed the character of the participatingcity The great significance of musical performanceswas briefly considered at the beginning of this ar-ticle but of course an intensive analysis cannot beoffered here

Iconographic differentiations processions and theoriai

Using archaeological data especially vase depictions it is hardly possible to differentiateprocessional scenes from scenes with theoriai Quite often depictions consist of two ormore people in fine garments with wreaths in their hair holding branches vessels andother cult objects in their hands Sometimes an animal is shown appearing with orwithout musicians as shown above

Sometimes there are trees columns altars vessels on a wall and other characteris-tics that indicate the place of the performance Basically the depictions suggest an open-air procession On the first depiction (Fig ) we have an almost complete processionalscene

The depictions from the Archaic period show these characteristics of a long proces-sion but they did not last long after their appearance in the sixth century when theywere replaced by shorter procession scenes These black-figure paintings are character-ized by figures and architectural elements designed in more detail but they show fewerpeople

I propose that short procession scenes without an altar may display a delegationWhereas ceramics with processional scenes must mainly be understood as offerings forthe gods to show the efforts of the worshippers the political dimension of scenes withdelegations on ceramics is more explicit145 Here the effort of communities is shownthe readiness of several cities to interact and participate in Panhellenic festivals Oneinterpretation may be that the iconic code of procession scenes could signal lsquoofferingsfor godsrsquo Another interpretation would draw attention to the iconic code of delega-tions which refers to cultural identity symbolizing lsquowe are Greeksrsquo If these differentmeanings of iconic codes of processional rituals are accepted it seems clear that scenesof delegations replaced processional scenes on ceramics at the end of the sixth centuryBCE

Conclusion

Concerning scenes of pilgrimage (here delegation) and procession an interrelation be-tween political bias and the iconic codes created by the Greeks is possible Depictionswere not only about representing the daily life of the ancient Greeks but about com-munication Iconic codes could be treated as a language that was understandable toeveryone in the Greek community These iconic codes could be deciphered by ancientrecipients through the meaning of the rituals presented In my analysis I discussed the

145 Laxander

complex meaning and practices of processions and theoriai and also of circular dancesI have linked them to aspects of identity social hierarchy and channelling antisocialenergies (Tab ) I have also drawn attention to their political dimensions Processionswere ndash more than sacrifices ndash the place for the demonstration of power and rule In abroader context they were active performances which created the identity of Greece asa community of states

Altogether processions and delegations can be regarded as a glue that connected thefragmented Greek cities Before alphabetical writing became the common medium totransfer values ideas techniques and common notions the medium had always beenthe traveling people Panhellenic festivals were most effective in connecting commu-nities by worshipping the same gods exchanging goods (arts garments food) and ofcourse by marriage as shown above

Processions and theoriai are communication systems that helped to create and main-tain such innovations as a common Greek language Greek myths and Greek democ-racy Regarding both types of movement (that is processions and theoriai) it is remark-able that the different arts and media of ancient Greece show an increase in religiousmovements which parallels the increase in population in Greece Smaller communitiesndash Yosef Garfinkel speaks of pre-state communities in the early Greek eras ndash produceda different iconic code that of circular dance scenes which were the main subject inseveral arts146 Procession scenes marked the era of the beginning democracy while thetheoriai became commonplace in the fifth and fourth century BCE

I would like to hypothesize a contextual relation between the growth of cities andpopulation and the need to perform ritual acts that involved the whole community Thedensity of those movements increased in parallel to the development of Greek state or-ganization and the growth of population from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period147

146 Garfinkel ndash 147 Kavoulaki ndash speaks of some kind ofcorrelation between processions and democraticpolitics

Bibliography

AndersonWarren D Anderson Music and Musicians in An-cient Greece Ithaka and New York Cornell Univer-sity Press

AssmannJan Assmann ldquoDer zweidimensionale MenschrdquoIn Das Fest und das Heilige Religioumlse Kontrapunktezur Arbeitswelt Ed by Jan Assmann Studien zumVerstehen fremder Religionen Guumltersloh Guumlter-sloher Verlagshaus Mohn ndash

AuffahrthChristoph Auffahrth ldquoFeste als Medium antikerReligionen Methodische Konzeptionen zur Er-forschung komplexer Ritualerdquo In Zwischen Alltagund Krise Antike Religionen im Mittelmeerraum Edby C Batsch U Egelhaaf-Gaiser and R StepperStuttgart Franz Steiner ndash

BlakolmerFritz Blakolmer ldquoMinoisch-mykenische Prozes-sionsfresken Uumlberlegungen zu den dargestelltenund den nicht dargestellten Gabenrdquo In KeimelionElitenbildung und elitaumlrer Konsum von der mykenischenPalastzeit bis zur homerischen Epoche The Formationof Elites and Elitist Lifestyles from Mycenaean PalatialTimes to the Homeric Period Akten des internationalenKongresses vom bis Februar in SalzburgEd by E Alram-Stern and G Nightingale Vol Veroumlffentlichungen der Mykenischen KommissionWien Verlag der Oumlsterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften ndash

BoumlmerFranz Boumlmer ldquoPompardquo In Paulys Realencyclopaumldieder classischen Altertumswissenschaft Ed by KZiegler Vol Stuttgart Metzler ndash

BrandHelmut Brand Griechische Musikanten im Kult Vonder Fruumlhzeit bis zum Beginn der Spaumltklassik Vol Wuumlrzburger Studien zur Sprache amp Kultur Dettel-bach J H Roumlll

BremmerJan N Bremmer Goumltter Mythen und Heiligtuumlmer imantiken Griechenland Darmstadt WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft

BurkeBrendan Burke ldquoMaterialization of MycenaeanIdeology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagusrdquo Ameri-can Journal of Archaeology ( ) ndash

ChaniotisAngelos Chaniotis ldquoGedenktage der GriechenIhre Bedeutung fuumlr das Geschichtsbewusstseingriechischer Poleisrdquo In Das Fest und das HeiligeReligioumlse Kontrapunkte zur Arbeitswelt Ed by J Ass-mann Guumltersloh Guumltersloher Verlagshaus Mohn

ndash

ConnorW R Connor ldquoTribes Festivals and ProcessionsCivic Ceremonial and Political Manipulation inArchaic Greecerdquo In Oxford Readings in Greek Reli-gion Ed by R Buxton Oxford Oxford UniversityPress ndash

DillonMatthew Dillon Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in AncientGreece London Routledge

EitremSamson Eitrem Beitraumlge zur griechischen Religion-sgeschichte Skrifter Videnskabs-Selskabets histor-filos Kl Christiana Dybwad

Elsner and RutherfordJaś Elsner and Ian Rutherford ldquoIntroductionrdquo InPilgrimage in Graeco-Roman amp Early Christian Antiq-uity Seeing the Gods Ed by J Elsner and I Ruther-ford Oxford Oxford University Press ndash

Frevel and HesbergC Frevel and H von Hesberg eds Kult und Kom-munikation Medien in Heiligtuumlmern der AntikeSchriften des Lehr- und Forschungszentrumsfuumlr die antiken Kulturen des Mittelmeerraumesndash Centre for Mediterranean cultures (ZAKMIRA)

Wiesbaden Ludwig Reichert

GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel Dancing at the Dawn of AgricultureAustin University of Texas Press

GengnagelJoumlrg Gengnagel ldquoEinleitungrdquo In Prozessionen Wall-fahrten Aufmaumlrsche Bewegung zwischen Religion undPolitik in Europa und Asien seit dem Mittelalter Ed byJ Gengnagel M Horstmann and G SchwedlerVol Menschen und Kulturen Koumlln Boumlhlau

ndash

GrafFritz Graf ldquoPompai in Greece Some Consider-ations about Space and Ritual in the Greek Po-lisrdquo In The Role of Religion in the Early Greek PolisProceedings of the Third International Seminar on An-cient Greek Cult organised by the Swedish Instituteat Athens ndash October Ed by R HaumlggVol Acta Instituti atheniensis regni SueciaeSeries in Stockholm P Aringstroumlm ndash

HarlandPhilip A Harland Travel and Religion in AntiquityStudies in Christianity and Judaism WaterlooON Wilfried Laurier University Press

HaugAnnette Haug Die Entdeckung des Koumlrpers Berlinand Boston De Gruyter

HoepfnerWolfram Hoepfner Das Pompeion und seine Nachfol-gerbauten Kerameikos Ergebnisse der Ausgrabun-gen Berlin De Gruyter

HoumllscherTonio Houmllscher ldquoBilderwelt Lebensordnung unddie Rolle des Betrachters im antiken Griechen-landrdquo In Bild-Raum-Handlung Perspektiven derArchaumlologie Ed by O Dally S Moraw and HZiemssen Berlin Studies of the Ancient World Berlin and Boston MA De Gruyter ndash

KadenChristian Kaden Das Unerhoumlrte und das UnhoumlrbareWas Musik ist was Musik sein kann Kassel Baumlrenrei-ter

KavoulakiAthena Kavoulaki ldquoProcessional Performancesand the Democratic Polisrdquo In Performance Cultureand Athenian Democracy Ed by S Goldhill and ROsborne Cambridge Cambridge University Press

ndash

KleineBaumlrbel Kleine Bilder tanzender Frauen in fruumlhgriechi-scher und klassischer Zeit Internationale Archaumlologie

RahdenWestf Marie Leidorf

KollerHermann Koller Musik und Dichtung im AltenGriechenland Bern and Muumlnchen Francke

Koumlpping and RaoKlaus-Peter Koumlpping and Ursula Rao eds ImRausch des Rituals Gestaltung und Transformationder Wirklichkeit in koumlrperlicher Performanz Perfor-manzen Interkulturelle Studien zu Ritual Spielund Theater Muumlnster LIT Verlag

KourouNota Kourou ldquoMusical Procession Scenes in EarlyGreek Artrdquo Praktika ( ) ndash

KowalzigBarbara Kowalzig ldquoMapping out lsquoCommunitasrsquoPerformances of lsquoTheoriarsquo in their Sacred and Po-litical Contextrdquo In Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman ampEarly Christian Antiquity Seeing the Gods Ed by JElsner and I Rutherford Oxford Oxford Univer-sity Press ndash

KubatzkiJana Kubatzki Die Rolle der Musik in antikengriechischen Prozessionen Ikonographische Unter-suchung griechischer Gefaumlszlige mit dem Schwerpunkt im und Jh v Chr PhD thesis Berlin Humboldt-

Universitaumlt zu Berlin

KunzeEmil Kunze Kretische Bronzereliefs StuttgartKohlhammer

Iconographic differentiations processions and theoriai

Using archaeological data especially vase depictions it is hardly possible to differentiateprocessional scenes from scenes with theoriai Quite often depictions consist of two ormore people in fine garments with wreaths in their hair holding branches vessels andother cult objects in their hands Sometimes an animal is shown appearing with orwithout musicians as shown above

Sometimes there are trees columns altars vessels on a wall and other characteris-tics that indicate the place of the performance Basically the depictions suggest an open-air procession On the first depiction (Fig ) we have an almost complete processionalscene

The depictions from the Archaic period show these characteristics of a long proces-sion but they did not last long after their appearance in the sixth century when theywere replaced by shorter procession scenes These black-figure paintings are character-ized by figures and architectural elements designed in more detail but they show fewerpeople

I propose that short procession scenes without an altar may display a delegationWhereas ceramics with processional scenes must mainly be understood as offerings forthe gods to show the efforts of the worshippers the political dimension of scenes withdelegations on ceramics is more explicit145 Here the effort of communities is shownthe readiness of several cities to interact and participate in Panhellenic festivals Oneinterpretation may be that the iconic code of procession scenes could signal lsquoofferingsfor godsrsquo Another interpretation would draw attention to the iconic code of delega-tions which refers to cultural identity symbolizing lsquowe are Greeksrsquo If these differentmeanings of iconic codes of processional rituals are accepted it seems clear that scenesof delegations replaced processional scenes on ceramics at the end of the sixth centuryBCE

Conclusion

Concerning scenes of pilgrimage (here delegation) and procession an interrelation be-tween political bias and the iconic codes created by the Greeks is possible Depictionswere not only about representing the daily life of the ancient Greeks but about com-munication Iconic codes could be treated as a language that was understandable toeveryone in the Greek community These iconic codes could be deciphered by ancientrecipients through the meaning of the rituals presented In my analysis I discussed the

145 Laxander

complex meaning and practices of processions and theoriai and also of circular dancesI have linked them to aspects of identity social hierarchy and channelling antisocialenergies (Tab ) I have also drawn attention to their political dimensions Processionswere ndash more than sacrifices ndash the place for the demonstration of power and rule In abroader context they were active performances which created the identity of Greece asa community of states

Altogether processions and delegations can be regarded as a glue that connected thefragmented Greek cities Before alphabetical writing became the common medium totransfer values ideas techniques and common notions the medium had always beenthe traveling people Panhellenic festivals were most effective in connecting commu-nities by worshipping the same gods exchanging goods (arts garments food) and ofcourse by marriage as shown above

Processions and theoriai are communication systems that helped to create and main-tain such innovations as a common Greek language Greek myths and Greek democ-racy Regarding both types of movement (that is processions and theoriai) it is remark-able that the different arts and media of ancient Greece show an increase in religiousmovements which parallels the increase in population in Greece Smaller communitiesndash Yosef Garfinkel speaks of pre-state communities in the early Greek eras ndash produceda different iconic code that of circular dance scenes which were the main subject inseveral arts146 Procession scenes marked the era of the beginning democracy while thetheoriai became commonplace in the fifth and fourth century BCE

I would like to hypothesize a contextual relation between the growth of cities andpopulation and the need to perform ritual acts that involved the whole community Thedensity of those movements increased in parallel to the development of Greek state or-ganization and the growth of population from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period147

146 Garfinkel ndash 147 Kavoulaki ndash speaks of some kind ofcorrelation between processions and democraticpolitics

Bibliography

AndersonWarren D Anderson Music and Musicians in An-cient Greece Ithaka and New York Cornell Univer-sity Press

AssmannJan Assmann ldquoDer zweidimensionale MenschrdquoIn Das Fest und das Heilige Religioumlse Kontrapunktezur Arbeitswelt Ed by Jan Assmann Studien zumVerstehen fremder Religionen Guumltersloh Guumlter-sloher Verlagshaus Mohn ndash

AuffahrthChristoph Auffahrth ldquoFeste als Medium antikerReligionen Methodische Konzeptionen zur Er-forschung komplexer Ritualerdquo In Zwischen Alltagund Krise Antike Religionen im Mittelmeerraum Edby C Batsch U Egelhaaf-Gaiser and R StepperStuttgart Franz Steiner ndash

BlakolmerFritz Blakolmer ldquoMinoisch-mykenische Prozes-sionsfresken Uumlberlegungen zu den dargestelltenund den nicht dargestellten Gabenrdquo In KeimelionElitenbildung und elitaumlrer Konsum von der mykenischenPalastzeit bis zur homerischen Epoche The Formationof Elites and Elitist Lifestyles from Mycenaean PalatialTimes to the Homeric Period Akten des internationalenKongresses vom bis Februar in SalzburgEd by E Alram-Stern and G Nightingale Vol Veroumlffentlichungen der Mykenischen KommissionWien Verlag der Oumlsterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften ndash

BoumlmerFranz Boumlmer ldquoPompardquo In Paulys Realencyclopaumldieder classischen Altertumswissenschaft Ed by KZiegler Vol Stuttgart Metzler ndash

BrandHelmut Brand Griechische Musikanten im Kult Vonder Fruumlhzeit bis zum Beginn der Spaumltklassik Vol Wuumlrzburger Studien zur Sprache amp Kultur Dettel-bach J H Roumlll

BremmerJan N Bremmer Goumltter Mythen und Heiligtuumlmer imantiken Griechenland Darmstadt WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft

BurkeBrendan Burke ldquoMaterialization of MycenaeanIdeology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagusrdquo Ameri-can Journal of Archaeology ( ) ndash

ChaniotisAngelos Chaniotis ldquoGedenktage der GriechenIhre Bedeutung fuumlr das Geschichtsbewusstseingriechischer Poleisrdquo In Das Fest und das HeiligeReligioumlse Kontrapunkte zur Arbeitswelt Ed by J Ass-mann Guumltersloh Guumltersloher Verlagshaus Mohn

ndash

ConnorW R Connor ldquoTribes Festivals and ProcessionsCivic Ceremonial and Political Manipulation inArchaic Greecerdquo In Oxford Readings in Greek Reli-gion Ed by R Buxton Oxford Oxford UniversityPress ndash

DillonMatthew Dillon Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in AncientGreece London Routledge

EitremSamson Eitrem Beitraumlge zur griechischen Religion-sgeschichte Skrifter Videnskabs-Selskabets histor-filos Kl Christiana Dybwad

Elsner and RutherfordJaś Elsner and Ian Rutherford ldquoIntroductionrdquo InPilgrimage in Graeco-Roman amp Early Christian Antiq-uity Seeing the Gods Ed by J Elsner and I Ruther-ford Oxford Oxford University Press ndash

Frevel and HesbergC Frevel and H von Hesberg eds Kult und Kom-munikation Medien in Heiligtuumlmern der AntikeSchriften des Lehr- und Forschungszentrumsfuumlr die antiken Kulturen des Mittelmeerraumesndash Centre for Mediterranean cultures (ZAKMIRA)

Wiesbaden Ludwig Reichert

GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel Dancing at the Dawn of AgricultureAustin University of Texas Press

GengnagelJoumlrg Gengnagel ldquoEinleitungrdquo In Prozessionen Wall-fahrten Aufmaumlrsche Bewegung zwischen Religion undPolitik in Europa und Asien seit dem Mittelalter Ed byJ Gengnagel M Horstmann and G SchwedlerVol Menschen und Kulturen Koumlln Boumlhlau

ndash

GrafFritz Graf ldquoPompai in Greece Some Consider-ations about Space and Ritual in the Greek Po-lisrdquo In The Role of Religion in the Early Greek PolisProceedings of the Third International Seminar on An-cient Greek Cult organised by the Swedish Instituteat Athens ndash October Ed by R HaumlggVol Acta Instituti atheniensis regni SueciaeSeries in Stockholm P Aringstroumlm ndash

HarlandPhilip A Harland Travel and Religion in AntiquityStudies in Christianity and Judaism WaterlooON Wilfried Laurier University Press

HaugAnnette Haug Die Entdeckung des Koumlrpers Berlinand Boston De Gruyter

HoepfnerWolfram Hoepfner Das Pompeion und seine Nachfol-gerbauten Kerameikos Ergebnisse der Ausgrabun-gen Berlin De Gruyter

HoumllscherTonio Houmllscher ldquoBilderwelt Lebensordnung unddie Rolle des Betrachters im antiken Griechen-landrdquo In Bild-Raum-Handlung Perspektiven derArchaumlologie Ed by O Dally S Moraw and HZiemssen Berlin Studies of the Ancient World Berlin and Boston MA De Gruyter ndash

KadenChristian Kaden Das Unerhoumlrte und das UnhoumlrbareWas Musik ist was Musik sein kann Kassel Baumlrenrei-ter

KavoulakiAthena Kavoulaki ldquoProcessional Performancesand the Democratic Polisrdquo In Performance Cultureand Athenian Democracy Ed by S Goldhill and ROsborne Cambridge Cambridge University Press

ndash

KleineBaumlrbel Kleine Bilder tanzender Frauen in fruumlhgriechi-scher und klassischer Zeit Internationale Archaumlologie

RahdenWestf Marie Leidorf

KollerHermann Koller Musik und Dichtung im AltenGriechenland Bern and Muumlnchen Francke

Koumlpping and RaoKlaus-Peter Koumlpping and Ursula Rao eds ImRausch des Rituals Gestaltung und Transformationder Wirklichkeit in koumlrperlicher Performanz Perfor-manzen Interkulturelle Studien zu Ritual Spielund Theater Muumlnster LIT Verlag

KourouNota Kourou ldquoMusical Procession Scenes in EarlyGreek Artrdquo Praktika ( ) ndash

KowalzigBarbara Kowalzig ldquoMapping out lsquoCommunitasrsquoPerformances of lsquoTheoriarsquo in their Sacred and Po-litical Contextrdquo In Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman ampEarly Christian Antiquity Seeing the Gods Ed by JElsner and I Rutherford Oxford Oxford Univer-sity Press ndash

KubatzkiJana Kubatzki Die Rolle der Musik in antikengriechischen Prozessionen Ikonographische Unter-suchung griechischer Gefaumlszlige mit dem Schwerpunkt im und Jh v Chr PhD thesis Berlin Humboldt-

Universitaumlt zu Berlin

KunzeEmil Kunze Kretische Bronzereliefs StuttgartKohlhammer

complex meaning and practices of processions and theoriai and also of circular dancesI have linked them to aspects of identity social hierarchy and channelling antisocialenergies (Tab ) I have also drawn attention to their political dimensions Processionswere ndash more than sacrifices ndash the place for the demonstration of power and rule In abroader context they were active performances which created the identity of Greece asa community of states

Altogether processions and delegations can be regarded as a glue that connected thefragmented Greek cities Before alphabetical writing became the common medium totransfer values ideas techniques and common notions the medium had always beenthe traveling people Panhellenic festivals were most effective in connecting commu-nities by worshipping the same gods exchanging goods (arts garments food) and ofcourse by marriage as shown above

Processions and theoriai are communication systems that helped to create and main-tain such innovations as a common Greek language Greek myths and Greek democ-racy Regarding both types of movement (that is processions and theoriai) it is remark-able that the different arts and media of ancient Greece show an increase in religiousmovements which parallels the increase in population in Greece Smaller communitiesndash Yosef Garfinkel speaks of pre-state communities in the early Greek eras ndash produceda different iconic code that of circular dance scenes which were the main subject inseveral arts146 Procession scenes marked the era of the beginning democracy while thetheoriai became commonplace in the fifth and fourth century BCE

I would like to hypothesize a contextual relation between the growth of cities andpopulation and the need to perform ritual acts that involved the whole community Thedensity of those movements increased in parallel to the development of Greek state or-ganization and the growth of population from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period147

146 Garfinkel ndash 147 Kavoulaki ndash speaks of some kind ofcorrelation between processions and democraticpolitics

Bibliography

AndersonWarren D Anderson Music and Musicians in An-cient Greece Ithaka and New York Cornell Univer-sity Press

AssmannJan Assmann ldquoDer zweidimensionale MenschrdquoIn Das Fest und das Heilige Religioumlse Kontrapunktezur Arbeitswelt Ed by Jan Assmann Studien zumVerstehen fremder Religionen Guumltersloh Guumlter-sloher Verlagshaus Mohn ndash

AuffahrthChristoph Auffahrth ldquoFeste als Medium antikerReligionen Methodische Konzeptionen zur Er-forschung komplexer Ritualerdquo In Zwischen Alltagund Krise Antike Religionen im Mittelmeerraum Edby C Batsch U Egelhaaf-Gaiser and R StepperStuttgart Franz Steiner ndash

BlakolmerFritz Blakolmer ldquoMinoisch-mykenische Prozes-sionsfresken Uumlberlegungen zu den dargestelltenund den nicht dargestellten Gabenrdquo In KeimelionElitenbildung und elitaumlrer Konsum von der mykenischenPalastzeit bis zur homerischen Epoche The Formationof Elites and Elitist Lifestyles from Mycenaean PalatialTimes to the Homeric Period Akten des internationalenKongresses vom bis Februar in SalzburgEd by E Alram-Stern and G Nightingale Vol Veroumlffentlichungen der Mykenischen KommissionWien Verlag der Oumlsterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften ndash

BoumlmerFranz Boumlmer ldquoPompardquo In Paulys Realencyclopaumldieder classischen Altertumswissenschaft Ed by KZiegler Vol Stuttgart Metzler ndash

BrandHelmut Brand Griechische Musikanten im Kult Vonder Fruumlhzeit bis zum Beginn der Spaumltklassik Vol Wuumlrzburger Studien zur Sprache amp Kultur Dettel-bach J H Roumlll

BremmerJan N Bremmer Goumltter Mythen und Heiligtuumlmer imantiken Griechenland Darmstadt WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft

BurkeBrendan Burke ldquoMaterialization of MycenaeanIdeology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagusrdquo Ameri-can Journal of Archaeology ( ) ndash

ChaniotisAngelos Chaniotis ldquoGedenktage der GriechenIhre Bedeutung fuumlr das Geschichtsbewusstseingriechischer Poleisrdquo In Das Fest und das HeiligeReligioumlse Kontrapunkte zur Arbeitswelt Ed by J Ass-mann Guumltersloh Guumltersloher Verlagshaus Mohn

ndash

ConnorW R Connor ldquoTribes Festivals and ProcessionsCivic Ceremonial and Political Manipulation inArchaic Greecerdquo In Oxford Readings in Greek Reli-gion Ed by R Buxton Oxford Oxford UniversityPress ndash

DillonMatthew Dillon Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in AncientGreece London Routledge

EitremSamson Eitrem Beitraumlge zur griechischen Religion-sgeschichte Skrifter Videnskabs-Selskabets histor-filos Kl Christiana Dybwad

Elsner and RutherfordJaś Elsner and Ian Rutherford ldquoIntroductionrdquo InPilgrimage in Graeco-Roman amp Early Christian Antiq-uity Seeing the Gods Ed by J Elsner and I Ruther-ford Oxford Oxford University Press ndash

Frevel and HesbergC Frevel and H von Hesberg eds Kult und Kom-munikation Medien in Heiligtuumlmern der AntikeSchriften des Lehr- und Forschungszentrumsfuumlr die antiken Kulturen des Mittelmeerraumesndash Centre for Mediterranean cultures (ZAKMIRA)

Wiesbaden Ludwig Reichert

GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel Dancing at the Dawn of AgricultureAustin University of Texas Press

GengnagelJoumlrg Gengnagel ldquoEinleitungrdquo In Prozessionen Wall-fahrten Aufmaumlrsche Bewegung zwischen Religion undPolitik in Europa und Asien seit dem Mittelalter Ed byJ Gengnagel M Horstmann and G SchwedlerVol Menschen und Kulturen Koumlln Boumlhlau

ndash

GrafFritz Graf ldquoPompai in Greece Some Consider-ations about Space and Ritual in the Greek Po-lisrdquo In The Role of Religion in the Early Greek PolisProceedings of the Third International Seminar on An-cient Greek Cult organised by the Swedish Instituteat Athens ndash October Ed by R HaumlggVol Acta Instituti atheniensis regni SueciaeSeries in Stockholm P Aringstroumlm ndash

HarlandPhilip A Harland Travel and Religion in AntiquityStudies in Christianity and Judaism WaterlooON Wilfried Laurier University Press

HaugAnnette Haug Die Entdeckung des Koumlrpers Berlinand Boston De Gruyter

HoepfnerWolfram Hoepfner Das Pompeion und seine Nachfol-gerbauten Kerameikos Ergebnisse der Ausgrabun-gen Berlin De Gruyter

HoumllscherTonio Houmllscher ldquoBilderwelt Lebensordnung unddie Rolle des Betrachters im antiken Griechen-landrdquo In Bild-Raum-Handlung Perspektiven derArchaumlologie Ed by O Dally S Moraw and HZiemssen Berlin Studies of the Ancient World Berlin and Boston MA De Gruyter ndash

KadenChristian Kaden Das Unerhoumlrte und das UnhoumlrbareWas Musik ist was Musik sein kann Kassel Baumlrenrei-ter

KavoulakiAthena Kavoulaki ldquoProcessional Performancesand the Democratic Polisrdquo In Performance Cultureand Athenian Democracy Ed by S Goldhill and ROsborne Cambridge Cambridge University Press

ndash

KleineBaumlrbel Kleine Bilder tanzender Frauen in fruumlhgriechi-scher und klassischer Zeit Internationale Archaumlologie

RahdenWestf Marie Leidorf

KollerHermann Koller Musik und Dichtung im AltenGriechenland Bern and Muumlnchen Francke

Koumlpping and RaoKlaus-Peter Koumlpping and Ursula Rao eds ImRausch des Rituals Gestaltung und Transformationder Wirklichkeit in koumlrperlicher Performanz Perfor-manzen Interkulturelle Studien zu Ritual Spielund Theater Muumlnster LIT Verlag

KourouNota Kourou ldquoMusical Procession Scenes in EarlyGreek Artrdquo Praktika ( ) ndash

KowalzigBarbara Kowalzig ldquoMapping out lsquoCommunitasrsquoPerformances of lsquoTheoriarsquo in their Sacred and Po-litical Contextrdquo In Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman ampEarly Christian Antiquity Seeing the Gods Ed by JElsner and I Rutherford Oxford Oxford Univer-sity Press ndash

KubatzkiJana Kubatzki Die Rolle der Musik in antikengriechischen Prozessionen Ikonographische Unter-suchung griechischer Gefaumlszlige mit dem Schwerpunkt im und Jh v Chr PhD thesis Berlin Humboldt-

Universitaumlt zu Berlin

KunzeEmil Kunze Kretische Bronzereliefs StuttgartKohlhammer

Bibliography

AndersonWarren D Anderson Music and Musicians in An-cient Greece Ithaka and New York Cornell Univer-sity Press

AssmannJan Assmann ldquoDer zweidimensionale MenschrdquoIn Das Fest und das Heilige Religioumlse Kontrapunktezur Arbeitswelt Ed by Jan Assmann Studien zumVerstehen fremder Religionen Guumltersloh Guumlter-sloher Verlagshaus Mohn ndash

AuffahrthChristoph Auffahrth ldquoFeste als Medium antikerReligionen Methodische Konzeptionen zur Er-forschung komplexer Ritualerdquo In Zwischen Alltagund Krise Antike Religionen im Mittelmeerraum Edby C Batsch U Egelhaaf-Gaiser and R StepperStuttgart Franz Steiner ndash

BlakolmerFritz Blakolmer ldquoMinoisch-mykenische Prozes-sionsfresken Uumlberlegungen zu den dargestelltenund den nicht dargestellten Gabenrdquo In KeimelionElitenbildung und elitaumlrer Konsum von der mykenischenPalastzeit bis zur homerischen Epoche The Formationof Elites and Elitist Lifestyles from Mycenaean PalatialTimes to the Homeric Period Akten des internationalenKongresses vom bis Februar in SalzburgEd by E Alram-Stern and G Nightingale Vol Veroumlffentlichungen der Mykenischen KommissionWien Verlag der Oumlsterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften ndash

BoumlmerFranz Boumlmer ldquoPompardquo In Paulys Realencyclopaumldieder classischen Altertumswissenschaft Ed by KZiegler Vol Stuttgart Metzler ndash

BrandHelmut Brand Griechische Musikanten im Kult Vonder Fruumlhzeit bis zum Beginn der Spaumltklassik Vol Wuumlrzburger Studien zur Sprache amp Kultur Dettel-bach J H Roumlll

BremmerJan N Bremmer Goumltter Mythen und Heiligtuumlmer imantiken Griechenland Darmstadt WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft

BurkeBrendan Burke ldquoMaterialization of MycenaeanIdeology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagusrdquo Ameri-can Journal of Archaeology ( ) ndash

ChaniotisAngelos Chaniotis ldquoGedenktage der GriechenIhre Bedeutung fuumlr das Geschichtsbewusstseingriechischer Poleisrdquo In Das Fest und das HeiligeReligioumlse Kontrapunkte zur Arbeitswelt Ed by J Ass-mann Guumltersloh Guumltersloher Verlagshaus Mohn

ndash

ConnorW R Connor ldquoTribes Festivals and ProcessionsCivic Ceremonial and Political Manipulation inArchaic Greecerdquo In Oxford Readings in Greek Reli-gion Ed by R Buxton Oxford Oxford UniversityPress ndash

DillonMatthew Dillon Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in AncientGreece London Routledge

EitremSamson Eitrem Beitraumlge zur griechischen Religion-sgeschichte Skrifter Videnskabs-Selskabets histor-filos Kl Christiana Dybwad

Elsner and RutherfordJaś Elsner and Ian Rutherford ldquoIntroductionrdquo InPilgrimage in Graeco-Roman amp Early Christian Antiq-uity Seeing the Gods Ed by J Elsner and I Ruther-ford Oxford Oxford University Press ndash

Frevel and HesbergC Frevel and H von Hesberg eds Kult und Kom-munikation Medien in Heiligtuumlmern der AntikeSchriften des Lehr- und Forschungszentrumsfuumlr die antiken Kulturen des Mittelmeerraumesndash Centre for Mediterranean cultures (ZAKMIRA)

Wiesbaden Ludwig Reichert

GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel Dancing at the Dawn of AgricultureAustin University of Texas Press

GengnagelJoumlrg Gengnagel ldquoEinleitungrdquo In Prozessionen Wall-fahrten Aufmaumlrsche Bewegung zwischen Religion undPolitik in Europa und Asien seit dem Mittelalter Ed byJ Gengnagel M Horstmann and G SchwedlerVol Menschen und Kulturen Koumlln Boumlhlau

ndash

GrafFritz Graf ldquoPompai in Greece Some Consider-ations about Space and Ritual in the Greek Po-lisrdquo In The Role of Religion in the Early Greek PolisProceedings of the Third International Seminar on An-cient Greek Cult organised by the Swedish Instituteat Athens ndash October Ed by R HaumlggVol Acta Instituti atheniensis regni SueciaeSeries in Stockholm P Aringstroumlm ndash

HarlandPhilip A Harland Travel and Religion in AntiquityStudies in Christianity and Judaism WaterlooON Wilfried Laurier University Press

HaugAnnette Haug Die Entdeckung des Koumlrpers Berlinand Boston De Gruyter

HoepfnerWolfram Hoepfner Das Pompeion und seine Nachfol-gerbauten Kerameikos Ergebnisse der Ausgrabun-gen Berlin De Gruyter

HoumllscherTonio Houmllscher ldquoBilderwelt Lebensordnung unddie Rolle des Betrachters im antiken Griechen-landrdquo In Bild-Raum-Handlung Perspektiven derArchaumlologie Ed by O Dally S Moraw and HZiemssen Berlin Studies of the Ancient World Berlin and Boston MA De Gruyter ndash

KadenChristian Kaden Das Unerhoumlrte und das UnhoumlrbareWas Musik ist was Musik sein kann Kassel Baumlrenrei-ter

KavoulakiAthena Kavoulaki ldquoProcessional Performancesand the Democratic Polisrdquo In Performance Cultureand Athenian Democracy Ed by S Goldhill and ROsborne Cambridge Cambridge University Press

ndash

KleineBaumlrbel Kleine Bilder tanzender Frauen in fruumlhgriechi-scher und klassischer Zeit Internationale Archaumlologie

RahdenWestf Marie Leidorf

KollerHermann Koller Musik und Dichtung im AltenGriechenland Bern and Muumlnchen Francke

Koumlpping and RaoKlaus-Peter Koumlpping and Ursula Rao eds ImRausch des Rituals Gestaltung und Transformationder Wirklichkeit in koumlrperlicher Performanz Perfor-manzen Interkulturelle Studien zu Ritual Spielund Theater Muumlnster LIT Verlag

KourouNota Kourou ldquoMusical Procession Scenes in EarlyGreek Artrdquo Praktika ( ) ndash

KowalzigBarbara Kowalzig ldquoMapping out lsquoCommunitasrsquoPerformances of lsquoTheoriarsquo in their Sacred and Po-litical Contextrdquo In Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman ampEarly Christian Antiquity Seeing the Gods Ed by JElsner and I Rutherford Oxford Oxford Univer-sity Press ndash

KubatzkiJana Kubatzki Die Rolle der Musik in antikengriechischen Prozessionen Ikonographische Unter-suchung griechischer Gefaumlszlige mit dem Schwerpunkt im und Jh v Chr PhD thesis Berlin Humboldt-

Universitaumlt zu Berlin

KunzeEmil Kunze Kretische Bronzereliefs StuttgartKohlhammer

Frevel and HesbergC Frevel and H von Hesberg eds Kult und Kom-munikation Medien in Heiligtuumlmern der AntikeSchriften des Lehr- und Forschungszentrumsfuumlr die antiken Kulturen des Mittelmeerraumesndash Centre for Mediterranean cultures (ZAKMIRA)

Wiesbaden Ludwig Reichert

GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel Dancing at the Dawn of AgricultureAustin University of Texas Press

GengnagelJoumlrg Gengnagel ldquoEinleitungrdquo In Prozessionen Wall-fahrten Aufmaumlrsche Bewegung zwischen Religion undPolitik in Europa und Asien seit dem Mittelalter Ed byJ Gengnagel M Horstmann and G SchwedlerVol Menschen und Kulturen Koumlln Boumlhlau

ndash

GrafFritz Graf ldquoPompai in Greece Some Consider-ations about Space and Ritual in the Greek Po-lisrdquo In The Role of Religion in the Early Greek PolisProceedings of the Third International Seminar on An-cient Greek Cult organised by the Swedish Instituteat Athens ndash October Ed by R HaumlggVol Acta Instituti atheniensis regni SueciaeSeries in Stockholm P Aringstroumlm ndash

HarlandPhilip A Harland Travel and Religion in AntiquityStudies in Christianity and Judaism WaterlooON Wilfried Laurier University Press

HaugAnnette Haug Die Entdeckung des Koumlrpers Berlinand Boston De Gruyter

HoepfnerWolfram Hoepfner Das Pompeion und seine Nachfol-gerbauten Kerameikos Ergebnisse der Ausgrabun-gen Berlin De Gruyter

HoumllscherTonio Houmllscher ldquoBilderwelt Lebensordnung unddie Rolle des Betrachters im antiken Griechen-landrdquo In Bild-Raum-Handlung Perspektiven derArchaumlologie Ed by O Dally S Moraw and HZiemssen Berlin Studies of the Ancient World Berlin and Boston MA De Gruyter ndash

KadenChristian Kaden Das Unerhoumlrte und das UnhoumlrbareWas Musik ist was Musik sein kann Kassel Baumlrenrei-ter

KavoulakiAthena Kavoulaki ldquoProcessional Performancesand the Democratic Polisrdquo In Performance Cultureand Athenian Democracy Ed by S Goldhill and ROsborne Cambridge Cambridge University Press

ndash

KleineBaumlrbel Kleine Bilder tanzender Frauen in fruumlhgriechi-scher und klassischer Zeit Internationale Archaumlologie

RahdenWestf Marie Leidorf

KollerHermann Koller Musik und Dichtung im AltenGriechenland Bern and Muumlnchen Francke

Koumlpping and RaoKlaus-Peter Koumlpping and Ursula Rao eds ImRausch des Rituals Gestaltung und Transformationder Wirklichkeit in koumlrperlicher Performanz Perfor-manzen Interkulturelle Studien zu Ritual Spielund Theater Muumlnster LIT Verlag

KourouNota Kourou ldquoMusical Procession Scenes in EarlyGreek Artrdquo Praktika ( ) ndash

KowalzigBarbara Kowalzig ldquoMapping out lsquoCommunitasrsquoPerformances of lsquoTheoriarsquo in their Sacred and Po-litical Contextrdquo In Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman ampEarly Christian Antiquity Seeing the Gods Ed by JElsner and I Rutherford Oxford Oxford Univer-sity Press ndash

KubatzkiJana Kubatzki Die Rolle der Musik in antikengriechischen Prozessionen Ikonographische Unter-suchung griechischer Gefaumlszlige mit dem Schwerpunkt im und Jh v Chr PhD thesis Berlin Humboldt-

Universitaumlt zu Berlin

KunzeEmil Kunze Kretische Bronzereliefs StuttgartKohlhammer

LandelsJohn G Landels Music in Ancient Greece and RomeLondon and New York Routledge

LaxanderHeike Laxander Individuum und Gesellschaft imFest Untersuchungen zu attischen Darstellungen vonFestgeschehen im und fruumlhen Jahrhundert v ChrMuumlnster Scriptorium

LehnstaedtKurt Lehnstaedt Prozessionsdarstellungen auf at-tischen Vasen PhD thesis Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaumlt zu Muumlnchen

LongCharlotte R Long The Ayia Triadha Sarcophagusa Study of Late Minoan and Mycenaean FuneraryPractices and Beliefs Studies in Mediterranean Ar-chaeology Goumlteborg P Aringstroumlm

MannackThomas Mannack Griechische Vasenmalerei EineEinfuumlhrung Darmstadt Wissenschaftliche Buchge-sellschaft

MilitelloPietro Militello Haghia Triada I Gli Affreschi Bot-tega drsquoErasmo Monografie della scuola archologicadi Atene e delle missioni Italiane in Oriente Padova Bottega DrsquoErasmo

MorinisAllen E Morinis Sacred Journeys ndash The Anthropologyof Pilgrimage Contributions to the Study of An-thropology Westport Greenwood Press

Murray and WilsonPenelope Murray and Peter Wilson ldquoIntroduc-tionrdquo In Music and the Muses The Culture of Mousikeacutein the Classical Athenian City Colloquium at the Uni-versity of Warwick Ed by P Murray and PWilson Oxford Oxford University Press ndash

NilssonM P Nilsson ldquoProzessionstypen im griechischenKultrdquo In Opuscula Selecta Ed by M P NilssonVol Lund Gleerup ndash

OttoMaria A C Otto Das Fest Zu einer Phaumlnomenologieder Ausnahme Alber-Reihe Thesen FreiburgKarl Alber

PanteliaMaria Pantelia The Online Liddell-Scott-Jones Greek-English Lexicon Pompeacute Theoria URL httpstephanustlguciedulsjeid= ampcontext=lsj(visited on )

Papadopoulou aZozi Papadopoulou ldquoHymning the Gods Musicin the Public Life of Ancient Greeksrdquo In Gifts of theMuses Echoes of Music and Dance from Ancient GreeceExhibition Catalogue Athens Julyndash September

Ed by E Andrikou and A Goulaki-VoutiraAthens Hellenic Ministry of Culture

Papadopoulou bZozi Papadopoulou ldquoMusic Musical Instrumentsin Cult and Musicians in Cultrdquo In GriechischeMusik Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum Los Angeles Getty Museum ndash

Polignac [ ]Franccedilois de Polignac Cults Territory and the Ori-gins of the Greek City-State Chicago and LondonUniversity of Chicago Press [ ]

Pongratz-LeistenBeate Pongratz-Leisten Ina Sulmi Īrub Die kultto-pographische und ideologische Programmatik der akītu-Prozession in Babylon und Assyrien im Jahrtausendv Chr Baghdader Forschungen Mainz Philippvon Zabern

RutherfordIan Rutherford ldquoSong-Dance and State-Pilgrimageat Athensrdquo In Music and the Muses The Culture ofMousikeacute in the Classical Athenian City Colloquiumat the University of Warwick Ed by P Murrayand P Wilson Oxford Oxford University Press

ndash

RutherfordIan Rutherford State Pilgrims and Sacred Observersin Ancient Greece a Study of Theōriā and TheōroiCambridge Cambridge University Press

ScheerTanja S Scheer ldquoDie Goumltter anrufen Die Kontak-taufnahme zwischen Mensch und Gottheit in dergriechischen Antikerdquo In Gebet und Fluch Zeichenund Traum Aspekte religioumlser Kommunikation in derAntike Ed by Kai Brodersen Vol Antike Kulturund Geschichte Muumlnster Hamburg and LondonLIT Verlag ndash

SchlesierRenate Schlesier ldquoMenschen und Goumltter unter-wegs Rituale und Reise in der griechischen An-tikerdquo In Gegenwelten Zu den Kulturen Griechenlandsund Roms in der Antike Festschrift zum jaumlhrigenJubilaumlum der Antikensammlung der Universitaumlt Heidel-berg vom bis April Ed by T HoumllscherMuumlnchen and Leipzig K G Saur ndash

ScullionScott Scullion ldquoPilgrimage and Greek ReligionSacred and Secular in the Pagan Polisrdquo In Pilgrim-age in Graeco-Roman and Early Christian AntiquitySeeing the Gods Ed by J Elsner and I RutherfordOxford Oxford University Press ndash

SimonErika Simon ldquoZeusrdquo In Paulys Realencyclopaumldie derclassischen Altertumswissenschaft Supplementband Ed by K Ziegler Stuttgart Metzler

True et alMarion True Jens Daehner Janet B GrossmannKenneth D S Lapatin and Emi Maia NamldquoGreek Processionsrdquo In Prozessionen Opfer Liba-tion Rauchopfer Weihgeschenke Thesaurus Cultuset Rituum Antiquorum Los Angeles Getty Mu-seum ndash

TsochosCharalampos Tsochos Pompa

ˉs pe

ˉmpein Prozessionen

von der minoischen bis zur klassischen Zeit in Griechen-land Thessaloniki University Studio Press

Turner [ ]Victor Turner Das Ritual Struktur und Anti-Struktur Frankfurt a M Campus [ ]

VernantJean-Pierre Vernant The Cuisine of Sacrifice Amongthe Greeks Chicago University of Chicago Press

VoigtBoris Voigt Memoria Macht Musik Eine politischeOumlkonomie der Musik in vormodernen GesellschaftenMusiksoziologie Kassel Baumlrenreiter

WalgateWendy Walgate Narrative Cycles on the Hagia TriadaSarcophagus URL httpwwwwalgatecompdf WendyWalgate_ HTSEssay pdf (visited on

)

WestMartin L West Ancient Greek Music OxfordClarendon Press

ZschaumltzschAnemone Zschaumltzsch Verwendung und Bedeutunggriechischer Musikinstrumente in Mythos und Kult In-ternationale Archaumlologie RahdenWestfahlenMarie Leidorf

Illustration credits

1 Wikimedia Commons Author Olaf Tausch CC BY URL httpsuploadwikimedia

orgwikipediacommons Sarkophag_von_Agia_Triada_ jpg (visited on )

2 Wikimedia Commons Author Olaf Tausch CC BY URL httpsuploadwikimedia

orgwikipediacommonscc Sarkophag_von_Agia_Triada_ jpg (visited on )

JANA KUBATZKI

Jana Kubatzki studied musicology gender studiesand classical archaeology at Humboldt Univer-sitaumlt zu Berlin She wrote her thesis within theExcellence Cluster Topoi about the role of musicin ancient Greek processions Her main researchregards the music in the Greek antiquity especiallyin cults She is member of ISGMA the InternationalStudy Group on Music Archaeology

Dr Jana KubatzkiBrockhausstr

Leipzig GermanyE-Mail janakubatzkigooglemailcom