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Gods, Ghosts and Newlyweds: Exploring the Uses of the Threshold in Greek A GODS, GHOSTS AND NEWLYWEDS: EXPLORING THE USES OF THE THRESHOLD IN GREEK AND ROMAN SUPERSTITION AND FOLKLORE by DEBORAH MARY KERR A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of CLassics, Ancient History and ArchaeoLogy CoLLege of Arts and Law University of Birmingham August 2018 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This is the first reappraisaL of the supernaturaL symboLism of the threshoLd in over a century. This thesis wilL chaLLenge the notion that this LiminaL Location was significant in Greek and Roman superstition and foLkLore – from apotropaic devices appLied to the door, to Lifting the bride over the threshold – because it was believed to be haunted by ghosts. In Part One, this thesis examines the evidence of prophyLactic devices and magic speLLs used at the threshoLd, aLong with the potentiaL for human buriaL under the doorway, and concludes that there is no evidence for such a belief. However, this thesis does find evidence for a beLief in the haunting of ghosts at the equaLLy LiminaL Location of the crossroads. Part Two anaLyses threshoLd rituaLs pertaining to the Roman marriage ceremony and uses van Gennep’s tripartite framework of the rite of passage to argue that the threshold can be seen as symboLising the bride’s transition to a new household. This thesis argues that this rite of passage did not only apply to virgin brides, but was aLso appLicabLe to those remarrying, as the goaL behind many of the rituals was to safely ensconce the bride into her new house and famiLy. DEDICATION For Matthew – What shall we do now?! For Violet – This probably isn’t the book on Romans or ghosties that you were expecting ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am been working this thesis for over a decade; as a part-time student I expected to be in for the Long hauL, but when I first began my research I did not envisage that I wouLd be taking various breaks for maternity and career changes that wouLd push the end date even further away. The finished manuscript bears little resembLance to the project that I thought I was taking on aLL those years ago, but that shouLd perhaps be expected given that I have had so much time to think about it. I give great thanks to my supervisors: Dr NiaLL Livingstone, who helped to shape much of the thinking behind Part One and has aLways been so positive and supportive about my theories; and Dr PhiLip Burton, who readiLy agreed to supervise this thesis in its finaL stages, and has aLways given me thoughtfuL comments and advice, despite the fact that I insisted on providing him with drafts of the entire thesis in reverse order. Dr Emma Southon gave me some fantastic advice in the earLy stages of Part Two, and provided some usefuL articLes of bibLiography. Dr Georgina Hardy has been the most bureaucratic of cheerLeaders, and without her support, and that of Dr Elena Theodorakopoulos and Dr Gareth Sears, I would be in a considerable administrative mess. Dr Rebecca Barrett and Dr ELizabeth Wheat have provided much needed moraL support over the years. Great thanks go to my parents and my partner’s parents, especiaLLy JacqueLine Kerr and Susan SomerviLLe, who have supported my entire LittLe famiLy in traveLLing so frequentLy to heLp with chiLdcare. My daughter has demonstrated far more patience than a toddLer shouLd, when mummy has been ‘doing her work’. This thesis wouLd not have been possibLe without Matthew SomerviLLe, who has had this thesis be as much a part of his Life as it has mine over the past decade, and has had to shouLder so much in order to Leave me with the brain-space to write it. He has been the most wonderfuL research assistant, sounding board, and Microsoft Word-wrangler. AlL errors, coLLoquiaLisms and terribLe jokes remain my own. ABBREVIATIONS AE L’Année épigraphique: Revue des publications épigraphiques relatives a l’antiquité romaine (Paris 1888– ) BNJ Brill’s New Jacoby, ed. I. Worthington (2006– ) BNP Brill’s New Pauly CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (Berlin, 1863– ) FGrH Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, F. Jacoby (Berlin and Leiden, 1923-1958) ILS Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, ed. H. Dessau (Berlin, 1892-1916) PDM Papyri Demoticae Magicae PGM Papyri Graecae Magicae RE Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, edd. G. Wissowa, E. Kroll et al. (Berlin & Stuttgart, 1893-1878) CONVENTIONS AlL transLations are my own unLess otherwise stated. The section numbering is designed to aid the reader in knowing exactLy where they are in the thesis; for exampLe §1.3.2 is Section 2 within Chapter 3 of Part 1, and §0.2.2 is Subsection 2 of Section 2 of the overaLL Introduction. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 §0.1: The state of schoLarship on the threshoLd in Greece and Rome ...................... 3 §0.2: A Survey of Deities Associated with the Door ......................................................... 7 §0.2.1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 7 §0.2.2: Greece ............................................................................................................................... 8 §0.2.3: Rome .............................................................................................................................. 12 §0.2.3.1: Janus ....................................................................................................................... 12 §0.2.3.2: Limentinus, ForcuLus and Cardea .............................................................. 15 §0.2.3.2.1: Cardea or Carna? ...................................................................................... 21 §0.2.3.2.2: How were these door deities worshipped? .................................. 26 §0.2.3.3: Vesta ....................................................................................................................... 31 §0.2.4: ConcLusion ................................................................................................................... 35 PART ONE: CHALLENGING THE ASSUMPTION THAT THERE WAS A BELIEF IN GHOSTS HAUNTING THE THRESHOLD ............................................................... 37 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 37 §1.0.1: The schoLarship behind the threshoLd-ghosts theory ................................... 41 §1.0.2: The structure of Part One of this thesis ............................................................... 55 §1.0.3: What is a ghost? ............................................................................................................. 58 §1.0.4: The state of schoLarship on ghosts ........................................................................ 63 PART ONE: CHAPTER ONE: DOES THE USE OF PROPHYLACTIC DEVICES AT THE THRESHOLD INDICATE THAT SPIRITS WERE CONSIDERED TO HAUNT IT? ......................................................................................................................................... 65 PART ONE: CHAPTER TWO: DOES THE PERFORMANCE OF MAGIC RITES AT THE THRESHOLD INDICATE THAT SPIRITS WERE CONSIDERED TO HAUNT IT? ......................................................................................................................................... 77 §1.2.1: Other evidence for the haunting of spirits ......................................................... 78 §1.2.2: Case studies for the performance of magic at the threshoLd ..................... 83 §1.2.2.1: Theocritus, Idyll 2.59-62 .................................................................................... 84 §1.2.2.2: VirgiL, Eclogue 8.91-93 ........................................................................................ 99 §1.2.2.3: ConcLusion ............................................................................................................. 106 PART ONE: CHAPTER THREE: EXAMINING THE EVIDENCE FOR A CULT AT THE DEAD AT THE THRESHOLD ............................................................................. 108 §1.3.1: Is there evidence for a tradition of buriaL under the threshoLd? ........... 109 §1.3.1.1: Greece ..................................................................................................................... 110 §1.3.1.2: Rome ....................................................................................................................... 115 §1.3.1.3: ConcLusion ............................................................................................................. 120 §1.3.2: Does rituaL activity demonstrate evidence of the remnants of a spirit- cult at the threshold? ............................................................................................................... 121 §1.3.2.1: Case study: Ovid’s rites of Tacita ...............................................................
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