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ZEUS MEILICHIOS: CULTO OLÍMPICO OU CTÔNICO? Prof

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ZEUS MEILICHIOS: CULTO OLÍMPICO OU CTÔNICO? Prof ZEUS MEILICHIOS: CULTO OLÍMPICO OU CTÔNICO? Prof. Dr. José Roberto de Paiva Gomes (PPGH-UERJ) Resumo: O culto de Zeus e seu epíteto ctônico, meilichios, relacionado com a morte é muito pouco estudado, em virtude do deus ser uma divindade olímpica, aos esportes e a vida. Encontramos diversas referencias ao culto nas regiões de Argos e Atenas. Neste ultimo caso, encontramos evidencias, na cerâmica sob o culto, sendo patrocinado pelos tiranos arcaicos (os Pisistratidas). O culto era oficiado por sacerdotisas, as hydroforai, que iriam a zona rural para limpar o templo com água sagrada da fonte ennneakrounos. Temos por suposição que a participação das mulheres acontecia, por causa, da sua proximidade com a vida e a morte (menstruação, nascimento e o contato com o defunto). Partindo destas indagações, percebemos que Zeus poderia assumir diversas prerrogativas relacionadas tanto com a vida como quanto à morte. Abordaremos os diversos significados que o epíteto identificado ao deus dos deuses pode adquirir no mundo grego. Zeus meilichus e a historiografia De um modo geral, os deuses olímpicos não têm nada a ver com os mortos. Tal afirmação pode ser questionável, conforme as afirmações da pesquisadora Diana Burton (2010), da Universidade de Nova Zelândia. A autora acredita que não somente Hades tenha um envolvimento com o mundo dos mortos, mas Zeus também. O deus teria atribuições de caráter subterrâneo, relacionado ao mundo dos mortos. Portando existindo duas formar de cultua-lo, o culto heróico e o ctônico. Essa correlação segundo Burton se originaria de uma estátua de culto a Zeus Meilichios em Argos. O epíteto descrito na placa da estatua descreve que "meilichios" significa "leve", "gentilmente", "aberto a propiciação". O autor Walter Burkert sugere, que meilichos "simboliza o efeito apaziguador das oferendas aos mortos". Mas o que isto corresponderia em tese? Podemos dizer que Zeus corresponderia divindade propiciatória que abriria a passagem para o mundo dos mortos. Nas tragédias, as fúrias, enviadas por Zeus, como castigo, abririam o caminho para a morte, o fim trágico. Figura 1 – Estatua de Zeus em Argos, copia romana, original atribuído ao escultor Policleto no V a.C1. Bibliografia: Tomlinson, R. Argos and the Argolid, 2014, p. 216. A estatua de Zeus entre os argivos evidencia o culto ao herói, mas colocam em evidencia um grupo muito incomum de mortos heróicos que devem ser mantidos apaziguados. De acordo com Diana Burton (2010, 1-7) não apenas os mortos, mas as famílias dos dois lados também. A autora argumenta que seria preciso aprender, literalmente, a viver com aqueles que mataram seus parentes. A iconografia não-ctônica da estátua pode refletir uma compreensão da necessidade de aplacar tanto os viventes quanto os mortos. Em suma, a combinação de proteção e apaziguamento encontrados no culto de heróis é também característica, como vimos, de Zeus Meilichios. A autora sugere que o culto e a estátua surgem de uma situação complexa, e refletem o desejo de marcar e comemorar este grupo de mortos de uma forma que enfatizou seus laços familiares e comunitários apaziguou a inimizade ou as fúrias. A precursora dos estudos de Zeus meilichus foi à pesquisadora britânica Jane E. Harrisson (1850-1928). A classicista liderou uma escola intelectual (a de Cranford) conhecida como “Ritualistas de Cambridge” 2. Harrison é uma das fundadoras, com Karl Kerenyi e Walter Burkert, dos estudos modernos em Mitologia grega. A autora acabou sendo reconhecida como um precursor do estruturalismo e um dos fundadores do conceito antropológico “mito-ritual”3 (nascimento, crise, morte e renascimento) que fundamentou a 1 Em Argos, Pausanias diz-nos que Polykleitos executou uma estátua do deus no mármore branco, após um teve um episódio envolvendo o assassinato de parentes entre os argivos (2.20.1-2). No que diz respeito ao relato histórico, a estátua foi construida como parte dos ritos de propiciação após a luta civil em Argos em 417 a.C, quando os democratas pró-atenienses derrubaram a oligarquia (de caráter tirânico), apoiada por Esparta. 2 De acordo com a estudiosa, Bárbara (2011, 195-209), Jane Ellen Harrison nasceu em Cottingham, Yorkshire, em 1850. Foi educada no Cheltenham College, uma das melhores escolas vitorianas da Inglaterra vitoriana para famílias de classe média alta, onde os alunos foram educados de formas iguais. Harisson ingressou em Cambridge em 1874, mas se afastou, passou a ser jornalista em Londres e palestrante. Reingressou a Cambridge, em 1898, a partir do grupo de estudos antropológico descrito como a “escola de Cornford” composta pelos pesquisadores F. M. Cornford . Outro estudo famoso foi Themis que versava sobre a mitologia grega e a ressignificação dos cultos e rituais gregos, um estudo das origens sociais da religião grega, com novos dados arqueológicos e novas perspectivas sociológicas. (Beard, M. My Hero J. E. Harrisson. The Guardian. EDT, 2010). Seu último trabalho significativo de seus anos em Cambridge aparece em 1921; recapitula as idéias de Themis e Prolegomena, Epilegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, à luz de S. Freud, as ideias de CG Jung, e O filósofo russo V. Soloviov. Na aplicação da antropologia para estudos clássicos, a autora provocou controvérsia entre seus acadêmicos enquanto, ao mesmo tempo influenciou muitos escritores D.H. Lawrence e Virginia Woolf. 3 Em seu aspecto científico antropológico ou, para ser mais preciso, no que se pensava ser um método científico, a afirmação de que a tragédia e a comédia desenvolvida a partir do ritual Dionisíaco sugeriu no início do século XX, por um grupo de estudiosos ingleses que publicaram seus principais trabalhos em torno de 1912-14, e são conhecidos pelo nome coletivo do Cambridge School of Anthropology (CSA). Os principais estudiosos desta escola foram Jane Harrison, Gilbert Murray e Francis McDonald Cornford; seu objetivo era promover a tese que o drama grego antigo se originou em ritual, o ritual dionisíaco em particular, durante o sexto século a. C. Eles apoiaram esta tese por evidências arqueológicas e literárias da antiga Grécia nova "ciência" da mitologia comparativa (Shelley, 1996, p. 165). Em Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (1903), foi o de proceder do ritual para o mito que o inspirou. Ela argumentou: "Na teologia os fa(c)tos são mais difíceis de ver, a verdade é mais difícil de formular do que o ritual." (p 163). Ela analisou os festivais atenienses, as Anthesteria, festival de colheita, Thargelia, Kallynteria, Plynteria, e o festival das mulheres, no qual detectava muitos resquícios de rituais primitivos com uma matriz matriarcal, Tesmophoria, Arrophoria, Skirophoria (ou Oscophoria), Stenia e Haloa. A representação de Zeus meilichus como serpente A iconografia comum de Zeus, na qual era retratado como uma grande cobra, ou acompanhado por uma cobra, pois o animal está fortemente na arte grega, como companheira ou atributo que indica uma deidade ou herói (Larson, 2007, 22). Esta correlação destaca uma questão pertence ao submundo. A associação de Zeus com o mundo de Hades significa fertilidade e, portanto, bem-estar pessoal. Encontramos uma referencia, a esta questão do alivio em uma estela votiva do inicio do século IV, localizada na região da Beocia, onde Zeus Meilichios esta representado na forma de uma serpente. A placa, provavelmente, se remete a uma solicitação ritual, na qual se solicita a divindade meilichia, um ato propiciatório de encaminhar uma pessoa, uma passagem tranqüila e segura para os campos Elíseos. Figura 2 – Estela da serpente Zeus meilichios. e culturas circundantes, contemporâneas ou não. Apesar de substanciais diferenças, eles compartilhavam uma abordagem básica, o que os tornava unitários e uma escola distinta. Eles também compartilharam um sério problema metodológico: seu objeto de pesquisa nunca foi definido inequivocamente. Nunca foi claro se eles estavam tentando determinar a origem de gêneros dramáticos definitivos - tragédia e comédia - ou as origens do meio teatral em si. Eles definitivamente parecem ter preferido lidar com a primeira questão, mas elementos da segunda, muitas vezes foram misturados em suas deliberações. Infelizmente, essa distinção ficou um tanto obscuro mesmo em estudos mais recentes, para não mencionar livros de história teatral. A forma de Zeus Meilichios não é a única vez que Zeus aparece como uma serpente. Outro culto faz Zeus aparecer como uma serpente na forma de Zeus Ktesios. O epiteto era o nome de um espírito benevolente ou daimon acusado de guardião da casa, mas também pode ter sido uma antiga divindade da fertilidade. Zeus Ktesios era visto como uma divindade das despensas. Como Zeus Meilichios, Zeus Ktesios também pode ser um daimon de fertilidade, devido à sua forma de cobra. Em um mito, Zeus se transforma em serpente para perseguir a deusa da fertilidade Deméter, que se transformou em serpente para fugir de mais um dos avanços luxuriosos. O acasalamento produzirá a deusa Perséfone, que mais tarde se tornaria à esposa de Hades. Zeus se transformou em uma serpente novamente para seduzir Perséfone, e nessa união deu a ele um filho chamado Zagreus. Vale a pena notar que Zeus Meilichios serve como uma conexão entre Zeus, o governante do céu, e Hades, o governante do submundo. Devido à sua natureza ctônica, Zeus Meilichios foi identificado como Zeus-Hades, embora ele também estivesse associado a Ploutos, a divindade da riqueza. Apesar de ser um deus do céu que governa o Monte Olimpo, o que é ostensivamente o reino celestial muito dos cultos locais de Zeus eram de natureza ctônica, pois são dedicados a um aspecto ctônico de Zeus. Além de Zeus Meilichios, havia Zeus Philios que também era descrito como serpente, mas era uma divindade muito mais amigável associada a banquetes. Havia também uma divindade chamada Zeus Eubouleus, que fazia parte de uma tríade ao lado de Deméter e Kore (Perséfone) na Ática e que poderia ter sido tratado como uma divindade local de Ploutos ou um semideus.
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