UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date: 3 February 2006 I, Katherine M. Swinford , hereby submit this as part of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Arts in: Department of Classics of the College of Arts and Sciences It is entitled: The Semi-Fixed Nature of Greek Domestic Religion This work and its defense approved by: Chair: Kathleen M. Lynch Jack L. Davis The Semi-Fixed Nature of Greek Domestic Religion A thesis submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Classics of the College of Arts and Sciences 2006 by Katherine M. Swinford B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2002 Committee: Kathleen M. Lynch, Chair Jack L. Davis i ABSTRACT The present thesis is concerned with household religion practiced during the Classical period in ancient Greece. In the past, the study of domestic cult was overlooked, and instead scholars focused on the public religion of the Greeks. These studies used literary evidence in order to describe civic religion. However, ancient texts also provide evidence for rituals practiced and gods revered in the Greek household. Literary sources indicate that domestic rituals did not require specialized equipment, and therefore, such equipment is difficult to identify in the archaeological record. This study attempts to identify such implements and examines material excavated from domestic contexts in three cities: Olynthus, Halieis, and Athens. The integration of literary sources and archaeological evidence demonstrates that common household items were used as the implements of domestic ritual. Thus, it seems that everyday, household objects assumed religious significance in certain contexts. ii The Semi-Fixed Nature of Greek Domestic Religion Katherine M. Swinford, M. A. University of Cincinnati, 2006 Copyright © 2006 by Swinford, Katherine M. All rights reserved. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincerest thanks go to Kathleen Lynch, not only for her practical advice and direction, but also for offering the brilliant seminar, “Greek Houses and Households,” whence this paper originated. Her encouragement has been invaluable. I especially thank Barbara Breitenberger for her guidance and knowledge in all aspects of ancient Greek religion. Thanks are due to the wonderful staff of the Classics Library, as well as to the patient Graduate Committee. Without the confidence of the ladies on the metal side and the steady smiles of Joel and Lula, I would never have accomplished this task - thank you. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract _____________________________________________________________________ i Acknowledgements ___________________________________________________________ iii Table of Contents _____________________________________________________________1 List of Tables _________________________________________________________________3 List of Plates _________________________________________________________________4 Chapter 1. Introduction ________________________________________________________5 Previous Scholarship____________________________________________________________6 Methodology_________________________________________________________________10 Literary Evidence _____________________________________________________________11 Iconographic Evidence _________________________________________________________12 Chapter 2. Household Gods ____________________________________________________14 Domestic Deities______________________________________________________________14 Hestia ___________________________________________________________________14 The Hearth in Public________________________________________________________17 Zeus Ktesios ______________________________________________________________18 Zeus Herkeios _____________________________________________________________21 Doorway Gods ____________________________________________________________22 Chapter 3. Domestic Rituals ___________________________________________________25 The Sacred Hearth_____________________________________________________________25 Amphidromia______________________________________________________________25 Gamos ___________________________________________________________________26 Last Rites_________________________________________________________________28 Miasma _____________________________________________________________________30 Birth Pollution ____________________________________________________________31 Death Pollution____________________________________________________________33 Ritual Pyres_______________________________________________________________33 Ritual Washing _______________________________________________________________34 Chapter 4. Domestic Religion in Practice_________________________________________37 Three Cities__________________________________________________________________40 Olynthus _________________________________________________________________40 2 Halieis___________________________________________________________________42 Athens ___________________________________________________________________43 Artifact Analysis ______________________________________________________________44 The Hearth-Altar___________________________________________________________44 Louters __________________________________________________________________48 Thuribles _________________________________________________________________49 Ritual Implements_____________________________________________________________49 Domestic Sacrifice _________________________________________________________49 Ritual Washing ____________________________________________________________50 The Apparatus of Ritual Washing______________________________________________51 Chapter 5. Conclusions________________________________________________________53 Tables ______________________________________________________________________55 Works Cited_________________________________________________________________60 Plates ______________________________________________________________________65 3 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Comparison of built and portable hearths and altars in Athens, Halieis, and Olynthus ____________________________________________________________________55 Table 2. Olynthus: Distribution of ritually significant artifacts by house name _____________56 Table 3. Halieis: Distribution of ritually significant artifacts by house name _______________58 Table 4. Athens: Distribution of ritually significant artifacts by house name _______________59 4 LIST OF PLATES Plate 1. Map of Greece_________________________________________________________65 Plate 2. Attic red-figure loutrophoros (Oakley and Sinos 1993, fig. 18). Jerusalem, Bible Lands Museum 4641; ARV2 1102, no. 2; Add2 329______________________________________66 Plate 3. Attic red-figure loutrophoros (Oakley and Sinos 1993, fig. 19). Jerusalem, Bible Lands Museum 4641; ARV2 1102, no. 2; Add2 329______________________________________67 Plate 4. Attic red-figure cup by the Amphitrite Painter (Oakley and Sinos 1993, fig. 91). Berlin, Antikensammlung F2530; ARV2 831, no. 20, 1702; Add2 295________________________68 Plate 5.1. White-ground pyxis by the Splanchnopt Painter (Oakley and Sinos, fig. 97). London, British Museum D11; ARV2 899, no. 146; Add2 303 _______________________________69 Plate 5.2. White-ground pyxis by the Splanchnopt Painter (Oakley and Sinos, fig. 98). London, British Museum D11; ARV2 899, no. 146; Add2 303 _______________________________69 Plate 6. Marble louter from the Villa of the Bronzes at Olynthus (Olynthus XII, pl. 218) _____70 Plate 7. Plan of Olynthus (Cahill 2002, fig. 6)_______________________________________70 Plate 8. Plan of Halieis after Boyd and Jameson 1981, fig. 2 ___________________________72 Plate 9. Plan of the Agora Excavations in Athens after Agora XXIV, pl. 3 ________________73 Plate 10. Plan of the Late Archaic Athenian Agora, showing the distribution of wells and debris pits after Shear 1993, fig. 1___________________________________________________74 Plate 11.1. Built hearth in House A vi 10 (Olynthus VIII, pl. 52.2) ______________________75 Plate 11.2. Restoration of the built altar in House A vi 5 (Olynthus VIII, pl. 73) ____________75 Plate 12.1. Brazier from House A xi 10 (Olynthus VIII, pl. 52:1)________________________76 Plate 12.2. Altars from from the House of the Tiled Prothyron; left: red clay, right: stone (Olynthus XII, pl. 188:1-2) ___________________________________________________76 Plate 13.1. Red-figure column krater (Ginouvès 1962, pl. 18:53). Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum 2166; ARV2 1111, no. 1; Add2 330______________________________________77 Plate 13.2. Red-figure lekanis by the Eleusinian Painter (Oakley and Sinos 1993, fig. 44). St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum ST1791; ARV2 1476, no. 3; Add2 381 ____________77 Plate 14. Plan of House A iv 9 at Olynthus after Cahill 2002, fig. 24_____________________78 5 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION (Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus, 1604) They bathed him and dressed him in the way which was customary.1 Much of ancient Greek religion comprised ephemeral aspects, such things as burnt sacrifices and spoken prayers, and of these two, little archaeological evidence survives.2 These features of ancient religion were apparently so well known in ancient Greece that contemporary authors rarely describe every component of the rite and instead note that ritual progressed according to what was customary, just as Oedipus’ daughters prepare him for his death