Choruses of young women in ancient Greece : their morphology, religious role, and social functions / Claude Calame ; translated by Derek Collins and Janice Orion.

Author/creator Calame, Claude
Other author Collins, Derek, translator.
Other author Orion, Janice translator.
Format Book
EditionNew and revised edition.
Publication InfoLanham : Rowman & Littlefield, ©2001.
Descriptionxvi, 282 pages ; 23 cm.
Subjects
Alcman. Partheneion.
Music, Greek and Roman--History and criticism.
Drama--Chorus (Greek drama).
Women--Greece.
Greece--Religious life and customs.

Uniform titleChœurs de jeunes filles en Grèce archaïque. 1, Morphologie, fonction religieuse et sociale. English
SeriesGreek studies
Greek studies. ^A321900
Contents Problems of fragments 1 and 3 of Alcman -- The nature of the sources -- The title "Partheneia" -- The protagonists of fragments 1 and 3 -- The ritual and the deity -- The functions of the lyric chorus -- Problems of method -- Sociologism in the study of the socio-cultural setting -- The comparative method used to analyze the ritual -- Semiotic approach -- Morphology of the Lyric Chorus -- The chorus-members -- The number of chorus-members -- The sex of the chorus-members -- The age of the chorus-members -- The collective character of a group of chorus-members -- The "companionship" of the chorus-members -- Formal organization of the chorus -- Circular form -- The arrangement of the chorus-members -- The choregos -- Terminology -- The function of the choregos -- Apollo: The myth -- Theseus: Myth and ritual -- The choregos and choral lyric: Alcman and Pindar -- Other examples of the role of the choregos -- Figurative representations of the choregos -- The distinctive qualities of the choregos -- The activity of the chorus -- The hymn -- The paean -- The dithyramb -- The citharodic nomos -- The threnody -- The epithalamium/hymenaeus -- Other choral performances -- Chorus and ritual -- Non-Spartan rituals -- Choral festivities among the gods -- Rites dedicated to Artemis -- Apollo -- Hera -- Aphrodite -- Athena -- Dionysus -- Demeter -- The chorus and the pantheon -- Lacedaemonian rituals -- Artemis -- Artemis Limnatis -- Artemis Karyatis -- Artemis Orthia -- Artemis Korythalia -- Apollo: The Hyakinthia.
Abstract In this groundbreaking work, the author argues that the songs sung by choruses of young girls in ancient Greek poetry are more than literary texts; rather, they functioned as initiatory rituals in Greek cult practices. Using semiotic and anthropologic theory, the author reconstructs the religious and social institutions surrounding the songs, demonstrating their function in an aesthetic education that permitted the young girls to achieve the stature of womanhood and to be integrated into the adult civic community. This first English edition includes an updated bibliography.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 267-274) and index.
LCCN 00054429
ISBN0742515249 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN0742515257 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk ML169 .C1813 2001 ✔ Available Place Hold