CLASSICS 3Q03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Thesmophoria, Threshing Floor, Looting
25 Oct 2014
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Many festivals linked to greek calendar (lunar calendar), seasonal cycles (sowing and harvest) Think about festivals in context of ritual behaviours ritual activity - suspension of the everyday. Procession on the parthenon frieze - panathenaic procession. Serves more for the congregation rather than the gods - reinforces the solidarity of the group. Shows off cult statue - christian adaptation of greek rituals. Instilled sense of common purpose and teamwork among them - strengthened sense of community, and polis, and identity as a whole. The nature of the agrarian activity shows a need for a community wide participation - rooted in reality of agriculture, but develops into an occasion made special, a festival. Difficult for one family to harvest their wheat while it stayed good - needed more hands = village cooperated and helped each other out, mutual beneficial activity. Threshing - labour intensive - done as a group. This moment in the calendar required unity for overall success.
