Athens, Samothrace, and the Mysteria of the Samothracian Great Gods
-
Kevin Clinton
Abstract
Since at least the mid fifth century B.C. Athenians were sufficiently familiar with the Samothracian Mysteria that they would have understood an allusion to a public or even secret aspect of this well-known festival, as indicated in passages in Herodotus and Aristophanes and by close religious and cultural connections between Samothrace and Athens down to at least the fourth quarter of the fourth century. Thus Athenians were probably participating with some regularity in the Samothracian cult. Its known formal structure is identical to the Eleusinian (πρόρρησις, μύσται, ἐπό- πται), and most likely also included, as at Eleusis, a preliminary initiation of purification. In Plato’s Euthydemus (277d-e) Socrates employs the metaphor of thronosis ἐν τῇ τελετῇ τῶν Κορυβάντων, a rite preliminary to initiation, to illustrate what the sophists Euthydemos and Dionysodoros are doing to Kleinias. This preliminary rite belonged to a cult in which it would have been perfectly natural for a member of the Athenian aristocracy to have participated, even for Socrates himself. Analysis of the passage and Plato’s positions on public and private cults suggests that it was neither a state nor a private cult in Athens. According to a hypothesis proposed by Arthur D. Nock, such a preliminary telete could have occurred in the Mysteria at Samothrace. The role of thronosis as a metaphor used by Socrates allows us to draw inferences about the possilbe role of a Korybantic ritual as a preliminary initiation in actual cult, which in turn allows us to determine whether it could have played a role in the Samothracian Mysteria. τὰ τῶν Κορυβάντων ἰάματα, the therapeutic cure described in Pl. Leg. 790c-791b as a psychic purification, best suits the type of purificatory rite alluded to at Euthyd. 277d-e and the pre-requisites for initiation in the Samothracian Mysteria. The long-standing association of Korybantes with Samothrace and their overwhelming presence in the Samothracian landscape, as limned by Nonnus, strongly suggest a significant role in the island’s famous mystery cult, most appropriately played in a preliminary stage.
Abstract
Since at least the mid fifth century B.C. Athenians were sufficiently familiar with the Samothracian Mysteria that they would have understood an allusion to a public or even secret aspect of this well-known festival, as indicated in passages in Herodotus and Aristophanes and by close religious and cultural connections between Samothrace and Athens down to at least the fourth quarter of the fourth century. Thus Athenians were probably participating with some regularity in the Samothracian cult. Its known formal structure is identical to the Eleusinian (πρόρρησις, μύσται, ἐπό- πται), and most likely also included, as at Eleusis, a preliminary initiation of purification. In Plato’s Euthydemus (277d-e) Socrates employs the metaphor of thronosis ἐν τῇ τελετῇ τῶν Κορυβάντων, a rite preliminary to initiation, to illustrate what the sophists Euthydemos and Dionysodoros are doing to Kleinias. This preliminary rite belonged to a cult in which it would have been perfectly natural for a member of the Athenian aristocracy to have participated, even for Socrates himself. Analysis of the passage and Plato’s positions on public and private cults suggests that it was neither a state nor a private cult in Athens. According to a hypothesis proposed by Arthur D. Nock, such a preliminary telete could have occurred in the Mysteria at Samothrace. The role of thronosis as a metaphor used by Socrates allows us to draw inferences about the possilbe role of a Korybantic ritual as a preliminary initiation in actual cult, which in turn allows us to determine whether it could have played a role in the Samothracian Mysteria. τὰ τῶν Κορυβάντων ἰάματα, the therapeutic cure described in Pl. Leg. 790c-791b as a psychic purification, best suits the type of purificatory rite alluded to at Euthyd. 277d-e and the pre-requisites for initiation in the Samothracian Mysteria. The long-standing association of Korybantes with Samothrace and their overwhelming presence in the Samothracian landscape, as limned by Nonnus, strongly suggest a significant role in the island’s famous mystery cult, most appropriately played in a preliminary stage.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents XI
- List of Figures XIII
- Tabula Gratulatoria XIX
- Vasileios Petrakos: A Life Dedicated to the Service of Greek Archaeology XXIII
-
Part I: Epigraphy and Ancient History
- Thucydides, Historical Geography and the ‘Lost Years’ of Perdikkas II 3
- Athens, Samothrace, and the Mysteria of the Samothracian Great Gods 17
- De quelques épitaphes d’étrangers et d’étrangères au Musée d’Érétrie 45
- Φυτωνυμικά τοπωνύμια Κωμών της Αργολίδος 103
- Le recours à l’arbitrage privé dans les actes d’affranchissement delphiques 117
- Προξενικό ψήφισμα από την Αιτωλία 137
- Women’s Religion in Hellenistic Athens 145
- Notes on Athenian Decrees in the Later Hellenistic Period 159
- “Those Who Jointly Built the City” 179
-
Part II: Archaeology
- Attica and the Origins of Silver Metallurgy in the Aegean and the Carpatho-Balkan Zone 197
- Cultural Variation in Mycenaean Attica. A Mesoregional Approach 227
- Mythical and Historical Heroic Founders: The Archaeological Evidence 299
- Das Volutenkapitell aus Sykaminos 321
- Dionysos Lenaios at Rhamnous. Lenaia ἐν ἀγροῖς and the “Lenaia vases” 359
- Philoktet in Attika 383
-
Part III: History of Greek Archaeology
- Peiraieus in 1805 411
- Karl Otfried Müller in Marathon, Rhamnus und Oropos 423
- Spyridon Marinatos and Carl Blegen at Pylos: A Happy Collaboration 441
- Vassilis Petrakos et les fouilles suisses d’Érétrie 451
- List of Contributors 465
- Index of Epigraphical Texts 469
- Index Locorum 477
- Index of Mythological Names 483
- Index of Geographic Names (Place Names, Ethnic and Demotic Adjectives) 485
- Index of Ancient Personal Names 499
- Index Rerum 505
- Index of Modern Personal Names 515
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents XI
- List of Figures XIII
- Tabula Gratulatoria XIX
- Vasileios Petrakos: A Life Dedicated to the Service of Greek Archaeology XXIII
-
Part I: Epigraphy and Ancient History
- Thucydides, Historical Geography and the ‘Lost Years’ of Perdikkas II 3
- Athens, Samothrace, and the Mysteria of the Samothracian Great Gods 17
- De quelques épitaphes d’étrangers et d’étrangères au Musée d’Érétrie 45
- Φυτωνυμικά τοπωνύμια Κωμών της Αργολίδος 103
- Le recours à l’arbitrage privé dans les actes d’affranchissement delphiques 117
- Προξενικό ψήφισμα από την Αιτωλία 137
- Women’s Religion in Hellenistic Athens 145
- Notes on Athenian Decrees in the Later Hellenistic Period 159
- “Those Who Jointly Built the City” 179
-
Part II: Archaeology
- Attica and the Origins of Silver Metallurgy in the Aegean and the Carpatho-Balkan Zone 197
- Cultural Variation in Mycenaean Attica. A Mesoregional Approach 227
- Mythical and Historical Heroic Founders: The Archaeological Evidence 299
- Das Volutenkapitell aus Sykaminos 321
- Dionysos Lenaios at Rhamnous. Lenaia ἐν ἀγροῖς and the “Lenaia vases” 359
- Philoktet in Attika 383
-
Part III: History of Greek Archaeology
- Peiraieus in 1805 411
- Karl Otfried Müller in Marathon, Rhamnus und Oropos 423
- Spyridon Marinatos and Carl Blegen at Pylos: A Happy Collaboration 441
- Vassilis Petrakos et les fouilles suisses d’Érétrie 451
- List of Contributors 465
- Index of Epigraphical Texts 469
- Index Locorum 477
- Index of Mythological Names 483
- Index of Geographic Names (Place Names, Ethnic and Demotic Adjectives) 485
- Index of Ancient Personal Names 499
- Index Rerum 505
- Index of Modern Personal Names 515
