Young girls' choirs in ancient Greece. Morphology, religious and social function (The Parthenaeums of Alcman).
Beautiful Letters| N° d'inventaire | 22277 |
| Format | 15 x 21.5 |
| Détails | 667 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2019 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782251450230 |
Through the words of a male poet, serving the martial city of Sparta, young girls sing in chorus the homoerotic desire inspired in them by their chorus while paying homage to a goddess close to Helen. Not so surprising, when we know that the forms of sexuality in ancient Greece go beyond the modern opposition between heterosexuality and homosexuality. Gender as a social and religious relationship to sexuality, musical and poetic culture, ritual practices in their confrontation with the heroic founding stories of the city, institutions, social and political statuses reserved for women, are all avenues explored by this book. Following the example of the so-called "Parthene" poems of the Spartan poet Alcman, this essay examines both the different cults in which the female choral performance represents one of the essential ritual moments and the qualities and functions of the divinities to whom these celebrations of adolescence are intended: Artemis, Apollo, Hera, Aphrodite and, in Sparta, Helen. In combination with a perspective of the history of religions in polytheistic regimes, the approach offered by cultural and social anthropology allows us to study the social function of these musical rituals as well as the sexual relations involved. The anthropological comparison with the ritual processes of tribal initiation allows us to grasp the aesthetic and political meaning of a choral and ritual education of young girls in ancient Greece, through the song of feminine beauty.
Through the words of a male poet, serving the martial city of Sparta, young girls sing in chorus the homoerotic desire inspired in them by their chorus while paying homage to a goddess close to Helen. Not so surprising, when we know that the forms of sexuality in ancient Greece go beyond the modern opposition between heterosexuality and homosexuality. Gender as a social and religious relationship to sexuality, musical and poetic culture, ritual practices in their confrontation with the heroic founding stories of the city, institutions, social and political statuses reserved for women, are all avenues explored by this book. Following the example of the so-called "Parthene" poems of the Spartan poet Alcman, this essay examines both the different cults in which the female choral performance represents one of the essential ritual moments and the qualities and functions of the divinities to whom these celebrations of adolescence are intended: Artemis, Apollo, Hera, Aphrodite and, in Sparta, Helen. In combination with a perspective of the history of religions in polytheistic regimes, the approach offered by cultural and social anthropology allows us to study the social function of these musical rituals as well as the sexual relations involved. The anthropological comparison with the ritual processes of tribal initiation allows us to grasp the aesthetic and political meaning of a choral and ritual education of young girls in ancient Greece, through the song of feminine beauty.