
Contents
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1. Questions of methodology 1. Questions of methodology
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2. Frames: times and places 2. Frames: times and places
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3. Focuses 3. Focuses
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(i) From the mists of antiquity to the reforms of Kleisthenes (i) From the mists of antiquity to the reforms of Kleisthenes
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(ii) From Kleisthenes' reforms to c.390 (ii) From Kleisthenes' reforms to c.390
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(iii) c.390–307 (iii) c.390–307
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(iv) The third century (iv) The third century
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(v) The second century (v) The second century
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(vi) The Roman period (vi) The Roman period
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4. Patterns and questions 4. Patterns and questions
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6 Metamorphoses of Tradition: the Athenian Anthesteri
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Published:September 2004
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Abstract
This chapter gives a radically new account of the history of this festival. It is usually represented as a traditional ritual with origins in celebrations of new wine and an ancient All Souls’ Day. Here it is suggested that rites symbolizing renewal and new beginnings were constantly reinterpreted and modified as Athenian culture became more urban, attitudes to drunkenness changed, and Dionysus became more closely associated with the theatre. Because Athenians themselves saw the Anthesteria as ‘traditional’, the festival attracted learned speculation about culture history, the origins of drama, and the Flood as the beginning of human history. Some elements taken by modern scholars as part of age-old tradition may be late (return and expulsion of souls of the dead) or purely textual (the Aiora as a rite of swinging). The aim of this narrative is to startle readers into re-examining unquestioned assumptions.
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