Patriarchy Full-steam Ahead
(1) The victory of Olympian religion was not cemented at any early stage of Greek history; it was not all “done and dusted” by the time Xerxes was leading his invasion force into Greece or with the inception of the Classical age (479). The iconography is very revealing, and it tells the story explicitly—within the Geometric period there is very little evidence of the Olympian religion and icons from that period still identify the Goddess as the prime object of veneration, and the funeral cult as its greatest expression.
(2) Within the darkness it is not possible to be too certain as to what party or state stood for what. But, there is not a single political event, not a single war that can be considered wholly apart from its religious dimension. When I read in the oral tradition that the First Messenian War was provoked by the murder of Lakonian king Teleklos at the joint sanctuary of Artemis of the Lake (Pausanias, Messenia, 4.4.2-4), I immediately think of human sacrifice, for this was ever the demand of Artemis, and I see religious ideology at work. We think of the Spartans as the epitome of patriarchal rule, but this is owing to their later identification with that institution, and we omit those details that indicate that women at Sparta enjoyed greater rites than in any other Greek state. Thus, in this war between Messenia and Lakonia we cannot infer that the Messenias were conservatives and the Spartan innovators. However, the general pattern stands forth: in the wake of the war, the Spartans expelled from their own peoples those men born without known fathers, whom they called the Partheniai. Hence, Sparta took a step towards patriarchy, and this was cemented further in the legendary reforms of Lycurgus, though it is likely that just as at Athens, the whole process stretched right the way into the classical period.
(2) Within the darkness it is not possible to be too certain as to what party or state stood for what. But, there is not a single political event, not a single war that can be considered wholly apart from its religious dimension. When I read in the oral tradition that the First Messenian War was provoked by the murder of Lakonian king Teleklos at the joint sanctuary of Artemis of the Lake (Pausanias, Messenia, 4.4.2-4), I immediately think of human sacrifice, for this was ever the demand of Artemis, and I see religious ideology at work. We think of the Spartans as the epitome of patriarchal rule, but this is owing to their later identification with that institution, and we omit those details that indicate that women at Sparta enjoyed greater rites than in any other Greek state. Thus, in this war between Messenia and Lakonia we cannot infer that the Messenias were conservatives and the Spartan innovators. However, the general pattern stands forth: in the wake of the war, the Spartans expelled from their own peoples those men born without known fathers, whom they called the Partheniai. Hence, Sparta took a step towards patriarchy, and this was cemented further in the legendary reforms of Lycurgus, though it is likely that just as at Athens, the whole process stretched right the way into the classical period.
(3) But along with my rejection of the current vogue for writing history from archaeology alone, I do believe that there is a sufficiently reliable oral tradition for a good deal of actual history to be written, even of a political nature, about the early Greek states. The early history of Sparta is quite well known; out of the darkness more than a faint glimmer of light emerges for Athens, and so on. There is no change in the constitution of this or that state that cannot carry religious implications. In 508 Cleisthenes at Athens changed the number of tribes from four to ten—a monumental statement of religious reform. What relation did this reform have to the changes made by his grandfather at Sicyon, among which was a change of cult and renaming of the tribes?
(4) Among those periods that are most significant in the adoption of the Olympian religion is that of the rule of the Pisistratids at Athens (547—510). The list of pro-Olympian monuments and institutions brought in under this regime are too numerous to mention here. Furthermore, it is surely significant that in the wake of the overthrow of Hippias, son of Pisistratus, the temple of the Twelve Gods that was started under his rule was never completed until the Roman times of Hadrian.
(4) Among those periods that are most significant in the adoption of the Olympian religion is that of the rule of the Pisistratids at Athens (547—510). The list of pro-Olympian monuments and institutions brought in under this regime are too numerous to mention here. Furthermore, it is surely significant that in the wake of the overthrow of Hippias, son of Pisistratus, the temple of the Twelve Gods that was started under his rule was never completed until the Roman times of Hadrian.
Man and woman
Illustration of an image from a Lekythos Eretria, by the Achilles Painter, c.450 This has been described as a scene depicting the departure of a warrior, but investigation of the imagery indicates ambiguity. The female figure is clad only in a transparent garment covering her upper body; the male figure is scarcely wearing more clothing. Although he shows her a helmet and carries a shield, the context is sexual, and their relationship ambiguous. Women have been transformed from dominant figures of society and religion into objects of male regard.
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(5) In general, it makes no sense to ask: on what day of the week in which year of absolute chronology was such and such a religious belief adopted? The impossibility of finding answers to such questions should not prevent us from seeing the general pattern. Mythologems are assigned to periods not to specific dates.
But in some cases, the invention of a mythologem can almost be dated. Consider the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo as a case study; this hymn was probably composed by Cynaethus of Chios, and Burkert argues that the date was in 522 when it was composed for Polycrates of Samos. The poem celebrates the adoption of Delos as the Ionian cultic centre of the worship of Apollo, and barely mentions Artemis, whom as we know from archaeology was the original occupant of Delos. It contains a mythologem new to that time. Homer and Hesiod both know that Apollo is the son of Leto, and Homer connects him with Delos, but he also calls him “wolf-born” (Iliad, II. 101), which implies an earlier version of the birth of Apollo. The Hymn to Delian Apollo contains much information of a specifically historical aspect: (a) that the adoption of Delos, a rocky island, was difficult is encapsulated in the motif of the birth pains of his mother Leto, which lasted nine days; (b) that it is a cult of the Ionians and specifically adopted by a confederacy of the Aegean islands, but not one of the places mentioned was willing to host the cult for fear of reprisals, Delos being adopted because of its lack of population; (c) that the birth of Apollo—the institution of the Apollo cult—was opposed by the cult of Hera; (d) that the transformed Apollo cult stands for a stage in the victory of the patriarchal Olympian religion in which Zeus is pre-eminent, and that the first words Apollo utters—"The lyre and the curved bow shall ever be dear to me, and I will declare to men the unfailing will of Zeus”—declare him to be the patron of music and the organ of the Providential Will of the Father—none of this being known either to Homer (c.667) or Hesiod (c.700). One of the mythologems thereby expressed is:
But in some cases, the invention of a mythologem can almost be dated. Consider the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo as a case study; this hymn was probably composed by Cynaethus of Chios, and Burkert argues that the date was in 522 when it was composed for Polycrates of Samos. The poem celebrates the adoption of Delos as the Ionian cultic centre of the worship of Apollo, and barely mentions Artemis, whom as we know from archaeology was the original occupant of Delos. It contains a mythologem new to that time. Homer and Hesiod both know that Apollo is the son of Leto, and Homer connects him with Delos, but he also calls him “wolf-born” (Iliad, II. 101), which implies an earlier version of the birth of Apollo. The Hymn to Delian Apollo contains much information of a specifically historical aspect: (a) that the adoption of Delos, a rocky island, was difficult is encapsulated in the motif of the birth pains of his mother Leto, which lasted nine days; (b) that it is a cult of the Ionians and specifically adopted by a confederacy of the Aegean islands, but not one of the places mentioned was willing to host the cult for fear of reprisals, Delos being adopted because of its lack of population; (c) that the birth of Apollo—the institution of the Apollo cult—was opposed by the cult of Hera; (d) that the transformed Apollo cult stands for a stage in the victory of the patriarchal Olympian religion in which Zeus is pre-eminent, and that the first words Apollo utters—"The lyre and the curved bow shall ever be dear to me, and I will declare to men the unfailing will of Zeus”—declare him to be the patron of music and the organ of the Providential Will of the Father—none of this being known either to Homer (c.667) or Hesiod (c.700). One of the mythologems thereby expressed is:
(VI.18) Mythologem of the Birth of Apollo: (i) at Delos, (ii) as the patron of music (emblem, lyre), (iii) as the patron of the Delian (transformed Ionian) cult games, (iv) (from Leto) as the result of a hard labour, (v) against the opposition of Hera, (vi) with the belated assistance of Eilithyia, goddess of birth, (vii) as the providential organ of the will of the Father.
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All of this may be dated specifically to a cult event possibly held in 522 at Delos itself under the aegis of Polycrates of Samos, who at that time had established a thalassocracy in the Aegean. This datable religious event marks a monumental stage in the victory of patriarchal Olympian religion; formerly, in the Iliad, Apollo had been an opponent of the divine will of Zeus, now he becomes his chief ally. The Hymn contains other mythologems of older provenance.
(VI.7) Mythologem of rape: Zeus (Apollo, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes,etc.) marries or rapes a goddess or woman and has offspring by her.
(VI.19) Mythologem of the Wrath of Hera: the marriage to or rape of multiple goddesses and mortal women by Zeus is made against the vehement opposition, jealousy and persecution. |
The institution of the Delian Games (date uncertain) is one among a series of religious events of great significance. The original name of Delos was Ortygia and as such it was sacred to Artemis, where her cult was celebrated from time immemorial, and where her famous Horn Altar was situated.
Religious History of Delos
Early religious history of Delos: Delos was a cult centre of Artemis, where she was worshipped at her Horn Altar, said by Plutarch to have been one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. The island was a cult centre of the Mycenaean period, for which no Olympian religion is attested. The festival involved games celebrated by Ionians, attested in Homer as mentioned by Thucydides (Peloponnesian War, 3.104). 546—528. Sometime during the tyranny of Pisistratus or his sons at Athens, the Athenians performed the first purification of the island of Delos. The Poros Temple of Apollo was first constructed. The purification involved the removal of burials from the area surrounding the temple to the nearby small island of Rhenea. 525. Polycrates of Samos allied with Cambyses in his war against Psamtik III of Egypt. Polycrates defeated an attempted rebellion against his rule. Sparta in alliance with Samian rebels attempted to invade the island of Samos, but Polycrates was victorious and the Spartan force withdrew after forty days. 522. A ceremony was performed for Polycrates of Samos. Possible date for the composition of the Delian Hymn, and the adoption of Delos as the birthplace of Apollo. According to Thucydides, Polycrates had the island of Rhenea dedicated to Delian Apollo by binding the island to Delos with a chain (3.104). Later in the same year, Polycrates was tricked by Oroites, Persian governor of Ionia, captured and crucified. The Persian emperor Darius installed Syloson, a brother of Polycrates, as puppet ruler of Samos. 422. During the Peloponnesian War the Athenians conducted the second purification of the island of Delos. All graves were moved to Rhenia, and another temple of Apollo was constructed. The Athenians expelled the Delians from Delos and they were given by Pharnacles II, Satrap of Persian Phrygia, the town of Atramytrum in Asia Minor. The Athenians celebrated “for the first time” the Delian Games. The Ionian games had been or were transferred to Ephesus, cult centre of Artemis. Thucydides, rarely for him, cites religious motives for these actions: the purification was conducted “no doubt because of some oracle” (3.104) and he states that the Delians were expelled for “some crime committed in the past” (5.1). 421. Thucydides states: “About the same time in this summer the Athenians reduced Scione. They put to death the men of military age, made slaves of the women and children, and gave the land to the Plataeans to live in. They also brought the Delians back to Delos—a move suggested both by the Athenian misfortunes in battle and by an oracle from the god in Delphi.” (5.32) 411. We presume that not all the Delians returned to Delos, because in this year Tissaphernes, Satrap of Persian Lydia and rival of the Phrygian satrapy, had all Delians settled at Atramytrum massacred; after which, he went to make “sacrifice to Artemis” at Ephesus—this being the very last statement of Thucydides in his History. |
In the fuzzy logic we see at work a religious transformation in which the exclusive use of Delos as a cult centre of Artemis is replaced by a dual religion. The process is associated with a renaming of the island from “Ortygia”, associated exclusively with Artemis, to “Delos”, associated with both Artemis and Apollo. Thus, Olympian religion usurps the Minoan religion of the Goddess, whose embodiment here is Artemis. Pisistratus may be accounted a promoter of the Olympian religion, for his “tyranny” at Athens was a period of Olympian religion full steam ahead. The fuzzy logic invites connection with the underlying issue of human sacrifice, that issue being much suppressed in the material as it has come down to us. This is implied by the very strong connection between Artemis and human sacrifice, such as we see attested particularly in Pausanias. A question that must be answered in all events is why the Athenians needed to remove the burials from Delos. We note that if there were sacrificial victims in the material record, then these have been deliberately removed by the later institution of the patriarchal Olympian religion, which would be another good reason why archaeology is so indecisive in this matter. The hint of something terrible is conveyed by Thucydides’ ambiguous explanation for the expulsion of the Delians. It has been inferred from the “Delian speech” of Hyperides (343) that the crime was some murder by the Delians of Aeolian visitors to the islands; occurring on a sacred island, performed by priests, such a murder surely has religious content and we may infer sacrifice, or something akin to it. It is impossible not to consider it as a possibility. The conflict of ideologies at Athens is reflected in their schizophrenic reversal of policy the following year in bringing the Delians back. We see the cognition of primitive materialism at work throughout the whole saga, because of the way the favour of the gods is being addressed through contradictory oracles. The original exclusive cult of Artemis is transferred to Ephesus, where she was ever the manifestation of the Goddess. The murder of Polycrates by crucifixion (or immolation) indicates a religious dimension. The massacre of the exiled Delians is something that cannot be disconnected from religious ideology—Phrygia was known to be religiously conservative, which may account for the Delians finding refuge there, but Tissaphernes more or less “sacrifices” them to Artemis at Ephesus; at the least, he cannot have felt to be working against Her divine commands, since he immediately celebrates at her temple, having bathed his hands in Delian blood. The fuzzy logic tells us one main thing: whatever else is concerned in these actions, they are also an expression, even “late” in the historical period, of religious conflict, and that the adoption of the dual cult of Apollo and Artemis at Delos was strenuously opposed by the earlier cult of the Goddess; in the course of that conflict both sides were prepared to bloody their hands not just with animal victims. We have another mythologem arising in this epoch: (VI.20) the mythologem of the divine siblings. Apollo and Artemis are born of the Goddess and together are the divine expression of the power of Father Zeus.
Left: Zeus
Imaginative depiction of the Statue of Zeus sculpted by Phidias, c.435 for the Temple of Zeus, Olympus.
Imaginative depiction of the Statue of Zeus sculpted by Phidias, c.435 for the Temple of Zeus, Olympus.
This illustration seems to owe more to a romantic C19th tradition than to ancient Greece. However, the iconography is pertinent. The description of the statue, now lost, given by Pausanias talks of Zeus enthroned, crowned, holding a sceptre surmounted by an eagle in his left hand, Nike (victory) in his right; at the feet of the throne are four more Victories (not depicted here), and representations of Theban boys carried off by Sphinxes, of Apollo and Artemis killing the children of Niobe, and of Hercules and the Amazons.
The sculpture confirmed the victory of patriarchy—the Storm-god had now usurped the throne and emblems of the Goddess; his right to rule was stressed by iconography that rejects the crimes of the previous epoch, symbolised in the abduction of the Theban boys by the Goddess in her ambivalent but terrible form of the Sphinx. The victory of the male order is symbolised by the battle between Heracles, son of Zeus, and the Amazons. Justice against the “sacrilege” of women, albeit mysterious, is executed at the behest of male power by his divine agents—Apollo and Artemis.
The statue was transported to Byzantium, where it was probably destroyed by fire in 475 CE. No representations of it survive.
The sculpture confirmed the victory of patriarchy—the Storm-god had now usurped the throne and emblems of the Goddess; his right to rule was stressed by iconography that rejects the crimes of the previous epoch, symbolised in the abduction of the Theban boys by the Goddess in her ambivalent but terrible form of the Sphinx. The victory of the male order is symbolised by the battle between Heracles, son of Zeus, and the Amazons. Justice against the “sacrilege” of women, albeit mysterious, is executed at the behest of male power by his divine agents—Apollo and Artemis.
The statue was transported to Byzantium, where it was probably destroyed by fire in 475 CE. No representations of it survive.