The Influence of Artemis

By Mary G. Galvin PhD

This third volume of the series 'Life, Death and Artemis' addresses the Influence of Artemis (the active role of Artemis):
This volume starts with a short outline of the theory behind life-cycle rites based upon the theories of social anthropologist Van Gennep. This is followed by evidence of rites of Artemis during the course of life, and her perceived role in relation to both transitions at each stage of life and continuous practices throughout life. This is separated into three areas: the female life-cycle; the male life-cycle; and the way of life of the polis / society.
Following this is an assessment of Artemis’ influence on the course of life through her perceived role in relation to transgressions, culminating in an Artemisian code of ethics.
This is followed by the conclusion:
The concluding section summarizes the findings (above), both similarities and differences, to demonstrate the level of support that exists for the thesis that Artemis was essentially a life power.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mary G. Galvin PhD
• Release date: Oct 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463172841

Mary G. Galvin PhD

Mary has worked in the field of healthcare technology over the last ten years. She has implemented automated anaesthetic record keeping systems across 43 Queensland hospitals to provide a solution that supports improved clinical decision-making and patient outcomes in the perioperative setting. Mary has delivered patient queuing and wait management systems for Gold Coast outpatient clinics and has integrated electronic cardiotocography and intrapartum recording into the maternity section of the Gold Coast University Hospital.Prior to this, she worked for more than 20 years across a range of industries including defence, telecommunications, banking and healthcare in both management and consulting roles. Her project experiences range from the highly-technical (such as developing sonar and radio communications for defence) to those that transform businesses (for example, re-engineering company processes to handle a five times increase in the customer base).This wealth of experience has enabled her to develop advanced skills, not only in project and program management, but also business process re-engineering and organisational change management. Mary has also led, managed and mentored many multi-disciplinary project teams.This flexibility extends to her academic credentials. Mary holds degrees in Mathematics, as well as in Classics and Humanities. Her PhD thesis on human behaviour and belief systems was completed within three years and was described as outstanding by a senior Professor at Oxford University.Mary maintains her academic interests in parallel with her working life and has lectured and tutored part-time. She has authored and presented a paper on the mating rituals of the ancient Greek adolescent at .the Australian Society for Classical Studies (ASCS) 2007 conference.Mary has also authored and presented a paper on the benefits of anaesthetic record keeping at the Health Informatics Conference HIC2009. Her paper has since been published in the electronic Journal of Health Informatics.

Book preview

The Influence of Artemis

Volume 3 of the Series

'Life, Death and Artemis'

Copyright 2018 Mary G. Galvin PhD

Published by Mary G. Galvin PhD at Smashwords

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Table of Contents

Start of document

Series Abstract

Introduction to Volume 3

Volume 3

Introduction

Artemis and the Course of Life

Transition Rites

Transitions of the Individual

Transitions of Society

The Course of Life Summary

Artemis and Infractions

Violations - Sexual

Violations - Sacrilege

Violations - Neglect of Worship

Violations of Nature

Infractions- Prevalence of the evidence

Infractions - Summary

Summary - The Influence of Artemis

Life, Death and Artemis - Series Conclusion

Notes

Author

About the Author

Other books by this Author

Series Abstract

ΒΙΟΣ

as written by the classical Greeks

an ambiguous word when read alone

is it βíος the way of life ?

or is it βιóς the instrument of death ?

unaccentuated it embodies both

– a pair of opposites?

ARTEMIS

a goddess of ambiguous and liminal zones

nurturer of life, of birth and the young

bringer of death in the hunt and the home

- a contradiction ?

Yet life has no meaning unless death exists and

death is only meaningful if once there was life

- co-dependent concepts.

ΒΙΟΣ one word symbolic of two interdependent concepts

ARTEMIS one goddess powerful in two inter-related realms.

NOTE: Karl Kerényi gives a comprehensive explanation of the Greek understanding of βίος where he makes the distinction between the finite property of βίος which exists between birth and death compared to the infinite properties of ζωή which means the opposite of death.¹ This distinction is then used by him to characterise Dionysos as ζωή, the indestructible thread of continuous life. His dissertation on the meaning and use of these words is equally applicable to this assessment of Artemis, where her role is that of βίος, each discrete and individual life, a finite entity bounded by the milestones of birth and death. These two concepts of life co-existed in the Greek world. It is this concept of βίος, the finite span of life² with which both Artemis and this series are concerned.

Introduction to Volume 3

Background

Volume one of this series provided a comprehensive background to this series, the research behind it and the methodological approach used. The reader is referred to volume one for this information rather than repeat it here.

Layout of the Series

The series 'Life, Death and Artemis' consists of several volumes; the first addresses the diverse imagery of Artemis in art and artefact; the second addresses the cult practices of Artemis; and the third addresses the perceived, active role of Artemis, in the lives of her followers; followed by conclusions drawn from the evidence presented.

This third volume addresses the Influence of Artemis (the active role of Artemis):

This volume starts with a short outline of the theory behind life-cycle rites based upon the theories of social anthropologist Van Gennep. This is followed by evidence of rites of Artemis during the course of life, and her perceived role in relation to both transitions at each stage of life and continuous practices throughout life. This is separated into three areas: the female life-cycle; the male life-cycle; and the way of life of the polis / society.

Following this is an assessment of Artemis’ influence on the course of life through her perceived role in relation to transgressions, culminating in an Artemisian code of ethics.

This is followed by the conclusion:

The concluding section summarizes the findings (above), both similarities and differences, to demonstrate the level of support that exists for the thesis that Artemis was essentially a life power.

Supporting evidence and references are published separately in a final volume containing all appendices.³

The Influence of Artemis

Introduction

The previous volume examined the cult of Artemis via the religious activity carried out, the timing of events, placement of sites, roles of participants etcetera; thus, providing an overview of the active role of mankind in the cult of Artemis. This volume will examine the active role of Artemis as perceived through the eyes of the worshippers, both as individuals and as society.

Society’s profuse acknowledgement of Artemis’ existence has been demonstrated in the previous volume by the proliferation of her multitudinous festivals, sacred days each month, sacred sites, dedications and inscriptions. The plethora of ‘performance’ activity with which society busied itself on behalf of the goddess, and the quantity of preparatory activity devoted to the establishment and ongoing control of the practices of the cult (‘formality’ and ‘invariance’) represented a significant contribution and commitment on the part of her worshippers. While the performance, invariance, formality and even psychological efficacy can all be said to be based upon the foundation provided by the encoding (and the encoding itself can be related back to the five facets of Artemis discussed in the first volume of this series - listed below); the inevitable question is how did the totality actually manifest itself in the lives of her worshippers?

The presence of those same facets encoded in myth and displayed in her visual imagery must have been perceived to be actively demonstrated throughout the lives of her worshippers in order to justify their ongoing commitment and contribution. Additionally, this perception must have been both powerful and pervasive in order for the cult to have established such a broad dominion and sustained such duration of practice.

These are the issues which this volume seeks to address by examining the active role of Artemis in relation to everyday life:

▪ in the course of life of an individual;

▪ in the course of life of society;

and finally, by examining her role in relation to infractions against herself and her domain.

It is worth noting at this point that for the ancient Greek and his contemporaries what we may regard as myth or legend, was regarded as history and this aids the explanation of why the underlying messages conveyed in both myth and history are generally in conformance with one another.

Artemis and the Course of Life

Artemis’ continuous presence throughout the course of life was evidenced by the many dedications of her worshippers, from children to adults, both females and males, secular and sacral. A large amount of the evidence originates from times where life changes were occurring, at life transition points. This was demonstrated by the dedications and votives presented to her at these times; the supplications implored of her; and the thanksgivings offered to her. In cult practice formal recognition of movement through many of these transitions was recognised by attendant ritual in the form of life transition rites associated with Artemis at her sanctuaries.¹ It was the time of transition that determined WHEN the cult activity took place. Artemis’ role in these transition rituals was as facilitator of the movement between stages of life.²

Artemis was seen to be able to assist and accommodate these life transitions or, alternatively, to oppose and obstruct them. She was in control of the primitive forces behind the transitions and it is this perception of Artemis which explains WHY the cult practices were carried out in her name and at her sanctuaries.

This essential domain of life over which Artemis presided, and which formed the foundation for her worship, had two aspects:

1. Man’s inner or personal world, his untamed region governed by the biological changes of his life cycle, and the social veneer placed upon this lifecycle by society. The inevitable biological changes were those over which he had no control e.g. conception, birth, puberty, death. The social veneer consisted of significant life changes where humanity had limited control, such as marriage with its consequent loss of virginity, and pregnancy with its initiation of the process of new life. These transitions, once made, were irreversible;³ there was no going back to the previous state. All of these changes were physical, natural and permanent. These transitions are those of the individual.

2. The outer world encompassed the external world in the form of the natural world and the world inhabited by other societies. Man’s interaction with that world was with a domain over which he could establish some control and upon which he often had some impact. Artemis’ intervention became manifest here when the balance of life was upset or was potentially going to be upset. This is reflected in the transitions of society.

Ritual practice in the cult of Artemis was closely related to these life transitions.

Transition Rites

Life transition is an area studied by scholars in relation to the specific activities that mark the transition (designated by sociologists and anthropologists as rites-of-passage) in society.

Rites-of-passage theory was originally developed by anthropologists and arose from the analysis of various societies and cultures. It was recognised that the life of an individual consists of a series of transitions between states such as conception, birth, puberty, marriage, pregnancy, parenthood and death.⁴ The analysis highlighted certain patterns of ritual behaviour relating to life transition points that were common across cultures, regardless of their physical location, their level of ‘civilization’ or the passage of time.⁵ Only the implementation (i.e. specific detail of activities) varied across societies and cultures.

These patterns of ritual behaviour designated ‘rites’ are a means to an end; they have a defined purpose,⁶ namely to facilitate and to formally acknowledge the status transition in society.

All of these rites can be either:

1. individual, where members of the society participate when they personally achieve a certain state, for example birth; or

2. collective, where members of a society participate as a related group, for example all warriors about to go to war.

In addition, their relationship to the transition can be:

1. physical, where participation occurs at the moment the physical change takes place, for example, at the onset of menarche, at the time of death; or

2. social, where participation marks the social recognition of a change in status regardless of whether the accompanying physical transition has occurred e.g. all twelve-year-old boys regardless of whether they have physically commenced puberty.

Life transition rites have a common generic structure;⁷ each consists of one or more, and often all of the following stages:

The pre-liminal⁸ rite of separation is usually marked by segregation and seclusion of the participants⁹ from their everyday life, whether this be from their parents, family, peer group or village. Separation can be symbolic as well as physical, involving re-enactment of myth, which parallels the actual separation taking place. Seclusion can be via one or more means such as:

1. Location - in a sacred, secret or restricted place;

2. Appearance – by masking, painting of faces, disguising in some way; and

3. Communication – being bound by rules of silence, being obliged to appear

invisible; or to communicate only via a specific medium.¹⁰

The liminal rites comprise activities that take place once segregation is complete but before any status elevation or transition has taken place. These can be numerous and varied depending upon the imminent transition, but each component has its purpose. Examples of the types of activity that can take place are:

1. Purification¹¹ – these ceremonies cleanse the participants not just of physical impurities but also of those invisible impurities that result from previous impure behaviour (the miasma of the Greeks) or simply from the impurity of their previous state within society.

2. Instruction¹² – the participants are instructed in:

a. the aetiological myths behind their impending status change and the rite involved;

b. the duties, responsibilities and privileges of the new status;

c. the mysteries of their religion or traditions which are unveiled; and / or sacred objects are revealed.

This newly acquired knowledge differentiates the participants from those who have not passed through the transition, and the knowledge must be assimilated before the participant can pass to the new state.

3. Ordeal¹³ - participants may be obliged to endure trials or undergo ordeals¹⁴ either to prove their worthiness for the status elevation, or to sever the links with their previous status. These may be debasing and subject the individual to abusive behaviour aimed at humbling the candidate.¹⁵ They may involve components such as mimetic performance where aetiological myths are re-enacted.¹⁶ They may include rites of status reversal that mask the weak in strength and demand the strong be passive,¹⁷ and may involve the physical masking of those who perform the abuse (whether verbal or physical) to preserve their anonymity. One purpose of such rights can be to dissipate unconscious fears by enacting the role of the object of terror or of authority in order to rob it of its power. Alternatively, it can be the suppression of normal authority for a period of time, for example the suppression by women of masculine authority. Surviving the ordeal proves the candidate’s worthiness to move forward to the next stage.

4. Danger Prevention¹⁸ – ritual designed to protect the participants, either during the transition period, or in the new status they are about to acquire, for example protection for a new king throughout his reign, or a new child throughout their life.

The post-liminal rites constitute the official entry or reception into the next stage of existence.¹⁹ They mark the achievement of those who survived the ordeals of the liminal phase, and successfully progressed through the liminal rites. Post-liminal rites typically comprise:

1. Communal Rejoicing²⁰ - a celebration of the attainment of the new status; this can be a restricted celebration such as a wedding feast or a public celebration such as a festival.

2. Act of Presentation²¹ – or the formal presentation of successful participants to their family, village or society. From this point onwards, the status change may be marked by the society. It may be a form of dress such as a distinctive robe; a symbol of status such as a hairstyle or headdress; a title (as for a king or priest); or a change in living quarters (such as a married couple moving to their new home).

Life transition rites can be either secular or religious, or a combination of both.²² For the Greeks it was both; in addition to the social recognition of the change in state there was also a sacred recognition. The rites acknowledged this sacred involvement by being intimately bound up with the worship of the deity or deities who was or were deemed to be responsible for the transition.²³

Transitions of the Individual

The transition points at which the presence of Artemis was of relevance to an individual are based upon, but not rigidly tied to, the biological life cycle. These transition points are mapped in the diagram below which shows the biological lifecycle at the top, running between two blue end points representing birth and death, the commencement and the termination of life.

The four intermediate biological transition points are:

1. Infancy → Childhood: Weaning which signifies the change in the physical inter-dependency of the child and the mother. This transition is characterized by the ability to walk and talk as well as the ability to gain sustenance from food and drink rather than from the mother’s milk. It marks the transition from the totally dependent infant to the slightly less dependent child;

2. Childhood → Adolescence: Menarche for girls or the onset of puberty for boys marks the physical transition from childhood to adolescence. This marks the point of serious preparation and readiness for adulthood and the beginning of the metamorphosis of a child’s body into that of an adult. For a female it marks the point at which she becomes physically capable of bearing offspring;

3. Adolescence → Adulthood: Maturity marks the physical end of adolescence with a fully formed adult body ready to assume the role of an independent adult within society;

4. Adulthood → Old Age: Menopause for women; Andropause or physical decrepitude for a man, marks the point in adulthood where the role changes. A woman ceases to bear offspring and a man ceases to be a dominant male within the community.

The involvement of Artemis conforms to the biological lifecycle to which it is firmly fixed only at birth and death. Her involvement at the intermediate transition points varied according to the sex of the worshipper and the social requirements and traditions of the local community. Each of the six biological transition points (birth, weaning, menarche / puberty, maturity, menopause / andropause, death) will be discussed in relation to their evidence of Artemis’ worship and their activities which qualify as transition rites.

Birth and Infancy

There were many and varied ritual activities involving children often related to social rites-of-passage and NOT related to Artemis but to other deities in the Greek pantheon. These will NOT be covered in the following section because they do not pertain to Artemis, and do not inter-relate with the role of Artemis. They are independent of the goddess and the focus here is Artemis, or the biological life cycle only.²⁴

Birth

Artemis’ association with women and childbirth was of long standing, dating back to the oral tradition (Hom. Il. 21:480) and on which we have the scholiast’s comment that:

…Artemis is the moon and credits it with an influence on childbirth, says that at the full moon not only do women have the easiest labour but that all animals have an easy birth…

(Schol. Il. 21.483). Tr. David A. Campbell.

The tradition is echoed by Aeschylus who emphasised Artemis’ protection for the unborn and the pregnant mother (Ag. 134-138) and solicited Artemis-Hekate to watch over childbirth (Supp. 675); as well as