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AITIA, ASTRONOMY AND THE TIMING OF THE ARRHĒPHORIA1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2012

Efrosyni Boutsikas  and
Robert Hannah
Efrosyni Boutsikas*
Affiliation:
Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies, University of Kent
Robert Hannah
Affiliation:
Department of Classics, University of Otago
*
E.Boutsikas@kent.ac.uk
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Abstract

This paper deals with the cult and myths of the daughters of the mythical king of Athens, Erechtheus, who lived on the Acropolis. The myth, preserved in Euripides’ tragedy Erechtheus, establishes the deceased daughters as goddesses who are owed cult by the Athenians. It further equates them with the Hyades, a prominent star cluster in the constellation of Taurus, which they form after their deaths. We examine here the possibility that this myth not only narrates the placement of the girls after their death in the sky in the form of the Hyades, but also may have bound the constellation to certain festivals held on the Acropolis, which through their aetiological myths were connected to the daughters of Erechtheus and in which the participation of young girls (arrhēphoroi) was important. To explicate this cult, we explore its context on the Acropolis as fully as possible, through the visual arts, the literary myth, the festival calendar, and the natural landscape and night sky, so as to determine whether the movement of the Hyades was indeed visible from the Acropolis during the time when the young maiden cult rites were performed on the hill. This study investigates for the first time the role of the night sky and astronomical observations in the performance of the nocturnal festival of the Arrhēphoria.

Αίτια, Αστρονομία και ο Χρόνος Εορτασμού των Αρρηφορίων

To άρθρο εξετάζει την λατρεία και τους μύθους που σχετίζονται με τις κόρες του μυθικού βασιλιά της Αθήνας, Ερεχθέα που εθεωρείτω οτι έζησε στην Ακρόπολη. Ο μύθος, που έχει διατηρηθεί στην τραγωδία του Ευριππίδη Ερεχθεύς, καθιερώνει τις νεκρές κόρες του Ερεχθέα ως θεότητες στις οποίες οι Αθηναίοι οφείλουν λατρεία. Τις εξισώνει περαιτέρω με τις ϒάδες, ένα εμφανές ανοικτό αστρικό σμήνος στον αστερισμό του Ταύρου, το οποίο και σχηματίζουν μετά τον θάνατό τους. Εξετάζουμε εδώ την πιθανότητα οτι αυτός ο μύθος δεν αφηγείται απλά τον καταστερισμό των κοριτσιών μετά τον θάνατό τους στον έναστρο ουρανό υπό την μορφή των ϒάδων, αλλά οτι πιθανώς να συνέδεε το σμήνος με συγκεριμένες θρησκευτικές εορτές που λάμβαναν χώρα στην Ακρόπολη, οι οποίες μέσα από τους αιτολογικούς μυθους τους ήταν συνδεδεμένες με τις κόρες του Ερεχθέα και στις οποίες η συμμετοχή κοριτσιών (Αρρηφόρων) ήταν σημαντική. Για να εξηγηθεί αυτή η υπόθεση σε σχέση με την λατρεία, εξετάζουμε το πλαίσιο της Ακρόπολης όσο το δυνατόν πληρέστερα εντάσσοντας στην μελέτη εικαστικές τέχνες, τον μύθο όπως διασώζεται στην αρχαία λογοτεχνία, το θρησκευτικό ημερολόγιο, το φυσικό τοπίο και τον νυκτερινό ουρανό, έτσι ώστε να καθορίσουμε εαν η κίνηση του σμήνους των ϒάδων ήταν πράγματι ορατή από την Ακρόπολη κατά την χρονική περίοδο που η λατρεία των κοριτσιών λάμβανε χώρα στον Ιερό Βράχο. Αυτή η μελέτη εξετάζει για πρώτη φορά τον ρόλο του ενάστρου ουρανού και των αστρονομικών παρατηρήσεων στην τέλεση της νυκτερινής εορτής των Αρρηφορίων.

Type
Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 107 , November 2012 , pp. 233 - 245
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 2012

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Footnotes

1

The research for this project was funded by a British Academy-Association of Commonwealth Universities grant for International Collaboration. We would like to thank the British Academy for its support.

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