Alcman's Partheneion and the Near East

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thesis final prelim approved 08-15.pdf (518.23 KB)

Date

2009-08-20T16:58:02Z

Authors

Miller, Peter John

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Abstract

Alcman's Partheneion has a deserved reputation as an ambiguous and allusive fragment of Greek poetry; it has engendered a great amount of debate regarding every facet of the poem. This thesis investigates the ritual context and the propitiated deity of the Partheneion from an inter-cultural perspective. I integrate the relationship which flourished between Greece and the Near East with Alcman's poetry. This approach aims to situate the poem in the larger world of the Eastern Mediterranean and connect it to traditions of female goddesses worshiped in biblical Israel, Phoenicia and ancient Babylon. I also demonstrate that there are connections between the ritual context of Alcman's poetry, sung and danced by a chorus of young women, to similar cults celebrated by cultures throughout the Near East, both contemporaneous as well as more ancient.

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Keywords

Alcman, Partheneion, Near East

Citation

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http://hdl.handle.net/1828/1550

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Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD)
Theses (Greek and Roman Studies)
 
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We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.