Anthropomorphism

Reconstruction of Athena Polias, from
Museumparj Orientalis, Mjmegen, Holland.

In our discussion of Anthropomorphism in class we talked about gods being depicted as humans but also how cult statues of the gods were often personified. Parker notes how the sources talk of the goddess Athena herself and not just her image being taken to bathe in certain rituals (Parker 2011:185) and these are the rituals which I want to focus on in this post. In Plutarch’s Alcibiades 34 he talks of the Plynteria festival at Athens. The name comes from the verb ‘to wash’ and refers to the ritual of undressing the statue of Athena Polias and then washed by being taken to the sea in a procession by the women of the genos Praxiergidai (Price and Kearns 2003:437). During that time the temple is closed off for the day and was seen as impure for the protector of the city was absent for a time due to the veiling of the statue once the clothes were removed. Plutarch says “the Athenians regard this day as the unluckiest of all days for business of any sort.” (Plut. Alc. 34.1) So when Alcibiades returned that day it was considered a very ill omen which shows how much power the Greeks gave to inanimate objects and how different to our religion today.

But again, as I’m sure you can see where I’m going, I’ve been thinking, maybe dangerously, of Christian parallels which show that the Greeks weren’t too far away from us and how Christianity was influenced by the religions around it. So I have once again been looking at parallels between Mary and Athena. Mary acted as a mediator between the divine and earthly realms due to the belief of her ascension into heaven. A particular place where the cult of Mary took hold is Constantinople as a result of relics that has been collected there, such as “her robe, girdle, shroud and the swaddling clothes in which Christ rested against her breast” (Coleman 2006/7:397). These became important relics to the city and achieved more and more attention in ceremonies so in 626 C.E a procession was made around the walls with an icon of Mary to help defend them against attack (Ibid 397). Indeed a cult statue to Mary is still paraded round Rome today as part of the May devotions.

It can be seen that both these protective deities hold great cultural and political power within their own cities, indeed Plutarch tells us that Alcibiades guards the procession of Athena Polias with his own cavalry to make up for the bad luck surrounding his return to the city on that exact day (Plu. Alc.34). Therefore once again I see the links surrounding the two religions, though I will have to admit that this one is more contrived than the others were and is not quite part of my upbringing but as a result of my interest in this topic. Maybe I’m just falling into the trap of seeing what I want to see. 

Bibliography

•          Coleman, Simon. “Mary: Images and Objects.” In Beattie, Tina and Boss, Sarah Jane. Eds. Mary: The Complete Resource. Continuum International Publishing. London.
•          Parker, Robert (2011) On Greek Religion. Cornwell University Press. Ithaca.
•          Plutarch. Translated by Perrin, Bernadotte. (1916) Plutarch Lives. William Heinemann Ltd. London. (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0006%3Achapter%3D34%3Asection%3D1 Last accessed 25^th March 2013)
•          Price, Simon and Kearns, Emily, eds. (2003) The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth & Religion. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
  
  
  

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