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59-469: The festival celebrated the beginning of spring, particularly the maturing of the wine stored at the previous vintage, whose pithoi (storage-jars) were now ceremoniously opened. During the feast, social order was interrupted or inverted, the slaves being allowed to participate, uniting the household in ancient fashion. The Anthesteria also had aspects of a festival of the dead : either the Keres ( Κῆρες ) or

118-483: A festival of the dead . Fruit or cooked pulse was offered to Hermes in his capacity as Hermes Chthonios, an underworld figure, and to the souls of the dead, who were then bidden to depart. None of the Olympians were included and no one tasted the pottage , which was food of the dead. Celebration continued and games were held. Although no performances were allowed at the theater, a sort of rehearsal took place, at which

177-453: A certain ambiguity of meaning as to whether actual rope was used to physically impress them, or they are merely intended to visually resemble rope. If the pithos was small enough to stand in a conspicuous location, the bands were further divided into polychrome geometric patterns, such as a checkerboard or chevrons , or painted panel or band scenes, often in relief. These scenes are in no way inferior to those of other painted pots; in fact,

236-411: A derivation from Proto-Indo European *bhidh- , "container", that followed all the rules of language change and moreover was related to Latin fiscus , "purse", from which English obtains "fiscal". Regardless of the real derivation, a pithos certainly seems to be a large purse containing economic goods in quantity. The derivation would have been elegant, tracing fiscality back to prehistoric Greece, it

295-400: A factor of the cube of 3.542, or 44.438, which would be 1804 liters. The capacity of the 170 cm pot, however, is 996 liters, half the amount estimated using the cube, and that is generally true of the several pots for which Younger lists heights. An exponent of 2.53 estimates the increase in capacity, which means that, at least for these vases, the potters did not add to the diameter to keep

354-441: A line or two of Linear A . Perhaps pithos derives from a Linear A word. Ventris and Chadwick do not exclude fiscus from necessarily being related to pithos , they only point out that, if such is the derivation, the process is more complex than previously thought. A study done in 2003 by John Younger used a computer program, "vase", to calculate the maximum capacity of an LM I pithos, catalog number ZA Zb 3. The program required

413-501: A placement as professor of classical philology at Technische Universität Berlin (1966–1969), and as guest professor at Harvard University for a year (1968). The start of a new era began in 1981 when his work of ancient Greek religious anthropology, Homo Necans (1972), was published in an Italian translation, followed in 1983 by an English translation. The book is today considered an outstanding account of concepts in Greek religion. He

472-458: A purchase for some sort of harness used in lifting the jar with a crane. Pithoi were manufactured and exported or imported over the entire Mediterranean. They were used most heavily in the Bronze Age palace economy for storing or shipping wine, olive oil, or various types of vegetable products for distribution to the populace served by the palace administration. Consequently, they became known to

531-409: A purchase in sufficient numbers in the space around the jar to effect even a simple lift. From the physical point of view, at least for these multi-ton pithoi, J. L. Stokes' view that they were "unmoveable furniture, being in general, either wholly or partially sunk in the ground", is most likely accurate. Currently at Knossos some empty pithoi have been placed standing in passageways, such as those of

590-530: Is cognate with Sanskrit andhas (' soma plant') and may have referred to the 'bloom' of the grape vine . The Cambridge ritualist A. W. Verrall , however, glossed the name as a Feast of Revocation ( ἀναθέσσασθαι , anathessasthai , to "pray up") in reference to the aspects of the festival where the dead were considered to walk among the living. Harrison also regarded the Anthesteria as primarily concerned with placating ancestral spirits. Athenians of

649-425: Is based on the cube of the percentage of change in height; that is, if the diameter doubles when the height doubles, then the resulting volume ought to be 8 times the previous volume, the cube of two. Younger gives several heights of pots with associated volumes. The smallest listed with height is 40.6 liters at 48 cm high. If the height increases by a factor of 3.542 to 170 cm, the volume should increase by

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708-442: Is debatable. Slack rope lifts nothing; moreover, a rope around the neck of the pithos for lifting would only concentrate the weight on the neck, probably shattering it. Multiple lugs, loops and handles indicate that for lifting purposes some sort of harness to distribute the weight must have been used. These rope-like waves of pattern, regardless of the potter's possible intent, have been termed "rope patterns" or "rope decoration", with

767-707: The Balzan Prize for the Study of the Ancient World), he retired as an emeritus in 1996. He died in Zürich , aged 84. Three of his most important academic works (a selection from seventeen books and two hundred essays, including encyclopedia contributions and memorabilia), which are still at the base of the study of Hellenic religion, are Homo Necans (1972, English 1983), Greek Religion (1977, English 1985), and Ancient Mystery Cults (1982 lectures, published 1987). In his preface to

826-636: The Universities of Erlangen and Munich (1950–1954), and obtained his doctorate in philosophy at Erlangen in 1955. Following his marriage, he became an assistant in course teaching at Erlangen for five years (1957–1961) and, then returned to his former university as lecturer for another five years (until 1966). From early 1965 he worked as a junior fellow in the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. for one year. The first academic era of his life ended with

885-422: The basilinna , underwent a ceremony of marriage to the god . She was assisted by the gerarai , 14 Athenian matrons chosen by her husband the archon basileus , who were sworn to secrecy. Burkert regarded the ceremony as a recreation of the yielding of Ariadne to Dionysus by Theseus during their escape from Crete. The third day was Chytroi ( Χύτροι , Khýtroi , lit.  'The Pots'),

944-493: The Carians ( Κᾶρες ) were entertained, freely roaming the city until they were expelled after the festival. However, the word Keres is often used to refer spirits of evil instead of the dead. A Greek proverb, employed of those who pestered for continued favors, ran "Out of doors, Keres! It is no longer Anthesteria". The name is usually connected with anthes- ( ἀνθεσ- ), the combining form of anthos ( ἄνθος , 'flower'). This

1003-621: The Classical age were aware that the festival was of great antiquity. Its ritual marriage of a queen to Dionysus recalls myths concerning Theseus and Ariadne , but this is no longer considered a dependable sign that the festival had been celebrated in the Minoan period. Since the festival was celebrated by Athens and all the Ionian cities, however, it is assumed that it must have preceded the Ionian migration of

1062-492: The English translation of Homo Necans Burkert, who characterised himself on this occasion as "a philologist who starts from ancient Greek texts and attempts to find biological, psychological and sociological explanations for religious phenomena", expressed some of the principles underlying a book that had seemed somewhat revolutionary to German readers in 1972 in its consistent application of inter-relationships of myth and ritual,

1121-496: The Homeric epics the Iliad and Odyssey , onlooking women raise a cry of worship ( ololugma ) at this point in the ritual . After the animal is skinned and cut into pieces, the inner parts are tasted and shared, and a part burned on the altar with incense. The remainder is roasted and eaten by all participants present. If the entrails are of normal shape and color, it is an omen that

1180-438: The animal's head and into the altar fire. A lock of hair from the animal is then cut and burned, libation being poured on the altar with prayer. After silence is proclaimed, the music of flutes begins and the animal is slain. The larger animals were killed with a sacrificial axe. The head is turned toward the heavens, and the throat cut. The blood then spreads on the altar and is caught in a vessel. In early literary sources such as

1239-468: The application to texts of the kind of functionalism espoused in Jane Ellen Harrison 's Themis and the use of structuralism to elucidate an ethology of Greek religion, its social aspect. Burkert confirmed that an impetus for his book had come from Konrad Lorenz , On Aggression , "which seemed to offer new insight into the disquieting manifestations of violence." The book argues that solidarity

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1298-513: The bones of the interred were placed in pithoi. The ancient Iberian culture of El Argar used pithoi for coffins in its B phase (1500–1300 BC). The external shape and materials were approximately the same: a ceramic jar about as high as a man, a base for standing, sides nearly straight or generously curved, and a large mouth with a lid, sealed for shipping. Jars of this size could not be handled by individuals, especially when full. Various numbers of handles, lugs, or some combination thereof, gave

1357-411: The considerable weights of the containers, the total weights can be estimated at 150 to 420 kg. Equipment for hauling to the ship and lowering into the hold must have been used. A Middle Bronze Age wreck of a small cargo ship off Sheytan Deresi (Devil's Creek), on the southwestern coast of Turkey, also was carrying pithoi, 3 "strap-handled" and 4 "handleless", of "ovoid-conical" form. The main cargo

1416-421: The deck in the hold. Some sort of hold-fast scaffolding must have been designed to keep the cargo from shifting with disastrous results, except that a disaster did occur. All ancient civilizations had standards of weights and measures, which were used extensively in the distribution of goods. As is true today, the standards were set by law. Enforcement of them was a function of government. Pottery, as containers of

1475-409: The density of water. The pithoi were not the chief cargo, which was 10 tons of copper ingots. The ship carried the load easily, with a draft of 1 m. The pithoi were comparatively light, with an estimated total mass of 2.7 tonnes. Not all contained liquid; a few were the first known packing crates, containing fine pottery. Fragments of lids were also found. Empty weights were obtained for all but two of

1534-410: The drawing of a profile on the computer screen and the entry of a parameter—Younger used height—which in this case was 1.7 m (5.6 ft). "Vase" computed 996 liters , which is slightly too great, because it was based on external dimensions. At the density of pure water , 1 kg per litre , the contents of a full pithos would weigh about a tonne . Moreover, the pithos selected was not among

1593-487: The festive character of the ceremonies predominated. The second day was Choës ( Χοαί , Khoaí , lit.  'The Pouring'). Merrymaking continued: people dressed themselves gaily, some in the figures of Dionysus's entourage, and paid a round of visits to their acquaintances. Drinking clubs held contests to see who could drain their cups the most rapidly. These competitions were done in silence and slaves were also allowed to participate. Others poured libations on

1652-470: The goods distributed, was designed to planned capacities for specific purposes, which is the reason why pottery is so useful in archaeology as indicators of period and why standard types can be detected at all. All Bronze Age records of goods refer intentionally to the type, capacity and contents of ceramic storage and shipping vessels. Ventris and Chadwick devoted much of Documents in Mycenaean Greek to

1711-555: The heart of religion, on mystery religions, and on the reception in the Hellenic world of Near Eastern and Persian culture , which sets Greek religion in its wider Aegean and Near Eastern context. Burkert was born in Neuendettelsau . He married Maria Bosch in 1957 and they had three children, Reinhard, Andrea and Cornelius. He died on 11 March 2015 in Zürich , Switzerland. He studied classical philology , history, and philosophy at

1770-413: The intended use. Pithoi designed for marine transportation were generally not decorated. They must have been stored in a warehouse. Storage pithoi, however, might be viewed in residential and administrative locations. The neck and shoulders were generally decorated, which is consistent with a partially subterranean location. All the large pithoi featured circumferential bands of thicker clay strengthening

1829-457: The joints where sections of the pithos were lowered onto each other and fused together. The raised band concept was expanded over the upper body to a repeating circumferential pattern, incised or stamped at first, then rolled with a seal-like roller around the body of the pithos while it was still fresh clay. Some common themes are spirals, meanders, and waves. Waves in relief give the appearance of slack rope; whether they were intended to be that

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1888-407: The large pithoi at Knossos, with smaller mouths relative to the body. The heights are approximately 50% of the heights at Knossos. The dependency of the capacity on height was approximately given by Heron , a 1st-century engineer. He is credited with a number of formulae, all called "Heron's formula." As far as pottery is concerned, he divided pots into spheroid and pithoid, all the larger ones being

1947-407: The large pithoi were sunk into the floor in the storage rooms, as the archaeological evidence indicates they were, their weight and bulk raise a question of how they were brought there. Handling of a full pithos except by extensive apparatus of tracks and cranes, of which there is no evidence, is unlikely. They were perhaps brought in empty, set in place, and then filled from smaller pithoi with some of

2006-400: The largest. On similar studies of some other pithoi mentioned by Ventris and Chadwick, he obtained volumes such as 1430.5 liters, 1377.5 liters, 1334.7 liters, and so on, with full weights in excess of two tons. Dry goods would be much less dense, but even half the density, a weight of about a ton, is far beyond any handling operations by individuals, or teams of individuals, who could not obtain

2065-487: The late eleventh or early tenth century BC. This still makes it the oldest datable part of the Eleusinian Mysteries . The first day was Pithoigia ( Πιθοίγια , lit.  'The Jar-Opening'). The jars of wine ( pithoi ) from the previous year were opened, libations offered to Dionysus , and the entire household (including slaves ) joining in the festivities. Spring flowers were used to decorate

2124-437: The latter type, taking this classification from work done previously and appearing in the writings of Archimedes . The volume of a pithoid, which can be either a pithos or an amphora , is dependent, he asserts, on 11/14 of the product of the height and a number representing a squared average of minimum and maximum diameters. There has been some controversy about what geometric figure this formula represents. The manuscript gives

2183-589: The modern public as pithoi when western classical archaeologists adopted the term to mean the jars uncovered by excavation of Minoan palaces on Crete and Mycenaean ones on mainland Greece . The term has now been adopted into the English language as a general word for a storage jar from any culture. Along with this universality has come a problem of distinguishing the smaller pithoi from other types of pottery. Many ceramics are not any easily classifiable shape. If they were used for transportation or storage, they are likely to be called pithoi, even though they are not

2242-535: The modern way the findings of archaeology and epigraphy with the work of poets, historians, and philosophers. He was a member of both the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . He published books on the balance between lore and science among the followers of Pythagoras , and more extensively on ritual and archaic cult survival, on the ritual killing at

2301-546: The more extensive surfaces allowed more detail. Walter Burkert Walter Burkert ( German: [ˈbʊɐ̯kɐt] ; 2 February 1931 – 11 March 2015) was a German scholar of Greek mythology and cult . A professor of classics at the University of Zurich , Switzerland, he taught in the UK and the US. He has influenced generations of students of religion since the 1960s, combining in

2360-479: The numerous bucket-type pottery. The problem of handling large pithoi also raises questions of shipping. However, large pithoi are not found in the few shipwrecks of merchant vessels from the Bronze Age. In a recent study of the lading of the ship wrecked at Uluburun in the Late Bronze Age, Lin hypothesizes a cargo of about 20 tons, including 10 pithoi at 3.5 tons, or 0.35 tons each, if filled with fluid at about

2419-550: The pithoi. Pithos KW 255 could be modelled to obtain an estimated volume of 293 liters at an empty weight of 120.25 kg, the highest of the 8. The lowest empty weight, that of KW 250, was 43 kg. Assuming a direct proportion between capacity and empty weight, the smallest capacity would have been about 105 litre. This approximate data from the wreck suggests that pithoi were in fact shipped, but only those of much smaller capacity. The pithoi of Uluburun, if full of liquid, would still have been too heavy for manual handling. Including

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2478-565: The players for the ensuing dramatic festival were selected. Attribution: Pithoi Pithos ( / ˈ p ɪ θ ɒ s / , Ancient Greek : πίθος , plural: pithoi πίθοι ) is the Greek name of a large storage container. The term in English is applied to such containers used among the civilizations that bordered the Mediterranean Sea in the Neolithic , the Bronze Age and

2537-413: The ritual with myth. Firstly, under the direction of the priest, priestess, father, mother (at least, in certain women's rites like Thesmophoria ), or king, a basket containing the utensils and a bowl of water were placed around the altar. The participants then dipped their hands into the consecrated water, and sprinkled it on the altar, victim and offerer. Salted-barley corns from the basket were thrown on

2596-425: The role of poetic creation and re-creation are set aside "in order to confront the power and effect of tradition as fully as possible". The term gods , Burkert concludes, remains fluid, whereas sacrifice is a fact (p. xv). In 1985, Burkert used ancient sources (both literary and visual representations) to put together some of the pieces of how ancient Greek sacrificial ritual actually proceeded, and to link together

2655-594: The rooms of the house, the home's drinking vessels, and any children over three years of age. The days on which the Pithoigia and Choës were celebrated were both regarded as apophrades ( ἀποφράδες , 'unlucky'; Latin equivalent nefasti ) and miarai ( μιαραί , 'defiled'), necessitating expiatory libations. On them, the souls of the dead came up from the underworld and walked abroad. People chewed leaves of hawthorn or buckthorn and besmeared their doors with tar to protect themselves from evil. Nonetheless,

2714-539: The rules of reconstructing Mycenaean Greek from Linear B, qe-to must be a transcription of q ethos or q hethos , from a "base" of *g hedh- . The latter is similar to some Indo-European roots but has no meaningful connection to any. Ventris and Chadwick suggest that either qe-to was not a pithos, but was some smaller vessel, or that pithos is a foreign loan, like aryballos , lekythos , and some others. The Cretan pithos precedes by several hundred years any mentioned in Mycenaean Greek; moreover, many are inscribed with

2773-507: The sacrifice is acceptable to the gods. In both the Iliad and Odyssey , as well as other early sources such as the Homeric Hymn to Hermes , the priest or sacrifice-leader wrapped the thigh pieces in fat and burned them on the altar. The tail and back, along with other bones and pieces with less meat left over were burned with a libation. After this procedure, it was then that the worshippers shared

2832-490: The same proportion between diameter and height; the larger vases were made thinner. If Younger's data can be taken as reflecting general truth, then the vases at Sheytan Deresi should have capacities that are greater than 40.6 liters by a factor of 1.875 , or 4.91, where 1.875 is 90/48. The capacity is thus 4.91 x 40.6 = about 200 liters, or 440 pounds if water is the content. These pithoi also are too large for handling without equipment, and may even have required strengthening of

2891-551: The size of the palace pithoi, and even though the forms might well have fit other types. Reconciliation of pre-classical pottery types with classical types has long been a problem of classical archaeology. Pithos has two irreconcilable derivations, classical and Mycenaean. On the one hand, it was a well-used word of the Iron Age in Greece, dating to as early as the works of Homer . Julius Pokorny and other professional linguists developed

2950-405: The square of the average of minimum and maximum diameters. Vodolazhskaya points out that if the average of the squares is used instead, the formula applies to a truncated paraboloid of revolution. She proposes that the manuscript was corrupted. According to either version of Heron's formula, if height and diameter change proportionately, a change in height ought to result in a change in volume that

3009-413: The storerooms. This is a convention of display. Apart from the fact that they would seriously have impeded the dimly-lit corridors, there would have been no way to access them except by scaffold. They must have been originally placed in the pits of the storerooms, except possibly for the smaller and more easily accessed ones. There is also a question of stability. Only some were of a stable barrel-shape. If

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3068-559: The succeeding Iron Age . Pithoi were used for bulk storage, primarily for fluids and grains; they were comparable to the drums, barrels and casks of recent times. The name was different in other languages; for instance, the Hittites used harsi- . Secondarily, discarded pithoi found other uses. Like the ceramic bathtubs of some periods, the size of a pithos made it a convenient coffin. In Middle Helladic burials in Mycenae and Crete , sometimes

3127-536: The tombs of deceased relatives. The day also marked a state occasion: a peculiarly solemn and secret ceremony in the sanctuary of Dionysus 'in the marshes' ( ἐν λίμναις , en límnais ), which was closed throughout the rest of the year. Despite the name, there were no actual marshes in the immediate surroundings of Athens and the sanctuary was located in the Bouleuterion in the Athenian Agora . Athens' ritual queen,

3186-618: The topic of quantifiable measures. They and others were able to define a Mycenaean Greek dry unit of 96 liter and a wet unit of 36 liter. John Younger calculated the number of Mycenaean wet and dry units (96.1 L and 28.8 L, resp.) in the capacities of 300 pots of known dimensions, including several storage pithoi. He attempted to assign the volumes to integer or half-integer multiples of these units. Some pithoi were used for rituals and even for burial. The decor of those pithoi differed significantly from ones used for transportation and storage in warehouses. Decorations would have been used to match

3245-456: Was achieved among the Greeks through a sacred crime with due reparations: "for the strange prominence of animal slaughter in ancient religion this still seems to be the most economical, and most humane explanation" (p. xv). Its first chapter "Sacrifice as an Act of Killing" offers conclusions that are supported in the ensuing chapters through individual inquiries into myth, festival and ritual, in which

3304-610: Was professor of classical philology at the University of Zurich (1969–1996); visiting professor of classical literature at the University of California for two years (1977 and 1988); lecturer at Harvard in 1982; dean of the philosophical faculty I at Zürich (1986–1988); and presented the Gifford Lectures at the University of St Andrews in Scotland (1989). After holding these posts and receiving numerous honorary awards (including, in 1990,

3363-492: Was proposed to appear as 𐀤𐀵 , qe-to , in the Bronze Age records of Pylos and Mycenae , denoted by Ideogram 203 𐃢 , a small picture very similar to some Knossos pithoi, but which could just as well be matched by smaller pottery. Strangely enough it was not found at Knossos , a major find site of pithoi. It was duly transcribed as WINE JAR in Bennett's system, on the presumption that it would store primarily wine. According to

3422-460: Was those and other ceramics. The contents of the pithoi are not known. The handles are two parallel loops on either side of the mouth projecting slightly above it. The vases are now in the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology . The dimensions of most of the pithoi are of the same order of magnitude. One has a height of 0.9 m and a body height of 0.84 m. The shapes are roughly similar to those of

3481-612: Was thought, taking its place with oikos , "house", the origin word for economic , and others. At that time Greek and Latin were believed to have had a common ancestor other than Proto-Indo-European. Contemporaneously with Pokorny's epic dictionary, Linear B was first being deciphered, and various analyses were being put forward that Greek and Latin were not all that similar. There was no need to prove that developments in Latin were necessarily parallel to those in Greek. If bh- became f- in Latin, it would not necessarily do so in Greek. The pithos

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