CLST 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Deme, Eleusinian Mysteries, Ritual Purification

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Classical Studies
• Course: CLST 102
• Professor: Fabio Colivicchi

Document Summary

Dike= justice according to the established rules. Gods do not give rules to humans to govern human societies. It is primarily a human responsibility to set up those rules. Rules and order of the kosmos are in the gods" interest. Hippolytos: i wish the gods were subject to men"s curse. Not even followers of the gods were safe: the hunter aktaion is destroyed by his patron goddess artemis for having seen her bathing by chance. In general, men and women who transgressed their obligations towards the gods were expected to be punished by them. The offenses that were considered especially serious and could cause the anger of the gods were, besides not paying proper respect to the gods, also harming vulnerable people who were not protected by their community. Other than an ill-defined and limited idea of morality, what concerned the gods the most was homicide, which caused severe pollution and threatened the whole community.