CLA204H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Thesmophoria, Glossary Of Ancient Roman Religion, Myrrh
Document Summary
A separate festival for demeter is the thesmophoria, celebrated yearly throughout greece. The cult of persephone is connected to dionysus in orphism. Often opposed by scholars to the adonia: e. g. m. detienne, the gardens of adonis (1972) Celebration of the return of persephone and celebration of a possible afterlife, only married women could participate. Lemnian women and women in adonia are two extremes (disunion between two sexes versus union, genital smell versus perfume) Myth associated with lemnian festival lemnian women did not worship aphrodite, so aphrodite made the women"s genitals smell causing their men to look for women elsewhere, they got jealous and killed their husbands. Image= persephone (not popular theme in visual art even though it is popular in poetry) Social status of women courtesans and concubines lawful wives. Botanical code frankincense and myrrh all excluded, even the husbands continence agnus castus (monk"s pepper) Food excessive use of perfumes slight smell of fasting feasting fasting.
