Women in the Thesmophoria
The Thesmophoria were a religious festival dedicated to Demeter, the goddess of harvest and fertility, and her daughter Persephone. It was celebrated probably as early as the 11th century, even before the Ionian migration into Greece.
It was a fertility festival to ensure fertile land and good harvest. The three-day festival took place in the Greek month Pyanepsion, corresponding to October. Only women who were married to citizens were allowed to participate. Nine days before the start of the Thesmophoria, the women began preparations for it. For these nine days, they abstained from sexual intercourse, sleeping alone and eating garlic, to keep the men away. They also drank an extract from the lygos plant, which incited their menstruation. During the festival, the women went to live in huts, outside of the city.
Outline of the festival
During the first day of the festival, which was called Anodos, meaning uprise, they buried pigs’ carcasses in a large pit in the ground, and from this pit they brought up the carcasses they buried the year before. (Fig. 1)
The second day was called Nesteia, fasting. On this day, the women fasted and only ate pomegranate seeds. They mixed the rotten pig flesh with seeds, and this they placed on a big altar. They also did not speak most of the day. At sunset, the fast and the silence was broken with ritual cakes in the shapes of female genitalia and the women made ritual, obscene jokes about men.
The third day was called Kalligeneia, which means fair birth, reflecting the fertility of women. On this day the women sang ritual songs. The older women went up to the altar to take the mixed flesh and seeds, and then each woman buried a portion of it in the fields.
During the first day of the festival, which was called Anodos, meaning uprise, they buried pigs’ carcasses in a large pit in the ground, and from this pit they brought up the carcasses they buried the year before. (Fig. 1)
The second day was called Nesteia, fasting. On this day, the women fasted and only ate pomegranate seeds. They mixed the rotten pig flesh with seeds, and this they placed on a big altar. They also did not speak most of the day. At sunset, the fast and the silence was broken with ritual cakes in the shapes of female genitalia and the women made ritual, obscene jokes about men.
The third day was called Kalligeneia, which means fair birth, reflecting the fertility of women. On this day the women sang ritual songs. The older women went up to the altar to take the mixed flesh and seeds, and then each woman buried a portion of it in the fields.
Research and interpretations
For a long time, scholars only researched the Thesmophoria as a fertility festival, connecting the burying and exhumation of dead pigs to the myth of Demeter and Persephone. In this myth, Persephone is abducted by Hades, to be his wife in the underworld. Demeter misses her daughter so much that nature withers and crops die. In the end, the gods reach an agreement in which Persephone gets to stay half of the year with her mother, but the other half of the year she has to stay with Hades in the underworld. (Fig. 2) This explains the existence of the seasons. Scholars saw parallels between the pigs in the large pit and Persephone in the underworld, and the silence of the second day reflected Demeters mourning for her daughter. The obscene jokes were to commemmorate Iambe, a servant who tried to cheer up Demeter when she was utterly sad.
Since the 1970ies, research has been focused more on other meanings of the Thesmophoria, like the way the position of women was reflected and they way women were construed in polis ideology. This is also what I’m going to investigate: what did the Thesmophoria reveal about the position of women in ancient Greek society? In order to do this I will look at the festival in several Greek cities, in the classical period (roughly the fifth and fourth century BC). Research on this subject is difficult, because we don’t have many sources about the exact rituals of the Thesmophoria. That’s because in antiquity, there were not that many women who wrote, and the women had to remain silent about what they did during the festival anyway.
For a long time, scholars only researched the Thesmophoria as a fertility festival, connecting the burying and exhumation of dead pigs to the myth of Demeter and Persephone. In this myth, Persephone is abducted by Hades, to be his wife in the underworld. Demeter misses her daughter so much that nature withers and crops die. In the end, the gods reach an agreement in which Persephone gets to stay half of the year with her mother, but the other half of the year she has to stay with Hades in the underworld. (Fig. 2) This explains the existence of the seasons. Scholars saw parallels between the pigs in the large pit and Persephone in the underworld, and the silence of the second day reflected Demeters mourning for her daughter. The obscene jokes were to commemmorate Iambe, a servant who tried to cheer up Demeter when she was utterly sad.
Since the 1970ies, research has been focused more on other meanings of the Thesmophoria, like the way the position of women was reflected and they way women were construed in polis ideology. This is also what I’m going to investigate: what did the Thesmophoria reveal about the position of women in ancient Greek society? In order to do this I will look at the festival in several Greek cities, in the classical period (roughly the fifth and fourth century BC). Research on this subject is difficult, because we don’t have many sources about the exact rituals of the Thesmophoria. That’s because in antiquity, there were not that many women who wrote, and the women had to remain silent about what they did during the festival anyway.
An important point in this research is that among the Greeks both women and fertility itself were associated with uncertainty. There were dangers connected to it, it was never certain whether the harvest would turn out fine, and the same goes for childbirth. Furthermore, women were regarded as unpredictable and unstable, so they had to take care of the obscure, mystic part of agriculture, which was the Thesmophoria. Men, however, could do the predictable, controllable part like sowing and harvesting. Fascinating here is the choice of pigs for the ritual: according to the ancient Greeks, pigs were the wildest of the domesticated animals, because they lived in the mud, in uncultivated ground, away from humans. And they were potentially hostile (they were prone to trample the harvest), just as women, who were emotionally unstable. They both had to be tamed. So women’s sexuality could help or harm, and through the Thesmophoria, the potential harmfulness was converted into a blessing.
Conclusions
The Thesmophoria reflected the way women were construed in the polis. They were precious and they were revered, but also belittled. Like they were wild animals, men believed women were mystic, unpredictable creatures with one special mystic force: procreation. That was why they were responsible for the Thesmophoria, which was a festival to ask Demeter and Persephone for fertile soils and good harvests. The women had to exclude themselves and leave the city in order to perform their mystic ritual. The men of the polis did the earthly stuff like sowing and harvesting, because men were rational. Women were necessary to produce legitimate polis citizens, sons, but also regarded as strange and dangerous. Through the Thesmophoria, the potential female harmfulness was neutralized and at the same time, good crops were secured.
The Thesmophoria reflected the way women were construed in the polis. They were precious and they were revered, but also belittled. Like they were wild animals, men believed women were mystic, unpredictable creatures with one special mystic force: procreation. That was why they were responsible for the Thesmophoria, which was a festival to ask Demeter and Persephone for fertile soils and good harvests. The women had to exclude themselves and leave the city in order to perform their mystic ritual. The men of the polis did the earthly stuff like sowing and harvesting, because men were rational. Women were necessary to produce legitimate polis citizens, sons, but also regarded as strange and dangerous. Through the Thesmophoria, the potential female harmfulness was neutralized and at the same time, good crops were secured.
Sources
Top Image:
Francis Davis Millet, Thesmophoria (1894-1897), Brigham Young University Museum of Art. Retrieved 12-12-'13.
http://shapingamerica.byu.edu/gallery/thesmophoria/
Figure 1:
Red-figure lecythus showing a young woman about to throw a pig in a pit (Fifth century B.C.) National Archeological Museum, Athens. Retrieved 12-12-'13.
http://travelswithpersephone.blogspot.nl/2011/08/goddesses-in-dirt-thesmophoria-women.html
Figure 2:
Frederick Leighton, The Return of Persephone (1891) Leeds Art Gallery. Retrieved 12-12-'13.
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/prec/www/course/mythology/0700/dionysus.htm
Literary sources:
Chlup, R., ‘The Semantics of Fertility, Levels of Meaning in the Thesmophoria,’ Kernos 20 (2007) 69-95.
De Shong Meador, B., ‘The Thesmophoria: A women’s ritual,’ Psychological Perspective: A Quarterly Journal of Jungian Thought 1 (1986) 35-45.
Stallsmith, A.B., ‘The Name of Demeter Thesmophoros,’ Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 48 (2008) 115-131.
Written By CvdH
Top Image:
Francis Davis Millet, Thesmophoria (1894-1897), Brigham Young University Museum of Art. Retrieved 12-12-'13.
http://shapingamerica.byu.edu/gallery/thesmophoria/
Figure 1:
Red-figure lecythus showing a young woman about to throw a pig in a pit (Fifth century B.C.) National Archeological Museum, Athens. Retrieved 12-12-'13.
http://travelswithpersephone.blogspot.nl/2011/08/goddesses-in-dirt-thesmophoria-women.html
Figure 2:
Frederick Leighton, The Return of Persephone (1891) Leeds Art Gallery. Retrieved 12-12-'13.
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/prec/www/course/mythology/0700/dionysus.htm
Literary sources:
Chlup, R., ‘The Semantics of Fertility, Levels of Meaning in the Thesmophoria,’ Kernos 20 (2007) 69-95.
De Shong Meador, B., ‘The Thesmophoria: A women’s ritual,’ Psychological Perspective: A Quarterly Journal of Jungian Thought 1 (1986) 35-45.
Stallsmith, A.B., ‘The Name of Demeter Thesmophoros,’ Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 48 (2008) 115-131.
Written By CvdH