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  • This thesis will consider the sound atmosphere (including cries, speech, noises and moments of silence) and music in the cults of the Great Mother, Dionysus and Demeter in Archaic and Classical Greece and their roles and meanings. Until recently, the audible component of Greek cults has rarely been considered by historical reconstructions. However, it played a fundamental role both in ritual practice and tales. These two expressions of religion – ritual practice and tales – are inextricably linked in ancient storytelling, just as representations inspired by the rituals are rife with imaginary elements. Examining different types of sources – of which the literary works and painted vases are the most numerous and enlightening – and considering the various cultural ingredients (tales and ritual practice, the imaginary and the real) as a coherent whole can provide insight into the phonosphere unique to each god in striking ways. This comprehensive approach leads to a better understanding of the religious experience of the Greeks, including certain phenomena that remain controversial today, such as maenadism and ecstatic ritual. The sources reveal that through their communicative power, music, sounds and silence filled specific functions in the ritual practices and tales. While some sounds and music were intended to please the god and hence gain favour, others bearing the god’s sonic signature held sway over mortals during rituals as a moment of personal contact with the divine. In certain cases, this aural sway could bring healing and a balancing of internal instability. Moreover, the sound vocabulary found in the literature almost invariably carries meaning that makes it possible to recognize the world and divine figures it describes. Cataloguing the sound vocabularies of individual cults/deities helps identify the relationships between certain gods. This in turn can clarify interpretations of certain passages in the literature. Similarly, research on musical instruments reveals tastes and trends, which could be attributed to the significant 5 changes in the religious and political spheres of Athens in the late 5th century BC. For example, the progressive introduction of the tympanum to the Dionysian world starting in the first half of the 5th century BC suggests that Athenians appropriated the cult of the Great Mother and the instrument most commonly associated with it. This observation, based on contemporary accounts, corroborates the distinction Athenians made between an ancestral religion and an “additional” multifaceted one. In that respect, investigating the sound atmosphere in these cults improves our understanding of not only the cults themselves, but also Athenian society as a whole and the milestone events that shaped it. Studying the sounds and their place and function in ritual practice and tales deepens our knowledge of Greek religion and the methods of communication it established between the realms of mortals and the gods. It also allows us to better characterize the social and cultural environments in which it developed

Dernière mise à jour depuis la base de données : 18/07/2025 13:00 (EDT)

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