Choruses of Young Women in Ancient Greece - Their Morphology, Religous Role, and Social Functions

In this groundbreaking work, Claude Calame argues that the songs sung by choruses of young girls in ancient Greek poetry are more than literary texts; rather, they functioned as initiatory rituals in Greek cult practices. Using semiotic and anthropologic theory, Calame reconstructs the religious and social institutions surrounding the songs, demonstrating their function in an aesthetic education that permitted the young girls to achieve the stature of womanhood and to be integrated into the adult civic community. This first English edition includes an updated bibliography.

About the author

Claude Calame is professor of Greek language and literature at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

Summary

This work argues that the songs sung by choruses of young girls in ancient Greek poetry functioned as initiatory rituals in Greek cult practices. Using semiotic and anthropologic theory, the author reconstructs the religious and social institutions surrounding the songs.

Product details

• Authors: Claude Calame, Calame Claude
• Assisted by: Derek Collins (Translation), Collins Derek (Translation), Janice Orion (Translation), Orion Janice (Translation)
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 13.06.2001
• EAN: 9780742515246
• ISBN: 978-0-7425-1524-6
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 234 mm x 22 mm
• Weight: 508 g
• Series: Greek Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches; Taking Your Camera To...; Greek Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches; Greek Studies: Interdisciplina
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women's Studies, LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, LITERARY CRITICISM / Women Authors, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, Literary studies: poetry & poets, Gender studies: women, Gender studies: women and girls, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Literary studies: poetry and poets