La ricerca mira ad indagare le cerimonie dionisiache -ed in particolare quelle femminili praticate entro i confini della casa- nell’età tardo-repubblicana e proto-imperiale, allo scopo di valutarne i diversi aspetti, nonché l’eventuale significato politico. Si è partiti dal presupposto che il Dionisismo fu utilizzato in chiave politica sin dal primo ellenismo per fornire al potere simbologie di regalità utilizzabili in chiave propagandistica. Inoltre alcune cerimonie dionisiache, sia in Grecia che a Roma, erano celebrate dai sommi magistrati in favore della cittadinanza. In Atene, ad esempio, è famosa la cerimonia dionisiaca in casa dell’arconte Basileus, in occasione della festa delle Antesterie. Partendo da queste riflessioni preliminari, si sono prese in esame alcune cerimonie dionisiache o di carattere dionisiaco a Roma, se ne è valutato il rapporto con la sfera pubblica, cercando di creare una griglia metodologica in cui classificare la documentazione archeologica e letteraria, a seconda del valore religioso, dei soggetti implicati, dei destinatari dei monumenti e di altre opere di soggetto dionisiaco. Sulla base di una serie di distinzioni preliminari, necessarie per la valutazione di una grande quantità di materiale documentario di carattere eterogeneo, si è poi condotto un esame dettagliato di alcuni complessi architettonici romani e pompeiani di rilevante interesse dionisiaco. All’interno della cospicua documentazione presa in esame, si sono messi in evidenza soprattutto i cicli pittorici o in rilievo che presentano aspetti riconducibili a cerimonie misteriche o, quanto meno, segrete. In primis mi sono soffermata sul celebre ciclo dionisiaco della Villa dei Misteri, riguardo al quale ho fornito un’approfondita e aggiornata sintesi bibliografica. Le cerimonie echeggiate dai monumenti esaminati sono state comparate con quanto si conosce di vari rituali dionisiaci sia in Italia che nel mondo greco. Questo soprattutto al fine di valutare la eventuale pertinenza delle cerimonie indagate con riti la cui celebrazione spettava alle classi dirigenti delle città. In secondo luogo, sono state valutate anche le possibili contaminazioni con i riti egizi, che fin dal V secolo a.C. erano rapportati ai riti in onore di Dioniso e di Demetra. Dove possibile, inoltre, è stata esaminata la specificità della collocazione dei temi dionisiaci all’interno delle domus e delle villae romane. Una tassonomia precisa e ricorrente non è stata possibile, ma parimenti si sono tracciate numerose distinzioni utili fra spazi privati e spazi di rappresentanza. In base ai dati incrociati forniti dalle fonti letterarie e dalla ricorrente iconografia dell’incontro di Dioniso ed Arianna, è emerso che una tipologia molto diffusa di questa ritualità era quella della ierogamia dionisiaca, la cui versione in ambito romano era il rito di Bona Dea praticato in Dicembre nella casa del primo magistrato dell’Urbe. Una seconda tipologia di riti esclusivamente muliebri praticati in casa, dei quali, attraverso le iconografie e i dati cultuali (materiali votivi, epigrafi attestanti devozione privata), mi sembra di aver individuato una traccia, concerne pratiche devozionali in onore di una divinità preposta alla sfera femminile (maturità sessuale-matrimonio, gravidanza, parto), che sembra assumere ora i tratti di Cerere o Venere/Arianna, o di Iside, o di Hygeia, o di Ecate/Diana/Venere, o, per i temi della protezione materna, della maternità adottiva e del nutrimento, di Iuno o di Ino/Mater Matuta. Ho suggerito dunque che in questi riti vigesse il costume di identificarsi con questa o quella figura del mito, in base alle funzioni che si volevano mettere in evidenza: la maternità (Ino, Semele), il matrimonio (Arianna, Bona Dea, Venere), l’iniziazione delle fanciulle (Iuno, Diana, Onfale), la fertilità e la salute (Cerere, Hygeia e, ancora, Bona Dea). Inoltre, in base alla frequente comparsa nelle iconografie di cui mi sono occupata di personaggi appartenenti al mitico corteggio dionisiaco -quali Satiri, Menadi, Sileni- ho espresso la possibilità che in tali cerimonie fossero ingaggiate compagnie di “dionisiasti” professionisti sul modello della confraternita greca degli Iobacchi del Pireo, che coadiuvassero le donne nell’organizzazione dei riti. Un’analisi specifica e sistematica di questa cultualità muliebre entro i confini delle case private è ancora da sviluppare approfonditamente. Tuttavia mi sembra di aver dimostrato, restituendo a molte testimonianze pittoriche la rilevanza religiosa e rituale che ritengo esse abbiano, che siamo ancora molto lontani dall’aver chiarito tutti gli aspetti dei riti praticati dai Romani e dalle loro donne e, soprattutto, che non è possibile basare la nostra conoscenza sulle esclusive testimonianze letterarie, dal momento che le iconografie adombrano pratiche e temi altrimenti sconosciuti.
This research deals with Dionysiac rituals in the Late Roman Republic and at the beginning of the Imperial Age, with particular attention to those practiced by women, with the aim of evaluating the differing aspects and their possible political implications. I have started from the assumption that Dionysism was used as a means of political legitimacy since the dawn of Hellenism in order to confirm political authority by way of regal symbols. Moreover it is apparent that some Greek and Roman Dionysiac ceremonies were indeed celebrated by the most important urban magistrates for all citizens. The famous Dionysiac ceremony in the house of Archon Basileus in Athens during the urban festival of the Anthesteria is a good case in hand. From these considerations I made detailed analysis of certain Dionysiac ceremonies - and rituals of some Dionysiac character - in Rome, assessing their connection to the public sphere. I attempted to create a methodological grid in which I placed archaeological and literary evidence, considering religious implications, subjects within the documents and the public. Connections with further evidence of a Dionysiac nature were also studied. Starting from some preliminary distinctions, necessary in approaching such heterogeneous material, I analysed several important contexts in the Roman and Pompeian areas with a Dionysiac relevance. Among conspicuous material I gave particular consideration to frescoes and reliefs which appear connected to mysteries or, at least, to secret ceremonies. In primis I focused my attention on the famous Dionysiac fresco of the Villa dei Misteri, where I also provided an updated bibliography. Ceremonies represented within the frescoes examined were compared with what we do know about Dionysiac rituals in Italy and in the Greek world. My first aim was to evaluate possible connections with the rituals examined and those ceremonies performed by the urban upper classes. Secondly I studied potential influences upon the above mentioned practices from Egyptian rituals, which since the 5th century B. C. were compared to ceremonies in honour of Dionysus and Demeter. Where able, I attempted to recognize possible specificity regarding the location of Dionysiac themes within Roman domus and villae. Though a specific and recurrent taxonomy failed to materialize, many useful distinctions between private and public spaces in Roman houses were successfully made. According to the data gathered from literary fonts and recurrent iconography of the meeting of Dionysus and Ariadne, it became evident that a very common form of Dionysiac domestic rituals had the features of a Dionysiac hierogamy. Within the Roman world this holy marriage appeared in the rite of Bona Dea performed in December in the house of the first magistrate of Rome by his wife. I believe to have recognized a second form of female rites with a domestic character - from paintings, votive materials and private devotions - that concerns devotional practices in honour of a Goddess who presided over the female sphere (sexual maturity, pregnancy and childbirth). This Goddess could have aspects of Ceres, Venus/Ariadne, Isis, Hygeia, Hekate/Diana/Venus and, for themes of adoptive motherhood and nourishment, of Juno or of Ino/Mater Matuta. I suggest that the women involved in these rituals would identify themselves with these deities according to the function that they stressed: maternity (Ino, Semele); marriage (Ariadne, Bona Dea, Venus); initiation of the maidens (Juno, Diana, Omphale); fertility and health (Ceres, Hygeia and, again, Bona Dea). Moreover, given the frequent apparition in the iconography I studied of characters belonging to the mythical entourage of Dionysus, as Satyrs, Maenads and Silens, I expressed the possibility that in these ceremonies guilds of professionals similar to the Greek brotherhood of the Iobacchoi of the Piraeus were involved. Their role would have been to aid the women in the organizations of their ceremonies. A specific analysis of such female rites practiced in the heart of private houses is still to be thoroughly developed. And yet I believe to have demonstrated - stressing religious and ritual relevance of numerous Roman paintings - that we are as yet very far from a complete knowledge of every aspect of the rites practiced by the Romans and by their women, and above all that it is not possible to base our knowledge solely upon literary documents, given that many iconographies talk about themes and practices otherwise unknown.
Culti dionisiaci tra la tarda Repubblica e l'inizio dell'Impero: forme e valori attraverso l'iconografia
SCAPINI, Marianna
2012-01-01
Abstract
This research deals with Dionysiac rituals in the Late Roman Republic and at the beginning of the Imperial Age, with particular attention to those practiced by women, with the aim of evaluating the differing aspects and their possible political implications. I have started from the assumption that Dionysism was used as a means of political legitimacy since the dawn of Hellenism in order to confirm political authority by way of regal symbols. Moreover it is apparent that some Greek and Roman Dionysiac ceremonies were indeed celebrated by the most important urban magistrates for all citizens. The famous Dionysiac ceremony in the house of Archon Basileus in Athens during the urban festival of the Anthesteria is a good case in hand. From these considerations I made detailed analysis of certain Dionysiac ceremonies - and rituals of some Dionysiac character - in Rome, assessing their connection to the public sphere. I attempted to create a methodological grid in which I placed archaeological and literary evidence, considering religious implications, subjects within the documents and the public. Connections with further evidence of a Dionysiac nature were also studied. Starting from some preliminary distinctions, necessary in approaching such heterogeneous material, I analysed several important contexts in the Roman and Pompeian areas with a Dionysiac relevance. Among conspicuous material I gave particular consideration to frescoes and reliefs which appear connected to mysteries or, at least, to secret ceremonies. In primis I focused my attention on the famous Dionysiac fresco of the Villa dei Misteri, where I also provided an updated bibliography. Ceremonies represented within the frescoes examined were compared with what we do know about Dionysiac rituals in Italy and in the Greek world. My first aim was to evaluate possible connections with the rituals examined and those ceremonies performed by the urban upper classes. Secondly I studied potential influences upon the above mentioned practices from Egyptian rituals, which since the 5th century B. C. were compared to ceremonies in honour of Dionysus and Demeter. Where able, I attempted to recognize possible specificity regarding the location of Dionysiac themes within Roman domus and villae. Though a specific and recurrent taxonomy failed to materialize, many useful distinctions between private and public spaces in Roman houses were successfully made. According to the data gathered from literary fonts and recurrent iconography of the meeting of Dionysus and Ariadne, it became evident that a very common form of Dionysiac domestic rituals had the features of a Dionysiac hierogamy. Within the Roman world this holy marriage appeared in the rite of Bona Dea performed in December in the house of the first magistrate of Rome by his wife. I believe to have recognized a second form of female rites with a domestic character - from paintings, votive materials and private devotions - that concerns devotional practices in honour of a Goddess who presided over the female sphere (sexual maturity, pregnancy and childbirth). This Goddess could have aspects of Ceres, Venus/Ariadne, Isis, Hygeia, Hekate/Diana/Venus and, for themes of adoptive motherhood and nourishment, of Juno or of Ino/Mater Matuta. I suggest that the women involved in these rituals would identify themselves with these deities according to the function that they stressed: maternity (Ino, Semele); marriage (Ariadne, Bona Dea, Venus); initiation of the maidens (Juno, Diana, Omphale); fertility and health (Ceres, Hygeia and, again, Bona Dea). Moreover, given the frequent apparition in the iconography I studied of characters belonging to the mythical entourage of Dionysus, as Satyrs, Maenads and Silens, I expressed the possibility that in these ceremonies guilds of professionals similar to the Greek brotherhood of the Iobacchoi of the Piraeus were involved. Their role would have been to aid the women in the organizations of their ceremonies. A specific analysis of such female rites practiced in the heart of private houses is still to be thoroughly developed. And yet I believe to have demonstrated - stressing religious and ritual relevance of numerous Roman paintings - that we are as yet very far from a complete knowledge of every aspect of the rites practiced by the Romans and by their women, and above all that it is not possible to base our knowledge solely upon literary documents, given that many iconographies talk about themes and practices otherwise unknown.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
---|---|---|---|
TesiCompleta.pdf
non disponibili
Tipologia:
Tesi di dottorato
Licenza:
Accesso ristretto
Dimensione
8.83 MB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
8.83 MB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri Richiedi una copia |
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.