ActaAth-8°, 12: Cults of Apollo at Sparta (1992)
ActaAth-8° / 1992-01-02

Distributed by Astrom Editions. See record at WorldCat. Cults of Apollo at Sparta. The Hyakinthia, the Gymnopaidiai and the Karneia By Michael Pettersson In this study, the three cults of Apollo are regarded as a rite of passage. In the first three chapters, the evidence concerning each cult is reviewed and discussed. The two-part structure of the Hyakinthia is investigated as an expression of the cult as a rite of passage. The identity of Hyakinthos is analyzed, starting with Pausanias’ description of the altar at the Amyklaion from the sixth century BC. It is argued that the bearded Hyakinthos, depicted on one relief, indicated a mature man and not the youth who was loved by Apollo, while the scene with Hyakinthos and Polyboia was associated with female initiation. Hyakinthos is presented as an ancestral figure, whose death was commemorated as part of a rite of initiation. The Gymnopaidiai was chiefly connected with the performances of choruses. The role of choreia in Spartan culture and religion is examined. The nakedness of the participants in this cult is viewed as a symbolic expression of the liminal stage which the initiands went through. The Karneia is regarded as the post-liminal phase of the…