Athenian Rites of Passage - Coursework Example

Name) (Instructor) (Institution) (Course code) (Date) Introduction The ancient Athenians were very aware that maturity and growing from adolescence to adulthood was not a nature outcome of one’s culmination of education (as it is currently) or as a result of physiological puberty. They considered maturity of an individual as a result of acceptance of structure and the essential duties and responsibilities that are part and parcel of preservation, continuation and advancing of the same structures According to Athenians, the rites of passages were not linked with the acceptance of responsibilities but also coming-of-age. These rituals and procedures conducted during these rites of passage get the adolescents ready for adulthood responsibilities spiritually, intellectually as well as emotionally by making them accept the normal concerns and responsibilities of sexual maturity (Dodd and Faraone, 2003) According to Athenians, there were rites of passage right from childhood to old-age. Moving from one stage to another in life signifies the death of one stage and the beginning of another. For example, becoming an adult means the death or the end of childhood. Therefore, an individual accepting adult duties and responsibilities means the end of life he/she loved or knew as a child. Maturity meant the end of both physical and psychological of childhood life and thus moving to a netherworld of emotion, intellect and spirit. The readiness of a person to accept maturity determined the success of rite of passage (Dodd and Faraone, 2003) There was a clear gender and social differential introduced upon puberty among the Athenians. Among the Athenians, this differential was slowly introduced at the age of seven because different programmes for male and females. The justifications for simple; irrespective of tribe or religion, there was societal and civic knowledge that females and males matured in different ways and ages. This could be seen in the civic, social as well as at family structures that recognized that the female gender far much earlier as compared to their male counterparts. Among the Athenians, the female gender was not only known to ready for child-bearing but also ready to raise them during their teenage years while male counterparts were perceived to be a full adult ready to successfully run own family when they are at least 30 years of age (Sallares, 1991) The Ionian Male rite of passage This Athenian rite of passage signifies that a male passes from the childhood to adulthood. A three day festival called Apatouria is organized to enable this transition. The event is organized yearly whereby the young males are introduced and incorporated into their father’s phratria. Phratria is a blood-brotherhood society (Madytinou, 2014). The phratria composed of Ionians who belong to the same clan or shared common ancestry. The first two days of this event (Apatouria), it was accustomed for the married members to hold a wedding feast for their phratria brothers to declare marriage by identifying their new wives. The members who were to declare their marriage were those married in the after the last Apatouria event or married in the past one year (Sacks, Murray and Bunson, 2009) The day of the event was known as Koureotis. This is where boys of age between the age of fourteen and sixteen were familiarized and welcomed into their father’s phratria. This was very crucial coming-of-age rite for every Ionian boy. This was the first and an important phase of becoming a male in the society of men as well as in the Athenian State in general (Padilla, 1999) Being a member of phratria was a requirement for one to be enrolled into the citizen list of any demos. This is one of the 142 countryside municipalities surrounding Athens (Padilla, 1999). This is where the jurisdiction was divided under the 10 Ionians clans. This was before the reforms of Cleisthenes of 508BCE. A pre-requisite for getting full Athenian citizenship at right age of eighteen, one needed to be listed in an Athenian demos (Sacks, Murray and Bunson, 2009) With the introduction into phratria, it was a requirement for boys to lock their hair to the Goddess Artemis. Girls and boys were by protected by Goddess Artemis and in turn serve her until they come-of-age. This was one of the representations that their childhood was over. Their incorporation into Phratria played as an intermediary between the state and ancestral family for the young men. These young men were now referred to as ephebos. To the Athenians ephebos meant on the threshold of maturity signifying entry into transitional phase of passage When they attain the age of eighteen, the ephebos were supposed to pay a visit to all sanctuaries of Athens. During these tours to sanctuaries, they were supposed to swear an oath before witnesses who had been born in accordance Athenian laws and had reached majority age. The law requirement at that time was that, the witness’s father must have been a registered Athenian citizen. This law was later amended in the 4th century BCE to state that only children born from registered Athenian father and mother would gain the citizenship (Ogden, 2007). It is from the age eighteen that the ephebos would be allowed to represent themselves in court and inherit property. It was also at this age that young men were eligible to for compulsory military service lasting not less than two years. Their father or the state (in case of orphan) would give the ephebos with shield, helmet breastplate, spear and greaves which would enable him undergo the compulsory military service (Ogden, 2007) Their ephebeship ended after completion of military training. They are now considered men who matured enough to face any battle. They are now referred to as Neoi in order to signify their status as new men (Worthington, 2007). Here they took oath protect the Athens where they still undergo military training up to when they reach the age of fifty-nine years. The Neoi were taken as fully mature upon attainment of thirty years. This age coincides with the age where they are considered ready for marriage and inheritance upon the death of their fathers. Their fathers were mostly older than them by at least thirty five years. Despite being considered mature at the age of thirty, they only encouraged to have children after marriage at the age of 35. This was so spelled by the Athenian lawgiver, Solon, who was known as the father of democracy. Solon was also one of the seven wise men of the ancient Hellas (Worthington, 2007) The reason behind marriage at the age of 35 is that he will at the summit of his mind and speech when his own children are puberty. According to Solon, at season seven of a man’s life is when he at the best of his mind and speech. For this reason, the man the best decisions essential for his own children that will guide them into maturity. Solon wanted to avoid a situation where the man will not be mature enough should he get children early or being too soft to them leading to failure of instituting virtues in them (Sallares, 1991) This perception of Athenian levels of maturity and the best activities at each season of a man’s growth is a significant in the understanding of ideologies behind the rites of passage in the ancient Athens. Another concept is about the expectations of the society of the Athenian state whereby children’s education was the responsibility of the family as opposed to the state (Sallares, 1991) The Ionian female rite of passage One of the key reasons as to why Ionian girls in Athens were married at an early age was due to the fact that girls were considered to mature very early due to behavioural changes and menstruation that girls suffer upon entry into puberty. The hormonal and emotional behaviour was perceived as medical conditions of entering and incorporating the transformation associated with menarche. The Athenians believed that the treatment to these medical conditions went through was pregnancy or sexual intercourse. This therefore resulted in the early marriage of girls. The early marriage was also supported by the words of famous words of physician Hippocrates (Sallares, 1991) The Hippocrates said that the flesh is yielding, leading to quick menstrual blood flow and thus the body is not endangered due to straight passage. If the menstrual flow is slow, the Hippocrates said the veins and other parts of the body are exposed to danger leading the girls to become mad and wild. They also said that when the uterus is filled with menstrual blood, the girl experience fever with chills. The Hippocrates called them wandering fever (Sallares, 1991) According to Hippocrates, the psychological and medical cure of the condition was motherhood and marital intercourse. The Athenian society therefore perceived that the sexual maturity of the girls was usually indicated by rites that prepared them for childbearing and marriage. The Hippocrates also believed that hysteria was a result of coming-of-age. The believed that it was associated with the uterus and a resultant of blocked menses. Pregnancy was the cure for the condition (Dodd & Faraone, 2003) The Athenian beliefs about the menstruation and their cures for the conditions exposed their girls to early marriages. This meant that girls would be taken away from the family home and integrated into a new family making them mothers and sexually active adult women. The rite of passage for coming-of-age Athenian adolescent girls was the final practice by which they ought to accept their new roles and destinies as mothers and wives. The acceptance of these obligations and responsibilities by the Athenian adult female was perceived as that would result in flesh yielding based on Athenian Hippocrates and this would be the best treatment for the menstrual disorders among the girls (Dodd & Faraone, 2003) As Athenian adult female accepted the adult nature along with the obligations and duties was a crucial coming-of-age rite of passage. The girl’s identity was then changed into an adult woman. It is important to note that this was the journey where there was no point of return. This journey was usually symbolised by the new bride literally burning down the wheels of chariot that took her to her husband’s house from the family where her children would be taken cared for and raised (Dodd & Faraone, 2003) Conclusion A lot of perception and ideologies surrounding the Athenian rites of passage is antithetical to the New World perception. The triumphs Equality Movements and Second-Wave Feminism in homogenising female and gender roles within our societies and states makes crystal clear to be in contradictory with the current world. Truly, the Second-Wave-Feminist thinking is not in line in many ways to the perception of the past rites of passage. It is only particularly Cultural Feminism in the Third-Wave Feminism that the dissimilarities between the basic female and male characteristics and qualities that can be revisited and celebrated once more (Dodd & Faraone, 2003). In present day settings, the ancient Athenian rites of passage would pay more attention on preparing young girls and boys for the responsibilities, duties and roles they would play in the state and within the family settings. These should be in tandem with laws and customs of the present day. These roles, duties and responsibilities keep changing due changing political systems and unstable economy. The most significant thing is to give appropriate and necessary guidance and right information to these adolescents. On the other hand, the rites of passage should remain the same but the guidance, information, responsibilities and functions should be changed to suit the present day, future and beyond The phases of passage and generational passage should still remain the same because they are initiatory recipe for boosting the maturity among the young Athenians. The symbolic activities and traditions within the rites of passage should be well conserved as an act generational passage and continue to be valued as a form of ancestral memory. It should also be kept in museums and heritage sites where tourist all over the world would come over and appreciate the rich Athenian traditions and treasures. This will also boost the country’s foreign exchange thereby boosting the economy and creating employment References Dodd, D., & Faraone, C. (2003). Initiation in ancient Greek rituals and narratives. London: Routledge. Madytinou, L. (2014). LABRYS : Hellenic Polytheistic community. Labrys.gr. Retrieved 26 December 2014, from http://www.labrys.gr/index-en.php?l=catalysing_maturity-en Ogden, D. (2007). A companion to Greek religion. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. Padilla, M. (1999). Rites of passage in ancient Greece. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press. Sacks, D., Murray, O., & Bunson, M. (2009). Encyclopedia of the ancient Greek world. New York: Facts on File. Sallares, R. (1991). The ecology of the ancient Greek world. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. Worthington, I. (2007). A companion to Greek rhetoric. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. Read More

The first two days of this event (Apatouria), it was accustomed for the married members to hold a wedding feast for their phratria brothers to declare marriage by identifying their new wives. The members who were to declare their marriage were those married in the after the last Apatouria event or married in the past one year (Sacks, Murray and Bunson, 2009) The day of the event was known as Koureotis. This is where boys of age between the age of fourteen and sixteen were familiarized and welcomed into their father’s phratria.

This was very crucial coming-of-age rite for every Ionian boy. This was the first and an important phase of becoming a male in the society of men as well as in the Athenian State in general (Padilla, 1999) Being a member of phratria was a requirement for one to be enrolled into the citizen list of any demos. This is one of the 142 countryside municipalities surrounding Athens (Padilla, 1999). This is where the jurisdiction was divided under the 10 Ionians clans. This was before the reforms of Cleisthenes of 508BCE.

A pre-requisite for getting full Athenian citizenship at right age of eighteen, one needed to be listed in an Athenian demos (Sacks, Murray and Bunson, 2009) With the introduction into phratria, it was a requirement for boys to lock their hair to the Goddess Artemis. Girls and boys were by protected by Goddess Artemis and in turn serve her until they come-of-age. This was one of the representations that their childhood was over. Their incorporation into Phratria played as an intermediary between the state and ancestral family for the young men.

These young men were now referred to as ephebos. To the Athenians ephebos meant on the threshold of maturity signifying entry into transitional phase of passage When they attain the age of eighteen, the ephebos were supposed to pay a visit to all sanctuaries of Athens. During these tours to sanctuaries, they were supposed to swear an oath before witnesses who had been born in accordance Athenian laws and had reached majority age. The law requirement at that time was that, the witness’s father must have been a registered Athenian citizen.

This law was later amended in the 4th century BCE to state that only children born from registered Athenian father and mother would gain the citizenship (Ogden, 2007). It is from the age eighteen that the ephebos would be allowed to represent themselves in court and inherit property. It was also at this age that young men were eligible to for compulsory military service lasting not less than two years. Their father or the state (in case of orphan) would give the ephebos with shield, helmet breastplate, spear and greaves which would enable him undergo the compulsory military service (Ogden, 2007) Their ephebeship ended after completion of military training.

They are now considered men who matured enough to face any battle. They are now referred to as Neoi in order to signify their status as new men (Worthington, 2007). Here they took oath protect the Athens where they still undergo military training up to when they reach the age of fifty-nine years. The Neoi were taken as fully mature upon attainment of thirty years. This age coincides with the age where they are considered ready for marriage and inheritance upon the death of their fathers. Their fathers were mostly older than them by at least thirty five years.

Despite being considered mature at the age of thirty, they only encouraged to have children after marriage at the age of 35. This was so spelled by the Athenian lawgiver, Solon, who was known as the father of democracy. Solon was also one of the seven wise men of the ancient Hellas (Worthington, 2007) The reason behind marriage at the age of 35 is that he will at the summit of his mind and speech when his own children are puberty. According to Solon, at season seven of a man’s life is when he at the best of his mind and speech.

For this reason, the man the best decisions essential for his own children that will guide them into maturity.

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