Topic of the present essay is the religious commemoration of a historical event in Hellenistic Athens and the role of cultural memory in its conception and performance, considered as essential components in the identity construction process and civic self-awareness achievement. I intend to propose as a case study the celebration of the events occurred on the eve-night of the famous naval battle of Salamis, after which the Athenians claimed Greeks’ attention for having been the Saviours of Hellas. Probably by the end of the fifth century BCE (when Athenian democracy was restored but the hegemony of the polis on central Greece was ending), or perhaps later, in the course of the fourth century (after Athens defeat in the Peloponnesian War or under the Macedonian domination), the Athenian youths were annually involved in the official celebrations of the victory that the fl eet of Themistocles had obtained on the Persian invaders, by playing a ritual naumachia, aboard sacred boats, in the small harbour of Mounychia (modern Akti Koumoundourou) at Piraeus. This tradition is testifi ed by epigraphic sources from the Hellenistic until the Roman Imperial Age. Besides highlighting the positive impact of the contest and collective training in forging sense of membership and fostering unity in society, the Athenian ephebic rituals carried out at Piraeus offers us a meaningful example of religious practice linked to a historical celebration of an event being placed in the remote setting of Classical Athens at the time of the institutional change introduced by Themistocles in 483/2 BCE, which had long-term consequences on economic performance, creating a new growth path and ensuring economic prosperity and social justice. From this perspective, the sailing contests played by the future citizens of the polis were social factors of the greatest importance in explaining Athens’ relative success over two centuries in achieving internal stability and cohesion, facing the threat of the “clash of civilizations” by means of the cunning of culture, or, in other words, by means of the cultural practice of the “recycling” of symbolic capital after democracy was restored at Athens in 403 BCE.
In limine. Religious Speech, Sea-Power, and Institutional Change: Athenian Identity Foundation and Cultural Memory in the Ephebic Naumachía at Piraeus
VISCARDI G. P.
2013
Abstract
Topic of the present essay is the religious commemoration of a historical event in Hellenistic Athens and the role of cultural memory in its conception and performance, considered as essential components in the identity construction process and civic self-awareness achievement. I intend to propose as a case study the celebration of the events occurred on the eve-night of the famous naval battle of Salamis, after which the Athenians claimed Greeks’ attention for having been the Saviours of Hellas. Probably by the end of the fifth century BCE (when Athenian democracy was restored but the hegemony of the polis on central Greece was ending), or perhaps later, in the course of the fourth century (after Athens defeat in the Peloponnesian War or under the Macedonian domination), the Athenian youths were annually involved in the official celebrations of the victory that the fl eet of Themistocles had obtained on the Persian invaders, by playing a ritual naumachia, aboard sacred boats, in the small harbour of Mounychia (modern Akti Koumoundourou) at Piraeus. This tradition is testifi ed by epigraphic sources from the Hellenistic until the Roman Imperial Age. Besides highlighting the positive impact of the contest and collective training in forging sense of membership and fostering unity in society, the Athenian ephebic rituals carried out at Piraeus offers us a meaningful example of religious practice linked to a historical celebration of an event being placed in the remote setting of Classical Athens at the time of the institutional change introduced by Themistocles in 483/2 BCE, which had long-term consequences on economic performance, creating a new growth path and ensuring economic prosperity and social justice. From this perspective, the sailing contests played by the future citizens of the polis were social factors of the greatest importance in explaining Athens’ relative success over two centuries in achieving internal stability and cohesion, facing the threat of the “clash of civilizations” by means of the cunning of culture, or, in other words, by means of the cultural practice of the “recycling” of symbolic capital after democracy was restored at Athens in 403 BCE.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
