Female choral performance and initiation in public spaces of Magna Graecia
Marta Nicolás-Muelas  1@  
1 : Institut Català d'Arqueologia Clàssica

This contribution shows the results of a study of the use and configuration of public space (sanctuaries and poleis) through the ritual movement of the female chorus in the context of certain initiation rituals in Magna Graecia. The chorus (chorós) is part of the collective identity of Greek society and fulfills numerous interdependent functions. It has an important representative role in the religious cycle of the poleis, as it is a mechanism that constructs and represents the past of the society. At the same time, it acts as a didactic and cohesive element in the life of the citizens. To this end, the chorus often resorts to the creation of visual and verbal representations through a dynamic performance in time and space. This performance has a ritualized character and is accompanied by music and dance. The chorus also serves as a social articulator, since choral dance defines and structures the community through its composition by gender or age group. Examples include female choruses, which are classified according to their members' age, and they are the protagonists of initiation rituals of certain cults (e.g., Hera or Artemis). These initiation rituals, which focus on the period of a woman's childhood and adolescence, offer her membership in the system of norms that govern the different spheres of the adult community. For this reason, some stages of these female initiatory rituals take place in and around certain public spaces of the polis. Based on these factors, how did the female chorus configurate the public space of the poleis and its surroundings in Magna Graecia? Which were those spaces? When we speak here of “space” we do not refer exclusively to its physical dimension, but also to its symbolic dimension. We refer to space as a cultural category. To understand female choral practice as a defining element of public spaces, this contribution analyses a corpus of architectural reliefs from Magna Graecia (e.g., from the Heraion at Foce del Sele or the archaic temple of Sybaris). These materials show in relief scenes of choral performance (dance, procession, and music). The analysis combines archaeological data, iconography, and textual sources. Finally, this research contributes to the question of how the Greeks perceived and conceived public space and what was the role of the female chorus in defining it. It also offers a different perspective by contextualizing this iconography with the public space in Magna Graecia where it was located and with the ritual action that took place there.


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