Contaminación religiosa en la Grecia arcaica y clásica: estudio crítico de fuentes

Abstract

This doctoral thesis examines religious contamination as well as purification rites in archaic and classical Greece, based on the compilation and exhaustive analysis of all existing literary and epigraphic evidence. Our main aim is to study how this concept developed and gained an increasing significance, while its handling drifted from a strictly private environment towards the institutional framework of the polis. To do so, we begin with a philological analysis of our corpus paying special attention to the data collected from epigraphical sources, documentation sometimes neglected which, nonetheless, can provide valuable insight into the perception of impurity and the way this matter was handled among Greek communities. The first texts examined belong to Homeric epic, not only for being the most ancient source but also because they show a peculiar treatment of impurity, although it is still very linked to the basic idea of physical filth. Next to this, there is an analysis of some passages from Cyclic epic and Hesiodic poetry, where it is noticeable that religious contamination appears as a more complex concept: it shows a wider range of uses and there are also the first examples of purification rites, especially concerning bloodshed. After this, our analysis brings us to study 5th century historiography, where certain literary prototypes regarding homicides and impurity are consolidated. Moreover, there are relevant (pseudo-)historical episodes in which purity plays a significant role in the establishment of public institutions and even ruling elites in some poleis – most significantly in Athens. In this same line, the following chapter is focused on Athenian rituals and festivities where purity could play a fundamental role. The last part of our dissertation addresses epigraphic documentation and is the most innovative contribution of the thesis, since it includes a translation as well as a detailed and updated commentary on some inscriptions which are not so well known, yet highly relevant to our field of study. Having assessed the many difficulties in classifying these documents, we have resolved to divide them into three large categories, according to their content: inscriptions related to cults or sanctuaries; inscriptions on the purification process and, if so, the reintegration of homicides into society; and funerary inscriptions. Albeit mostly fragmentary, these inscriptions provide valuable evidence of how sophisticated ritual impurity and purification rites were. Besides, only these documents enable us to know and assess the role local institutions played in establishing and delimitating ritual purity codes among a certain community. Lastly, our dissertation ends with a conclusions section in which we synthesise the most remarkable contributions of the different sources and offer some possible improvements.

Date of Award	20 Mar 2021
Original language	Spanish
Awarding Institution	Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
Supervisor	Pòrtulas Jaume (Director) & Marta Oller Guzman (Director)