Cult and the city : real housewives of Dionysus
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2018
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Abstract
In Virtue of Women, Plutarch describes a group of women from Phocis, called Thyiades,
traveling unaccompanied by men on a Dionysiac religious excursion during wartime. This group
of women ends up in Amphissa where, instead of being assaulted or taken as prisoners of war,
they are protected by the women in the city.1 In this story, Dionysiac cult practice makes way for
a social reality different from the expected order. It appears as though the space created by
Dionysiac worship has resulted in an altering of identity, agency, and social consequences. This
unexpected incident raises various questions about what women’s participation in a thiasos
means for their identity, agency, and the relationship between the cult and the polis. What is
happening in this peaceful interaction initiated by women between cult and polis? What is the
significance for women’s identity and agency in this interaction?
In my thesis, I pose questions of identity, authority, and activity in the women
worshippers of Dionysos. What does participation in the thiasos mean for the identity and
agency of women worshippers? Is Dionysiac worship an alternate reality in which normal roles
of identity and agency in ancient Greek society are left behind, twisted, forgotten, or turned
around? What does this mean for the women of ancient Greece participating in Dionysiac cult
practice? What are the resulting consequences in terms of peace, violence, and interaction with
the polis? How do various theories of Greek religion and models of Dionysiac cult pose this
question and help to answer it?