Cambridge Ritualists

Last updated

The Cambridge Ritualists were a recognised group of classical scholars, mostly in Cambridge, England, including Jane Ellen Harrison, F.M. Cornford, Gilbert Murray (actually from the University of Oxford), A. B. Cook, George Thomson, and others. They earned this title because of their shared interest in ritual, specifically their attempts to explain myth and early forms of classical drama as originating in ritual, mainly the ritual seasonal killings of eniautos daimon, or the Year-King. [1] They are also sometimes referred to as the myth and ritual school, or as the Classical Anthropologists. [2]

Contents

Sacrifice and drama

Inspired by The Golden Bough , Gilbert Murray in 1913 proclaimed the killing of the year spirit as the "orthodox view of the origins of tragedy. The year Daimon waxes proud and is slain by his enemy, who becomes thereby a murderer, and must in turn perish". [3] A decade later, however, the excessively rigid application of Frazer's thesis to Greek tragedy had already begun to be challenged; [4] and by the sixties Robert Fagles could state that "The ritual origins of tragedy are totally in doubt, often hotly debated". [5]

Influences

Through their work in classical philology, they exerted profound influence not only on the Classics, but on literary critics, such as Stanley Edgar Hyman or Northrop Frye. [6] Particularly affected by Émile Durkheim was F. M. Cornford, who used the French sociologist's notion of collective representations to analyze social forms of religious, artistic, philosophical, and scientific expression in classical Greece. Other significant influences on the group, particularly on Harrison, were Darwin, James Frazer, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samhain</span> Gaelic festival marking the start of winter

Samhain or Sauin is a Gaelic festival on 1 November marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. It is also the Irish and Scottish Gaelic name for November. Celebrations begin on the evening of 31 October, since the Celtic day began and ended at sunset. This is about halfway between the autumnal equinox and winter solstice. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals along with Imbolc, Bealtaine, and Lughnasa. Historically it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Its Brittonic Celtic equivalent is called Calan Gaeaf in Wales.

<i>The Golden Bough</i> 1890 book by James Frazer

The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer. The Golden Bough was first published in two volumes in 1890; in three volumes in 1900; and in twelve volumes in the third edition, published 1906–1915. It has also been published in several different one-volume abridgments. The work was for a wide literate audience raised on tales as told in such publications as Thomas Bulfinch's The Age of Fable, or Stories of Gods and Heroes (1855). The influence of The Golden Bough on contemporary European literature and thought has been substantial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dying-and-rising god</span> Religious motif in which a deity dies and is resurrected

A dying-and-rising god, life–death–rebirth deity, or resurrection deity is a religious motif in which a god or goddess dies and is resurrected. Examples of gods who die and later return to life are most often cited from the religions of the ancient Near East. The traditions influenced by them include the Greco-Roman mythology. The concept of a dying-and-rising god was first proposed in comparative mythology by James Frazer's seminal The Golden Bough (1890). Frazer associated the motif with fertility rites surrounding the yearly cycle of vegetation. Frazer cited the examples of Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis and Attis, Zagreus, Dionysus, and Jesus.

In many historical societies, the position of kingship carried a sacral meaning and was identical with that of a high priest and judge. Divine kingship is related to the concept of theocracy, although a sacred king need not necessarily rule through his religious authority; rather, the temporal position itself has a religious significance behind it. The monarch may be divine, become divine, or represent divinity to a greater or lesser extent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James George Frazer</span> Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist (1854–1941)

Sir James George Frazer was a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Ellen Harrison</span> British classical scholar, linguist and feminist (1850–1928)

Jane Ellen Harrison was a British classical scholar and linguist. With Karl Kerenyi and Walter Burkert, Harrison is one of the founders of modern studies in Ancient Greek religion and mythology. She applied 19th-century archaeological discoveries to the interpretation of ancient Greek religion in ways that have become standard. She has also been credited with being the first woman to obtain a post in England as a 'career academic'. Harrison argued for women's suffrage but thought she would never want to vote herself. Ellen Wordsworth Crofts, later second wife of Sir Francis Darwin, was Jane Harrison's best friend from her student days at Newnham, and during the period from 1898 to Ellen's death in 1903.

The Triple Goddess is a deity or deity archetype revered in many Neopagan religious and spiritual traditions. In common Neopagan usage, the Triple Goddess is viewed as a triunity of three distinct aspects or figures united in one being. These three figures are often described as the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, each of which symbolizes both a separate stage in the female life cycle and a phase of the Moon, and often rules one of the realms of heavens, earth, and underworld. In various forms of Wicca, her masculine consort is the Horned God.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agathodaemon</span> Spirit (daemon) of the vineyards and grainfields in ancient Greek religion

Agathos Daimon originally was a lesser deity (daemon) of classical ancient Greek religion and Graeco-Egyptian religion. In his original Greek form, he served as a household god, to whom, along with Zeus Soter, libations were made after a meal. In later Ptolemaic antiquity he took on two partially distinct roles; one as the Agathos Daimon a prominent serpentine civic god, who served as the special protector of Alexandria. The other as a genus of serpentine household gods, the Agathoi Daimones, individual protectors of the homes in which they were worshipped.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert Murray</span> Anglo-Australian scholar (1866–1957)

George Gilbert Aimé Murray was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece, perhaps the leading authority in the first half of the twentieth century. He is the basis for the character of Adolphus Cusins in his friend George Bernard Shaw's play Major Barbara, and also appears as the chorus figure in Tony Harrison's play Fram.

<i>Rex Nemorensis</i> Priest of the goddess Diana at Aricia in Italy

The rex Nemorensis was a priest of the goddess Diana at Aricia in Italy, by the shores of Lake Nemi, where she was known as Diana Nemorensis.

A pharmakós in Ancient Greek religion was the ritualistic sacrifice or exile of a human scapegoat or victim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. R. Dodds</span> Irish classical scholar (1893–1979)

Eric Robertson Dodds was an Irish classical scholar. He was Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Oxford from 1936 to 1960.

Archetypal literary criticism is a type of analytical theory that interprets a text by focusing on recurring myths and archetypes in the narrative, symbols, images, and character types in literary works. As an acknowledged form of literary criticism, it dates back to 1934 when Classical scholar Maud Bodkin published Archetypal Patterns in Poetry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sparagmos</span> Dionysian rite of sacrifice

Sparagmos is an act of rending, tearing apart, or mangling, usually in a Dionysian context.

Myth and ritual are two central components of religious practice. Although myth and ritual are commonly united as parts of religion, the exact relationship between them has been a matter of controversy among scholars. One of the approaches to this problem is "the myth and ritual, or myth-ritualist, theory," held notably by the so-called Cambridge Ritualists, which holds that "myth does not stand by itself but is tied to ritual." This theory is still disputed; many scholars now believe that myth and ritual share common paradigms, but not that one developed from the other.

The Holly King and Oak King are personifications of the winter and summer in various neopagan traditions. The two kings engage in endless "battle" reflecting the seasonal cycles of the year: not only solar light and dark, but also crop renewal and growth. During warm days of Midsummer the Oak King is at the height of his strength; the Holly King regains power at the Autumn equinox, then his strength peaks during Midwinter, at which point the Oak King is reborn, regaining power at the Spring equinox, and perpetuating the succession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Fraser (writer)</span> British author and biographer

Robert Fraser FRSL is a British author and biographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eubuleus</span> Greek mythical character

In ancient Greek religion and myth, Eubuleus is a god known primarily from devotional inscriptions for mystery religions. The name appears several times in the corpus of the so-called Orphic gold tablets spelled variously, with forms including Euboulos, Eubouleos and Eubolos. It may be an epithet of the central Orphic god, Dionysus or Zagreus, or of Zeus in an unusual association with the Eleusinian Mysteries. Scholars of the late 20th and early 21st centuries have begun to consider Eubuleus independently as "a major god" of the mysteries, based on his prominence in the inscriptional evidence. His depiction in art as a torchbearer suggests that his role was to lead the way back from the Underworld.

<i>The Golden Bough</i> (painting) Painting by J. M. W. Turner

The Golden Bough is a painting from 1834 by the English painter J. M. W. Turner. It depicts the episode of the golden bough from the Aeneid by Virgil. It is in the collection of the Tate galleries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lilly Frazer</span> British writer and translator

Lilly Frazer previously Lilly Grove became Lilly, Lady Frazer born Elisabeth Johanna de Boys Adelsdorfer was a French born British writer and translator.

References

  1. R Fraser ed., The Golden Bough (Oxford 2009) p. 651
  2. "Folklore Forum" (PDF). scholarworks.iu.edu.
  3. Quoted in R Fraser ed., The Golden Bough (Oxford 2009) p. 651
  4. R Fraser ed., The Golden Bough (Oxford 2009) p. 651
  5. R Fagles trans., The Oresteia (Penguin 1981) p. 18
  6. N Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton 1971) p. 108-9 and p. 171
  7. Calder, William M. (5 February 2001). "Review of Robert Ackerman, The Myth and Ritual School: J. G. Frazer and the Cambridge Ritualists". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.

Further reading