N MYTH, RITUAL, AND METALLURGY ANCIENT …assets.cambridge.org/97805218/55006/frontmatter/9780521855006... · N MYTH, RITUAL, AND METALLURGYin ANCIENT GREECE AND RECENT AFRICA In

N MYTH, RITUAL, AND METALLURGY in

ANCIENT GREECE AND RECENT AFRICA

In this volume, Sandra Blakely considers technological myths and rituals associ-ated with ancient Greek daimones who made metal and African rituals in whichiron plays a central role. Noting the rich semantic web of associations that hasconnected metallurgy to magic, birth, kingship, autochthony, and territorial pos-session in both Greek and African cultures, Blakely examines them together inorder to cast light on the Greek daimones, which are only fragmentarily pre-served and which have often been equated to general types of smithing gods. Hercomparison demonstrates that these creatures are more sophisticated and rituallyuseful, and technology a more nuanced image in Greek myth, than has been pre-viously acknowledged. Using comparative cultural material in a thoughtful andcareful way, it helps create a common ground between classical studies and thesocial sciences for the study of religion and technology.

Sandra Blakely is associate professor of classics at Emory University. A scholar ofthe religions of the classical world, she has received fellowships from the AmericanSchool of Classical Studies in Athens, the Albright School of ArchaeologicalResearch in Jerusalem, and the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C.

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Cambridge University Press0521855004 - Myth, Ritual, and Metallurgy in Ancient Greece and Recent AfricaSandra BlakelyFrontmatterMore information

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N MYTH, RITUAL,

AND METALLURGY in

ANCIENT GREECE

AND RECENT AFRICA

SANDRA BLAKELY

Emory University






cambridge university pressCambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo

Cambridge University Press32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa

www.cambridge.orgInformation on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521855006

c© Sandra Blakely 2006

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exceptionand to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,no reproduction of any part may take place withoutthe written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2006

Printed in the United States of America

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Blakely, Sandra, 1959-Myth, ritual, and metallurgy in ancient Greece and recent Africa / Sandra Blakely.

p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.isbn-13: 978-0-521-85500-6 (hardback)isbn-10: 0-521-85500-4 (hardback)1. Greece – Religion. 2. Africa – Religion. 3. Metallurgy – Miscellanea. I. Title.bl785.b53 2006292.1′6671 – dc22 2006000509

isbn-13 978-0-521-85500-6 hardbackisbn-10 0-521-85500-4 hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility forthe persistence or accuracy of urls for external orthird-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publicationand does not guarantee that any content on suchWeb sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.






N CONTENTS

List of Illustrations page vii

Acknowledgments ix

Abbreviations xi

INTRODUCTION 1

PART I DATA AND METHODOLOGIES

1 THE GREEK DAIMONES 13

2 ICONOGRAPHY AND METALLURGY 32

3 AFRICAN IRON: HISTORY, R ITUAL, AND

INVESTIGATION 55

PART I I METALLURGY AND BIRTH

4 B IRTH, CRAFT, AND THE DAIMONES : THE ERETRIAN

HYMN TO THE DAKTYLOI 79

5 GENDER AND PRODUCTION: THE F IPA 99

6 THE DAIMONES : FERTIL ITY AND RITUAL

PERFORMANCE 123

7 PHARMAKA AND APOTROPAIA : THE DAIMONES AND

MEDICINE 137

v






C O N T E N T S

PART I I I METALLURGY AND POLITICAL POWER

8 IRON AND POLIT ICAL POWER: AFR ICA 166

9 BAKONGO INVESTITURE: K INGS, IRON, AND

AUTOCHTHONES 180

10 DAIMONES AND POLIT ICAL POWER: IDAIAN DAKTYLOI

IN THE PHORONIS 192

11 P INDAR ’S TELCHINES 215

Conclusion 227

Notes 235

Bibliography 277

Citation Index 305

General Index 317

vi






N I LLUSTRATIONS

1 Mediterranean sites referred to in text. page xiii2 African countries, sites, and cultural groups referred to in text. xiv3 Aegean sites referred to in text. 124 Imperial period coin from Thessalonike, BMC 47, reverse. Used by

kind permission of the British Museum. 345 Coin of Maximinus, from Thessalonike, BMC 111, reverse. Used by

kind permission of the British Museum. 356 Coin of Severus Alexander, from Thessalonike, BMC 109, reverse.

Used by kind permission of the British Museum. 357 Coin of Salonina, from Thessalonike, BMC 143, reverse. Used by

kind permission of the British Museum. 368 KH I Taf. 33.3. Used by kind permission of the Deutsches

Archaeologisches Institut and Walter de Gruyter, Inc. 399 KH I p. 107. Used by kind permission of the Deutsches

Archaeologisches Institut and Walter de Gruyter, Inc. 4010 K1, Inv. 10426, KH I p. 96, and Taf. 5. Used by kind permission of

the Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut and Walter de Gruyter, Inc. 4111 KH I p. 99 and Taf. 29.3. Used by kind permission of the Deutsches

Archaeologisches Institut and Walter de Gruyter, Inc. 4312 M 3, Inv. 425, KH I p. 106, and Taf. 33.4. Used by kind permission

of the Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut and Walter de Gruyter,Inc. 47

13 M 6, Nat. Mus. 424, KH I p. 108, and Taf. 33.1. Used by kindpermission of the Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut and Walter deGruyter, Inc. 48

vii






I L L U S T R AT I O N S

14 Proposed routes for spread of iron working in Africa, after Kasule1998:21. Images used by kind permission of Thomson-Gale. 60

15 Map of Northeast Greece. 8816 Shona iron smelting furnace, granary, and drum: Bent 1893: 308,

46, and 70. 10117 Chokwe furnace from Kaparandanda, Alto Zambeze, in 1953.

Redinha 1953, fig. 73. 10218 Diagram of Chokwe furnace: Tchiboco, Lunda-Sul: Redinha 1953,

fig. 70. 10319 Map of Cretan sites referred to in text. 13120 Magical amulet in pterygoma form, Bonner 1950 no. 144;

a = reverse, b = obverse. Used by kind permission of theKelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan. 143

21 Red jasper amulet, Bonner 1950:108, Mich. 26143. Used by kindpermission of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University ofMichigan. 144

22 Red jasper amulet, BM 56389, a = obverse, b = reverse. Used bykind permission of the British Museum. 145

23 Red jasper amulet, Bonner BM 56364, 1950 = 146, a = obverse,b = reverse. Used by kind permission of the British Museum. 146

24 Bes as Master of Animals: Artist’s rendering of Furtwangler1900/1965 III: Taf. VII. no. 21., seventh-century agate scarab. 149

25 Bes-Herakles figure fights with a lion: Artist’s rendering ofPhoenician green jasper seal from the Seyrig collection, afterCulican 1968 plate III fig. 4. 150

26 Fat-bellied terracotta dwarf from Kameiros, BM 88. Used by kindpermission of the British Museum. 151

27 Map of Argolid. 197

viii






N ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T HIS BOOK BEGAN as a doctoral dissertation in the departments of Classics andAnthropology at the University of Southern California. Richard Caldwell

of the Classics department first suggested an investigation of the daimones anddirected the dissertation; J. Stephen Lansing, of the Anthropology department,proposed the combined doctoral degree and has throughout provided invaluableguidance. Sarah Morris, of the Department of Classics at UCLA, has been singu-larly helpful in directing my introduction to archaeological studies, and ThomasHabinek, as a careful and thoughtful reader, has provided great support. Thanksare due as well to the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, the AlbrightInstitute in Jerusalem, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Centerfor Hellenic Studies in Washington D.C., and the American Academy in Rome.Through their financial and institutional support, these have given me accessto the many disciplines and regions relevant to this topic, as well as that mostirreplaceable of elements in scholarly investigation, the communities of scholarswho have generously shared their time, ideas, and questions with me. To thetireless librarians and staff of these institutions I offer grateful thanks as well: theproject would have been impossible without them. A practical experiment inbringing classicists and anthropologists together, in the form of a conference onmysteries and secrecy, profoundly shaped the exploration of material I offer here:the financial support of Emory University, and the intellectual contributions ofthe conference participants, were invaluable. I offer particular thanks to JamesRedfield, whose participation in the conference was of fundamental importance,and from whose advice on this project I have benefited immensely. Some extraor-dinary friends and scholars in the Atlanta area – Yvan Bamps, Cynthia Schwenk,and Kent Hackmann – read the manuscript in its early stages and made valu-able suggestions. Beatrice Rehl of Cambridge University Press has provided wise

ix






A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

advice and support; the anonymous reviewers of the manuscript were generousin their careful reading and insightful suggestions. Errors that remain, I hasten toadd, are entirely my own. For encouragement through the many years of writing,rewriting, and rethinking, I thank Therese DeVet, whose friendship on this longjourney has been irreplaceable.

For photographs and permission to reproduce them, I thank the BritishMuseum, the Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut, Walter de Gruyter Inc., theKelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan, and Thomson-Gale Publishing. Some map locations after R. Talbert (ed.), Barrington Atlas ofthe Greek and Roman World, Princeton 2000, used data courtesy of the AncientWorld Mapping Center (http://www.unc.edu/awmc).

I offer this book to my parents: to my mother, for her enduring spirit, andto the memory of my father, who never ceased to pursue understanding.

x






N ABBREVIATIONS

AA Archaologischer AnzeigerAJA American Journal of ArchaeologyAJP American Journal of PhilologyAM Athenische MitteilungenANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts, 3rd edition J. Pritchard (ed.)

(Princeton) 1969AOF Archiv fur Orientalische ForschungenAR Archaeological ReportsBCH Bulletin de Correspondence HelleniqueBM British MuseumBSA Annual of the British School at AthensCAD Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of

Chicago, I. Gelb et al. (eds.) (Chicago) 1984CAH Cambridge Ancient History, 3rd edition (London)CR Classical ReviewDaremberg-Saglio Dictionnaire des antiquites grecques et romains, C. Daremberg

and E. Saglio (eds.) (Paris) 1873–1919EGF Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, M. Davies (Gottingen) 1988GGM Geographi Graeci Minores, K Muller (ed.) (Hildesheim) 1965JFA Journal of Field ArchaeologyJNES Journal of Near Eastern StudiesKH Das Kabirenheiligtum bei Theben (Berlin)LIMC Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (Zurich)LSJ A Greek-English Lexicon, H. G. Liddel, R. Scott, H. S.

Jones (eds.) (Oxford) 1986

xi






A B B R E V I AT I O N S

MASCA Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology,University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology andAnthropology

MH Museum HelveticumNADA Native Affairs Department Annual (Salisbury)NC Numismatic ChronicleNGG Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Gottingen,

Philologisch-Historische KlasseOCD The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd edition, S. Hornblower

and A. Spawforth (eds.) (Oxford) 1999Op Ath Opuscula AtheniensiaOr An Oriens AntiquusPCG Poetae Comici Graeci, R. Kassel and C. Austin (eds.) (Berlin)

1984PG Patrologiae Graecae, ed. J.-P. MignePLF Poetae Lesbiorum Fragmenta, E. Lobel and D.L. Page (eds.)

(Oxford) 1955PMG Poetae Melici Graeci, D. L. Page (ed.) (Oxford) 1962RA Revue ArcheologiqueRAC Reallexikon fur Antike und Christentum, T. Klauser et al.

(eds.) (Stuttgart) 1998RE Paulys Real-encyclopadie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft,

A. F. Pauly (ed.) (Stuttgart) 1796–1845REG Revue des Etudes GrecquesRM Rheinisches MuseumRoscher Ausfuhrliches Lexikon der Griechischen und Romischen

Mythologie, W. H. Roscher (ed.) (Leipzig) 1845–1923SBAW Sitzungsbericht der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,

Philos.-Hist. KlasseSMEA Studi Micenei ed Egeo-AnatoliciTGF Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, A. Nauck and B Snell

(eds.) (Hildesheim) 1964WA World Archaeology

xii






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xiii






1

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S U D A N

L I B YAA L G E R I A

M A L I

C H A D

N I G E R

EGYPT

A N G O L A

E T H I O P I A

NIGERIA

NAMIBIA

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I N D I A NO C E A N

Black Sea

ATLANTICOCEAN

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D a r f u r

2. We (Ngere) 18. Luba3. Banjeli 19. Bambala (lla)4. Yoruba 20. Shona 5. Benin 21. Barongo6. Isu (Igbo) 22. Tonga7. Nok 23. Chulu (Chewa)8. Hausa 24. Tumbuka9. Ader Hausa 25. Fipa

10. Mafa 26. Burundi11. Fang 27. Haya12. Teke (Tio) 28. Wa Chagga13. Kongo 29. Mbeere14. Ekonda 30. Bassari15. Kuba16. Chokwe

31. Mbuti32. Phoka

1. Dogon 17. LundaCultural Groups

Waterfall

Modern settlementAncient settlement

0 500 1000 mi

0 500 1000 km

2. African sites referred to in text.

xiv






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N MYTH, RITUAL, AND METALLURGY ANCIENT …assets.cambridge.org/97805218/55006/frontmatter/9780521855006... · N MYTH, RITUAL, AND METALLURGYin ANCIENT GREECE AND RECENT AFRICA In