Festivals and Legends: The Formation of Greek Cities in the Light of Public Ritual

Victor Matthews is an associate professor of classics at the University
of Guelph.

This book attempts to show that Greek public festivals have much to tell
us about their secular history. It does so in four parts: Athens,
Sparta, Argos, and Messenia and Phigaleia.

Athens provides the richest evidence, and naturally receives most of
the attention. Approximately the first half of the book focuses on five
Athenian festivals that were concerned chiefly with political
organization and warfare. Robertson’s study of the Hecatombaea
festivals shows that the town of Athens was confined for a long time to
the area southeast of the Acropolis, with the later expansion to the
north and west postdating the established worship of her principal
deities. He makes effective use of recent archaeological discoveries in
his interpretation of the ancient evidence for the Synoecia, showing how
the festival reflects the organization of early Attica.

In the case of Sparta, Robertson shows that the Gymnopaediae festival
was simply about the enrolment of youths as adult warriors, unconnected
with any historical event, and that the mythical battle between the
Tyndaridae and the Apharetidae is an explanation for the Spartan custom
of burying dead warriors on the field of battle.

The author’s study of Argive festivals casts doubt on the historicity
of the battles of Thyrea and Hysiae, while his examination of the
Messenian Ithomaea and the Arcadian festival of heroes shows that their
true origins are quite different from what our ancient sources claim
them to be.

The book is well produced and misprints are few, except for the
egregious “Calvary” for “Cavalry” in the title of Chapter 5. The
Athens section would have benefited greatly from a table of the months
of the Athenian calendar.