Produced by Thierry Alberto, Juliet Sutherland, Louise Pryor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net {Transcriber's Note: This e-text contains a number of unusual characters: ā a-macron ē e-macron ĕ e-breve ī i-macron œ oe ligature If they do not display properly, use the transliterated version instead.} _Ancient Art and Ritual_ JANE ELLEN HARRISON _Geoffrey Cumberlege_ OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO _First published in 1913, and reprinted in 1918 (revised), 1919, 1927, 1935 and 1948_ PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN PREFATORY NOTE It may be well at the outset to say clearly what is the aim of the present volume. The title is _Ancient Art and Ritual_, but the reader will find in it no general summary or even outline of the facts of either ancient art or ancient ritual. These facts are easily accessible in handbooks. The point of my title and the real gist of my argument lie perhaps in the word "_and_"--that is, in the intimate connection which I have tried to show exists between ritual and art. This connection has, I believe, an important bearing on questions vital to-day, as, for example, the question of the place of art in our modern civilization, its relation to and its difference from religion and morality; in a word, on the whole enquiry as to what the nature of art is and how it can help or hinder spiritual life. * * * * * I have taken Greek drama as a typical instance, because in it we have the clear historical case of a great art, which arose out of a very primitive and almost world-wide ritual. The rise of the Indian drama, or the mediæval and from it the modern stage, would have told us the same tale and served the like purpose. But Greece is nearer to us to-day than either India or the Middle Ages. * * * * * Greece and the Greek drama remind me that I should like to offer my thanks to Professor Gilbert Murray, for help and criticism which has far outrun the limits of editorial duty. J.E.H. _Newnham College, Cambridge, June 1913._ * * * * * NOTE TO THE FIFTH IMPRESSION The original text has been reprinted without change except for the correction of misprints. A few additions (enclosed in square brackets) have been made to the Bibliography. 1947 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I ART AND RITUAL 9 II PRIMITIVE RITUAL: PANTOMIMIC DANCES 29 III PERIODIC CEREMONIES: THE SPRING FESTIVAL 49 IV THE PRIMITIVE SPRING DANCE OR DITHYRAMB, IN GREECE 75 V THE TRANSITION FROM RITUAL TO ART: THE _DROMENON_ AND THE DRAMA 119 VI GREEK SCULPTURE: THE PANATHENAIC FRIEZE AND THE APOLLO BELVEDERE 170 VII RITUAL, ART AND LIFE 204