Language/Ancient-greek-to-1453/Culture/Amphidromia-Ceremony-birth-of-a-child

Amphidromia : ceremony in honor of the birth of a child

This lesson discusses the various known rites and superstitions associated with oikos. It begins with the home-centered rituals and continues with others that take place in the home. A discussion of the ancient Greek conception of ritual pollution, or miasma, which is often directly related to several domestic rites and Ilithyie (in ancient Greek Εἰλείθυια / Eileíthuia) the goddess of childbirth. She corresponds to Lucine in Roman mythology.

Once you've mastered this lesson, take a look at these related pages: Timeline of ancient Greece, Gamos – Marriage, Gamos – Marriage & Ancient Greek Diplomacy.

The Sacred Hearth

Hestia, literally and figuratively stands at the center of domestic religion. It appears that her worship occupied an important place in domestic worship and manifested itself in rituals focused on the physical embodiment of Hestia, the home.

Three home-centered rituals are associated with the transitional stages of life: birth, marriage and death.

Amphidromia : ceremony in honor of the birth of a child

In many homes, ancient and modern, a newborn baby must go through an initiation rite to be accepted. Rites such as a baptism, appointment or other ritual. In ancient Athens, if a baby survived its first few days of life, the household performed amphidromy, a ceremony that welcomed the child into the oikos and presented it to the deities. On the fifth or tenth day after birth (there is an "unfortunate tangle of contradictory and deficient lexicographic evidence" regarding the day the amphidroma occurred), the child was carried running around the family home. It is said that this exposed the child to the "beneficent radiance of Hestia" and emphasized the bond between the baby and the adults who were to be its parents. Also on this day, those involved in the birth performed ritual washing. The aim was to eradicate the pollution of births. It is claimed that the amphidromy probably served to symbolically unite the newborn to the sacred center of the house, much like the katachysmata, a ritual that was used to join newly purchased wives and slaves in their new homes. Later in the life of a male child, he would become a member of other social units outside of the oikos, such as the deme and the phratry. 'The amphidromy' , a domestic ritual, reflects the public rites that accompany acceptance into these extra-oikos social groups.

The importance is first of all social, because taking care of the child implies that it is declared viable, that it is accepted by the parents and that the family begins to be optimistic. Second, it initiates the child into earthly life through contact with elements such as water. The traces of uterine life are washed away: the special coating of the skin of the newborn is gently rubbed with fine salt, the midwife wrings out the mucus from the nose, cleans the mouth and ears, she also dilates the anus in order to stimulate the excretion of meconium. With the first bath, a first pass is therefore to some extent completed; the child is physically separated from uterine life and is accepted into the family group.

PODCAST - From Childbirth to Adolescence

In this episode we discuss what it was like in ancient Athens for a young girl or boy from birth through adolescence, looking at childbirth, childhood, the different rites of passage that they must go through to become adolescents, the paideia education system (old and new) and finally the training that young boys have undertaken in order to be accepted as a hoplite citizen warrior.

Sources

• https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=ucin1155647034&disposition=inline

Author

➡ Marianthi

• Ευγενική χορηγία που στοχεύει να βοηθήσει μαθητές ή μη, απανταχού της Γης, που επιδίδονται στην εκμάθηση της ελληνικής γλώσσας!
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Other Lessons

• Greek Philosopher quotes
• Historical personalities
• Ancient Greek funeral and burial practices
• Ancient Greek first names for tattoos
• Timeline of ancient Greece
• Greek Temples Residences for the Ancient Greek Gods
• Pindar Poem
• Miasma : Religious Pollution in Greek antiquity
• The Ancient Greek Afterlife
• Thespis the father of dramatic art
• Ancient Greek Houses
• Linear B
• The Ancient Greek Calendar
• What did the Ancient Greeks eat and drink?
• Ancient Greece Timeline