This paper explores notions of impurity around human blood in
ancient Greek world, with the intent to show how the knowledge and
praxis concerning its miasma were transmitted. It will focus on the
pollution and purification around blood shed in homicide as well as
women‟s blood discharge. The polluting power of blood and the ...
This paper explores notions of impurity around human blood in
ancient Greek world, with the intent to show how the knowledge and
praxis concerning its miasma were transmitted. It will focus on the
pollution and purification around blood shed in homicide as well as
women‟s blood discharge. The polluting power of blood and the necessity
to undertake purifications emerges in connection with death and birth. It
is argued that given the exact knowledge and accurate ritual procedure
needed in case of pollution, it was crucial to transmit to the members of
the civic community this religious expertise and ritual knowledge, using a
variety of pedagogical tools and learning strategies. The divinities of
Apollo and Artemis as healers and purifiers offer the mythological
background that harmonises the selection of literary and epigraphical
sources here discussed.
