Week 5

Question 1

What 4 types of Rites of Passage are always present in ancient societies?

Answer 1

1. Perinatal
2. Wedding
3. Death
4. Funeral

Question 2

Mesopotamian rites of passage usually centred around the deity ________.

Answer 2

Ishtar/Inanna

Question 3

What is the Brick of Childbirth?

Answer 3

• A Mesopotamian childbirth tradition
• A mother squatted on 2 large sacred brick while giving birth

Question 4

Who named the child in Mesopotamia?

Answer 4

The Father

Question 5

What were the 3 ritual stages of Mesopotamian childbirth?

Answer 5

1. Anointing the mother
2. Birth
3. Gender Reveal

Question 6

In Mesopotamian Royal new year celebrations, the final performer was required to ___________.

Answer 6

Draw blood

Question 7

The goal of a Mesopotamian marriage was _____

Answer 7

conception

Question 8

When were Mesopotamian marriage contracts settled?

Answer 8

Childhood

(the family would settle the contract with another families’ child at a young age, consistently gift giving bride prices until the children were of age to marry)

Question 9

In Ancient Iran, the bride’s male relatives give her in marriage at age ____

Answer 9

15

Question 10

In Greeks, the bride’s male relatives gave her in marriage from the ages of ___ to ___.

Answer 10

13-15

Question 11

What made a marriage contract official in Mesopotamia?

Answer 11

• A simple oral declaration by both parties

Question 12

What made a marriage contract official in Syria-Canaan?

Answer 12

• A simple oral declaration by both parties

Question 13

True or False: Greek marriages had an official declaration of consent.

Answer 13

FALSE

There was NO declaration of consent in Ancient Greece

Question 14

What made a marriage contract official in Ancient Rome?

Answer 14

• The holding of hands by the couple

Question 15

In Mesopotamia, what followed the official contract of marriage?

Answer 15

Courtship Rituals

Question 16

What occurred in Ancient Israel after a wedding proclamation?

Answer 16

• A long period (often up to 7 days) of feasting and wine drinking

Question 17

What did the groom have to do after a Mesopotamian marriage was made official?

Answer 17

Separate from his family

Question 18

Who escorted the bride to her new husband’s home in Mesopotamia?

Answer 18

The Groom’s friends

Question 19

What was a katachysmata?

Answer 19

• A post-wedding tradition in Ancient Greece in which a shower of fruits, nuts, and coins would be dropped on the groom’s hearth

Question 20

What did Ancient Greeks typically do when a marriage was being consummated?

Answer 20

They sang wedding songs outside the bedroom chamber

Question 21

Roman brides had to have their hair parted by ___________ before their wedding ceremony.

Answer 21

A spearhead

Question 22

A Roman bride’s white dress was tied with a ___________

Answer 22

Herculean knot

Question 23

What followed a Roman wedding ceremony?

Answer 23

A procession to the groom’s house with rude sexual jokes and songs being hurled around

Question 24

Upon entering her new husband’s home, a Roman wife had to receive __________ and __________ from him.

Answer 24

Fire and Water

Question 25

What did the bride offer the groom in exchange for the Fire and Water?

Answer 25

• 3 small coins:
  one for the groom
  one for the groom’s hearth
  one for the neighbourhood Lares

Question 26

What did Roman brides wear on their head?

Answer 26

A red veil

Question 27

What was a common Near Eastern rite of passage?

Answer 27

Circumcision

Question 28

What material was often used to perform circumcision?

Answer 28

Flint

Question 29

Define Epispasm:

Answer 29

• The painful process of undoing circumcision
• Gradually stretching the skin

Question 30

Why might one wish to perform Epispasm?

Answer 30

• Example: Hellenistic Period Greeks looked down upon circumcision and ridiculed it
• Thus, when Jewish minorities living in Greek communities later on were obliged to participate in numerous nude community events, they were shunned

Question 31

Typically, at what age did Israelite boys have to be circumcised?

Answer 31

8 days old

Question 32

True or False: To be considered a member of a family or household in ancient Israel, slave or not, you HAD to be circumcised.

Answer 32

TRUE

Question 33

What happened to uncircumcised males in ancient Israel?

Answer 33

They were cut off from their communities

Question 34

What did they also do during circumcision ceremonies in Ancient Israel?

Answer 34

Named the child

Question 35

What was the Athenian Ephebe?

Answer 35

Mandatory military service for men aged 18–20 years old

Question 36

In the Spartan Agogé, what was seen as a coming of age rite of passage?

Answer 36

Stealing the cheese from the Temple of Artemis

Question 37

In which Roman festival did boys’ coming of age ceremonies occur?

Answer 37

Liberalia (in honour of god Liber) (Dionysos)

Question 38

What was given to boys on Liberalia?

Answer 38

A Gown of Liberty

Question 39

Which century saw a rise in infant baptism?

Answer 39

5th c. AD

Question 40

What types of insights can myth provide?

Answer 40

• Historical (ex. true location of Troy through Homer)
• Anthropological (ex. what a society values)(ex. Achilles choosing to die young for the sake of honour)
• Metaphysical (ex. Human nature)
• Cosmological (Understanding nature and the universe)
• Aetiological (explaining a custom through a divine creation story)
• Sociological
• Psychological