Mark Antony’s pompe in Ephesus
| TITLE: |
| Mark Antony’s pompe in Ephesus |
| DATE: |
| 41 BC (Autumn) |
| TEXT: |
| BERNADOTTE, P. (1921): Plutarch’s Lives, Volume X, Harvard University Press, Cambridge: Plut. Anton. 24.3-4 |
| EDITIONS/TRANSLATIONS: |
| BERNADOTTE, P. (1921): Plutarch’s Lives, Volume X, Harvard University Press, Cambridge: Plut. Anton. 24.3-4 SÁNCHEZ HERNÁNDEZ, P. AND GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ, M. (2009): Plutarco. Vidas paralelas VII. Demetrio-Antonio; Dión-Bruto; Arato-Artajeres; Galba-Otón,Gredos, Madrid |
| KEYWORDS: |
| Word used to mean procession: |
| ἡγοῦντο(vb. ἁγέομαι, “lead the way”) |
| Word used to mean the cult images: |
| Gods or other entities named: |
| The people of Ephesus hailed Antony as Dionysus Giver of Joy and Beneficent (Διόνυσον αὐτὸν ἀνακαλουμένων χαριδότην καὶ μειλίχιον), but to the greater part Plutarch asserts that he was Dionysus Carnivorous and Savage (ὠμηστὴς καὶ ἀγριώνιος) Cf. Zanker 1996, p. 42: “When Marc Antony came to Athens and Asia Minor, however, after the partition of the empire among the triumvirs (42 B.C.), he found the figure of Dionysus a much more attractive and effective model, in the manner of Alexander the Great. It was a role to which he was ideally suited, given his passionate nature, generosity, and naiveté, his love of wine, elegant parties, worldly women, and flashy affairs. When this new Dionysus arrived at Ephesus, drunk and accompanied by his followers dressed up as a thiasos, the Greeks there were reminded of the days of King Mithridates Eupator” |
| Description of the cult images: |
| Procession’s route: |
| The streets of Ephesus |
| Frequency with which the procession takes place: |
| Just once |
| Performers: |
| References to the public attending the procession: |
| When Antony made his entry into Ephesus, women arrayed like Bacchanals, and men and boys like Satyrs and Pans, led the way before him (εἰς γοῦν Ἔφεσον εἰσιόντος αὐτοῦ γυναῖκες μὲν εἰς Βάκχας, ἄνδρες δὲ καὶ παῖδες εἰς Σατύρους καὶ Πᾶνας ἡγοῦντο διεσκευασμένοι) |
| Rites related to the procession: |
| Dionysiac rites |
| Allusions to conduct or forms of reverence: |
| The city was full of ivy and thyrsus-wands and harps and pipes and flutes (κιττοῦ δὲ καὶ θύρσων καὶ ψαλτηρίων καὶ συρίγγων καὶ αὐλῶν ἡ πόλις ἦν πλέα) |
| Other remarkable elements: |
| BIBLIOGRAPHY: |
| BÖMMER 1952, RE, s.v. Pompa. Herrscher, Vol. XXI.2, p. 1974, n.355 (cf. n. 272, 122). ZANKER, P. (1996): The power of the image in the Age of Augustus, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, p.46 |