Chronology Puzzle In The Temple Of Zeus

[Pantagathus]

"Hecataeus the historian was once at Thebes, where he made a genealogy for himself that had him descended from a god in the sixteenth generation. But the priests of Zeus did with him as they also did with me (who had not traced my own lineage).

 

They brought me into the great inner court of the temple and showed me wooden figures there which they counted to the total they had already given, for every high priest sets up a statue of himself there during his lifetime; pointing to these and counting, the priests showed me that each succeeded his father; they went through the whole line of figures, back to the earliest from that of the man who had most recently died.

 

Thus, when Hecataeus had traced his descent and claimed that his sixteenth forefather was a god, the priests too traced a line of descent according to the method of their counting; for they would not be persuaded by him that a man could be descended from a god; they traced descent through the whole line of three hundred and forty-five figures, not connecting it with any ancestral god or hero, but declaring each figure to be a

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Uh 2000 years? just a guess.

[Pertinax]

firstly-any prescribed length for a period of priesthood?

secondly-if answer to (1) is no , then what was likely longevity and age at accession to full preisthood? In a priveliged college a mans life expectancy might be greatly above the average ,but perhaps not too far above the expectancy of other "priveliged" full citizens.

 

the equation might include overlapping incumbencies as you hint,so the 345 could be overlapping "cohorts".

[Pantagathus]

firstly-any prescribed length for a period of priesthood?

secondly-if answer to (1) is no , then what was likely longevity and age at accession to full preisthood? In a priveliged college a mans life expectancy might be greatly above the average ,but perhaps not too far above the expectancy of other "priveliged" full citizens.

 

the equation might include overlapping incumbencies as you hint,so the 345 could be overlapping "cohorts".

 

Exactly why this is a facinating puzzle! I agree that overlap must be factored in. But I assume that it would operate as we know the V-V's did where there is a set number of priests (like the set amount of V-V's in training and serving at a given time). So overlap is washed out a bit by a definite number of priests at a given time.

 

If we consider a set number of priests serving for their lifetime, even if their were 6-10 priests, we're pushing well into the Bronze Age are we not?

[Pertinax]

thats right ,and that is some good record keeping! My only concern was -well ,with Emperors someone lasts a lifetime then four turn up in one year! But with that substantial number of persons again the averages will even out over the generations.

 

also let us assume a generally similar lifespan because of elite status( perhaps shorter in earlier history? )(maybe not ,my early training in Demography always makes me very wary of age/sex mortality averages-morbidity of a population I think is the key?). and as you say a "cohort" staged training programme?

 

all questions again.

[Pantagathus]

Taking from various things I've read here & there, I feel it would be safe to assume that the average lifespan of the priests would be anywhere into the 50's & 60's, some 70's. Perhaps a bit shorter during the early & middle Bronze Age.

 

Even the skeletal evidence from elite burials at Catal Huyuk, Turkey (~6,000-~4500 BC) indicate a life span usually into the upper 50's.

 

So we really need to know:

1. Number of Priests employed

2. Average life span for the Priest class

3. Period of employment (20 years? Life?)

4. What factors could end a tenure short?

5. Guestimate of % times that #4 happened...

 

What if we find out its only 4 priests at a time who serve a lifetime (~30+ years active)? That could be indications that a paradigm shift is required!

[Pertinax]

critical question-how many priests required to ensure smooth operation of what size of temple?Do we know the physical resources neede to keep the operation going?

Priesthood surely is a lifetime vocation-can we assume this? It certainly is in many other instances.

End of tenure-death or disgrace?

 

 

I suggest a lifetime vocation till death-ok,early societies are far more sophisticated than moderns assume but I suggest that the required agricultural/technological resources needed to support a priestly caste would have to chanelled carefully to get maximun "return" from a highly trained and commited individual ( and ready replacements/assistants), these societies would have to be wary of food production and storage as totally vital to their continuity.I always think the Japanese attitude of "10 years to achieve any reasonable competency " in a job/vocation/art is quite reasonable, so that would be my suggestion for a minimun period.

 

what does everyone think?

[Pantagathus]

I'm sidelining myself hoping to prime a response from another member of the Forum.

 

BTW, Flavius thanks for the response which is as decent a guess as any.

Edited December 20, 2005 by Pantagathus

[Onasander]

It's not porobable this is true, not to say the priests did not believe this.

 

How do I know this? The images were made of wood. How many roman wooden statues have made it to the present? Even under the best of care, kept from humidity and the elements, they would of been destroyed in one of the fires that plauged the ancient villages and cities, or damaged when the temple would be looted.

 

Further more, it only stated " they traced descent through the whole line of three hundred and forty-five figures", it did limit range of causal interactions strictly to a father-son relationship. The pluralism of they suggest the other priests were brothers and most would not be eligable for having their own statue. This also suggest that the priests either did not have a stratified class of their own, or if they did, did not let this play into account when picking wives. The imbreeding surely would of sterilized them all.

Edited January 22, 2006 by Onasander