Steps as Routes of Access: Processions

The introduction of some monumental steps reflected the importance of the pompe, or procession escorting the sacrificial animal to the altar, where it was ritually slain, its flesh cooked and distributed to the attending worshippers. A sixth-century b. c.e. black-figure band cup (Fig. 2.1) gives a fine sense of a pompe as it portrays Athena with two mortals, an altar, a kanephoros, three sacrificial victims-to-be, musicians, worshippers, hoplites, and a horseman.4 Even if parading en masse to a ritual destination does not entail the degree of symbolic meaning attached to sacrifice, a procession can be considered an auxiliary enactment, since it would take place at a prescribed time and place in a habitual manner, and it would include those about to join in conducting and celebrating the sacrifice.5 Crowds of worshippers brought the dynamic energy of a group in motion to the altar. The pompe was an occasion for display, with musical accompaniment, and vessels for ceremony, and special clothing and finery of many sorts. A second-century b. c.e, civic decree from Magnesia on the Maeander specifies the organization of the procession in honor of Artemis Leukophryne:

. . . the stephanephoros in office together with the male priest and the female priest of Artemis Leukophryne shall ever after lead the procession in the month of Artemision on the twelfth day, and sacrifice the designated bull; that in the procession shall also be the council of elders, the priests, the magistrates, . . . the ephebes, the youths, the boys, the victors in the Leukophryne games, and the victors in the other crown-bearing games. The stephanephoros in leading the procession shall carry images of all twelve gods attired as beautifully as possible. . . and shall also provide music, a shawm-player, a pan-pipe player and a lyre-player.6

The Panathenaic procession is the best known example of a grand pompe. The extraordinarily flamboyant procession of Ptolemy

2.1. Black-figure band cup with procession. Private collection.

Philadelphos in Alexandria in 270 b. c.e., described in detail in the Deipnosophistai, was an expanded and politicized version of a pompe.'7 Such festive participatory parades were common practices (albeit on a lesser scale) at Greek sanctuaries, consistent in concept, but variable according to particular cult and custom. Specifications for participation varied as to such categories as gender, age, and social status. Universally, the pompe gathered diverse members of one or more communities out of their daily routine into festive motion together toward a destination. The performative nature of the pompe as participants walked alongside the prospective victim(s) brought a tide of energy and anticipation to the impending sacrifice. Broad steps that define a path to the altar constitute the formal articulation of this behavior, and give it permanent expression. Tilley observed that architecture involves deliberate creation and definition of space, not only somatic and perceptual space, but also existential space, that “in a constant process of production and reproduction through the movements and activities of members of a group.”8

An individual’s experience of a site would be shaped by the pathway (space) and the sequence of perceptions (time) created by a prescribed route of access. Michel DeCerteau described walking as the continuous creation of place in the course of establishing relationships with surrounding spaces and structures.9 Key constructed elements, such as broad steps, form a preferred path that codifies a visitor’s experience of

An entire site, as well as of its component parts. We can examine interactions between architecture and auxiliary ritual as represented by processional steps by considering routes of approach at the sanctuaries of Demeter and Kore at Corinth, of Zeus at Labraunda, of Athena at Lindos on Rhodes, and of Asklepios on Kos.