Circular Associations

It is not only the geometry of the circle in relation to architecture but also the associations the circle conjures that are paramount here.75 The strength and potential motion of the circle trigger associations that range from the mundane to the cosmic. In the ancient Greek context, we find the form noticed in material artifacts (the bowl, the ring, the shield, the coin, the stephane, the tambourine, and the wheel);76 in the body (the eye);77 in the natural world (the trunk of a tree, the configuration of islands [e. g., the Cyclades], the circumference of the ocean, the sun, the moon, and the planets, the vault of the sky, the dome of heaven, the orbit of a planet, path of the sun, and the imagined shape of the cosmos);78 in metaphysical contexts (the wheel of one’s fortune, the cyclical life force);79 and, in human actions (dancers in chorus, ritual cleansers around the altar, parents around the hearth with a newborn, or hunters around prey).80 And there are the social circles: the circle of defenders, the circle of chieftains, the council of elders, the circle of witnesses, the circle of friends, the circle of the family,81 even the circle of gods.82

To describe human relations, the Greeks used the term circle much as we do to signal a close-knit community of friends, followers, leaders, or fellow believers; in other words, a community of the like-minded or like-purposed. The axiom of the circle involves the seamless definition of what is included and what is excluded, while maintaining all points on its circumference equidistant from the center. Gathering in a circle creates insiders who are equal, at least in a structural sense and at least for the brief time that the circle rules.83 In the Sanctuary, the Theatral Circle established the parameters of the shared experience, both physically and psychologically. Consider the effect of such a configuration on pilgrims who gathered from all over the Greek world whose initial experience in the Sanctuary required that they stand as “formal” equals among strangers before they moved forward together into the simultaneously collective and deeply personal process of initiation. Ultimately, this spontaneous communitas (as defined by Victor Turner) created in the Theatral Circle would lead to longer-lasting and widespread community - koinonia) in the larger Greek and Roman world, as the many Samothrakeia across the Aegean attest.84