« Χοροί Νυμϕών᾽Εγκύκλιοι »

Résumé Fr En

Étude des danses des Nymphes et des manifestations rituelles en leur honneur, dans le cadre d’un culte qui se rattache principalement aux dieux Pan (souvent musicien), Hermès, et Apollon, en utilisant les sources textuelles (surtout Hymnes homériques, Pindare, Euripide) et iconographiques. Il s’agit de danses féminines et circulaires, où les exécutantes se tiennent par le poignet. On peut les classer en quatre catégories, fondées sur la disposition des danseuses, en cercle fermé ou ouvert, ou encore par couple avec Pan et les Satyres. Les instruments favoris de ces danses sont surtout la syrinx et plus rarement les crotales.

The essay makes a short presentation of the circular dance of the Nymphs through clay statuettes and especially votive reliefs devoted to the Pan and the Nymphs. Although studies have been made from the beginning of the century on votive reliefs, none of the scholars gives us an interpretation of the dance and its purpose. In the scenes on the votive reliefs we can see the river-God Acheloos watching the dance of the three Nymphs, Hermes with his kerykeion leading the dance and the half-goat God Pan playing the syrinx aside. Focusing on the artifacts we can conclude that the dance was circular in formation, either closed or open, around an altar or a musician, with a male dance leader (Hermes mostly and sometimes Pan) accompanied by a wind instrument (the double flute and the syrinx). In order to understand the ancient dance of the Nymphs and Pan, the hidden codes and its actual aim, researchers must gather information that come from different scientific fields, which, if combined properly together, they can be very useful to the researcher who wants to study ancient dance performances and wants to understand the inner force that sets every dance in motion.