The sacred dance

by W. O. E. Oesterley

That the Old Testament figures somewhat prominently in the following pages is partly due to the fact that the writer has made a special study of this body of literature, and it seemed wise to start from that with which he was most conversant; but there is the further reason, as is pointed out in the introductory chapter, that the Old Testament offers, in most cases, an exceedingly convenient starting-point from which to study the various “types” of sacred dance.

The writer desires to express his thanks to Dr Jevons, Dr Lukyn Williams, and Dr S. A. Cook for a number of helpful suggestions, to Miss Bevan for reading through the proofs, and his warm appreciation of the kindness and courtesy of the Secretary of the University Press.

The minute care taken in pointing out oversights in the correction of proofs, as well as other slips, is most gratefully acknowledged.

Finally, the writer would like to take this opportunity of thanking the Curator of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities in the British Museum for his ready help in arranging for the photographing of the Greek Vase, representing a Maenad dancing in honour of Dionysos, which is reproduced on the cover of this book.

W. O. E. O.

St Alban’s Vicarage,
Bedford Park.

February 1923.

CONTENTS

		PAGE
[CHAPTER I] INTRODUCTORY
I.	The Importance of the Sacred Dance	[1]
II.	The Meaning of the Sacred Dance	[5]
III.	The reason for using the Old Testament as the starting-point in the investigation	[8]
IV.	The Sources of Information:	[9]
	(1) Inscriptions	[10]
	(2) Pottery, etc.	[10]
	(3) Ancient Literature	[11]
	(4) Modern Literature	[11]
[CHAPTER II] THE ORIGIN AND PURPOSES OF THE SACRED DANCE
I.	The Origin of the Sacred Dance	[13]
II.	The Purposes of the Sacred Dance	[19]
[CHAPTER III] THE SACRED DANCE AMONG THE ISRAELITES
I.	The Sacred Dance among the Israelites	[31]
II.	Types of the Sacred Dance among the Israelites:	[35]
	(1) The sacred processional dance	[36]
	(2) The encircling of a sacred object	[37]
	(3) The ecstatic dance	[37]
	(4) Sacred dances at Vintage and Harvest Festivals	[39]
	(5) Dances in celebration of victory	[40]
	(6) The sacred dance as a Circumcision rite	[41]
	(7) The sacred dance as a Marriage rite	[41]
	(8) The sacred dance as a Burial or Mourning rite	[42]
[CHAPTER IV] THE OLD TESTAMENT TERMS FOR “DANCING”
I.	Consideration of some Hebrew roots	[44]
II.	The Musical Accompaniment to Dancing	[51]
[CHAPTER V] THE SACRED PROCESSIONAL DANCE, AND DANCES IN HONOUR OF SUPERNATURAL POWERS
I.	The Sacred Processional Dance among the Israelites	[54]
II.	Among the Syrians and Arabs, and other Semites	[56]
III.	Among the Hittites	[59]
IV.	Among the Egyptians	[60]
V.	Among the Greeks	[63]
VI.	Among the Romans	[73]
VII.	Among Asiatic peoples	[76]
VIII.	Among Uncultured races	[77]
	Summary and Considerations	[81]
[CHAPTER VI] THE RITUAL DANCE ROUND A SACRED OBJECT
I.	Among the Israelites	[88]
II.	Among other Semites	[94]
III.	Among the Greeks	[97]
IV.	Among the Romans	[100]
V.	Among Uncultured races	[101]
	Summary and Considerations	[104]
[CHAPTER VII] THE ECSTATIC DANCE
I.	Among the Israelites	[107]
II.	Among other Semites	[115]
III.	Among the Greeks and Romans	[119]
IV.	Among Uncultured races	[128]
	Summary and Considerations	[135]
[CHAPTER VIII] THE SACRED DANCE AT VINTAGE, HARVEST, AND OTHER FESTIVALS
I.	The Israelite Feasts	[140]
II.	Circumcision Feasts among the Semites	[144]
III.	The Sacred Dance at Egyptian Festivals	[145]
IV.	The Sacred Dance at Greek Festivals	[146]
V.	The Sacred Dance at Roman Festivals	[149]
VI.	The Sacred Dance at Festivals among Uncultured races	[151]
	Summary and Considerations	[154]
[CHAPTER IX] DANCES IN CELEBRATION OF VICTORY
I.	Among the Israelites	[159]
II.	The Original Purpose of this type of Dance among Uncultured races	[167]
	Summary and Considerations	[173]
[CHAPTER X] THE SACRED DANCE AS A MARRIAGE RITE
I.	Among the Israelites, the “Dance of Maḥanaim”	[177]
II.	Among some Uncultured races	[184]
III.	Some further purposes of this type of Dance	[189]
	Summary and Considerations	[191]
[CHAPTER XI] DANCING AS A MOURNING AND BURIAL RITE
I.	The Old Testament and this type of Dance	[194]
II.	The rite among mediæval and modern Jews	[198]
III.	The rite among the Egyptians, ancient and modern	[202]
IV.	The rite among the Greeks and Romans	[207]
V.	The rite among Uncultured races	[209]
	Summary and Considerations	[219]
INDEX		[223]