ABSTRACT
In `` TheBlackHunter and theOrigin of theAthenianEphebeia'' Vidal-Naquet suggests that the Athenian institution of the ephebeia originated as a rite of passage.1 He demonstrates how various elements of the social practice and theAthenian imaginary (l'imaginaire)2 associatedwith the ephebeiaonly become comprehensible when placed within the framework of the initiation paradigm. Vidal-Naquet uses two heuristic techniques to help build his interpretive model: a structuralist theoretical approach and a social historical methodology. The former offers him a universally applicable repertoire of established binary relationships: nature vs. culture, center vs. periphery, city vs. countryside, adult vs. adolescent, etc. The latter allows him to access the meaning of cultural phenomena by studying together social practice and `` the imaginary'' in their historical context.3 Vidal-Naquet seeks to reconcile (in his own words, ``to bridge the gap between'') the myths, rituals, and social circumstances associatedwith the ephebeia, which appear rather foreign to each other when viewed independently.4 Mapped onto the initiation paradigm,5
however, they reveal a common meaning. Vidal-Naquet insisted on an ontological relationship between the model
and the historical institution. He placed initiation (an interpretive model) on the same chronological plane with the social reality, postulating the existence of some earlier historical form of the ephebeiaas a rite of passage prior (and as a predecessor) to the military ephebeia of the fourth century BCE.6 In fact, his application of the initiation model in this case constitutes the enactment of a metaphorical process.7 The connection between models and metaphors has been recognized for some time now in the social sciences.8 I argue that Vidal-Naquet's interpretation of the Athenian ephebeia is best understood as a metaphoric model where the ephebes are like tricksters (Melanthus), and like solitary hunters (Melanion); the Athenian frontiers are like liminal spaces, and the ephebeia is like, although not is a rite of passage.
