DOI Artikel:
Pickard, John: Dionysus en Limnais
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8681#0342
DJOJtfYSUS iv AC/MvaK*
The dispute over the number of Dionysiac festivals in the Attic
calendar, more particularly with regard to the date of the so-called
Lensea, is one of long duration.1 Boeckh maintained that the
Lensea were a separate festival celebrated in the month Gamelion.
To this opinion August Mommsen in the Ueortologie returns; and
maintained as it is by 0. Ribbeck,2 by Albert Miiller,3 by A. E.
Haigh,4 and by G. Oehmichen,5 it may fairly be said to be the
accepted theory to-day. This opinion, however, is by no means
universally received. For example, 0. Gilbert6 has attempted to
prove that the country Dionysia, Leneea, and Anthesteria were
only parts of the same festival.
But while the date of the so-called Lensea has been so long open
to question, until recently it has been universally held that some
portion at least of all the festivals at Athens in honor of the wine-
god was held in the precinct by the extant theatre of Dionysus.
With the ruins of this magnificent structure before the eyes, and
no other theatre in sight, the temptation was certainly a strong
one to find in this neighborhood the Limnae mentioned in the
records of the ancients. When Pervanoglu found a handful of
rushes in the neighborhood of the present military hospital, the
matter seemed finally settled. So, on the maps and charts of
* I wish to express my hearty thanks to Prof. U. von Wilamowitz-Mollendorif
of the University of Gottingen, Prof. E. Schbll of the University of Munich, Prof
A. C. Merriam of Columbia College, and Dr. Charles Waldstein and Prof. K. B-
Richardson, Directors of the American School at Athens, for many valuable criticisms
and suggestions.
1 Vom Unterschied der Leniicn, Antliesterien und landlichen Dionysien, in den
Abhdl. der k. Akad. der Wiss. zu Berlin, 1816-17.
2 Die Anfange und Entwickelung des Dionysoscultus in Attika.
8 Buhnen-Alter•thumer.
* The Attic Theatre.
6 Das Buhnenwesen der Q-riechen and Rutner.
'Die Festzeit der Attischen Dionysien.
330
The dispute over the number of Dionysiac festivals in the Attic
calendar, more particularly with regard to the date of the so-called
Lensea, is one of long duration.1 Boeckh maintained that the
Lensea were a separate festival celebrated in the month Gamelion.
To this opinion August Mommsen in the Ueortologie returns; and
maintained as it is by 0. Ribbeck,2 by Albert Miiller,3 by A. E.
Haigh,4 and by G. Oehmichen,5 it may fairly be said to be the
accepted theory to-day. This opinion, however, is by no means
universally received. For example, 0. Gilbert6 has attempted to
prove that the country Dionysia, Leneea, and Anthesteria were
only parts of the same festival.
But while the date of the so-called Lensea has been so long open
to question, until recently it has been universally held that some
portion at least of all the festivals at Athens in honor of the wine-
god was held in the precinct by the extant theatre of Dionysus.
With the ruins of this magnificent structure before the eyes, and
no other theatre in sight, the temptation was certainly a strong
one to find in this neighborhood the Limnae mentioned in the
records of the ancients. When Pervanoglu found a handful of
rushes in the neighborhood of the present military hospital, the
matter seemed finally settled. So, on the maps and charts of
* I wish to express my hearty thanks to Prof. U. von Wilamowitz-Mollendorif
of the University of Gottingen, Prof. E. Schbll of the University of Munich, Prof
A. C. Merriam of Columbia College, and Dr. Charles Waldstein and Prof. K. B-
Richardson, Directors of the American School at Athens, for many valuable criticisms
and suggestions.
1 Vom Unterschied der Leniicn, Antliesterien und landlichen Dionysien, in den
Abhdl. der k. Akad. der Wiss. zu Berlin, 1816-17.
2 Die Anfange und Entwickelung des Dionysoscultus in Attika.
8 Buhnen-Alter•thumer.
* The Attic Theatre.
6 Das Buhnenwesen der Q-riechen and Rutner.
'Die Festzeit der Attischen Dionysien.
330