Papers of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (1.1882-1883)

THE THEATRE OF DIONYSUS.

171

Kepids 5. RIGHT.

No. 42. — 'lepecci I eH<f>aicrTov.
C. I. A. 288 : V. 7. Date : Not before the second century a.d.
The seat of the Priest of Hephaestus.

The festivals celebrated in honor of Hephaestus at Athens were
very important, since they were the special honors paid by the
phratries at the Apaturia to the ancestor of the Erechtheidae : cf.
Sch., Gr. Alt., II. p. 546 ; and especially M., Heor., chapter on the
Apaturien und Chalkeen.

The temple of Hephaestus at Athens was in the neighborhood of
the Agora. Paus., I. 14, 6 : 'Y-ep Se tov KepapeiKov kol cttoclv tyjv
Ka\.ovfxevr]v fiaalXaov j/ads iariv H^at'crTou. Cf. also W., S. A.,
p. 177, and Stephan. Byzant., s. v., cH<£aio-i-iaSai. There was an
altar of Hephaestus in the Erechtheum (Paus., I. 26, 5).

No. 43. — 'lepewi I O vpavLas I Ne/xecrea)?.

C. I. A. 2S9 : V. 8. Date : Not before the second century a.d.,

and very likely later.

The seat of the Priest of the heavenly Nemesis.

Nemesis was especially adored at Rhamnus, where she had a
temple, the ruins of which may still be seen (B., Geog. v. Griech.,
I. p. 341). The goddess was undoubtedly worshipped in some form
at Athens, since we find that the -yeveVta were also called vepeo-ia :
cf. M., Ilcor., p. 209. See also Welch., Gr. Gotterl., I. 576;
III. 25.

Vischer, pp. 51, 52, says: An Artemis reiht sich die ihr nah'
verwandte Nemesis, die Gottin von Rhamnus, die hier, wenn ich
nicht irre, zura ersten Mai das Epitheton der himmlischen oipavla
hat. Es soil damit vielleicht das namliche bezeichnet werden, was
sonst ihre Verbindung mit Zeus, sei es als Gattin, sei es als Tochter,
ausdriickt, das Walten des in ihr enthaltenen ethischen Begriffs unter
den himmlischen Gottern, ahnlich wie Sophokles (EL, 1064) die The-
mis himmlisch nennt. Doch beruht wohl urspriinglich das Epitheton
auf ihrem Zusammenhang mit der Aphrodite Urania.