DOI Artikel:
Pickard, John: Dionysus en Limnais
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8681#0361
DIONYSUS t'v Atpvus.
349
the Lensea and Anthesteria occur only in this case, we might,
following Kohler, admit that the hide-money from this particular
festival was not devoted to this special purpose, and that for this
reason the name did not appear in these records. But since in
no case are there more than three mentioned; and since the third
name is one which covers all celebrations in honor of Dionysus at
the Lenpeum, this assumption cannot be granted. The important
point, and one that cannot be too strongly emphasized, is that
neither in these nor in any other inscription or official record is
there any mention of the Lenaea or Anthesteria as such. The
official language appears always to have been, as here: Atovvaia
e7rt Atjvatcp, or: r) eVi. kr)vaia> Trofnri], or, where the dramatic con-
test alone was intended: 6 iirl Kr\vaLq> aycov. Once only in the
5th century70 do we find Atjvaia used; and here it is synonymous
with 6 e7rl Ai]va(a aycov. Wilamowitz has well said that Atfvaia
as a name of a separate festival is an invention of the grammarians.
Aristophanes, in the passage from the Acharnians, shows that this
name may have been used commonly for the dramatic contest at
the LentBum, and we know from Thucydides that Anthesteria was
also used of the entire festival. It is impossible that in a record
like the hide-money inscriptions, the official title Aiovvaia irrl
Arjva((p should be employed to cover two festivals separated by an
interval of a month.
But was the Anthesteria a state festival, at which public sacri-
fices of cattle were made ? The story of its institution by Pandion
shows that it was public from the beginning. Aristophanes in-
forms us71 that it maintained this character; for the Basileus
awarded the prize at the Choes. The question of sacrifice requires
fuller treatment.
Suidas72 and a scholiast73 to Aristophanes quote from Theo-
pompus the story of the establishment of the Cliytri. On the
very day on which they were saved, the survivors of the flood
introduced the celebration of this day of the Anthesteria by
cooking a potful of all sorts of vegetables, and sacrificing it to the
,0 Acharnians, 1155.
" Acharnians, 1225.
72 Suidas, xiVpoi.
"Schol. Aristopii., Frogs, 218.
349
the Lensea and Anthesteria occur only in this case, we might,
following Kohler, admit that the hide-money from this particular
festival was not devoted to this special purpose, and that for this
reason the name did not appear in these records. But since in
no case are there more than three mentioned; and since the third
name is one which covers all celebrations in honor of Dionysus at
the Lenpeum, this assumption cannot be granted. The important
point, and one that cannot be too strongly emphasized, is that
neither in these nor in any other inscription or official record is
there any mention of the Lenaea or Anthesteria as such. The
official language appears always to have been, as here: Atovvaia
e7rt Atjvatcp, or: r) eVi. kr)vaia> Trofnri], or, where the dramatic con-
test alone was intended: 6 iirl Kr\vaLq> aycov. Once only in the
5th century70 do we find Atjvaia used; and here it is synonymous
with 6 e7rl Ai]va(a aycov. Wilamowitz has well said that Atfvaia
as a name of a separate festival is an invention of the grammarians.
Aristophanes, in the passage from the Acharnians, shows that this
name may have been used commonly for the dramatic contest at
the LentBum, and we know from Thucydides that Anthesteria was
also used of the entire festival. It is impossible that in a record
like the hide-money inscriptions, the official title Aiovvaia irrl
Arjva((p should be employed to cover two festivals separated by an
interval of a month.
But was the Anthesteria a state festival, at which public sacri-
fices of cattle were made ? The story of its institution by Pandion
shows that it was public from the beginning. Aristophanes in-
forms us71 that it maintained this character; for the Basileus
awarded the prize at the Choes. The question of sacrifice requires
fuller treatment.
Suidas72 and a scholiast73 to Aristophanes quote from Theo-
pompus the story of the establishment of the Cliytri. On the
very day on which they were saved, the survivors of the flood
introduced the celebration of this day of the Anthesteria by
cooking a potful of all sorts of vegetables, and sacrificing it to the
,0 Acharnians, 1155.
" Acharnians, 1225.
72 Suidas, xiVpoi.
"Schol. Aristopii., Frogs, 218.