Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky (Cambridge, 1914)

Attic Festivals of Dionysos 683

this form of worship1, which was obviously appropriate to the
season when Dionysos was begotten. Confirmation of the view
that tragedy originated at the Lenaia, comedy at the City Dionysia,
may be found in a curious but little-noticed fact2. At the Lenaia
tragedy took precedence of comedy : at the City Dionysia comedy
took precedence of tragedy3.

There are, however, traces of a different and probably older
arrangement of the Dionysiac year. It can hardly be accidental
that of the two remaining Attic festivals of the god one was held
just a month before the City Dionysia and the other a month
before the Lenaia. The Anthesteria took place on Anthesterion
11 —134; the Rural Dionysia, shortly before Poseideon 195. Here,
then, we have again the same interval of ten lunar months. And
we may legitimately suspect the same cause—a conception at the

Corp. inscr. Att. ii. i no. 321 b, 7 (in a decree of 278/7 B.C., which apparently refers to a
procession passing through the Dipylon Gate) - - s tt)s $a\\ay[uyias].

1 Aristot. poet. 4. 1449 a 9 ff.

2 Mommsen Feste d. Stadt Athen p. 44T n. 2 remarks that at the City Dionysia first
came lyrics, then comedy, then tragedy, and justly infers ' dass der Agon ursprunglich nur
aus ernster Lyrik und heiterer Dramatik bestand, unci keine Tragddien vorkamen.'

3 See the law of Euegoros cited by Dem. in Mid. 10 ~Evr)yopos elirev orav 77 ivofj.ivrj
y tu £uov6aip kv Iletpatet /cat ot Kco/ncpdoi /cat ot rpayuidoi, /cat 7) e7rt Ar/^aty Trofxirrj /cat ot
rpayuidol /cat ot /cw/uoSot, /cat rots ev aarei Alovvctlols r/ Tro/iwi} /cat ot 7rat§es /cat 6 ku>/j.os /cat
ot Kw/xcpdol /cat ot rpaywdoi, k.t.X. Comedies precede tragedies also in the official lists of
the contests at the City Dionysia (Corp. inscr. Att. ii. 2 no. 971, iv. 2 no. 971).

A. E. Haigh The Attic Theatre* rev. by A. W. Pickard-Cambridge Oxford 1907 p. 23
n. 2 makes light of this evidence ' as there is nothing to show that the contests are being
spoken of in order of performance, rather than in order of relative importance.' But since
Euegoros arranges the same items in a different order, according as they occur at the
Lenaia or at the City Dionysia, it is probable that he is giving the official programme.
This probability is raised to a certainty by the fact that his order agrees with that of the
inscribed records, in which e.g. the name of Magnes precedes the name of Aischylos on
a list of victors at the City Dionysia c. 469 B.C.

A. E. Haigh op. cit.2 Oxford 1898 p. 35, op. cit.3 Oxford T907 p. 23 f. quotes Aristoph.
av. 785 ff. ovdev ecrr daeivov ov8' yjdiov 77 (pvcrac irrepa. \ aurt'x' vjx&v tup Oear&v et ris r\v
vir birr epos, I etra iveivQiv rots %o/>oto"t tQv rpaytpdQv rix@eTOi I eKTrTo^evos av ovtos ijpicrTyjaeu
e\6ui> oiKade, \ /car' aV eixir\y}<rdeh ecp' rj/xds avffts ad KareTrreTO and infers ' that the come-
dies were performed after the tragedies.' But, noting that this passage stands near the
end of a chorus of 125 lines, I would rather interpret as follows. Aristophanes, joking
at his own expense, imagines a bored and hungry spectator suddenly equipped with wings
and therefore able to fly off home, get his bit of dinner, and be back in time for the next
scene on the stage. That is surely the point of i<p' ijjuds add is ad KarewTeTo. If so,
there is no allusion to tragedies at all, and we ought to accept the old emendation
TpvyqSCjv, which was certain to be corrupted into rpay^dujv. The passage thus emended
squares with the very weighty evidence of Euegoros' law and the official inscriptions.

4 Mommsen op. cit. p. 384 ff.

5 Mommsen op. cit. p. 351, on the strength of Corp. inscr. Att. ii. 1 no. 578, 36 f.
(a decree of Myrrhinous c. 340 B.C.) rrj 8e evarei iiri 5^/ca rod IIocrei5eQi>[os] fj.(r])p[6s
Xpry/xartf] | [e]iv 7re[pt Aiov]vaiaji>, cp. Corp. inscr. Att. iv. 2 nos. 623 d and 623 £ (records
of the Dionysiastai, who met Ho<xi8eu>vos dyopa, Kvpia).