DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0345
OK THE RELIGION' OF GREECE
323
chap. xx.
GRECIAN FESTIVALS,
A
AFHTOPE10N and aithtopia, mentioned by Hesychius, without any no-
tice of the deity, in whose honour they were observed. It is not impro-
bable they might belong to Apollo, and be (at least the latter of them)
the same with the Lacedaemonian KugveT*. This conjecture is grounded
upon the words of Hesychius, who tells us, that Ay*)t?s was the name of
the person consecrated to the god at the Kagvsfa- and that the festival itself
was termed Ayrjrigia, which name seems to have been derived from uya,
that festival being observed in imitation of ?£a<n<»<nx$ dyaiyy, or the mili-
tary way of living, as Athenaeus(l) and Eustathius (2) have observed.
It is not unlikely the former might belong to Venus, whose priest (as
grammarians inform us) was called Kywug, in Cyprus.
mpaniAj Was celebrated at Argos (3), in memory of one of Proetus's
daughters ; being, in all probability, the same with
ArPiANiA) which (as the same author tells us) was observed at Arg09,
in memory of a deceased person. It was also celebrated at Thebes with
solemn sports.
ArpATAiA, at Athens, in honour of Agraulus, or Aglaunis, the daugh-
ter of Cecrops, and the nymph Aglauris, and priestess of Minerva, to
whom she gave the surname of Aglaurus, and was worshipped in a tem-
ple dedicated to her. The Cyprians also (as Porphyry (4) reports) hon»
oured her by the celebration of an annual festival in the month Aphro-
disius, at which they offered human victims ; and this custom is said to
have continued till the time of Diomedes.
ArPlftNlA, in honour of Bacchus, sumamed Aygtamof, for his cruelty,
as Plutarch (5) is of opinion ; or because he conversed with and was at-
tended by lions, tygers, and other savage animals, which procured him
the other name of i2|XjjS«s, which properly denotes an eater of raw flesh.
This solemnity was observed in the night, after this manner. The wo-
men (6) being assembled, made a strict search after Bacchus, as if he had
fled from them ; but after some time, finding theirMabour to be in vain,
said, that he had retired to the Muses, and concealed himself among them.
This being done, and the ceremony ended, they regaled themselves with
an entertainment ; after which, the time was passed away in proposing
riddles and cramp questions. Large quantities of ivy were used at this
time (7), because that plant was accounted sacred to Bacchus ; and so
great excesses were sometimes committed, that once the daughter of
Minya, in a furious ecstasy of devotion, slaughtered Hippasus, the son of
Leucippe, and served him up to the table : in memory of which murder,
their whole family was ever after excluded from this festival, upon pain
of death ; which, as Plutarch (8) reports, was inflicted upon one of them
that surreptitiously conveyed herself in amongst the rest of the worship^
pers, by Zoilus, a Chaeronaean priest.
(1) Liv. iv. (2) Iliad, to. (3) Hesychius. (4) De Abstinentia, lib. ii. (5) Antonio.
(6) Plutarch. Sympos. lib. viii. qusst. i, (7) Idf m, Quasst. Roman, (8) Quaest. Graec,
323
chap. xx.
GRECIAN FESTIVALS,
A
AFHTOPE10N and aithtopia, mentioned by Hesychius, without any no-
tice of the deity, in whose honour they were observed. It is not impro-
bable they might belong to Apollo, and be (at least the latter of them)
the same with the Lacedaemonian KugveT*. This conjecture is grounded
upon the words of Hesychius, who tells us, that Ay*)t?s was the name of
the person consecrated to the god at the Kagvsfa- and that the festival itself
was termed Ayrjrigia, which name seems to have been derived from uya,
that festival being observed in imitation of ?£a<n<»<nx$ dyaiyy, or the mili-
tary way of living, as Athenaeus(l) and Eustathius (2) have observed.
It is not unlikely the former might belong to Venus, whose priest (as
grammarians inform us) was called Kywug, in Cyprus.
mpaniAj Was celebrated at Argos (3), in memory of one of Proetus's
daughters ; being, in all probability, the same with
ArPiANiA) which (as the same author tells us) was observed at Arg09,
in memory of a deceased person. It was also celebrated at Thebes with
solemn sports.
ArpATAiA, at Athens, in honour of Agraulus, or Aglaunis, the daugh-
ter of Cecrops, and the nymph Aglauris, and priestess of Minerva, to
whom she gave the surname of Aglaurus, and was worshipped in a tem-
ple dedicated to her. The Cyprians also (as Porphyry (4) reports) hon»
oured her by the celebration of an annual festival in the month Aphro-
disius, at which they offered human victims ; and this custom is said to
have continued till the time of Diomedes.
ArPlftNlA, in honour of Bacchus, sumamed Aygtamof, for his cruelty,
as Plutarch (5) is of opinion ; or because he conversed with and was at-
tended by lions, tygers, and other savage animals, which procured him
the other name of i2|XjjS«s, which properly denotes an eater of raw flesh.
This solemnity was observed in the night, after this manner. The wo-
men (6) being assembled, made a strict search after Bacchus, as if he had
fled from them ; but after some time, finding theirMabour to be in vain,
said, that he had retired to the Muses, and concealed himself among them.
This being done, and the ceremony ended, they regaled themselves with
an entertainment ; after which, the time was passed away in proposing
riddles and cramp questions. Large quantities of ivy were used at this
time (7), because that plant was accounted sacred to Bacchus ; and so
great excesses were sometimes committed, that once the daughter of
Minya, in a furious ecstasy of devotion, slaughtered Hippasus, the son of
Leucippe, and served him up to the table : in memory of which murder,
their whole family was ever after excluded from this festival, upon pain
of death ; which, as Plutarch (8) reports, was inflicted upon one of them
that surreptitiously conveyed herself in amongst the rest of the worship^
pers, by Zoilus, a Chaeronaean priest.
(1) Liv. iv. (2) Iliad, to. (3) Hesychius. (4) De Abstinentia, lib. ii. (5) Antonio.
(6) Plutarch. Sympos. lib. viii. qusst. i, (7) Idf m, Quasst. Roman, (8) Quaest. Graec,