DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0634
OB THE MISCELLANY CUSTOMS OP GREECE.
AttS'ciV <f */>5t TraLITM it 'h /UiKOS iyKfOTiQUTCtt
Hccriri ■mptrrKtx.roi;, TttftS" cfa^' iifJ.iiH.iui.
At Sparta's palace twenty beauteous maids,
The pride of Greece, fresh garlands crowned their heads
With hyacinth and twining- parsley drest,
Grac'd joyful Menelaus' marriage-feast,
When lovely Helen, great if) conqu'ring charms,
Resign'd her willing beauly to his arms :
They danc'd around, joy fiow'd from every tongue,
And the vast palace souncit d with the song. cheech.
They returned again in the morning, saluted the married couple, and
sung iVi5aX<xfwa fye^Tixa, for that was the name of the morning songs,
which were designed to awake and raise the bridegroom and bride ; as
those sung the night before were intended to dispose them to sleep, and
are on that account termed iiridakct^ia xoifz/qrixa. This custom appears
from Theocritus's chorus of virgins, who conclude the fore-cited epi-
thalamium with a promise to return early in the morning.
The solemnity lasted several days. The day before the marriage was
termed tigoavkm, as preceding that whereon the bride did auXi^sctdat t1?
vufifpi'oi, lodge with the bridegroom. The marriage-day was called y«^o» ;
the day following, according to Pindar, iiriQSrig, which word signifies a day
added to any solemnity ; Hesychius (1) calls it tfaXi'a, which may perhaps
be derived from iroChtv, because the former day's mirth was, as it were}
repeated, whence the Romans called it repotia; unless for sraX/a we
might be allowed to read tfaXaia, and then it would be the same with
Athenseus's ewXoj fyju'£a(2) ; for ewXog denotes any thing that has ceased
to be new ; whence 'fully calls a book ewXov, when men's first and eager
inquiry after it is cooled : and Athenaeus, in another place, has opposed
70.5 dxnaiag yotfjwv jjfjof'pag to the to ewXev tsjs rfufwrotfiag (3) : others call the
second day stfauXia, or ttfauXi'ix. The third day was termed «#auX«a or
rather atfauXior because the bride, returning to her father's house, did
uifav'ki^s(j6a.i <ra vu|jupia>, lodge apart from the bridegroom, though some
place this upon the seventh day after marriage ; others will have it so
called, because the bridegroom lodged apart from his bride at his father-
in-law's house. It is possible both may be in the right, and that both
bridegroom and bride might lie at her father's house, but in different
beds. Others make «tfauXia to be the same with Wai/Xia* whence a
seeming difficulty arises, since those two words import contraries,
one seeming to denote a bride's lodging apart from the bridegroom,
the other with him ; but this may be easily solved, by applying tVau-
Xia to her lodging with her husband and a&VavXiot, to her departure
from her father's house (4). On the day called aVowXia (whenever
that was,) the bride presented her bridegroom with a garment called
«7rauX'/]T'/i£[a. Gifts were likewise made to the bride and bridegroom, by
the bride's father and friends, called sometimes «VauXia, sometimes sko.6-
Xia- these consisted of golden vessels, beds, couches, plates, ointment-
boxes, combs, sandals, and all sorts of necessaries for house-keeping,
which were carried in great state to the house by women, who followed
a person called xavo<po?og, from carrying a basket in the manner usual at
(1) r&jioi. (4) Vide Pollucem, lib. Hi. cap. 3. Hesy-
(2) Lib. lii. cap. 15. chium, Suidam, Etymologici Auctorein, Phavo-
(3) Lib. iv, rinum, &c. in v. aimuAia et irouAia
AttS'ciV <f */>5t TraLITM it 'h /UiKOS iyKfOTiQUTCtt
Hccriri ■mptrrKtx.roi;, TttftS" cfa^' iifJ.iiH.iui.
At Sparta's palace twenty beauteous maids,
The pride of Greece, fresh garlands crowned their heads
With hyacinth and twining- parsley drest,
Grac'd joyful Menelaus' marriage-feast,
When lovely Helen, great if) conqu'ring charms,
Resign'd her willing beauly to his arms :
They danc'd around, joy fiow'd from every tongue,
And the vast palace souncit d with the song. cheech.
They returned again in the morning, saluted the married couple, and
sung iVi5aX<xfwa fye^Tixa, for that was the name of the morning songs,
which were designed to awake and raise the bridegroom and bride ; as
those sung the night before were intended to dispose them to sleep, and
are on that account termed iiridakct^ia xoifz/qrixa. This custom appears
from Theocritus's chorus of virgins, who conclude the fore-cited epi-
thalamium with a promise to return early in the morning.
The solemnity lasted several days. The day before the marriage was
termed tigoavkm, as preceding that whereon the bride did auXi^sctdat t1?
vufifpi'oi, lodge with the bridegroom. The marriage-day was called y«^o» ;
the day following, according to Pindar, iiriQSrig, which word signifies a day
added to any solemnity ; Hesychius (1) calls it tfaXi'a, which may perhaps
be derived from iroChtv, because the former day's mirth was, as it were}
repeated, whence the Romans called it repotia; unless for sraX/a we
might be allowed to read tfaXaia, and then it would be the same with
Athenseus's ewXoj fyju'£a(2) ; for ewXog denotes any thing that has ceased
to be new ; whence 'fully calls a book ewXov, when men's first and eager
inquiry after it is cooled : and Athenaeus, in another place, has opposed
70.5 dxnaiag yotfjwv jjfjof'pag to the to ewXev tsjs rfufwrotfiag (3) : others call the
second day stfauXia, or ttfauXi'ix. The third day was termed «#auX«a or
rather atfauXior because the bride, returning to her father's house, did
uifav'ki^s(j6a.i <ra vu|jupia>, lodge apart from the bridegroom, though some
place this upon the seventh day after marriage ; others will have it so
called, because the bridegroom lodged apart from his bride at his father-
in-law's house. It is possible both may be in the right, and that both
bridegroom and bride might lie at her father's house, but in different
beds. Others make «tfauXia to be the same with Wai/Xia* whence a
seeming difficulty arises, since those two words import contraries,
one seeming to denote a bride's lodging apart from the bridegroom,
the other with him ; but this may be easily solved, by applying tVau-
Xia to her lodging with her husband and a&VavXiot, to her departure
from her father's house (4). On the day called aVowXia (whenever
that was,) the bride presented her bridegroom with a garment called
«7rauX'/]T'/i£[a. Gifts were likewise made to the bride and bridegroom, by
the bride's father and friends, called sometimes «VauXia, sometimes sko.6-
Xia- these consisted of golden vessels, beds, couches, plates, ointment-
boxes, combs, sandals, and all sorts of necessaries for house-keeping,
which were carried in great state to the house by women, who followed
a person called xavo<po?og, from carrying a basket in the manner usual at
(1) r&jioi. (4) Vide Pollucem, lib. Hi. cap. 3. Hesy-
(2) Lib. lii. cap. 15. chium, Suidam, Etymologici Auctorein, Phavo-
(3) Lib. iv, rinum, &c. in v. aimuAia et irouAia