Anthesteria

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Eros pulling a toy cart. (Walters Art Museum
)

The Anthesteria (

Anthesterion,[a] around the time of the January or February full moon.[b] The three days of the feast were called Pithoigia, Choës, and Chytroi
.

The festival celebrated the beginning of spring, particularly the maturing of the wine stored at the previous vintage,

Keres (Κῆρες) or the Carians (Κᾶρες)[c] were entertained, freely roaming the city until they were expelled after the festival. However, the word Keres is often used to refer spirits of evil instead of the dead. A Greek proverb, employed of those who pestered for continued favors, ran "Out of doors, Keres! It is no longer Anthesteria".[4]

Name

The name is usually connected with anthes- (ἀνθεσ-), the combining form of anthos (ἄνθος, 'flower').

Cambridge ritualist A. W. Verrall, however, glossed the name as a Feast of Revocation (ἀναθέσσασθαι, anathessasthai, to "pray up") in reference to the aspects of the festival where the dead were considered to walk among the living.[6] Harrison also regarded the Anthesteria as primarily concerned with placating ancestral spirits.[7]

Origins

Athenians of the Classical age were aware that the festival was of great antiquity. Its ritual marriage of a queen to Dionysus recalls

Ionian migration of the late eleventh or early tenth century BC. This still makes it the oldest datable part of the Eleusinian Mysteries
.

Days

Pithoigia

The first day was Pithoigia (Πιθοίγια, lit. 'The Jar-Opening').

slaves) joining in the festivities. Spring flowers were used to decorate the rooms of the house, the home's drinking vessels, and any children over three years of age.[9]

The days on which the Pithoigia and Choës were celebrated were both regarded as apophrades (ἀποφράδες, 'unlucky'; Latin equivalent

buckthorn[10] and besmeared their doors with tar to protect themselves from evil. Nonetheless, the festive character of the ceremonies predominated.[11]

hierogamy
(430–390 BC)

Choes

The second day was Choës (Χοαί, Khoaí, lit. 'The Pouring'). Merrymaking continued: people dressed themselves gaily, some in the figures of Dionysus's entourage, and paid a round of visits to their acquaintances. Drinking clubs held contests to see who could drain their cups the most rapidly. These competitions were done in silence and slaves were also allowed to participate. Others poured libations on the tombs of deceased relatives. The day also marked a state occasion: a peculiarly solemn and secret ceremony in the sanctuary of Dionysus 'in the marshes' (ἐν λίμναις, en límnais), which was closed throughout the rest of the year.

ceremony of marriage to the god. She was assisted by the gerarai, 14 Athenian matrons chosen by her husband the archon basileus, who were sworn to secrecy.[9] Burkert regarded the ceremony as a recreation of the yielding of Ariadne to Dionysus by Theseus during their escape from Crete.[12]

Chytroi

The third day was Chytroi (Χύτροι, Khýtroi, lit. 'The Pots'),

games were held. Although no performances were allowed at the theater, a sort of rehearsal took place, at which the players for the ensuing dramatic festival were selected.[9]

See also

Notes

  1. Anthesterion is named after the festival and not vice versa.[1]
  2. ^ Thucydides noted that "the more ancient Dionysia were celebrated on the twelfth day of the month of Anthesterion in the temple of Dionysus Limnaios ("Dionysus in the Marshes").[2]
  3. ^ That is, either the souls of the dead or the shades of the aboriginal inhabitants of Attica.
  4. ^ Harrison argued that the jars in question should also or instead be understood as the urns used for burial, making the Pithoigia a feast of opening the graves, initiating the arrival of the dead among the living.
  5. ^ Walter Burkert points out that this implies the name must have been imported with the cult.
  6. ^ Harrison argued that the name should be understood as a reference to grave holes, not pots. Rohde[13] and Nilsson[14][15] took it to mean water pots, connecting it with the Hydrophoria honoring the spirits of the dead thought to have perished in the Great Flood of Deucalion.

Citations

  1. ^ Cole 2007, pp. 328–9.
  2. ^ Thucydides, ii.15
  3. ^ a b c Chisholm 1911, p. 93.
  4. ^ Harrison 1908, p. 35.
  5. ^ "अन्धस् (ándhas)". Wiktionary. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
  6. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 94 cites: Verrall 1900, p. 115
  7. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 94 cites: Verrall 1900, pp. 100, 109; Harrison 1903
  8. ^ Burkert 1985, §II.7.7, p 109.
  9. ^ a b c d Baynes 1878.
  10. ^ Photius, Lexicon, μ 439: "μιαρὰ ἡμέρα".
  11. ^ a b Chisholm 1911, p. 94.
  12. ^ Burkert 1985, §II.7.7, p. 109.
  13. ^ Rohde 1907.
  14. ^ Nilsson 1900.
  15. ^ Nilsson 1906.

References

  • Baynes, T. S., ed. (1878), "Anthesteria" , Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 2 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 103
  • Burkert, Walter (1985), Greek Religion, translated by Raffan, John, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
  • Cole, Susan Guettel (2007), "Finding Dionysus", in Ogden, Daniel (ed.), A Companion to Greek Religion, Blackwell
  • Harrison, Jane Ellen (1908), "The Anthesteria: the Ritual of Ghosts and Spirits", Prolegomena to the study of Greek religion, p. 35
  • Nilsson, Martin P. (1900), Studia de Dionysiis Atticis
  • Nilsson, Martin P. (1906), Griechische Feste. (in German)
  • Rohde, Eleanor (1907), Psyche, 4th ed., p. 237

Attribution:

Further reading

  • Homo necans

External links
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