Basilinna
The basilinna (
The laws which set out the qualifications for a basilinna were inscribed on a stele which stood in the sanctuary of Dionysus at Limnai. She was expected to be of Athenian birth and not previously married,[3] though Noel Robertson argues that these requirements may have been ignored as inconvenient.[4]
The most important duty of the basilinna appears to have been taking part in a sacred ritual marriage to the god Dionysus as part of the Anthesteria. This ceremony seems to have taken place at the Boukoleion, near the Prytaneion.[3] Most scholars consider that this would have happened on the second day of the festival ("Choes").[5] However, Robertson suggests that it in fact happened on the first day of the festival ("Pithoigia").[6] Ludwig Deubner has proposed a full reconstruction of the ceremony, in which Dionysus was taken in a procession to the sanctuary at Limnai and married to the basilinna; both the basilinna and Dionysus were then taken in a wedding procession to the Boukoleion, where the marriage was consummated, with the archon basileus playing the part of Dionysus.[5]
The basilinna was also responsible for administering an oath to the gerarai, women priests apparently appointed by the archon basileus.[7] This took place on the second day of the Anthesteria, and Robertson argues that it must have taken place after the wedding.[6]
References
- ^ a b Dillon 2002, p. 101.
- ^ Macurdy 1928, p. 276.
- ^ a b Dillon 2002, p. 102.
- ^ Robertson 1993, p. 219.
- ^ a b Robertson 1993, p. 210.
- ^ a b Robertson 1993, p. 213.
- ^ Dillon 2002, p. 103.
Works cited
- Dillon, Matthew (2002). Women and Girls in Classical Greek Religion. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415202728.
- Macurdy, Grace H. (1928). "Basilinna and Basilissa: the Alleged Title of the "Queen-Archon" in Athens". The American Journal of Philology. 49 (3). JSTOR 290093.
- Robertson, Noel (1993). "Athens' Festival of the New Wine". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. 95. JSTOR 311383.
Further reading
- Otto, Walter F. Dionysus, Myth and Cult. Spring Publications (1989). ISBN 0-88214-214-3
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