Hybristica was a solemn feast among the Greeks of ancient

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses * ...

, with sacrifices and other ceremonies, at which either sex appeared in the dress of the other to do honor to

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols include ...

in quality of a god, a goddess, or both. The Hybristica was celebrated at Argos, upon the new moon of the month called by the Argives Hermeas, wherein the women being dressed like men insulted their husbands and treated them with every mark of inferiority, in memory of the Argian defence of their country made by the females under the conduct of

Telesilla Telesilla was an ancient Greek lyric poet from Argos, active in the fifth century BC. She is known for her supposed role in the defence of Argos in 494 BC, which is doubted by modern scholars. Only a few fragments of her poetry survive, several of ...

, against Cleomenes I and Demaratus at the head of the

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

n army.

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

observes that the word ''hybristica'' signifies infamy, and adds that it well became the occasion, the women strutting in cloaks, while the men dangled in petticoats.

References

''This article incorporates text from the 1790 Bell's New pantheonarticle "Hybristica", a publication now in the public domain.'' {{crossdressing footer Ancient Argos Festivals in ancient Greece Cross-dressing Observances on non-Gregorian calendars