Athenian festivals
The festival calendar of Classical Athens involved the staging of many festivals each year. This includes festivals held in honor of Athena, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, Persephone, Hermes, and Herakles. Other Athenian festivals were bas ...
Artemis
In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...
, held on their birthdays, the 6th and 7th of the month Thargelion (about May 24 and May 25).
Essentially an agricultural festival, the Thargelia included a purifying and expiatory ceremony. While the people offered the first-fruits of the earth to the god in token of thankfulness, it was at the same time necessary to propitiate him, lest he might ruin the harvest by excessive heat, possibly accompanied by pestilence. The purificatory preceded the thanksgiving service. On the 6th a sheep was sacrificed to
Demeter Chloe
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Demeter (; Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains, food, and the fertility of the earth. Althou ...
on the
Acropolis
An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...
, and perhaps a swine to the
Fates
The Fates are a common motif in European polytheism, most frequently represented as a trio of goddesses. The Fates shape the destiny of each human, often expressed in textile metaphors such as spinning fibers into yarn, or weaving threads on ...
, but the most important ritual was the following. Two men, the ugliest that could be found (the Pharmakoi) were chosen to die, one for the men, the other (according to some, a woman) for the women.
Hipponax
Hipponax ( grc, Ἱππῶναξ; ''gen''. Ἱππώνακτος; fl. late 6th century BC), of Ephesus and later Clazomenae, was an Ancient Greek iambic poet who composed verses depicting the vulgar side of life in Ionian society. He was celebrat ...
of Colophon claims that on the day of the sacrifice they were led round with strings of figs on their necks, and whipped on the genitals with rods of figwood and squills. When they reached the place of sacrifice on the shore, they were stoned to death, their bodies burnt, and the ashes thrown into the sea (or over the land, to act as a fertilizing influence). However, it is unclear how accurate Hipponax's sixth-century, poetical account of the ceremony is, and there is much scholarly debate as to its reliability.
The Athenians, having taken the festival from the Delians, brought to it the gods of summer heat, that is the
Horae
In Greek mythology the Horae () or Horai () or Hours ( grc-gre, Ὧραι, Hōrai, , "Seasons") were the goddesses of the seasons and the natural portions of time.
Etymology
The term ''horae'' comes from the Proto-Indo-European ("year").
F ...
, goddesses of the seasons, and
Helios
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyper ...
, the
sun god
A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The ...
, to whom they offered the first fruits of the summer crops, and cereal all dependent on Helios and the Horae for ripening;Parker, p 203–204 /ref> a surviving inscription mentions offerings to "Helios, Horae and Apollo".Bilić, Tomislav. “Apollo, Helios, and the Solstices in the Athenian, Delphian, and Delian Calendars.” Numen 59, no. 5/6 (2012) 519, note 15 /ref> They were honored with a procession of which no details survive.
It is supposed that an actual human sacrifice took place on this occasion, replaced in later times by a milder form of expiation. Thus, at
Leucas
''Leucas'' is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae, first described by Robert Brown (Scottish botanist from Montrose), Robert Brown in 1810. It contains over 200 species, widespread over much of Africa, and southern and eastern Asia (Iran, ...
a criminal was annually thrown from a rock into the sea as a scapegoat, but his fall was checked by live birds and feathers attached to his person, and men watched below in small boats, who caught him and escorted him beyond the boundary of the city. Nevertheless, many modern scholars reject this, arguing that the earliest source for the pharmakos (the iambic satirist Hipponax) shows the pharmakos being beaten and stoned, but not executed. A more plausible explanation would be that sometimes they were executed and sometimes they weren't depending on the attitude of the victim. For instance a deliberate unrepentant murderer would most likely be put to death.
Similarly, at
Massilia
Massalia (Greek: Μασσαλία; Latin: Massilia; modern Marseille) was an ancient Greek colony founded ca. 600 BC on the Mediterranean coast of present-day France, east of the river Rhône, by Ionian Greek settlers from Phocaea, in Western An ...
, on the occasion of some heavy calamity (plague or famine), one of the poorest inhabitants volunteered as a scapegoat. For a year he was fed up at the public expense, then clothed in sacred garments, led through the city amidst execrations, and cast out beyond the boundaries.
The ceremony on the 7th was of a cheerful character. All kinds of first-fruits were carried in procession and offered to the god, and, as at the
Pyanepsia Pyanopsia (''Πυανόψια'') or Pyanepsia (''Πυανέψια'') was an ancient Athenian festival held in honor of Apollo in Athens on the 7th day of the month Pyanepsion (October/November). Its name literally means "bean-stewing", in refere ...
(or Pyanopsia), branches of olive bound with wool, borne by children, were affixed by them to the doors of the houses. These branches, originally intended as a charm to avert failure of the crops, were afterwards regarded as forming part of a supplicatory service. On the second day choruses of men and boys took part in musical contests, the prize for which was a tripod. Further, on this day adopted persons were solemnly received into the genos and phratria of their adoptive parents.
See also
*
Eiresione In Greek mythology, Eiresione or Iresione (Greek: Εἰρεσιώνη, from εἶρος - ''eiros'', "wool") was the personification of an object very important in many Greek rituals and ceremonies: a branch of olive or laurel, covered with wool, f ...
Notes
References
*
*
Jan Bremmer
Jan N. Bremmer (born 18 December 1944) is a Dutch academic and historian. He served as a professor of Religious Studies and Theology at the University of Groningen. He specializes in history of ancient religion, especially ancient Greek religion a ...
, "Scapegoat Rituals in Ancient Greece," ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' 87 (1983): 299-320.
*
* Gardner, Percy; Jevons, Frank Byron, ''A Manual of Greek Antiquities'',
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
, 1895, Charles Scribner's Sons.
* Parker, Robert, ''Polytheism and Society at Athens'',
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
Georg Friedrich Schömann Georg Friedrich Schömann (28 June 1793 – 25 March 1879), was a German classical scholar of Swedish heritage.L. C. Purser (3rd ed., 1891);
*
August Mommsen The Mommsen family is a German family of influential historians.
*Jens Mommsen (1783–1851) ∞ Sophie Elisabeth Krumbhaar (1792–1855)
**Theodor Mommsen (1817-1903), 1902 Nobel Laureate in Literature ∞ Marie Reimer (1832–1907)
***Marie Momms ...
, ''Feste der Stadt Athen'' (1898);
* L. R. Farnell, ''Cults of the Greek States, iv.'' (1906), pp. 268–283;
*
J. G. Frazer
Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion.
Personal life
He was born on 1 Janua ...
, ''Golden Bough'' (2nd ed., 1900), ii. appendix C, "Offerings of First-Fruits," and iii. p. 93, 15, "On Scapegoats";
*
W. Mannhardt
Wilhelm Mannhardt (March 26, 1831, Friedrichstadt – December 25, 1880, Danzig) was a German mythologist and folklorist. He is known for his work on Germanic mythology, on Baltic mythology, and other pre-Christian European pantheons; and for h ...
, ''Antike Wald- und Feldkulte'' (2nd ed. by
W. Heuschkel W. may refer to:
* SoHo (Australian TV channel) (previously W.), an Australian pay television channel
* ''W.'' (film), a 2008 American biographical drama film based on the life of George W. Bush
* "W.", the fifth track from Codeine's 1992 EP '' B ...