A thriambus (also spelled thriamb, thriambas, or thriambos;

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

) is a

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hy ...

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Roma ...

, sung in processions in his honour, and at the same time an epithet of the god himself, according to

Diodorus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

(4.5.2):

''Thriambus'' is a name that has been given him, they say, because he was the first of those of whom we have a record to have celebrated a triumph (''thriambos'') upon entering his native land after his campaign, this having been done when he returned from
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
with great booty.

It was loaned into

Old Latin Old Latin, also known as Early Latin or Archaic Latin (Classical la, prīsca Latīnitās, lit=ancient Latinity), was the Latin language in the period before 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin. It descends from a common Proto-Italic ...

via

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities ** Etrusca ...

as ', in

Classical Latin Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a literary standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It was used from 75 BC to the 3rd century AD, when it developed into Late Latin. In some later period ...

taking the form ', the

Roman triumph The Roman triumph (') was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the success of a military commander who had led Roman forces to victory in the service of the state or in some historical tra ...

where the victorious general takes the role of Dionysus as leader of the procession, later associated with rather than Dionysus. Arrian traces the custom to

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

when he states (''

Anabasis Anabasis (from Greek ''ana'' = "upward", ''bainein'' = "to step or march") is an expedition from a coastline into the interior of a country. Anabase and Anabasis may also refer to: History * ''Anabasis Alexandri'' (''Anabasis of Alexander''), a ...

'' 6b.28):

Certain authors have said (though to me the statement seems incredible) that Alexander led his forces through Carmania lying extended with his Companions upon two covered waggons joined together, the flute being played to him; and that the soldiers followed him wearing garlands and sporting. Food was provided for them, as well as all kinds of dainties which had been brought together along the roads by the Carmanians. They say that he did this in imitation of the Bacchic revelry of Dionysus, because a story was told about that deity, that after subduing the Indians he traversed the greater part of Asia in this manner and received the appellation of ''Thriambus'', and that for the same reason the processions in honour of victories after war were called ''thriambi''.

The term's etymology is connected with the word "fig leaf" by Aemilius Luetcke (1829) who refers to the epithet "of the

fig tree ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending ...

" of Dionysus. An old hypothesis is that the word is borrowed from Phrygian or

Pelasgian The name Pelasgians ( grc, Πελασγοί, ''Pelasgoí'', singular: Πελασγός, ''Pelasgós'') was used by classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the emergenc ...

, and literally means "Dreischritt", i. e., "three-step", compare '' iamb'' and '' dithyramb'', but H. S. Versnel rejects this etymology and suggests instead a derivation from a cultic exclamation. From the time of

Roman Greece Greece in the Roman era describes the Roman conquest of Greece, as well as the period of Greek history when Greece was dominated first by the Roman Republic and then by the Roman Empire. The Roman era of Greek history began with the Corinthian ...

(2nd century BC), the Greek term increasingly narrows to a translation of Latin '' triumphus''. In

Modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...

, is used in the same generalized meaning as English ''

triumph The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...

''.

Notes

References

*Janda, Michael: ''Elysion: Entstehung und Entwicklung der griechischen Religion'' (2005). *Luetcke, Aemilius, ''De Graecorum dithyrambis et poetis dithyrambicis'', Berlin (1829). *{{cite book, last=Versnel, first=H. S., title=Triumphus: An Inquiry Into the Origin, Development and Meaning of the Roman Triumph, chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pPjBSq2jCrcC&pg=PA16, accessdate=2 January 2015, year=1970, publisher=Brill Publishers, location=Leiden, Netherlands, isbn=90-04-02325-9, pages=16–38, chapter=I. 2 Θρίαμβος Epithets of Dionysus Hymns to Dionysus Religious music Victory Etymologies Cultural depictions of Alexander the Great

See also

Notes

References