The Oschophoria ( el, ὠσχοφόρια) were a set of

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

festival rites held in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

during the month

Pyanepsion The Attic calendar or Athenian calendar is the lunisolar calendar beginning in midsummer with the lunar month of Hekatombaion, in use in ancient Attica, the ancestral territory of the Athenian polis. It is sometimes called the Greek calendar beca ...

(autumn) in honor of

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 ...

, the god of the vine. The festival may have had both agricultural and initiatory functions. Amidst much singing of special songs, two young men dressed in women's clothes would bear branches with grape-clusters attached (ὠσχοί) from Dionysus to the sanctuary of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...

Skiras, and a footrace followed in which select ephebes competed. Ancient sources connect the festival and its rituals to the Athenian hero-king

Theseus Theseus (, ; grc-gre, Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens. The myths surrounding Theseus his journeys, exploits, and friends have provided material for fiction throughout the ages. Theseus is sometimes describ ...

and specifically to his return from his Cretan adventure. According to that myth, the Cretan princess

Ariadne Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for havi ...

, whom Theseus had abandoned on the island of

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

while voyaging home, was rescued by an admiring Dionysus; thus the Oschophoria may have honored Ariadne as well. A section of the ancient calendar frieze incorporated into the Byzantine

Panagia Gorgoepikoos The Little Metropolis ( el, Μικρή Μητρόπολη), formally the Church of St. Eleutherios () or Panagia Gorgoepikoos (, "Panagia Who Grants Requests Quickly"), is a Byzantine church located at the Mitropoleos Square (Cathedral of Athens), ...

church in Athens, corresponding to the month Pyanopsion (alternate spelling), has been identified as an illustration of this festival's procession.See further L. Deubner, ''Attische Feste'' (Berlin: 1956), 142-51, with plate 35.

References

Festivals in ancient Athens Greek festivals of Dionysus October observances November observances {{Athens-stub

See also

References