GKEEK FESTIVALS. 224 GREEK FESTIVALS. of their houses. A complete list of the Greek festivals does not lie within the scope of this article, and may the more easily be omitted as many of them are mere names, about the cere- monies connected with which we have no infor- mation. The great national festivals were the Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean, for which see the articles Olympic Games; Pyth- ian Games; Isthmus; Xemea. The great Athenian festival in honor of Athena, which al- most attained national rank, is treated under P.vnathen.ea, and the Eleusinia in honor of Denietcr are discussed under Mysteries. In the remainder of this article a few of the more prominent or interesting of the local festivals will be brielly described, particularly those of Athens, for about them we are best informed. The ApAxrRiA occupied three days of Pyanep- sion (October), and were not properly a State festival, as they were celebrated Ijy the phra- tries, in one of which every Athenian citi- zen was enrolled. On the first day the phratry dined together, on the second sacrifices were of- fered to Zeus phratries and Athena phratries, and on the tliird occurred the most important act of the festival, the reception into tlie phratry of the children born to its members in lawful wed- lock during the previous year. Each father made oath as to the legitimacy of the child and fur- nished an animal for sacrifice. Boys also seem to have shown their progress in their studies by recitations from the poets. At some time during the festival sacrifices were made to Apollo Patroiis, Heph.Tstus, and prolialdy Dionysus of the black goatskin (fieXdvaiya). The celebration of the Apaturia is declared by Herodotus to have been characteristic of all true lonians, but of the details of the celebration outside of Athens we are not informed. In the month Munychion (April) were celebrated the Del- pui.N'iA, in honor of Apollo. This festival was connected with the legend of Theseus's voyage to Crete, and as it occurred at the opening of navi- gation, and was marked by a procession of maid- ens bearing suppliants' branches of the Temple of Apollo to entreat his mercy, it seems to have been in the n.ature of a propitiation of the god, that he might grant favorable weather to sea- men, A festival of the same name, accompanied by athletic contests, was celebrated at .Egina, and as Delphinios is the name of a month in many Greek calendars, it is probable it Avas also celebrated elsewhere, Noteworthy for a curious ceremony were the DipoLlA or Dipoi.ieia, cele- brated in honor of Zefis in Scirophorion ( .Tune ) , On nn altar on the Acropolis were jilaced barley and wheat, and an ox prepared for sacrifice was allowed to approach and eat. As soon as he tasted the sacred food he was struck down with an axe by a priest, who at once dropped his axe and fled. The ]iursuit was only a form, but sub- sequently all the participant's were placed on trial, ;ind finally the axe was condemned and cast over the borders of the country. The skin of the ox is said to have been stuffed and fastened to a plow. The whole ceremony seems to have originated at a time when the plow-ox was held sacred, and even his sacrifice to the gods needed atonement. In the Attic festivals a prominent place was occupied by the Dionysia, in honor of Dionysus, Four such festivals can be distin- guished, though only two of them bear this name. In Poseideon (December) the Lesser or Country Dionysia were celebrated throughout the villages of Attica with every kind of merry- making and munnuery. A village procession led a goat for sacrifice to the altar of the god, and with the growth of the drama, pl.ays, which had already been produced in the city, were per- formed in the country theatres. In the next month (Gamelion) a similar festival, the Len.isa, was celebrated in the city by tlie King Archon, at which plays were performed and sacri- fices offered, so that they extended over several days. The ne.xt month, Anthesterion (February), was the time for the celebration of the Anthes- TERIA, which lasted tliree days. On the first day, the casks of new wine being opened, each family sacrificed, and rejoiced at the coming of the god of wine and. spring. The second was the great d,ay,on which the wife of the King Archon visited the ancient Temple of Dionysus in Limna;, and after various ceremonies returned to the Bouko- Icion, which she entered alone to be wedded to the god. The evening was one of wild revelry throughout the city, and seems to have ended in a great drinking bout at wdiich he who first emptied his goblet received a prize. The third day was devoted to the gods of the lower world, and special oli'erings of "the fruits of the earth were cooked for Hermes, the leader of the souls to the lower world. There are indications that during this festival the ghosts of the dead were believed to return to the world, and it is certain that the temples of the heavenly gods wei'e closed during the whole festival. It seems therefore that the joyous revelry had been added to a celebration of quite a dilferent character. Final- ly in Elaphebolion (March) came the Greater or City Dioni-si.^, with the exception of the Panatheniea, the most splendid of the Athenian festivals. On the eve of the first day a solemn procession escorted the statue of the god from his temple to the theatre. The first day was given up to the choral and lyric contests, and closed with a great procession of masqueraders. The three following days were filled with the per- formances of the new tragedies and comedies, in the presence of an inmiense throng of citizens and strangers. Before this throng the sons of those who had fallen in battle, on reaching their ma- jority, were presented by the State with shield and spear. The importance of this festival for the development of Greek literature in its most finished and characteristic product, the Attic drama, can scarcely be overestimated. The 7th of Thargclion (May) was the birtliday of Apollo, and in preparation for its celebration a solemn purification was necessary on the 6th. The whole festival was the Tiiargella, and, like other Greek festivals, it was a union of the solemn and the glad. The first d.ay saw solemn sacrifices to Demeter and the ]Iopra> or Fates, and there are indications that even in historical times two human victims were s.icrificed to avert the wrath of the god. wiio sent the summer pestilence. In the fifth century B.C. these victims i=eem to have been simply driven from the coun- try. The second day saw (he glad offering of the first fruits to Apollo, Helios the sun, and the Horne. or Seasons, through whose care they had ripened. Last may be mentioned the solemn rites of Demeter and Persephone, celebrated by the women, at the Tiiesmopitoria. from the Oth to the 1.3th of Pyanepsion (October). On the first day the women retired to a village near Athens,
