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ANTHESTERIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 94 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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ANTHESTERIA , one of the four Athenian festivals in See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour of See also:

DIONYSUS (probably = " son of Zeus," from & Os and vv(7os, a Thracian word for " son ")

Dionysus, held annually for three days (11th-13th) in the See also:

month of Anthesterion (February–March). The See also:

OBJECT

object of the festival was to celebrate the maturing of the See also:

WINE (Lat. vinum, Gr. oivos)

wine stored at the previous vintage, and the beginning of See also:

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

spring. On the first See also:

day, called Pithoigia (opening of the casks), libations were offered from the newly opened casks to the See also:

god of wine, all the See also:

HOUSEHOLD, ROYAL

household, including servants and slaves, joining in the festivities. The rooms and the drinking vessels in them were adorned with spring See also:

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

flowers, as were also the See also:

CHILDREN, LAW RELATING TO

children over three years of See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age. The second day, named Choes (feast of beakers), was a See also:

time of merrymaking. The See also:

PEOPLE

people dressed themselves gaily, some in the disguise of the mythical personages in the See also:

SUITE (Suite de pieces; Ordre; Partita)

suite of Dionysus, and paid a See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round of visits to their acquaintances. Drinking clubs met to drink off matches, the winner being he who drained his See also:

CUP (in O.E. cuppe; generally taken to be from Late Lat. cuppa, a variant of Lat. cupa, a cask, cf. Gr. KuaeXXov)

cup most rapidly. Others poured libations on the tombs of deceased relatives. On the See also:

PART

part of the See also:

state this day was the occasion of a peculiarly See also:

SOLEMN (Lat. sollemnis, sollemnis, less correctly solennis, yearly, annual; from sollus = totus, whole, entire, Gr. Mos., and annus, year)

solemn and See also:

SECRET (Lat. secretum, hidden, concealed)

secret ceremony in one of the sanctuaries of Dionysus in the Lenaeum, which for the See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest of the See also:

YEAR

year was closed. The basilissa (or basilinna), wife of the See also:

ARCHON (apywv, ruler)

archon basileus for the time, went through a ceremony of See also:

MARRIAGE

marriage to the wine god, in which she was assisted by fourteen Athenian matrons, called geraerae, chosen by the basileus and sworn to secrecy. The days on which the Pithoigia and Choes were celebrated were both regarded as aroqspb.Ses (nefasti) and pitapat (" defiled "), necessitating expiatory libations; on them the souls of the dead came up from the underworld and walked abroad; people chewed leaves of whitethorn and besmeared their doors with See also:

tar to protect them-selves from evil. But at least in private circles the festive See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character of the ceremonies predominated.

The third day was named Chytri (feast of pots, from Xirrpos, a pot), a festival of the dead. Cooked See also:

PULSE

pulse was offered to See also:

Hermes, in his capacity of a god of the See also:

LOWER

lower See also:

WORLD

world, and to the souls of the dead. Although no performances were allowed at the See also:

THEATRE (BEarpov, " a place for seeing," from OeacOae)

theatre, a sort of See also:

REHEARSAL (from " rehearse," to say over again, repeat, recount, O.Fr. rehercer, from re, again, and hercer, to harrow, cf. " hearse," the original meaning being to rake or go over the same ground again as with a harrow)

rehearsal took See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place, at which the players for the ensuing dramatic festival were selected. The name Anthesteria, according to the See also:

account of it given above, is usually connected with avOos (" See also:

flower," or the " See also:

BLOOM (from A.S. bloma, a flower)

bloom " of the See also:

GRAPE

grape), but A. W. Verrall (See also:

Journal of Hellenic Studies, xx., 1900, p. 115) explains it as a feast of "revocation" (from avaOEovauOac, to " pray back " or " up "), at which the ghosts of the dead were recalled to the See also:

LAND

land of the living (cp. the See also:

ROMAN

Roman ncundus patet). J. E. See also:

Harrison (ibid. too,'og, and Prolegomena), regarding the Anthesteria as primarily a festival of all souls, the object of which was the See also:

EXPULSION (Lat. expulsio, from expellere)

expulsion of ancestral ghosts by means of placation, explains it Oocyta as the feast of the opening of the See also:

GRAVES, ALFRED PERCEVAL (1846— )

graves (aLOos meaning a large See also:

URN (Lat. urna, either from root of urere, to burn, being made of burnt clay, or connected with urceus, Gr. I5pxa, jar)

urn used for See also:

BURIAL

burial purposes), xbes as the day of libations, and xurpoc as the day of the See also:

GRAVE

grave-holes (not " pots," which is xfrpat), in point of time really anterior to the it Oocyla. E. Rohde and M.

P. See also:

NILSSON, CHRISTINE (1843– )

Nilsson, however, take the Xirrpoc to mean " See also:

WATER

water vessels," and connect the ceremony with the Hydrophoria, a See also:

LIBATION (Lat. libatio, from libare, to take a portion of something, to taste, hence to pour out as an offering to a deity, &c.; cf. Gr. Aeid3ew)

libation festival to propitiate the dead who had perished in the See also:

flood of See also:

DEUCALION

Deucalion. See F. See also:

Hiller von Gartringen in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie (s.v.) ; J. See also:

Girard in Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire See also:

des antiguites (s.v. " See also:

DIONYSIA

Dionysia ") ; and F. A. Voigt in See also:

ROSCHER, WILHELM GEORG FRIEDRICH (1817–1894)

Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie (s.v. " Dionysos ") ; J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of See also:

Greek See also:

Religion (1903); M. P.

Nilsson, Studia de Dionysiis Atticis (1900) and Griechische Feste (1906); G. F. See also:

SCHOMANN, GEORG FRIEDRICH (1793—1879)

Schomann, Griechische Alterthiimer, ii. (ed. J. H. See also:

Lipsius, 1902), p. 516; A. See also:

MOMMSEN, THEODOR (1817–1903)

Mommsen, Feste der Stadt Athen (1898) ; E. Rohde, See also:

PSYCHE (//vxi7)

Psyche (4th ed., 1907), P. 237.

End of Article: ANTHESTERIA

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