The Heorte of Heortology
Jon D. Mikalson
M
OST HEORTOLOGICAL STUDIES, including my own,l treat as
'festivals' religious activities as diverse as the Arrephoria, the
Panathenaia, and occasionally even simple sacrifices to deities
of the state cult. But such 'festivals' often differed markedly from
one another in ritual, ambience, purpose, and in the number and role
of the participants. It is time, I think, to direct attention to the Greek
terminology for these religious activities and to consider whether
'festival' is the appropriate designation for all of them. In particular I
wish to investigate the special character and form of religious activities which the Athenians2 called heortai.
We must first distinguish between heorte and thysia. 3 There was a
thysia, a sacrifice, of some type in each heorte, but each thysia was
not a heorte. And there is no evidence to indicate that if a thysia was
part of state cult, i.e. if it was financed by the state or performed by
state officials, it was therefore a heorte. A thysia might be very large,
as that to Zeus Soter in 334/3, the skins of the victims of which were
sold for 1050 drachmae,4 but this alone should not induce us to label
1 A. Mommsen, Feste der Stadt Athen (Leipzig 1898); L. DEUBNER, Attische Feste
(Berlin 1932: hereafter 'Deubner'); Jon D. Mikalson, The Sacred and Civil Calendar of
the Athenian Year (Princeton 1975); and H. W. PARKE, Festivals of the Athenians (Lon'.don 1977: hereafter 'Parke').
2 This study is limited to Athens because only for Athens is there evidence on sufficient heortai to allow reliable conclusions.
3 On thysia, its cognates, and its relationship to heorte see J. Casabona, Recherches sur
Ie vocabulaire des sacrifices en grec (Aix-en-Provence 1966) 69-154, esp. 132-34. The
examples, particularly Hdt. 2.60 and 62, which Casabona cites to show that thysia may
on occasion simply mean heorte are not convincing.
4 /G 112 1496.88-89. One notices in this inscription a distinction between religious
activities that have proper names (e.g. Panathenaia, Eleusinia, and Asklepieia) and
those that are simply termed sacrifices (e.g. thysia to Eirene, thysia to Agathe Tyche,
and thysia to Democratia). Only activities of the first group-the Panathenaia, Eleusinia, City Dionysia, and Bendideia-are termed heortai by the sources (see infra). The
Asklepieia was imported from Epidaurus in 419 B. c. and the Bendideia from Thrace at
approximately the same time, but, apart from these, the group with proper names in
this inscription contains only old and well-established Athenian religious activities,
whereas several of the thysiai, as to Eirene, Ammon, Democratia, and Agathe Tyche
(see Deubner, index s. vv.) are demonstrably or probably of late fifth- or fourth-century
origin. It is probably heortai like the Asklepieia and Bendideia that Isocrates (7.29)
terms "added" (bn(}eTov<;) when he complains of their grand celebrations and banquets
213
214
THE HEORTE OF HEORTOLOGY
it a heorte. 5 A heorte had a character apart from and beyond that of a
thysia, and it is this special character to which 1 wish to draw attention.
Athenian authors and sources of the classical period designate the
following religious activities as heortai: the Anthesteria (Ar. Ach.
1079);6 Apatouria (Hdt. 1.147, PI. Ti. 21B); Bendideia (PI. Resp.
327 A); Brauronia (Hdt. 6.138.0; Diasia (Thuc. 1.126); City Dionysia
(Dem. 4.35); Eleusinia (IG 12 5.5); Haloa (Philochorus FGrHist 328F
83); Eleusinian Mysteries (Hdt. 8.65.4, Lys. 6 passim); Panathenaia
(Dem. 4.35); Proerosia (IG 112 1363.4-6); Pyanopsia (Lycurgus in
Harp. s. v.); Skira and Stenia (Ar. Thesm. 834-35); Synoikia (Thuc.
2.15.2); Tauropolia (Eur. IT 1456-60; Thargelia (Arist. Ath. Pol.
56.28); Thesmophoria at Piraeus (IG 112 1177.8); a celebration for
Asclepius in the Piraeus (IG 112 47.32-39); and the theoria to Apollo
on Delos (PI. Phd. 61A, Thuc. 3.104). If we give to the Eleusinian
Mysteries, to the pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Delian Apollo, and to
Asclepius' celebration in the Piraeus their proper names, viz. T£l
f..£VU'TT,pUX, Delia, and Asklepieia, 7 then the names of all the heortai
end in the same letter, as Herodotus (I.148) tells us they will.
Thucydides (2.15.2) speaks of the Synoikia as a EOP'TT, 8"fJf..£O'TEAT,t;,
i.e. a heorte 'paid for at state expense'. JacobyB treats EOp'Tat. 8"fJf..£O'TEA~
as one category of heortai and infers from lexicographers'
treatments of iepEw 8"fJf..£O'TEA7j9 other categories of heortai, e.g. those
of demes, of orgeones, and of the clans. One might add to these
categories 'private' heortai, however paradoxical this may seem, because we have an example in the annual heorte of Artemis of Ephat the expense of attention paid to "the most holy of the sacred rites." Such heortai
were 'added' by the vote of the ekklesia (Suda s. v. E7TL9ETOlJ(; EOpTa~).
5 Philochorus' two books entitled DEpt EOPTWV (FGrHist 328F83-84) and nEpt (Jv(nwv (80-82) and the title of Habron's work DEpt EOPTWV Kat (JV(TLWV (3S9Fl) indicate
that the distinction between heortai and thysiai was maintained for some time in the
scholarly tradition.
on the
6 Aristophanes here has Lamachus talk of 'celebrating a heorte' (EOpTa~tV)
Choes and Chytroi. The Choes and Chytroi were each part of the heorte of the Anthesteria; in the classical period they were not individually termed heortai (see Jacoby ad
FGrHist 328F84). There is a fine but important distinction between Aristophanes'
usage in speaking of 'celebrating a heorte' on the Choes and Chytroi and that of the
late lexicographers who simply designate each of them a heorte.
7 The Asklepieia in the Piraeus is distinct from the Asklepieia held in the city on
Boedromion 17 or 18 and on Elaphebolion 8.
8 CQ 38 (1944) 66-67.
9 E.g. A need. Bekk. I 240.28, &r/l.L<>TEAT! Kat 8T/J.lO'Tucel tEPEta 8W.4J.PEL· 'Tel "uv ~J.lO
'TEAT! 9V/-.L<l'Ta .;, m>AL~
8{.&xn, Ei~
8E 'Tel ~J.lO'TUCe
oi. 8T/~'aL;
and Harp. s. v. ~J.lOTEA!
Kat ~J.lOTUCe
tEpa' &E4>Epov aUT,AwV Kat TWV 0P'YEWVUCWV Kat 'TWV 'YEVLKWV ... Cf
Hesychius and Suda s. v. 8T/J.lO'EA,~
JON D. MlKALSON
215
esus which Xenophon, in exceptional circumstances, created, presented, and administered for his friends and neighbors in Scillus (An.
5.3.4-13). Such categories may be instructive in delineating the historical development of heortai because in earlier periods many heortai
like the Eleusinia, Mysteries, Haloa, and Brauronia were under the
control of demes or clans. But by the fifth century virtually all Athenian heortai had some administrative control and financial support
from the state and were therefore 511f.WTEAiis. By his use of 811f.WTEA..,JS- in 2.15.2 Thucydides points to the uniqueness of the Synoikia
as the first heorte celebrated, paid for, and administered by the newly
formed Athenian state.
In Plato's ideal state of the Laws the lawgiver and law-guardian are
to establish twelve heortai10 for the twelve gods after whom the tribes
are named. These heortai are to consist of sacrifices, choruses, and
musical and athletic contests. The lawgiver also advises to distinguish
between women's heortai that allow the presence of men and those
that do notP In the Laws (653D) Plato has the Athenian speculate
on why gods established heortai: "The gods, because they pitied the
race of men which is born to hard labor, assigned to them the recompense of heortai12 as relaxations from their labors [ct Thuc. 2.38].
They gave to men as fellow-participants in the heortai the Muses,
Apollo Musegetes, and Dionysus so that men might be set again on
the proper course. 13 The gods also gave the nourishment which
occurs in the heortai." Plato recognizes that sacrifices and heortai are
10 Although the wording of Leg. 828AB is somewhat imprecise, one can distinguish
between thysiai and heortai. There are to be 365 sacrifices (not the 'feasts' of Bury's
translation in the Loeb), one each day; there are to be only twelve heortai, one each
month. Plato's discussion of choruses and contests in this passage concerns only the
heortai.
11 Of the Athenian heortai listed above, the Thesmophoria, Stenia, and Haloa were
celebrated primarily or exclusively by women.
12 TaS" TWII EOPTWII Ctf.LOL{XX.S" lTOtS" Oeot';]' I follow (with Ast, Schanz, and England)
Clement of Alexandria in omitting TOts" OemS". The remaining phrase cannot mean 'the
feasts of thanksgiving' (Bury), nor, I think, does it mean 'changes consisting of festivals' (England). The heortai are intended rather as 'recompense' for the labors of
one's life. The presence of the Muses, Apollo Musegetes, and Dionysus may have
induced a literal-minded interpolator to append crudely Tots" geots" here and #UTa TOlIl
OeOlIl at the end of the sentence. The resulting image of the golden age, a time in
which the gods literally participated with men in: heortai (see M. L. West, Hesiod.
Works and Days [Oxford 1978] 285-92) is inappropriate to the context.
13 ilia E7Tallop()wIlTaL. Plato uses heortai in his ideal state for educational purposes. He
opens this discussion (653D) of heortai with the observation that the education of
one's childhood often breaks down in adulthood. Lila E7TaIlOpOOlIlTaL, I would argue,
refers to the need of adults to be re-educated by means of the f.LOvuud, (Muses, Apollo
Musegetes, and Dionysus) of heortai. E7TaIlOpOOlIlTaL is thus passive, with all9puJ'TTOL as
its understood subject. For a quite different interpretation see England ad loc.
216
THE HEORTE OF HEORTOLOGY
occasions for "paying due honor to the gods" (Leg. 809D),I4 but
throughout his writings the primary stress is upon the musical, athletic, social, and culinary aspects of heortai. Simply put, a heorte is an
enjoyable occasion of sacrificing, feasting, dancing, and play (7TatBui).
Plato, ever the pedagogue, employs these elements of the heortai to
instill or revive military and ethical training, but he does it in such a
way that this does not distract from the joyful experience of the
participants.
Aristotle, like Plato, puts heortai in the context of play (7TatBt&) ,
laughter, prosperity, success, and satiety (Rh. 1380b3). These descriptions of heortai as joyful and entertaining opportunities to sing, dance,
participate in or watch contests, feast, and sacrifice clearly reflect the
attitude which Athenians of the fifth and fourth century had towards
this element of their religious life. Is The chorus of blessed initiates in
Aristophanes' Frogs (386-395) spends eternity in celebrating a heorte
of play and dance (7Tatuai TE Kat. XOPEVUat) ,16 The unique feature of
their heorte was not so much its character as its duration. In Peace the
chorus bids the Muse to "play the heorte along with me" (f.LET' E/-WV
a-Vf.L7Ta"'E T7}V EOPTT,V, 816). And in Clouds (615-19) the gods are
angry because the Athenians so muddle their calendar that the gods
often arrive on the wrong day and thus are cheated of their 'dinners'
in heortai. Aristophanes could expect his audience to commiserate, in
comic fashion, with these cheated and hungry gods. The association of
heorte and banquet was so close in Athens that Plato in colloquial
language can treat the two as virtually synonymous (Resp. 5.458A,
Grg. 447 A). And in Clouds Strepsiades (408-09) associates the Diasia
with cooking while Socrates (386-87) describes the fierce indigestion
linked with the PanathenaiaP
There was, in addition to the pleasures of the palate, the delight in
spectacle. One went to a heorte to 'see it' ,18 and also, no doubt, to be
seen. Prosperous men and women had special garments which they
wore only for heortaiI9 and which, if their household organization met
14 Heortai are celebrated 'for a god', e.g. for Dionysus. See Casabona (supra n.3)
l32-33.
15 Thuc. 3.104; Xen. An. 5.3.l0-12, Cyr. 1.5.1; Ar. Ran. 370-71, 386-95, 444-46,
Nub. 615-19, Pax 816; Isoc. 4.158, 19.40. Herodotus reveals his understanding of
heortai in his descriptions of Egyptian and Babylonian heortai 0.191.6, 2.60, 3.27.3).
Cj Homer Od. 20.156, 21.258.
16 Cj 370-71,398,444-46.
17 Cj [Xen.1 A th. Pol. 2.9. At Xenophon's heorte in Scillus even the pack animals
enjoyed a feast (An. 5.3.12).
188EWpEiV and cognates: Thuc. 3.104, Soph. OT 1490-91, lsae. 8.l5-16, PI. Leg.
6570.
19 Xen. Oec. 9.6 and 10, PI. Ion 5350; 1..1 Hdt. 9.92.3.
JON D. MIKALSON
217
Ischomachaean standards, they kept stored separately. Among the
indignities which Demosthenes claimed to have suffered from Meidias was the attempted destruction of the garment that he intended
to wear at the City Dionysia. Demosthenes waxes hyperbolic in
labeling this garment 'holy' because it had been prepared for the
heorte (21.16). Heortai were major social occasions, particularly in the
sheltered and home-bound lives of young women. The inability to
enjoy or participate in heortai ranks high, like the loss of marriage,
among the deprivations which young tragic heroines such as Electra
(Eur. El. 310), Antigone (Soph. OT 1490-91), and Cassandra (Eur.
Tro. 452) could suffer.
A survey of the religious activities specifically termed heortai in the
classical period indicates to what extent processions, banqueting, and
musical or athletic competitions were common to them. Processions
are attested for the Bendideia (PI. Resp. 327 A), Brauronia (Philochorus FGrHist 328FI01), City Dionysia, Choes,20 Delia (I.De/os IV
1869), Eleusinia (IG IJ2 930.8), Eleusinian Mysteries,21 Haloa (A need.
Bekker I 384.31), Panathenaia (Parthenon frieze), Pyanopsia (Harp.
s. v. llvavot/na), Skira (Harp. s. v. LKipov), Thesmophoria (Isae. 6.50),
and Thargelia (Arist. Ath.Pol. 56.26). Banquets or distributions of
meat are attested elements of the Apatouria (schoi. Ar. Aeh. 146),
Asklepieia in Piraeus (IG 112 47.32-39), Bendideia (PI. Resp. 354A, IG
112 1255.5-6), Brauronia (dining couches at sanctuary), City Dionysia,22 Diasia (Ar. Nub. 408-09, Lucian Tim. 7), Eleusinia (IG IJ2
847.24-26), Mysteries,23 Haloa (IG 112 1299.11-14), Panathenaia (IG
12 188.18-21, 112 334), Proerosia (IG IJ2 1183.32-34), Pyanopsia (Plut.
Thes. 22), Synoikia (IG J2 188.60-63), and Thesmophoria (Isae. 3.80).
Performances or contests of /-LOVCT/,KT, or ytJ/-LV/,KT, occurred at the
Apatouria (PI. Ti. 2Is), Bendideia (Resp. 328A), Brauronia (Hesych.
s. v.), City Dionysia,24 Chytroi ([Plut.] X orat. 841F), Delia (Thuc.
3.104), Diasia ([Lucian] Charid. 1), Eleusinia (IG 112 1672.258-62),
Haloa (IG IJ2 1299.29 and 77), Panathenaia (IG IJ2 2311-17), Pyanopsia (Suda s. v. ElPECT"wV'r/), Skira,25 Tauropolia (Men. Epit. 476-79
20
A. Pickard-Cambridge, The Dramatic Festivals of Athens2 (Oxford 1968) 61-63,
10-l3.
21 G. Mylonas, Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries (Princeton 1962) 252-58.
22 Pickard-Cambridge (supra n.20) 89. In addition to the banquet provided by the
choregos there was also probably a large public banquet after the sacrifices and before
the komos on Elaphebolion 10.
23 Mylonas (supra n.2I) 271-72.
24 Pickard-Cambridge (supra n.20) 57-125.
25 Jacoby ad FGrHist 328F14-16. But see also now E. Kadletz, GRBS 21 (980)
363-71.
218
THE HEORTE OF HEORTOLOGY
[SandbachD, and Thargelia (Arist. Ath.Pol. 56. 12). The Bendideia
(PI. Resp. 328A), Haloa (Alciphron 4.6.3), Mysteries (Eur. Ion 107477), Panathenaia (IG 112 334.30-33), Stenia (IG 112 1363.14-17), and
Tauropolia (Men. Epit. 450-52) also included a pannychis, an 'allnight' celebration.
The fragmentary nature of the evidence does not allow us to prove
that all heortai included processions, banquets, and musical or athletic
performances and contests. Clearly most did, and in general terms we
may say that heortai are of a homogeneous character to the extent
that they included most or all of these elements. They were joyful,
pleasant, playful, and entertaining occasions for participants and spectators.26 Heortai are, properly, 'festivals'.
The two most striking metaphorical uses of heorte also center upon
this understanding of the word. In each the heorte is that which the
subject could most enjoy doing, but in each the author adds the twist
that this activity is either repugnant or surprising to the observer. In
Aeschylus' Eumenides, after the parodos, Apollo attempts to chase
the Furies from his sanctuary. He chastizes them, claiming that their
proper interests are condemnations to be headings and eye-gougings,
slaughters, emasculations of children, amputations, stonings, and the
moans of impaled men. "Do you," he continues, "hear what kind of
heorte you love (oia~
EOPTi~
... UTEPY'I(Jp' EXOVUat) and why therefore you are hateful to the gods?" (186-92). Those gougings and
emasculations and impalings which are to others such a horror are to
the Furies their heorte. Thucydides puts an image of similar form but
different tone into the mouths of the Corinthians (1.70) in their
famous description of the Athenians: "(The Athenians) consider
doing what has to be done nothing other than a heorte," Kai #LT,TE
EOprY1I' aUo Tt ";'YE'in(Jat Ti TO Ta BEOVTa 71'pagat (c/. Plut. Mor. 9c).
The Athenians' exasperated enemies who claim to prefer moments of
peace and quiet note with some surprise and admiration the sheer
pleasure the Athenians derive from 71'OAV'TT'paYlLOuVVTJ' Both these
images point to heortai as paradigms of pleasure and enjoyment, and
upon this understanding of heortai both images depend.
In view of all that has been said of the nature and atmosphere of
heortai, the concept of a EOPTr, 71'Ev(JtlLO~,
a 'lugubrious heorte', seems
paradoxical and anomalous. EopTai 71'Ev(JtlLOt may be, I suspect, little
more than a mistake of post-classical and modern scholars. The two
26 lowe to Professor Zeph Stewart two quotations which capture nicely ancient attitudes towards heortai: OemocritlJs (OK 68F230), {3Lo<; aIlEOpTaCT'TO<; /UlKpTj 080<; a7Tall8OKEVTO<;; and Antiphon (OK 87F57), 110(1"0<; &u..OUTL EOp'T"l" with the explanation ov
yap EK7TOPEVo IITa, E7T1. 1Tpa~"
JON D. MIKALSON
219
religious activities generally termed EOp7'at 1T€V(JLf.,WL, the Genesia and
Hydrophoria, require some examination.
The only evidence for the lugubrious character of the Genesia27 is
Hesychius s. v. rEV€U"La' EOp7'7] 1T{XV(}Lf.,W':; 'A(}TlvaiOL':;. Hesychius' meaningless 1T{XV(JLf.,W':; appears as 1TEV(},yUJ.,EP0':; in Anecd.Bekker I 231.19 but
has been emended by modern scholars to give 1T€lI(JLf.LO(j, Accordingly, the Genesia has become a EOp7'7] 1T€V(JL/-W':; only by the emendation of a very late lexicographical citation. There is no doubt that
the Genesia involved rites for or in memory of the dead, but its
lugubrious character is not established by ancient evidence. We cannot even be certain that it was a heorte. The only indication, apart
from Hesychius, is Anecd.Bekker I 86.20: oVU"TI'> 7'E EOp7'i].:; STlf.,W7'EAOil,> 'A(JTlVal8, BOTlSpoJ-LLWvo,> 1T€/-L1T7'Tle;, YEV€U"La KaAOV/-L€vTle;, Ka(Jon cPTlU"i $LAOXOP0S" (FGrHist 328F28) Kat LOAWV EV 7'ote; ligOU"LV.
Jacoby in his discussion of this passage attributes all the heortological
information to Philochorus, and thus there would be good evidence
that the Genesia was a heorte. But if Philochorus is responsible for
only the date, or for only the name and the date,28 then the only
source that the Genesia was a heorte is the lexicographical tradition,
and, we must remember, the lexicographers were rather cavalier in
their use of this term. 29 Although one cannot be certain because of
the scantiness of the evidence, the Genesia apparently had none of
the characteristic elements of a heorte. And, in short, if the Genesia
were a heorte, which is open to question, there is virtually nothing to
indicate that it was a EOp7'7] 1T€V(}L/-WS".
The case is different for the Hydrophoria, which consisted of offerings to the victims of the great flood of Deucalion's time. These
offerings most probably occurred as part of the Chytroi. 30 Photius,
Hesychius, and the Suda (s. v. 'YSp0cPOPLa) term the Hydrophoria a
27
For the testimonia and discussion of the Genesia see Deubner 229-30 and Jacoby
(supra n.8) 65-75.
As, for example, Jacoby claims for 328F84.
Lexicographers and scholiasts made heorte into one of their major categories of
classification and extended its usage to include virtually all religious activities (see
Jacoby ad 328F84). In the Suda, for example, even private birthday celebrations (s. v.
"yEvefJAUX) are labeled heortai. There are traces, in the Roman period, of this development also outside or on the periphery of the scholarly tradition. E.g. Pausanias once
calls the Arrephoria 0.27.3) a heorte. Athenaios (437B) erroneously designates the
Choes a heorte (see supra n.6). And in Athens the Iobacchoi, somewhat before A.D.
180, had a rrpouKmpo<; f.opr7], an 'occasional heorte' (IG 112 l368.44). Such a concept
is unparalleled in the classical period. Plutarch, as we might expect, uses heorte in the
classical way, often distinguishing heortai from other types of religious activities (e.g.
Thes. 20.5, Mor. 169D).
30Deubner 113, Parke 117. But c/o Jacoby ad FGrHist 365F4.
28
29
220
THE HEORTE OF HEORTOLOGY
EOPT1] 1TElJ(}tf..w,>, and we know from other sources that the Chytroi
was part of a heorte. Photius and the Suda cite as their authority an
Athenian, Apollonius of Acharnai 030-100 B.C.), whose book was
entitled ilEpt EOPTWlJ. If one takes into account the highly abbreviated
nature of lexicographical citations, the evidence would suggest that
the Hydrophoria was a ritual which formed part of the Chytroi which
was, itself, part of the heorte called Anthesteria. The rites of the
Hydrophoria were possibly 1TElJ(}tf.W, but the whole heorte need not
have been. The offerings on this day to Hermes Chthonius and the
puzzling cry 0vpa~E
K-i)PE'>, "Spirits of the Dead (?), out of the
door," may have been, like the Hydrophoria itself, part of the cult of
the dead. But the day of the Chytroi was not (mo¢pas.31 In fact the
best evidence we have for the day suggests quite the opposite. In the
fourth century Lycurgus introduced a proposal to restore the contest
of comic actors held on this day, the aYWlJE<;" XVTptlJOt (schol. Ar.
Ran. 218, [Plut.] Mor. 841 F). Such a contest is hardly compatible
with the gloomy character generally attributed to this day. The Chytroi may have had some lugubrious elements like the Hydrophoria,
but it is highly improbable that either the Chytroi or Hydrophoria was
a heorte (see supra n.6), to say nothing of a EOPT1] 1TElJ(}t/.LO,>.
Much the same explanation may serve for the remaining possibly
gloomy heorte, the Diasia. 32 This was celebrated for Zeus Meilichios
/.LETa TtlJO'> U'TVYlJOTTJTO'>, "with some repugnance" (Hesychius s. v.
.:1 taU'ta , schol. Lucian Tim. 43, !car. 24). To Aristophanes' Strepsiades, however, the thought of this heorte brings to mind the pleasures of the banquet (Nub. 408-09, cf Lucian Tim. 7). The dual
character of this heorte which apparently incorporated some lugubrious elements but was ultimately joyful is nicely symbolized in the
offering of the demesmen of Erchia. Their sacrifice at this heorte was
to be "wineless until the vital organs were consumed. "33 After that
the wine could flow.
The Chytroi and Diasia and, perhaps, the Genesia indicate that,
exceptionally, heortai might include in their structure some gloomy or
lugubrious elements. But these few exceptions should not distract attention from the otherwise consistent classical tradition, from sources
both on the nature of a heorte and on specific heortai. 34 This tradition
Mikalson, AlP 95 (I975) 24. q: Pickard-Cambridge (supra n.20) 13-15.
Deubner 155-57 and M. Jameson, BCH 89 (I965) 159-66.
33 Jameson (supra n.32) 159.
34 Although the lexicographers and the scholiasts to Aristophanes are not reliable
sources for identifying heortai, it should be noted that they describe the following as
Athenian heortai: Adonia (schol. Lys. 389), Aianteia (Hesych,), Aiora (Hesych.), As:lJ
32
JON D. MIKALSON
221
portrays heortai as pleasant and joyful religious experiences with an
abundance of good food, good company, and good entertainment. In
our attempts to describe and characterize Greek religious attitudes we
must not neglect these emotions and expectations that Athenians of
the classical period had regarding this major element of their religious
life.
THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
June, 1982
kolia (schol. Plut. 1129), Boedromia (Harp., Suda) , Bouphonia (Harp., Hesych., Suda,
schol. Pax 419 and Nub. 985), Chalkeia (Harp., Suda) , Charmosyna (Hesych.), EpiKronia
kleidia (Hesych.), Galaxia (Hesych.), Hephaistia (Harp., Suda s. v. Aa,u1T~)
(Hesych., Suda, schol. Nub. 397), Lenaia (Suda, schol. Eq. 547), Oschophoria (Hesych. s. v. OEt1TIJOqxJPOL, Suda) , Pandia (Harp., Hesych.), Paionia (schol. Ach. 1213),
Pithoigia (Hesych.), Plynteria (Harp., Hesych.), Prometheia (Harp., Suda s. v. Aa,u1T~)
Proschaireteria (Harp., Suda), Pyanopsia (Hesych., Suda, schol. Eq. 729), and Theseia
(Hesych., Suda, schol. P1ut. 627). Of these the Pithoigia was part of the Anthesteria.
Some, e.!? the Aianteia, Chalkeia, Hephaistia, Kronia, Lenaia, Oschophoria, Prometheia, Pyanopsia, and Theseia, were quite probably heortai. Plutarch, who understands
his terminology, labels the Kybernesia (Thes. 17.6) and the Oschophoria (Thes. 23.2)
heortai. The others on the list, so far as they are known, lacked the characteristic elements of heortai. Some are probably rituals and offerings, for example the Aiora, Askolia, Bouphonia, Galaxia, Plynteria, and Proschaireteria.