In summer 415 BC, shortly before the Sicilian expedition, all Herms in Athens were damaged in one night. The citizens saw in this a bad omen for the enterprise. The posting of high rewards for informers led to the discovery of a further religious heinous deed: the desecration of the Eleusinian Mysteries ( Mysteria) in the private houses of some rich citizens. Alcibiades [3], initiator of the Sicilian expedition, was accused of participating in both crimes. In the ‘witch hunt’ that followed there were ever new denunciations, arrests and exe…
Herms, mutilation of the(194 words)
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Stein-Hölkeskamp, Elke (Cologne), “Herms, mutilation of the”, in: Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e510640>
First published online: 2006
First print edition: 9789004122598, 20110510
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