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[German version] Celebrated in honour of ‘mother  Flora’, these were the   ludi (Cic. Verr. 2,5,36) which ran from the birth date of the temple on 28 April (Verrius Flaccus, Fasti Praenestini for this date; Ov. Fast. 4,947) to early May (Ov. Fast. 5,183ff.). F. are also attested to for Pisaurum (CIL XI 6357), Alba Fucens (CIL IX 3947) and Cirta (CIL VIII 6958) (see also the Agnone bronze [1]). The peasant calendars (  menologia ) and the Fasti Venusini record for 3 May a sacrifice to Flora that was meant to relate to the F. [2. 1974; 3]. According to myth, the Sabine Titus Tatius had alrea…

[German version] The festive period of the Parentalia (Menologium Colotianum InscrIt 13,2 p. 287; Menologium Vallense InscrIt 13,2 p. 293, cf. p. 408f.), celebrated in February, gave all Romans the opportunity to come together to commemorate their deceased parents and relatives, as was done privately on the anniversary of their deaths (Verg. Aen. 5,46ff.; Ov. Fast. 2,533ff.). A sacrifice to the Vestalis maxima (Vestals) marked the official beginning of the period on the 13th of February (Philocalus, InscrIt 13,2 p. 241: Virgo Vesta(lis) parentat). It concluded with the public …

[German version] (Λερναῖα; Lernaîa). A celebration of the mysteries of Demeter and Dionysus Bugenes in Argive Lerna, where both deities were honoured in a cult community (Paus. 2,36,7; 37,1), documented in literature and inscriptions [2. 290]. The mythical founder of the Lernaea was Philammon (Paus. 2,37,2). At the festival, an epiphany of tauromorphic Dionysus took place from the lake next to the sacred grove; it was triggered by trumpet signals and the drowning sacrifice of a lamb for the god…

(Κρόνος; Krónos). [German version] A. Brief description In Greek theogonic myth, K. acts as leader of the Titans, the pre-Olympian generation of gods who were defeated and overthrown by Zeus and his siblings. He was worshipped only in periods of ritual licence. The reference myths of these carnivalesque festivals connected K.'s rule, on the one hand, with the notion of a pre-Olympian world characterized by patricide and infanticide, but on the other hand, with the idea of paradisical primeval times. …

[German version] (Εἰρεσιώνη; Eiresiṓnē). Olive or laurel branch, entwined with wool, dressed with figs, ceremonial breads, and small containers of honey, oil, and wine (Pausanius Rhetor in Eust. in Il. 22,496, 1283, 7ff.; EM 303, 17ff.; Suda s.v. E.). Boys carried it from house to house while singing a song of supplication, which (just as the custom itself: Harpocr. p. 162,1ff.; Suda s.v. diakónion) was also called eiresione (Ps. Hdt. v. Hom. 33). After the procession, the eiresione was fastened to the door so that it could be seen (Aristoph. Vesp. 398f. as well as Equ. …

[German version] (Μαλοφόρος; Malophóros). Doric ‘Apple bearer or ‘Sheep bearer, epithet for Demeter in Megara, where her temple lay in the port district (Paus. 1,44,3). In the Megarian colony of Selinus on Sicily, she had a sanctuary outside the city [1]. According to the foundation myth, Demeter received the name from the first sheep breeders of Megara (Paus. 1,44,3). Scholarship has applied the epithet M. either to sheep [2] or to the mysteries' symbol of the pomegranate [1]. However, the word is…

(Ἑκαέργη). [German version] [1] Epithet of Artemis Epithet of  Artemis (Clem. Al. Strom. 5,8,48,4f.; EpGr 460,6). Baudy, Gerhard (Constance) [German version] [2] Maiden active in the cult of Artemis A mythical maiden named Aspalis Ameilete H., from the city of Melite in Thessaly, active in the cult of  Artemis. Because she hanged herself in order to escape being raped by the tyrant Tartarus, the virgins made an annual sacrifice to her by hanging a young goat (Nikander in Antoninus Liberalis 13). Baudy, Gerhard (Constance) [German version] [3] Kore from the island of Ceos A kore from the …

(Δάφνις; Dáphnis). [German version] [1] Mythical cowherd Mythical cowherd of Sicilian tradition, son of  Hermes (Stesich. fr. 102 PMG = Ael. VH 10.18; Timaeus, FGrH 566 F 83; Diod. Sic. 4,84,2). He died still a youth because of an unfortunate love affair with a  nymph and was honoured with ritual mourning songs typical of those for Adonis (Theoc. 1,64ff.; 7,73ff.). In bucolic poetry he served as the ideal for the adolescent shepherd and was seen as the originator of the shepherd's song (e.g. Diod. 4,84,3). Despite the Greek name (from   dáphnē : ‘laurel’), the fig…

(Ἑρμῆς/ Hermês, in epic, also Ἑρμείας/ Hermeías, Ἑρμείης/ Hermeíēs, Ἑρμάων/ Hermáōn) I. Cult and Mythology [German version] A. Profile According to mythological tradition, a god native to Arcadia. He was, however, worshipped throughout Greece. Evidence of his name appears in Linear B as early as the Mycenaean era [1. 285f.]. A bringer of culture with a special relationship to shepherds, he belongs to the ethnological category of the trickster. In epic poetry he functioned as the messenger and herald of Zeus. Ultim…

[German version] [1] (δάφνη; dáphnē). Used in antiquity as a name for the plant sacred to Apollo and Artemis ─ the  laurel Laurus nobilis L. of the Lauraceae family, not the Thymelaeacea genus of the daphne with which we are familiar today ( Cneorum). Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg) [German version] [2] Nymph, transformed into a laurel tree (Δάφνη; Dáphnē). The chaste nymph D. devoted to  Artemis and who loved to hunt, was a daughter of the river god Ladon (or Peneius) and  Gaia. She fled from Apollo, who tried to force his affections on her, and tur…