Anthesterion

Anthesterion ( Greek  Ἀνθεστηριών , " blossom moon ") was a month in several ancient Greek calendars based on the Ionic calendar.

In the Attic calendar , Anthesterion was the eighth, in later counts the sixth month of the year after the Gamelion and before the Elaphebolion . In the Julian calendar , it roughly corresponds to the month of February . The name is traced back to Anthesteria , a three-day festival from the 11th to the 13th Anthesterion for the god Dionysus . Other feasts in the Attic calendar were the little mysteries of Eleusis , the exact date of which fluctuated, and the feast of Diasia for Zeus Meilichios on the 23rd of Anthesterion.

The name of the month for Olbia , Paros , Tenos , Amorgos , Samos , Erythrai , Smyrna , Priene , Chios , Apollonia , Kyzikos and Ephesos is inscribed, wherever a form of the Ionic calendar was used. In addition, the month name was used in the city of Halicarnassus , in which the Doric calendar was in use as the Doric Apoikia .

literature

• Wilhelm Kubitschek : Anthesterion . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, Col. 2375.