Deipnon (victim)

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Deipnon ( ancient Greek δεῖπνον 'meal' ) refers to a sacrifice for gods and heroes in the context of Greek religion . The meaning is based on the ancient Greek Deipnon .

Other names

Perideipnon ( περιδεῖπνον ) referred to the meal that ended a family's grief phase. A perideipnon took place at home and was a meal for the living. Only in Roman times was the deceased listed as a participant or even as a host.

definition

A Deipnon consecrated gifts for deities and heroes. Most often it was narrated with a negative context and the intention of a Deipnon was to avert calamity and have a cleansing effect. In one recorded case it was part of an enagism and was performed with a haimakouria .

Demarcation

see Theoxenie

ritual

The best known surviving ritual for a Deipnon are the Deipna for the goddess Hecate , which were set up at the intersection of three streets. The intersection is symbolically held to be a place that humans should avoid because it posed a danger, just like the divine beings who accepted such offerings. To take from such food was considered disrespect or an expression of great need.

Deipnon in connection with Enagisma and Haimakouria is narrated by Plutarch . He describes how an ox is sacrificed and the war dead from Plataiai are invited to Deipnon and Haimakouria.

Offerings

Fish, dogs, a knife and dishes are listed as offerings. The offerings were not intended to be eaten.

receiver

Chthonic gods like Hecate and Olympian gods like Apollo and Athena received a Deipnon . Apollo received a daily Deipnon on Delos . In addition to the gods, war dead and worshiped as heroes also received a Deipnon.

intention

Deipna were mainly used where it was a matter of warding off disaster ( apotropaic act ) and having a cleansing effect ( catharsis ).

literature

  • Gunnel Ekroth : The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period (= Kernos . Supplement volume 12). Center International d'Étude de la Religion Grecque Antique, Liège 2002, ISBN 2-87456-003-0 , ISBN 2-8218-2900-0 ( openedition.org ).
  • Michael H. Jameson : Theoxenia. In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2014, ISBN 978-0-521-66129-4 , pp. 145-166. Originally published in: Robin Hägg (Ed.): Ancient Greek Cult Practice from the Epigraphical Evidence. Proceedings of the Fourth International Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult, organized by the Swedish Institute at Athens, 22-24 October 1993. Åströms Förlag, Stockholm 1994, pp. 35-57.

Individual notes

  1. ↑ Ekroth: Sacrificial Rituals . Chapter III, paragraph 139.
  2. ↑ a b c Jameson: Theoxenia . P. 148.
  3. ↑ Ekroth: Sacrificial Rituals . Chapter I, paragraph 172 and Chapter III, paragraphs 115–116.
  4. ↑ Plutarch, Aristeides 21: 2-5.
  5. ↑ a b Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals . Chapter III, paragraph 115.
  6. ↑ Jameson: Theoxenia . P. 148; Ekroth: Sacrificial Rituals . Chapter I, paragraph 173.