Lagynophoria
Lagynophoria ( ancient Greek Λαγυνοφόρια ) were an ancient Greek festival established by Ptolemy IV . It was celebrated in Alexandria in honor of the god Dionysus .
The festival is known from Eratosthenes' writing Arsinoë , which is only passed down through quotations from Athenaios . According to the scriptures, Arsinoë learns about the festival by asking one of the flower-bearers which festival is being celebrated. All that is known about the course of the festival is that the festival participants consumed the food they had brought with them on camps provided and that each drank from his own bottle, a Lagynos . The participants consisted of the “laughers” ( γελοιαςταί ) called drinkers of the city. According to Eratosthenes, Arsinoë was critical of the festival because the participants were a crowd celebrating a primitive get-together. In addition, an unsuitable feast is consumed if everyone brings their own meal.
Ptolemy was regarded by the ancient historians as a dissolute prasser who was mostly described negatively; the name of the festival communicated to the Arsinoë by the flower bearer was therefore mostly taken as a mockery in ancient scholarship. Konrad Vössing points out that the demonstrative inclusion of people who do not belong to the court in a decidedly unluxurious feast, as they brought with them, could have served to highlight the city community.
Remarks
- ^ Athenaios 7:276.
- ↑ See Polybios 5, 34, 3; 5, 37, 10. Plutarch , Cleomenes 33, 1f.
- ↑ Martin Persson Nilsson : Greek festivals of religious importance excluding the Attic. Teubner, Leipzig 1906, p. 468. ( digitized version ); Hans von Geisau : Lagynophoria. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 1, Stuttgart 1924, column 465 ( digitized version ).
- ^ Konrad Vössing : Mensa regia. The banquet with the Hellenistic king and the Roman emperor (= contributions to antiquity . Volume 193). Saur, Munich et al. 2004, ISBN 3-598-77805-8 . Pp. 134-138.
