Theoxenia

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The term theoxenia ( Greek  θεός (god) and ξένος (guest / stranger)) describes in myth and cult in ancient Greece the hospitality of people for gods and heroes . Theoxenia usually took the form of a meal. With this the divine beings tested the qualities of humans and punished them if they were denied a theoxenia. The idea of ​​sharing with a deity is very old and goes beyond the Greek and Roman times.

Other names

Heroxeinia is on an inscription from Thasos from the 4th century BC. Chr. Handed down. It probably denotes a festival to which heroes were invited to dinner. In the Roman culture a festival comparable to theoxenia was called the Lectisternium .

definition

Theoxenia (or Theoxenia ) as singular feminine is a term used in science. In ancient times the term did not exist in this form; there it is known as Theoxenia only as a plural neuter and describes a type of festival from which the name of the Delphic spring month Theoxenios (= Elaphebolion ) was derived. A theoxenia is recognized by science through the terms used in the traditions and the character of the offerings.

Theoxenie describes a ritual of hospitality for gods and heroes. The guests were invited first. A seat ( κλίνη ) was set up for the occasion . She was covered and adorned. Next to it was an equally decorated trapeze , on which dishes with food and drink were offered. Sometimes invitee symbols were added. The resources used corresponded to the conventions used to entertain guests. Theoxenia was a widespread type of victim in Greek society and an expression of the concept of hospitality, which was a high priority in Greek culture.

Demarcation

The difference between a thysia , which also includes a feast, and theoxenia lies in the form of the food presented and the timing. In a theoxenia, the deity is presented with the same kind of food that man eats. In the case of a Thysia, on the other hand, the deity receives its share in the smoke on the altar that rises from the burnt. At theoxenia, the divine guests were considered visiting and then departing. In a Thysia, the divine and the human part of the sacrifice were separated in terms of time and content. So while a Thysia emphasizes distance, the shared meal of a Theoxenia builds a close connection between gods and humans by being “subject to the rules and laws of xenia ”.

A Deipnon in the context of Greek religion is the opposite of a theoxenia. While Theoxenie expresses hospitality, the food is brought to the gods at a Deipnon ( deipnophoria ).

The differentiation between a theoxenia and a trapeze is difficult, as the preparation of a decorated table ( trapeze ) with gifts is part of a theoxenia. This is particularly evident in a 4th century BC calendar of marathons . In which the trapeze is interpreted as a short form for offering a meal for the guest with and without seating. Another view shows the processing status of the meat presented as a characteristic in the center of consideration. In a theoxenia, roast meat is sacrificed as opposed to a trapezoma , which uses raw meat as an offering. In addition to the processing status of the meat, the following table shows other distinguishing features between trapezia and theoxenia.

Trapeza and theoxenia in comparison
criteria Trapezomata Theoxenia
term trapeza, trapezomata theoxenia, xenia, heroxenia, theodaisia
flesh raw fried
deposit Table, rare altar table
Tools no Seating ( κλίνη )
Location near an altar or in the temple not clear
Additional offerings possibly Cake, cheese, wine, fruits
Associated with invitation No Yes
Another fate of the offerings went to priests, regulation by Lex Sacra uncertain

A clear sign of theoxenia is an invitation and the setting up of a seat for the gods, with which they differentiate themselves from older eating rites, such as the argmata , which are mentioned in the Odyssey .

ritual

Theoxenias were performed in sanctuaries, in public places or in private surroundings. The basis for the sacrifice formed the features of treating guests so that they could feel comfortable. The invitation for the victim was an important part of the ritual. Seating was set up and decorated. Food and cult objects were presented to the guests, gods and heroes, on the table. Gods could be both guests and hosts. So Apollo acted as host in Delphi and invited his guests, the heroes, to dine with him.

In three detailed descriptions of theoxenia, this sacrifice is part of a thysia . In one tradition it is integrated into an entire festival, in another it is a private cult with sacrifices and in a third it is part of tribal rites. It appears that a theoxenia was performed as a supplement and the preparation of the seat and table may have served as an emphasis on the god as recipient.

Offerings

The offerings of a theoxenia included items and food that were supposed to ensure the well-being of guests.

The food that was sacrificed was also digestible for the people. They consisted of cereals, fruits, cakes and meat. Honey is also mentioned in the inscription from Selinous .

A theoxenia for Heracles entertains the guest with two lamps, two bronze lamps with seven flames, a rectangular brazier ( eschara ), a bowl, a carpet, a table, five small gold crowns for the statues, two clubs, three gold-plated incense burners, one Seat, a base for the same and a bronze ring.

An Athenian inscription from the 4th century BC. Chr. Lists components that indicate a theoxenia. For a nameless hero, a seat, a mattress, a bedspread, a smooth carpet, four pillows, two types of towels and a number of silver vessels are listed.

receiver

The recipients of a theoxenia were gods and heroes.

In the inscription from Kos is Herakles Hospitality offered. In Selinous the ancestors ( Tritopatores ) were honored as heroes with a theoxenia. As part of the festival for Zeus Sosipolis in Magnesia am Mäander , Zeus , Artemis and Apollon each received a seat.

Theoxenia were widespread. Since the sacrifice was inexpensive, it was also celebrated in non-public spaces for heroes. This is indicated by the many traditional reliefs that show heroes at the feast.

Some 20th century historians of religion assumed that theoxenias were carried out primarily for heroes and lesser gods. This view has often been linked to the fact that theoxenia originally emerged from the sacrificial cult for the common dead. But in 1878 August Mommsen already connected Theoxenia with the twelve gods of the Greek Olympus . Since then, theoxenia has been demonstrated in other religious festivals and the circle of divine addressees has been expanded. These include Magna Mater , Attis , Pluton and Men . According to Michael H. Jameson , theoxenia - contrary to all attempts in this regard - cannot be restricted to any particular category of divine or god-like recipients.

intention

A theoxenia combined with a thysia can be seen as a precaution to ensure the presence of the gods. She contributed "to the dramatic character" of a chain of rituals, in which the adornment of the seat and the trapeze could be the climax.

Also embedded in other victims, a theoxeny aided the return of purified spirits to normal conditions and relationships with the living. It was used as a means of reconciliation with an enemy force and meant a purification. This intention is in the tradition of the inscription from the 5th century BC. Included.

Sources

Theoxenia are for the entire Greek culture from the 6th century BC. From the Hellenistic to the Roman period.

Inscriptions

The oldest inscription dates from the middle of the 5th century BC. From Selinus. It is the largest surviving Greek lead tablet, but it is very fragmentary. A second inscription from the late 4th century BC. From Kos and a third from Magnesia on the meander, which goes back to 196 BC. BC, complete the records of detailed descriptions of Theoxenia.

Literary sources

Herodotus mentions the setting up of a seat and a table by the Athenians in the Prytaneion during a dispute with the Pelasgians , the purpose of which is being discussed by scientists. It is unclear whether this was a banquet for gods. In his fifth Pythian Ode, Pindar describes welcome offerings for the founders of the city of Cyrene . A theoxenia is assumed to be part of more extensive rituals due to the terms used therein. Scientists interpret other passages in Heropythos , Philostephanos and Thucydides as references to Theoxenia. In the litarian sources theoxenia are generally rare and less directly recognizable than in the inscriptions.

reception

August Mommsen dedicated a chapter to the Theoxenia in his book Delphika in 1873 . He refers to traditions from the Scholion for Pindar and Hesychios of Alexandria . The traditions mentioned various Greek festivals celebrating the twelve Olympian gods.

The magnesia inscription on the meander, published in 1900, first provided details about the rite of theoxenia. The inscription uses the terms στρώννύσθαι στρωμνάς ( covers ), which led to the Latin term lectisternium . Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff recommended it in the 30s of the last century because it was used for a similar ritual in the Roman context and was probably influenced by Greek theoxeny.

The most important contributions to the current understanding of Greek theoxeny include the 1994 essay by Michael H. Jameson and various works by Gunnel Ekroth .

The study by Silke Knippschild and Vera Sauer in the context of a colloquium on migration is based on the traditional migrations of gods and states that a frequent pull factor (see push-pull model of migration ) is that people are entertaining them . The theme of the veiled God, who tests the hospitality of the people, can be traced from Homer to the present day, as for example in the story of the Brothers Grimm in the fairy tale The Poor and the Rich .

literature

Individual notes

  1. ↑ François Salviat: Une nouvelle loi thasienne: institutions judiciaires et fêtes religieuses à la fin du IVe siècle av J.-C.. In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique . Volume 82, 1958, pp. 193-267 ( online ).
  2. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period. Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraph 21.
  3. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia. In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 146; Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, Paragraph 12.
  4. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia. In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, pp. 145-146; Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, Paragraph 2.
  5. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter III, paragraph 150.
  6. ↑ Silke Knippschild, Vera Sauer: Wandering gods and their entertainment. In: Eckart Olshausen, Holger Sonnabend (eds.): We were Troians: Migrations in the ancient world . 8th International Colloquium on the Historical Geography of Antiquity 2002 (= Geographica Historica. Volume 21). Steiner, Stuttgart 2006, p. 333.
  7. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia. In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 149.
  8. ^ Franciszek Sokolowski: Lois sacrées des cités grecques. E. de Boccard, Paris 1969, No. 20 B 51-54 (= IG II² 1358 ); Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum (ThesCRA) Volume II, p. 228.
  9. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia. In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 152.
  10. ^ Gunnel Ekroth : Meat for the gods. In: Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge, Francesca Prescendi (Ed.): Nourrir les dieux? Sacrifice et représentation du divin (= Kernos. Supplement 26). Presses universitaires de Liège, Liège 2011, pp. 26–27. ( openedition.org ).
  11. ↑ Homer , Odyssey 14, 434-436; Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia. In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, pp. 149-150.
  12. ↑ Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum (ThesCRA), Volume 2, Basel 2004. p. 225.
  13. ↑ Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum (ThesCRA), Volume 2, Basel 2004. p. 226.
  14. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia . In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 154.
  15. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period. Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraph 107, Chapter III, paragraph 149.
  16. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, Paragraph 2.
  17. ↑ Michael H. Jameson , David R. Jordan, Roy David Kotansky: A Lex Sacra from Selinous (= Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Monographs. Volume 11). Duke University, Durham 1993, p. 69.
  18. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia . In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 156.
  19. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraph 22.
  20. ↑ IG XII 4, 1, 348 ; Edward Harris, Jan-Mathieu Carbon: The Documents in Sokolowski's Lois sacrées des cités grecques (LSCG) . In: Kernos . Volume 28, 2015, No. 177 (accessed on May 11, 2020).
  21. ↑ Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum ³ No. 589 ; see. Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia. In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, pp. 154-155, 157.
  22. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period. Liège 2002, Chapter III, paragraph 151, 153.
  23. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia. In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, pp. 170-171.
  24. ^ August Mommsen: Delphica. Teubner, Leipzig 1878, pp. 299-308 ( digitized version ); see. also Martin Persson Nilsson : Greek festivals of religious importance excluding the Attic. Teubner, Leipzig 1906, pp. 160-162 ( digitized version ).
  25. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia. In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, pp. 170–172; Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter III, Paragraphs 138-145, 158.
  26. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia . In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society . Cambridge 2014, pp. 153 and 174.
  27. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia . In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society . Cambridge 2014, p. 159.
  28. ↑ Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum (ThesCRA), Volume 2, Basel 2004. p. 225.
  29. ↑ Michael H. Jameson , David R. Jordan, Roy David Kotansky: A Lex Sacra from Selinous (= Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Monographs. Volume 11). Duke University, Durham 1993 ( online ); Review by Kevin Clinton: A New Lex Sacra from Selinus: Kindly Zeuses, Eumenides, Impure and Pure Tritopatores, and Elasteroi. In: Classical Philology. Volume 91, Number 2, 1996. pp. 159-179.
  30. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia. In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, pp. 154-159.
  31. ↑ Herodotus, Histories 6,139.
  32. ^ Kathryn Topper: Primitive Life and the Construction of the Sympotic Past in Athenian Vase Painting. In: American Journal of Archeology . Volume 113, Number 1, 2009, pp. 3-26, pp. 8-9 ( online ).
  33. ^ Gunnel Ekroth : Meat for the gods. In: Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge, Francesca Prescendi (Ed.): Nourrir les dieux? Sacrifice et représentation du divin (= Kernos. Supplement 26). Presses universitaires de Liège, Liège 2011, p. 22 ( openedition.org ).
  34. ↑ Pindar, Olympic Oden 5.85-86.
  35. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraph 129.
  36. ↑ Heropythos, The Fragments of the Greek Historians 448 F 1 (= Athenaios 7.51).
  37. ↑ Philostephanus, Fragmenta Graecorum Historicorum . Volume III, 29, F 1.
  38. ^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 3.58.
  39. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraphs 131-133.
  40. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraph 217.
  41. ↑ Scholion Pindar, Olympic Odes 3.91.
  42. ^ August Mommsen: Delphica . Teubner, Leipzig 1878, p. 299.
  43. ↑ I.Magn. 98. In: Otto Kern : The inscriptions of Magnesia on the Maeander . Spemann, Berlin 1900 ( online ), p. 83.
  44. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia . In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 146.
  45. ↑ Silke Knippschild, Vera Sauer: Wandering gods and their entertainment. In: Eckart Olshausen, Holger Sonnabend (eds.): We were Troians: Migrations in the ancient world . 8th International Colloquium on the Historical Geography of Antiquity 2002 (= Geographica Historica. Volume 21). Steiner, Stuttgart 2006, p. 332.