Trapeza (victim)

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Trapezai on the Kerameikos of Athens

Trapeza ( ancient Greek τράπεζα "quadruped", plural τραπέζαι trapezai ) describes a victim in the context of Greek religion . The meaning is based on the ancient Greek trapeze on which the offerings were placed. Trapeza is mainly based on inscriptions from the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Chr. Handed down.

Other names

Trapezomata refers to sacrifices in which raw meat was placed on the table of gifts . The term is very rare. The earliest tradition could be an inscription from the 4th century BC. Another from an inscription from Pergamon , dated to 133 BC. The term refers to all gifts that were placed on the table. On the inscriptions, the term was used to determine the portion that went to the priest.

definition

Trapeza means an inexpensive sacrifice to gods and heroes . The term referred to the gifts on the table. Often times the victim was addressed to Heroine. In other cases it has been mentioned as a secondary sacrifice of a thysia , from which pieces of the animal sacrifice were added to the offerings of a trapeza. Trapeza had the meaning of an enrichment of the main sacrifice. On the table, gifts such as cereals, fruits, cakes, raw and roasted meat were consecrated, which the priest or the priestess could usually accept as a reward after the sacrifice was completed. Trapeza is mainly characterized by inscriptions from the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Chr. Handed down.

Demarcation

see Theoxenie

ritual

The ritual began with the preparation of a trapeze. At times, preparation was the highlight and focus of a festival that included offerings and other rites. The preparation of the table could be understood as an invitation to the hero as the guest of honor. The offerings on the table probably went to the priest or priestess and were then eaten.

Trapezai were often performed as an enrichment to the main sacrifice, a Thysia. Several cases are recorded from the calendar of Marathon in which the hero received both a sheep and a trapeze. The importance of a secondary sacrifice comes out in the price. A sheep cost 12 drachmas and a trapeza 1 drachma.

Offerings

The gifts of a trapeze were mostly not specified in detail. Only when meat from the main offering was added to the offerings on the table is this addition mentioned. Based on traditional details for a theoxenia , the gifts of which were also placed on a table, the gifts of a trapeze could have consisted of grain, fruit, cake and meat.

receiver

Trapeza has been handed down for gods, heroes and especially for heroines. When a thysia and a trapeze were performed for different recipients at the same time, the less important ones were usually given a trapeze, while the thysia was reserved for the more powerful deity.

In Thorikos ' calendar of sacrifices , which lists a total of 23 sacrifices for heroes, 6 of them are trapezai. The Trapezai all went to heroines, some of whom were not even listed with their own names, but were simply referred to as heroines of the respective hero. As a comparison, deities received 31 offerings on the same calendar and not a single one was a trapezoid.

Sources

Excerpt from Thorikos' calendar of sacrifices, 430 BC Chr.

Trapeza is handed down on inscriptions. The earliest reference is from a fragment by Tiryns from the late 7th or early 6th century BC. BC, but that does not reveal any further information. Another clue comes from a fragment of an Athenian calendar that dates back to 430 BC. Is dated. Further traditions come from calendars from Thorikos , Erchia and Marathon . The victim calendars cover a period of around 100 years. The calendar from Thorikos is dated 430 BC. That of Marathon to 400 to 350 BC. BC, the calendar of Erchia to 375-350 BC. And an additional calendar of the Salaminioi genos to 363/2 BC. The recipient, the sacrifice and its price are recorded on the inscriptions. Contents are mentioned more randomly and research suggests that the main reason for creating the lists was to record financial responsibilities.

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 ).
  • David Gill: Greek Cult Tables . Revised Harvard Dissertations in the Classics 1964. New York 1991. ISBN 0-8153-0448-X .
  • 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.
  • Jennifer Larson: Greek heroine cults . Wisconsin studies in classics. Madison 1995. ISBN 0-299-14370-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraph 30.
  2. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia . In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 174.
  3. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraphs 23, 30 and 133; Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia . In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, pp. 151-153.
  4. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia . In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 153.
  5. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraphs 23, 30 and 38.
  6. ↑ a b LSCG 20 B 51-54. Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum (ThesCRA) Volume II, p. 228.
  7. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraph 25.
  8. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia . In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, pp. 151-153.
  9. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, Paragraph 3.
  10. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraph 27.
  11. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, Paragraphs 81–82.
  12. ^ Eran Lupu: Greek Sacred Law: A Collection of New Documents (NGSL) . Leiden Brill 2005, p. 197.
  13. ↑ IG i3 255 = IG i2 190; LSCG 11.19. Retrieved April 27, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Theoxenia . In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 150.
  15. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraph 61.
  16. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraph 63.
  17. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter II, paragraph 64.