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[Xenophon] Ath. Pol. iii 4 and the question of choruses at the Hephaestia and Promethia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

John M. Moore
John M. Moore
Affiliation:
The Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington, DC
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Extract

In a recent article, J. K. Davies suggested that there were no choral events at the festivals of the Hephaestia and Promethia. He rested his case on the fact that ‘the basic document concerning the festival [sc. the Hephaestia], IG i2 84 of 421/0 refers (probably) to gymnasiarchs (lines 20–21) and nowhere to choregoi or choruses’, and he went on to say that ‘the general heortological tradition [sc. about the Hephaestia]…knew nothing of musical contests’. On this basis, he rejected the contrary evidence of [Xenophon] Ath.Pol. iii 4 which specifically mentions the Hephaestia and Promethia in a list of five festivals to which choregoi were allotted. He suggested that either the author of Ath. Pol. was mistaken, or an emendation of the text proposed by Kirchhoff should be accepted; the emendation inserts seven words into the text, and so switches the reference from choregoi to gymnasiarchs.

Type
Notes
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 91 , November 1971 , pp. 140 - 141
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1971

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References

I am very grateful to Mrs Theodora Hadzisteliou Price for discussing this note with me and supplying many of the references on hero cult, and to the editorial committee for comments on an early draft.

1 ‘Demosthenes on Liturgies: a note’ JHS lxxxvii (1967) 33–40.

2

3

4 υ. Eitrem, , in PW viii 1126Google Scholar for lamentations and dances in connection with early stages in the development of the cult of the dead (from which the hero cult developed its form), and Roscher, , Lexikon i 2.2502 fGoogle Scholar for further references to hymns to heroes.