12/20/2023 0 Comments Essence of dionysus wineskin![]() The first person to empty his or her chous was crowned the victor and given a full wineskin as a prize. (Don’t worry, the wine would have been mixed and diluted with water!)Īn official public drinking contest was held. Celebrants would carry around their own personal wine-jug filled with pre-mixed wine.Ī normal chous held about twelve large drinking cups, approximately three quarts, the standard amount of wine for the drinking contests. On the second day, the festival really got going-drinking cups were replaced with wine-jugs (choes), giving the day its name. In contrast with the solemnity and restraint of the first day’s drinking, the cup ( skyphos) pictured above shows a woman gulping down wine with urgency. ![]() This was a solemn affair-a mix of superstitious fear towards winter and thanksgiving for the coming spring. It was a moment to drink to a good harvest and to the end of winter. ![]() On the first day, large vats (pithoi) containing new wine from the past year were ceremonially opened, wine offerings were poured out to Dionysus, and the wine was tasted. Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program. Day 1: Pithoigia “Jar-Opening Day”Ĭup with a Woman Drinking in a Storeroom about 470–460 BC, unknown artist. In years when the full moon is very early (in the first few days of the month), the holiday takes place at the end of the month before the early March moon. Adjusting this to modern calendars, it begins about four days before the February full moon. Timed to take place on three days leading up to the Anthesterion full moon, the festival fell on different days of the month depending on the year. The holiday is either named after or gives its name to the Greek month Anthesterion (late February to early March), but both likely derive from the Greek word for flower, anthos-referring to the first blooms of the grapevine in spring. The festival also honored the ghosts of the dead, who were believed to walk the streets. Everyone participated, including women, children, hired servants, and household slaves, and it featured excessive wine-drinking as part of the celebration of two seemingly unrelated things: springtime and death. This ancient Greek holiday that you’ve probably never heard of was a three-day festival in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine. Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.įorget Valentine’s Day, Happy Anthesteria! ![]() Black-Figure Column Krater (detail), about 520 BC, Painter of Munich 1736. ![]()
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