Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

vn] The Foot-race for the Bride 233
while the sun-bridegroom was charged with the maintenance of
the solar fire 1 .
Now, the Elean antiquaries said that for the first thirteen
Olympiads from the beginning of the unbroken tradition, the only
competition was the foot-race 2 . This is the race which we have
seen reflected in myth as the race for the kingdom and the hand
of the princess. In literal fact it seems to have been a contest to
determine who should represent the male partner in the sacred
marriage with the victor of the virgin's race. It has already been
suggested that this personage could be regarded as, in a certain
sense, the daimon of his 'year,' the 'king' for a limited period,
on whom the rains of heaven and the fruits of earth would
depend.
Modern analogies support this view of the significance of the
foot-race. ' Games,' says Mr Chambers 3 ,
' were a feature of
seasonal, no less than of funeral feasts....A bit of wrestling or
a bout of quarter-staff is still de rigueur at many a wake or rush-
bearing, while in parts of Germany the winner of a race or of a
shooting-match at the popinjay is entitled to light the festival
fire, or to hold the desired office of May-King.'
The suggestion is further confirmed by an interesting ancient
analogy. The Laconian Karneia were celebrated in the month
Karneios, which corresponds to the Elean Apollonios. Their date,
moreover, like that of the Olympian festival, with which they
sometimes coincided 4
, seems to have been fixed with reference
1 Cf. Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage, i. 122. In modern agricultural festivals
'water is thrown on the fields and on the plough, while the worshippers themselves,
or a representative chosen from among them, are sprinkled or immersed.
To this practice many survivals bear evidence ;
the virtues persistently ascribed to
dew gathered on May morning, the ceremonial bathing of women annually or in
times of drought with the expressed purpose of bringing fruitfulness on man or
beast or crop, the "ducking" customs...,' etc. The interpretation of the Danaids
as rain-makers is due to Mr A. B. Cook and will be discussed by him in his forthcoming
book Zeus.
2 Paus. v. 8. 6. Cf. Plut. Symp. Qu. v. 2. 675 c (above, p. 221).
3 The Mediaeval Stage, i. 148. Mr Chambers refers to Frazer, G.B. 2 i. 217;
in. 258. Cf. Mannhardt, Ant. Wald- und Feldkulte, p. 254, ' Jene deutschen
Maitags- und Ernteumgange nehmen mehrfach auch die Form eines Wettlaufs an,
bei welchem entweder die letzte, den Korndamon darstellende Garbe oder der
Maibaum das Ziel ist, oder durch welchen die Rollen bei dem Vmffange mit dem
Laubmann, Pfingstbutz u.s.iv. entschieden werden. Der Wettlauf bildet den ersten
Akt, die Prozession mit dem durch den Sieger in demselben dargestellten Vegetationsdamon
den zweiten Akt der Festbegehungen.'
4 For instance in the year 480 B.C., Herod, vn. 206 ; vm. 72.