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

m] Festival of the Basilai 253
upposing that this myth, as part of the Olympian legend of
rantalus, reflected some local rite, the Kronian festival of the
Basilai is the only one which meets the needs of the case.
It is not improbable that this Kronian feast represents a very
jicient seasonal festival of spring, which became attached to the
r ernal equinox when the sun and the critical dates of his annual
ourse became important. In discussing Salmoneus, we connected
ds attribute of the slipped fetter (p. 223) with the Kronian custom
»f releasing slaves and prisoners at new year festivals. We saw
oo that this custom at Rome, which originally belonged to the
kalends of March, was borrowed by the later Saturnalia of mid-
winter, and yet retained also at its old date in March. The Attic
£ronia show an instructive parallel. At Athens the same
Jaturnalian custom of feasting slaves and releasing prisoners
/ppears both at the Panathenaea in Hekatombaion—a festival
apparently superimposed on the older Kronia 1—and at the spring
estival of Dionysus, the Anthesteria 2 .
Proclus 3 , more definitely, records the admission of slaves to the
sstival at the Pithoigia—the first day (Anthesterion 11) of the
Anthesteria. This observance is of peculiar interest to us because
niong the Boeotians, as we know from Plutarch 4 , this day was
ailed the day of the Good Spirit, the Agathos Daimon. It was
,lso a day when the souls of the dead were evoked from the
^rave-jars (pithoi) ;
the Opening of the Jars was at once a spring-
estival of first-fruits—on that day they broached the new wine
,nd a temporary release of the spirits of the dead from the prison
if the grave 5 .
1 Dem. xxiv. 26 ei50i'$ ry vcrrepaia, Kai ravr' ovtuv Kpovlwv Kai did. ravr' atpetfievris
rjs (3oii\ris, 5iairpai;a/j.ei'os . . .Kadl'^etrdai vofAoQeras 8ia ^rjcpicrpLaros ewl rjj tuiv Havadrjvaluu
pocpaaei. Plut. vit. Thes. 12 KpovLov ixyvos, 5v vvv 'EKaTO/x^aLQva KaXovot. Schol.
d Dein. in. p. 29 fjv 'EKaTO/ABaiwit 6 ko! Kpovios irap' "EWyo-i.
Macrobius, Sat. 1. 10. 22, following Philochorus, records the practice of the
Lttic Kronia : Philochorus Saturno et Opi primum in Attica statuisse aram
"ecropem dicit, eosque deos pro Jove Terraque coluisse, instituisseque ut patres
amiliarum et frugibus et fructibus iam coactis passim cum servis vescerentur.
2 Dem. xxn. 68 epooT&v el /xdrriu to oeo'/xurripiov ipKodo/xrjdr]. Karcupalrjv av Hyuiye,
t y' 6 ira.T7]p 6 cos (^x^ T0 avrodev avrats 7re5cus e^opxv ffv.
4 Q. Symp. viii. 3. For the Pitboigia see J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena, p. 32 ff.
5 For the conjunction of the worship of the Good Daimon and the souls of the
ead see next chapter.
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