valuable for reference and for the illustration of particular points, are, as a whole, undeserving of separate examination. The god-like Elders of Hellenik song, the poets, epic, lyric, and tragic, have given their testimony, which has been crowned and completed by that of the great Father of History. We shall now, therefore, turn from individual authorities to contemplate Dionysos as he appears in the ordinary life of Hellenik cities, and in the enduring triumphs of Hellenik art.

227

CHAPTER VI.

THE HELLENIK CULT OF DIONYSOS.

SECTION I.

THE FESTIVALS OF DIONYSOS.

Subsection I.-The Attik Cult.

We have now to notice the Dionysiak cult and ritual as they obtained amongst the Hellenes of the great historical ages; and here the Festivals of the god, of which there were some five-and-twenty, claim especial attention. The four principal Attik Dionysiak festivals were (1) the Dionysia Mikra, the Lesser or Rural Dionysia; (2) the Dionysia Lenaia; (3) the Anthesteria; and (4) the Dionysia Megala, the Greater or City Dionysia. The Rural Dionysia, celebrated yearly in the month Posideon (December-January) throughout the various townships of Attike, was presided over by the demarch or mayor. The celebration occasioned a kind of rustic carnival, distinguished like almost all Bakchik festivals, by gross intemperance and licentiousness, and during which slaves enjoyed a temporary freedom, with licence to insult their superiors, and behave in a boisterous and disorderly manner. It is brought vividly before us in the Acharnes of Aristophanes, which was produced early in B.C. 425, the sixth year of the Peloponnesian War. In this Play Dikaiopolis, the Upright Citizen and advocate of peace

1 Cf. Orthagoras, Aristoph. Ek. 916.

at any price, influenced doubtless by the peculiarly exposed situation of the town of Acharnai, concludes a separate treaty on his own account with the Spartans and their allies-a felicitous arrangement which enables him to spend his time in Bakchik revelry and devotion. Having commenced with the Rural Dionysia, the Upright Citizen is left when the Play closes apparently celebrating the Anthesteria. Peace being concluded, he exclaims, O Dionysia! I freed from war and ills will go within and celebrate the Rural Dionysia.' The scene then represents him engaged in the celebration, assisted by his wife, daughter, and slaves.

Di. Speak words of good omen! Speak words of good omen! Let the Basket-bearer come forward a little :

Xanthias set up the phallos erect.

You two must hold the phallos erect behind the Basketbearer,

And I following will chant the phallic-hymn.

O Phales, companion of Bakchos,

Fellow-reveller, nightly-rambler-around,

Seducer, youth-lover."

Here we have the simple phallic cult of the personified Priapos, son of Dionysos and Aphrodite, both Oriental divinities, and which, as we have seen, Herodotos states that Melampous obtained from Kadmos the Tyrian. It is remarkable that throughout the whole Play goddesses are never introduced into the licentious ritual of the Upright Citizen. It is to Dionysos alone that he sacrifices, and yet even here amongst the rustics, in the very place of all others where the simple wine-god, if such he were, should stand clearly before us, the vinal

1 Vs. 201-2.

2 A fragment of a phallic song, which, however, calls for no particular comment, is also given in Athen. xiv.

Vide Bergk. Poet. Ly. Grae. Car.
Pop. Frag. viii.

Cf. Diod. iv. 6.

phase is found to be altogether secondary, and it is as a phallic divinity that Dionysos appears on the stage. The highly important phallic element in religious mythology is now at length receiving full recognition, which indeed, in accordance with the customary movements of the human pendulum,' ere long promises to be somewhat too ample. Some ardent followers of Payne Knight in the present day appear to hold that phallicism is the key to all mysteries, the explanation of all rude stone monuinents, and of an infinity of remains less barbarous, and the illustration and basis of all occult symbolism and mysterious practice. But we may be sure of this, that one key will never open all locks; one fact, however wide in influence and prevading in effect, will never explain in an entirety the whole of the intricate combinations of religious mythology. As previously observed, if we rely solely in our investigations on the explanation afforded by a single principle, we shall inevitably be at fault in numerous instances, and be compelled sooner or later either to abandon the theory or to overstrain it. The thing itself to be dealt with, is complex and diverse in character; so, therefore, must be the elements which form the system of explanation. A judicious combination of principles and methods of treatment, not the arbitrary exclusion of any one of them, will ultimately cut the Gordian knot; for the problem is not insoluble, and the materials requisite for its solution are constantly increasing. The phallic character of Dionysiak worship was. from the nature of the god, inevitable. The essence and power of all kosmic vitality, Erikepeios is, necessarily, when anthropomorphically regarded, a phallic divinity. The religions of the world are, as a matter of course,

1 The law of rhythm in its social applications implies that alternations of opinion will be violent in proportion as opinions are extreme' (H.

Spencer. The Principles of Sociology,
Number 40, Appendix A.)

2

Sup. I.

developed in accordance with human nature, and hence their success; it is easy to be religious when that is only another name for fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.' Nor must it be forgotten that the Dionysiak worshipper, Eastern or Western, was often most religious when most depraved; for if religion is depravity, then frequently depravity is religion. Dikaiopolis is represented as being a very religious man, i.e. as replete with veneration for his divinity. His pretty little daughter is the Basket-bearer on the occasion. This mystic basket has been alluded to when considering the Uasario-Dionysiak symbols of chest, coffin, ark, egg, ship, boat, etc.,1 and will be again mentioned in its place in the Eleusinian Ritual. Speaking of the Palladion or sacred statue of Pallas Athene, Mr. Cox observes, The word denotes simply a figure of Pallas, and Pallas is but another form of Phallos. To the same class belong the names of Pales, the Latin god of flocks and shepherds, and of the Sicilian Palikoi.' It is possible, but highly improbable, that Pallas, the stainless virgin goddess, may be one of this phallic group. There are, as Mr. Cox notices, traditions which link her with a giant Pallas who, according to one legend, was said to have been her father, a statement which requires no explanation; but there is ever a contest between the two, and so Athene, in the war between the Giants and the Gods, which is said to have taken place near Pall-ene, slays Pallas, who is always an earthpower. The characteristics of the earth-giant and of the queen of the air are so diametrically opposite that I cannot but regard the name of the latter as given in allusion to her vibratory power. Phales, to whom Dikaiopolis addresses his pious hymn, appears

1 Sup. V. v. 4.

2 Inf. sec. ii. 3.

3 Cf. Herod. iv. 189

114, Note; cf. Ibid. i. 442.

5 Diod. iv. 15; v. 71; Paus. i. 25. Cf. Ruskin, Queen of the Air, i.

4

Mythol. of the Aryan Nations, ii.

43.