Editing Thesmophoria

{{Short description|Festival in honour of Demeter / Persephone}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}
The '''Thesmophoria''' ({{langx|grc|[[wikt:Θεσμοφόρια#Ancient Greek|Θεσμοφόρια]]}}) was an ancient Greek religious festival, held in honor of the goddess [[Demeter]] and her daughter [[Persephone]].  It was held annually, mostly around the time that seeds were sown in late autumn – though in some places it was associated with the harvest instead – and celebrated human and agricultural fertility.  The festival was one of the most widely celebrated in the Greek world.  It was restricted to adult women, and the rites practiced during the festival were kept secret.  The most extensive sources on the festival are a comment in a [[scholia|scholion]] on [[Lucian]], explaining the festival, and [[Aristophanes]]' play ''[[Thesmophoriazusae]]'', which parodies the festival.

==Festival==
[[File:'Thesmophoria' by Francis Davis Millet, 1894-1897.jpg|alt=Semi-circular painting showing a procession of women, dressed in white robes.  A Greek temple is partially visible in the background.|thumb|Painting of the Thesmophoric procession by the American artist [[Francis Davis Millet]].]]
The Thesmophoria was one of the most widespread ancient Greek festivals.{{sfn|Habash|1997|p=20}} The fact that it was celebrated across the Greek world suggests that it dates back to before the Greek settlement in [[Ionia]] in the eleventh century BCE.{{sfn|Chlup|2007|p=74}}  The best evidence for the Thesmophoria concern its practice in [[Athens]], but there is also information from elsewhere in the Greek world, including [[Arcadia (regional unit)|Arcadia]],<ref>Herodotus, 2.171</ref> [[Sicily]] and [[Eretria]].{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=110}}

The festival was dedicated to Demeter and her daughter Persephone{{sfn|Habash|1997|p=19}} and was celebrated in order to promote fertility, both human and agricultural.{{sfn|Habash|1997|p=20}} It was celebrated only by women, and men were forbidden to see or hear about the rites.{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=110}} It is not certain whether all free women celebrated the Thesmophoria, or whether this was restricted to aristocratic women;{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=118}} whichever was the case, non-citizen and unmarried women appear not to have celebrated the festival.{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=112}} In fact, participation was expected of all [[Attica|Attic]] wives, and could serve as a form of proof of marriage.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pritchard|first=David M.|title=The Position of Attic Women in Democratic Athens|date=October 2014|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0017383514000072/type/journal_article|journal=Greece and Rome|language=en|volume=61|issue=2|pages=190|doi=10.1017/S0017383514000072|s2cid=74391789|issn=0017-3835|doi-access=free}}</ref>

In Athens, the Thesmophoria took place over three days, from the eleventh to the thirteenth of [[Pyanepsion]].{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=110}} This corresponds to late October in the [[Gregorian calendar]], and was the time of the Greek year when seeds were sown.{{sfn|Tzanetou|2002|p=331}} The Thesmophoria may have taken place in this month in other cities,{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=111}} though in some places – for instance [[Delos]] and [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] – the festival seems to have taken place in the summer, and been associated with the harvest, instead.{{sfn|Tzanetou|2002|p=331}}  In other places the festival lasted for longer – in [[Syracuse, Sicily]], the Thesmophoria was a ten-day long event.{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=111}}

The main source about the rituals of the Thesmophoria comes from a scholion on [[Lucian]]'s ''Dialogues of the Courtesans''.{{sfn|Tzanetou|2002|p=333}} A second major source is [[Aristophanes]]' play ''[[Thesmophoriazusae]]'';{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=114}} however, Aristophanes' portrayal of the festival mixes authentically Thesmophoric elements with elements from other Greek religious practice, especially the worship of [[Dionysus]].

[[Herodotus]] mentions the Thesmophoria in the second book of '[[Histories (Herodotus)|the Histories]]' and compares it to a similar Egyptian mystery ritual. He is vague about the practice and refuses to go into detail. However, he claims that the rite was introduced to the [[Pelasgians|Pelasgian]] women in Greece by the daughters of [[Danaus]], a mythical king of Libya. Herodotus further claims that knowledge of the Thesmophoria was nearly lost following ethnic cleansing of the Pelasgians by the [[Dorians]] in the [[Peloponnese]]. He credits the Arcadians for the survival of the practice because of their survival of the cleansing.<ref>Herodotus, the Histories. Edited by Paul Cartledge. Translated by Tom Holland, Penguin Books, 2015. Page 182.</ref>

==Rituals==
[[File:Persephone krater Antikensammlung Berlin 1984.40.jpg|alt=Detail of a Greek red-figure vase.  There are two rows of figures.  On the top row, two men stand to the left; in the centre two leopards pull a chariot which an armoured man in climbing on to; on the right stands a woman, arm outstretched.  On the bottom row, four horses pull a chariot carrying a man and a woman in the centre; a female figure stands to the left, and a male figure stands to the right.|thumb|The Thesmophoria commemorated the kidnap of Persephone by Hades, and her return to her mother Demeter.  Hades and Persephone ride the chariot on the lower part of this [[krater|vase]] which depicts the myth; Demeter is shown on the top right corner.]]
According to the scholiast on Lucian, during the Thesmophoria pigs were [[Animal sacrifice|sacrificed]], and their remains were put into pits called ''megara''.{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=114}}  An inscription from Delos shows that part of the cost of the Thesmophoria there went towards paying for a ritual butcher to perform the sacrifices for the festival;{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=116}} literary evidence suggests that in other places, however, the sacrifices may have been made by the women themselves.{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=115}}  Some time later, the rotten remains of these sacrifices were retrieved from the pits by "bailers" – women who were required to spend three days in a state of ritual purity before descending into the ''megara''.  These were placed on altars to Persephone and Demeter, along with cakes baked in the shape of snakes and phalluses.{{sfn|Tzanetou|2002|pp=333–334}}  These remains were then scattered on fields when seeds were sown, in the belief that this would ensure a good harvest.{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=114}} According to [[Walter Burkert]], this practice was "the clearest example in [[Religion in ancient Greece|Greek religion]] of agrarian magic".{{sfn|Burkert|1985|p=244}}

It is not certain how long the remains of the pigs were left in the ''megara''.  The fact that they had decomposed by the time that they were retrieved shows that they had been left in the pits for some time.  Possibly they were thrown in during one festival and retrieved the next year.  However, if they were thrown in during the Thesmophoria and retrieved in time for the sowing of seeds that year, then they may have only been left for a few weeks before being taken out again.{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=115}}

===Anodos===
The first day of the Thesmophoria at Athens was known as ''anodos'' ("ascent").  This is usually thought to be because on this day the women celebrating the festival ascended to the shrine called the Thesmophorion.{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=113}}  Preparations for the rest of the festival were made on this day: two women were elected to oversee the celebrations.  Women also set up tents on this day; they would spend the rest of the festival staying in these rather than at home.{{sfn|Tzanetou|2002|p=333}}

Matthew Dillon argues that the name ''anodos'' is more likely to relate to the ascent of Persephone from the underworld, which was celebrated at the festival.  Dillon suggests that a sacrifice to celebrate this ascent was performed on the first day of the festival.{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=113}}

===Nesteia===
The second day of the festival was called the ''nesteia''.  This was a day of fasting,{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=113}} imitating Demeter's mourning for the loss of her daughter.{{sfn|Tzanetou|2002|p=333}}  On this day, the women at the festival sat on the ground on seats made of plants which were believed to be [[anaphrodisiac]].{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=113}}  Angeliki Tzanetou says that ritual obscenity ({{langx|grc|αἰσχρολογία}}) was a feature of the second day of the festival;{{sfn|Tzanetou|2002|p=333}} however, Dillon says that the ritual obscenity would have taken place on another day, rather than the subdued second day,{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=114}} and Radek Chlup argues that it took place on the third day of the festival.{{sfn|Chlup|2007|p=87}}

===Kalligeneia===
The third day of the Thesmophoria was ''kalligeneia'', or "beautiful birth".  On this day, women called upon the goddess Kalligeneia, praying for their own fertility.  Plutarch notes that in Eretria the women did not call upon Kalligeneia during the Thesmophoria.{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=113}}

== See also ==

* [[Consualia]]
* [[Sukkot]]

==References==
{{reflist|18em}}

==Works cited==
* {{cite book|last1=Burkert|first1=Walter|author-link=Walter Burkert|title=Greek Religion|date=1985|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=0-674-36280-2}}
* {{cite journal|last=Chlup|first=Radek|title=The Semantics of Fertility: Levels of Meaning in the Thesmophoria|journal=Kernos|year=2007|volume=20|url=http://ufar.ff.cuni.cz/sites/default/files/u15/chlup_-_the_semantics_of_fertility.pdf}}
* {{cite book|last=Dillon|first=Matthew|title=Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion|publisher=Routledge|location=London|year=2002|isbn=0415202728}}
* {{cite journal|last=Habash|first=Martha|title=The Odd Thesmophoria of Aristophanes' ''Thesmophoriazusae''|journal=Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies|volume=38|issue=1|year=1997}}
* Herodotus, ''Histories'', Book 2.
* {{cite journal|last=Tzanetou|first=Angeliki|title=Something to do with Demeter: Ritual and Performance in Aristophanes' Women at the Thesmophoria|journal=American Journal of Philology|volume=123|issue=3|year=2002|pages=329–367|doi=10.1353/ajp.2002.0045|s2cid=162596042}}
*Pritchard, David M. “The Position of Attic Women in Democratic Athens.” ''Greece and Rome'', vol. 61, no. 2, 2014, pp.&nbsp;174–193., {{doi|10.1017/S0017383514000072}}.

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Harrison|first=Jane Ellen|author-link=Jane Ellen Harrison|year=1903|title=Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion|publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/prolegomenatostu00harruoft}}
* {{cite book|last=Kerenyi|first=Karl|author-link=Károly Kerényi|year=1967|title=Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter}}
* Håland, Evy Johanne (2017). ''Greek Festivals, Modern and Ancient: A Comparison of Female and Male Values'', 2 vols. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing (or. Norwegian 2007, translated by the author).

[[Category:Festivals in ancient Greece]]
[[Category:Festivals in ancient Athens]]
[[Category:Festivals of Demeter]]
[[Category:Festivals of Persephone]]
[[Category:October observances]]
[[Category:November observances]]
[[Category:Women-only spaces]]