Page:Greek and Roman Mythology.djvu/81

 THE GREEK GODS 67 care ') he carries for a symbol the vine branch or the tliyrsus (vine-prop?). In his honor was celebrated at Athens the vintage festival of the Oschophoria (' carrying about of vines'), as well as the Lenaea (' feast of the wine press'); while 011 the island of Naxos, which abounded in wines, and was the center of the worship of Dionysus among the islands having an Ionian popu- lation, the ditliyrambus was probably first sung. This' was originally a simple drinking song in honor of the god, which in Corinth became a chorus rendered by singers in the costume of Satyrs. From this was devel- oped the dithyramb of Pindar at the festivals of Dionysus in Thebes. In Athens, however, it became the drama, at first in the form of ( tragedy ' (rpayw&a = ' goat song ? ) or satyr-play. Here, at the spring games of the greater Dionysia, the presentation of the dramas that grew out of the dithyramb came at length to constitute the most essential part of the festival. 89. When the real significance of the above-mentioned sacrifice of children was no longer understood, the Orphic poets, i.e. the representatives of the religious poetry developed by the worship of Dionysus, about the time of Pisistratus, attempted to explain that sacrificial cus- tom by inventing the story that Dionysus himself, when a child, or in animal form, had been torn in pieces by the Titans, and had therefore received the name Zagreus. There was, however, symbolized in that fable an idea based 011 an actual process of nature ; for Dionysus really seemed to die in the fall. As the reproductive power of nature vanishes after the harvest time for a season, so its awakening in the spring, which in Athens was cele- brated by the Anthesteria (' flower festival '), could be