Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/259

* GBEEK FESTIVALS. 225 GBEEK KALENDS. where on the second day secret rites, seemingly full of jests and mockery, were performed. On the third day they returned to the Tlu'Mni)]ili- rion, a temple of the goddesses in Alliens, where on the fourth day they fasted and ofl'ered propi- tiatory or expiatory sacrifices. The fifth day was given up to dances and games, which were apparently of verj' doubtful propriety, and the celeination ended with banquets given by the wealtliior women, and a solemn sacrifice. Among the Spartans two festivals of Apollo owu|iy the chief place. First the 11y.cintiiia, celebrated at Amychp, the ancient capital of La- conia, and connected with the accidental death of Hyacinthus (q.v.), the favorite of the god. It drew together the whole population of Sparta, and its observance was so strong a religious obligation on the men of Amycla^ that they even souglit leave from their generals in order to return for it. Tt came in the spring, and united mourning for the death of the boy with joy at his return. The first day was given up to sorrow, and an otTering at the grave beneath the altar of Apollo; on the second day were choruses by boys, processions, and dances, while the evening was spent in feasting. The doings of the third day are not reported, but very possibly at this time the venerable image of Apollo was presented Avith the new robe which the women of Sparta emltroidered yearly. Even more important was the great festival of the C.^RNEIA. held during nine days of summer, and so highly regarded by the Spartans that, when it approached, no military operations were undertaken. It was originally a herdsmen's fes- tival, but at Sparta had assumed a military character. The men bivouacked in booths, in nine divisions, and all the exercises were gov- erned by the commands of the herald. We hear also of musical contests, and .1 singular foot- laee in whic'n one man was pursued by a number of others. If he was caught it was a sign of good luck, while his escape foreboded evil. Paral- lel usages among other peoples seem to show that the runner is a personification of the fruits of autumn, so that his capture assvired pros- perity. Both these festivals were common to the whole Dorian i-ace. but the details of their cele- bration at other places are unknown. At Delphi, in the Theopii. i.. the return of Apollo in the spring after his winter sojourn among the Hyperboreans was celebrated, while in the TiiEOXEXiA Apollo and the other gods were entertained at a sumptuous feast to which dis- tinguished men. such as the poet Pindar, were sometimes invited as a mark of respect. Other festivals of this kind w-ere celebrated elsewhere in honor of other gods. Throughovit Boeotia, and also at Delphi, it was commnn to honor Apollo with ])rocessions in which laurel branches were carried. At Thebes these Dapiixepiioki.v were celebrated only every ninth year, when the god was represented by his youthful priest, who was preceded in the procession by a relative carrying a long olive rod. wound with laurel and flowers, and with iron balls at each end and the middle, to which numerous ribbons were attached. The ])riest was followed by a chorus of maidens with sujipliants' branches, who sang the praises of the god. Among the splendid festivals of Creece were the Delia, celebrated every fifth year at the beginning of spring, by the lonians at Delos. In this form the celebration was instituted bv the Athenians in B.C. 42G-25. after they had carefully purified the island by the removal of all graves. In the years of its oeeurrence it replaced the old annual festival of the Apollonia. To it the Athenians sent a State delegation on the ship wliieh was said to have carried Theseus to Crete, and during its ab.sence no death sentence could bo executed, a law wdiich prolonged the life of Socrates for nearly a month. It was accomjianied by athletic games, horse-races, and competitiuns between choruses, and seems to have been the scene of the most famous musical contests. After the great victory of I'lata;a, I'ausanias and the Greeks instituted the Eleutiiehia in gratitude to Zeus, the Giver of Freedom ( F.leu(lierios), and these were celebrated with annual sacrifices and athletic contests in every fifth year at least as late as the second century of our era. In con- nection with some festivals we hear of C.lli.s- TEI., contests of beauty, which were between women on Lesbos and Tenedos, in connection with the worship of Hera, and at Basilis in Arcadia with the worship of Demeter, while in Elis the contestants were men, and a similar rivalry be- tween the old men of the tribes seems to have formed part of the Panathena;a. The festivals of the gods are noted in Preller, (Iriechische Mijihologie, 4th ed. by 0. Robert (Berlin, 1887-94); consult especially Index IV. They are also briefly described in Schoniann- Lipsius, driechische Allcrthiimcr, ii. (Berlin, 1902) : and Stengel. "tJriechische Kultus Alter- thiimer," 2d ed. in Miiller, Hundbiicli dcr klas- sischcn Alierthiwivinnssenschfift (Munich, 1898). For Athens, consult A. Mommsen, Die Festc dcr Stridt Afhen i>n Alterthum (Leipzig, 1898). GREEK FIRE. The common name for a great variety of combustible and explosive com- pounds employed by the Greeks of Constantinople throughout the Middle Ages. Bury thinks the simplest weapon was the hand-tube, "full of combustibles, which was fiung by the hand like a 'squib,' and exploded on board the enemy's vessel." Besides many other weapons the Greeks used one very similar to the modern gun, in which some sort of gunpowder was used to expel liquid combustibles. Constantine Porphvrogeni- tus (q.v.) states that this was invented by Cal- linicus of Heliopolis in the seventh century. The recipe for the gunpowder is preserved in a treatise of the ninth century entitled Liber ffiniuni ad Conihurendus Bostes. In the Dr Mira- hilibiis Miindi, ascribed to Albertus Magnus, the manufacture of Greek fire is thus described: "Quick sulphur, dregs of wine, Persian gum, b.aked salt, pitch, petroleum, and oil are boiled to- gether. Anything placed in it and set on fire, either wood or iron, can be put out only by vinegar or .sand." These combustibles were most effective in mediirval warfare, and gave the (Jreeks a superiority for centuries. Ap|)arent- ly, however, they never used leaden or iron balls. Consult: Burv. The Later I'otiian Empire, vol. ii. (New York'. 1889); Oman. The Art of War (London. 189S) ; Bury's edition of Gibbon's Dceliiie and Fall. vol. vi., appendix v. (London, ISOS). GREEK KALENDS (Lat. KaJeiuhr Grerca-). jilirase used by the ancient Itoiiians in allusion to the fact that there was no dale in the Greek calen<lar corresponding to the Roman Kalends, and jokingly applied to the indefinite postpone-