The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
General
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
After them marched Philiscus the poet, being a priest of
Bacchus, and with him all the artisans who were concerned in the service
of Bacchus. And next to them were carried the Delphian tripods, as
prizes for the trainers of the athletes; the one for the trainer of the
boys nine cubits in height, and the other, twelve cubits in height, for
the trainer of the men.
28. "After them was a four-wheeled wagon fourteen cubits long, and eight
cubits wide; and it was drawn by a hundred and eighty men; and in it was
placed an image of Bacchus ten cubits high, pouring libations of wine
out of a golden goblet, having on a purple tunic reaching down to the
feet; and he was clad in a purple garment embroidered with gold; and in
front of him there lay a golden Lacedæmonian goblet, holding fifteen
measures of wine, and a golden tripod, in which was a golden
incense-burner, and two golden bowls, full of cassia and saffron; and a
shade covered it round adorned with ivy-leaves, and vine-leaves, and all
sorts of other green leaves; and to it were fastened chaplets, and
fillets, and thyrsi, and drums, and turbans, and satyric and comic and
tragic masks. And the wagon was followed by priests and priestesses, and
newly initiated votaries, and by companies of every nation, and by
people bearing the mystic fan. And after this came the Bacchanalian
women, called Macetæ, and Mimallones, and Bassaræ, and Lydians, with
dishevelled hair, and wearing garlands, some of snakes, and others of
branches of yew and of vine-leaves and ivy-leaves, and some held
daggers in their hands, and others held snakes. And after them another
four-wheeled wagon was drawn, of the width of eight cubits, and it was
drawn by sixty men; and in it was a statue of Nysa, of eight cubits
high, in a sitting posture, clothed in a box-coloured tunic embroidered
with gold, and it was also clad in a Laconian cloak; and this statue
rose up by mechanism, without any one applying his hand to it; and it
poured libations of milk out of a golden bottle, and then it sat down
again; and in its left hand it bore a thyrsus wrapped round with
turbans, and it was crowned with a garland of ivy-leaves, made of gold,
and with gorgeous bunches of grapes inlaid with precious stones; and it
had a parasol over it; and on the corners of the wagon were fastened
four golden lamps.
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