The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Philosophy
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
[49] Λήμη literally means the matter which gathers in
the corner of the eyes; λήμαι, sore eyes. Παρόραμα means an oversight,
a defect in sight; but there is supposed to be some corruption in
this latter word.
[50] Rharia was a name of Ceres, from the Rharian plain near
Eleusis, where corn was first sown by Triptolemus, the son of Rharus.
It is mentioned by Homer:—
ἐς δ' ἄρα Ῥάριον ἷξε, φερέσβιον οὖθαρ ἀρούρης
τὸ πρίν, ἄταρ τότε γ' οὔτι φερέσβιον, ἀλλὰ ἕκηλον
εἱστήκι πανάφυλλον, ἔκευθε δ' ἄρα κρῖ λευκὸν
μήδεσι Δήμητρος καλλισφύρου.—Od. in Cerer. 450.
[51] Anacreon.
[52] Sophocles.
[53] V. 3.
[54] This is not from the Hippolytus, but is a fragment from
the Auge.
[55] From ἁρπάζω, to carry off.
[56] "Of far greater importance was the public hospitality
(προξενία) which existed between two states, or between an
individual or a family on the one hand, and a whole state on the
other.... When two states established public hospitality, it was
necessary that in each state persons should be appointed to show
hospitality to, and watch over the interests of all persons who came
from the state connected by hospitality. The persons who were
appointed to this office, as the recognised agents of the state for
which they acted, were called πρόξενοι....
"The office of πρόξενοσ, which bears great resemblance to that
of a modern consul, or minister resident, was in some cases hereditary
in a particular family. When a state appointed a proxenus, it either
sent out one of its own citizens to reside in the other state, or it
selected one of the citizens of the other, and conferred on him the
honour of proxenus.... This custom seems in later times to have been
universally adopted by the Greeks....
"The principal duties of a proxenus were to receive those persons,
especially ambassadors, who came from the state which he represented;
to procure for them admission to the assembly, and seats in the
theatre; to act as the patron of the strangers, and to mediate between
the two states, if any dispute arose. If a stranger died in the state,
the proxenus of his country had to take care of the property of the
deceased. The proxenus usually enjoyed exemption from taxes; and their
persons were inviolable both by sea and land."—Smith, Dict. Ant. v.
_Hospitium_, p. 491.
[57] Pindar, Ol. vi. 71.
[58] Homer gives this epithet to Aurora, Iliad, i. 477, and in
many other places.
[59] Schweighauser says this word is to him totally
unintelligible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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