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
16. But Aristotle, in the second book of his treatise on Love Affairs,
and Ariston the Peripatetic, who was a native of Ceos, in the second
book of his Amatory Resemblances, say that "The ancients, on account of
the headaches which were produced by their wine-drinking, adopted the
practice of wearing garlands made of anything which came to hand, as
the binding the head tight appeared to be of service to them. But men
in later times added also some ornaments to their temples, which had a
kind of reference to their employment of drinking, and so they invented
garlands in the present fashion. But it is more reasonable to suppose
that it was because the head is the seat of all sensation that men
wore crowns upon it, than that they did so because it was desirable to
have their temples shaded and bound as a remedy against the headaches
produced by wine."
They also wore garlands over their foreheads, as the sweet Anacreon
says—
And placing on our brows fresh parsley crowns,
Let's honour Bacchus with a jovial feast.
They also wore garlands on their breasts, and anointed them with
perfume, because that is the seat of the heart. And they call the
garlands which they put round their necks ὑποθυμιάδες, as
Alcæus does in these lines—
Let every one twine round his neck
Wreathed ὑποθυμιάδες of anise.
And Sappho says—
And wreathed ὑποθυμιάδες
In numbers round their tender throats.
And Anacreon says—
They placed upon their bosoms lotus flowers
Entwined in fragrant ὑποθυμιάδες.
Æschylus also, in his Prometheus Unbound, says distinctly—
And therefore we, in honour of Prometheus,
Place garlands on our heads, a poor atonement
For the sad chains with which his limbs were bound.
[Sidenote: GARLANDS.]
And again, in the play entitled the Sphinx, he says—
Give the stranger a στέφανος (garland), the ancient στέφος,—
This is the best of chains, as we may judge
From great Prometheus.
But Sappho gives a more simple reason for our wearing garlands,
speaking as follows—
But place those garlands on thy lovely hair,
Twining the tender sprouts of anise green
With skilful hand; for offerings of flowers
Are pleasing to the gods, who hate all those
Who come before them with uncrownèd heads.
In which lines she enjoins all who offer sacrifice to wear garlands on
their heads, as they are beautiful things, and acceptable to the Gods.
Aristotle also, in his Banquet, says, "We never offer any mutilated
gift to the Gods, but only such as are perfect and entire; and what
is full is entire, and crowning anything indicates filling it in some
sort. So Homer says—
The slaves the goblets crown'd with rosy wine;[117]
And in another place he says—
But God plain forms with eloquence does crown.[118]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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