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
And then in the subsequent lines he says—
_A._ Perhaps you want some garlands. Will you have them
Of ground thyme, or of myrtle, or of flowers
Such as I show you here in bloom.
_B._ I'll have
These myrtle ones. You may sell all the others,
But always keep the myrtle wreaths for me.
25. There is the philyrinus also. Xenarchus, in his Soldier, says—
For the boy wore a garland on his brow
Of delicate leafy linden (φιλύρα).
Some garlands also are called ἑλικτοὶ, as they are even to
this day among the Alexandrians. And Chæremon the tragic poet mentions
them in his Bacchus, saying—
The triple folds of the ἑλικτοὶ garlands,
Made up of ivy and narcissus.
But concerning the evergreen garlands in Egypt, Hellanicus, in his
History of Egypt, writes as follows—"There is a city on the banks
of the river, named Tindium. This is a place where many gods are
assembled, and in the middle of the city there is a sacred temple of
great size made of marble, and the doors are marble. And within the
temple there are white and black thorns, on which garlands were placed
made of the flower of the acanthus, and also of the blossoms of the
pomegranate, and of vine-leaves. And these keep green for ever. These
garlands were placed by the gods themselves in Egypt when they heard
that Babys was king, (and he is the same who is also called Typhon.)"
But Demetrius, in his History of the Things to be seen in Egypt,
says that these thorns grow about the city of Abydos, and he writes
thus—"But the lower district has a tree called the thorn, which bears
a round fruit on some round-shaped branches. And this tree blooms at
a certain season; and the flower is very beautiful and brilliant in
colour. And there is a story told by the Egyptians, that the Æthiopians
who had been sent as allies to Troy by Tithonus, when they heard that
Memnon was slain, threw down on the spot all their garlands on the
thorns. And the branches themselves on which the flower grows resemble
garlands." And the before-mentioned Hellanicus mentions also that
Amasis, who was king of Egypt, was originally a private individual of
the class of the common people; and that it was owing to the present
of a garland, which he made of the most beautiful flowers that were in
season, and sent to Patarmis, who was king of Egypt, at the time when
he was celebrating the festival of his birthday, that he afterwards
became king himself. For Patarmis, being delighted at the beauty of the
garland, invited Amasis to supper, and after this treated him as one
of his friends; and on one occasion sent him out as his general, when
the Egyptians were making war upon him. And he was made king by these
Egyptians out of their hatred to Patarmis.
26. There are also garlands called συνθηματιαῖοι,
which people make and furnish by contract. Aristophanes, in his
Thesmophoriazusæ, says—
To make up twenty συνθηματιαῖοι garlands.[124]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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