204 Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum_,2 Nos. 192, 246, 587, 640; Ἐφημερὶς Ἀρχαιολογική, 1884, coll. 135 _sq._ The passages of inscriptions and of ancient authors which refer to the festival are collected by Dr. L. R. Farnell, _The Cults of the Greek States_, iii. (Oxford, 1907) pp. 315 _sq._ For a discussion of the evidence see August Mommsen, _Feste der Stadt Athen im Altertum_ (Leipsic, 1898), pp. 359 _sqq._; Miss J. E. Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion_, Second Edition (Cambridge, 1908), pp. 145 _sqq._ 205 The threshing-floor of Triptolemus at Eleusis (Pausanias, i. 38. 6) is no doubt identical with the Sacred Threshing-floor mentioned in the great Eleusinian inscription of 329 B.C. (Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum_,2 No. 587, line 234). We read of a hierophant who, contrary to ancestral custom, sacrificed a victim on the hearth in the Hall at Eleusis during the Festival of the Threshing-floor, “it being unlawful to sacrifice victims on that day” (Demosthenes, _Contra Neaeram_, 116, pp. 1384 _sq._), but from such an unlawful act no inference can be drawn as to the place where the festival was held. That the festival probably had special reference to the threshing-floor of Triptolemus has already been pointed out by O. Rubensohn (_Die Mysterienheiligtümer in Eleusis und Samothrake_, Berlin, 1892, p. 118). 206 See above, pp. 41 _sq._, 43. Maximus Tyrius observes (_Dissertat._ xxx. 5) that husbandmen were the first to celebrate sacred rites in honour of Demeter at the threshing-floor. 207 See above, p. 61, note 4. 208 Harpocration, _s.v._ Ἁλῶα (vol. i. p. 24, ed. G. Dindorf). 209 Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum_,2 No. 587, lines 124, 144, with the editor’s notes; August Mommsen, _Feste der Stadt Athen im Altertum_, p. 360. 210 So I am informed by my friend Professor J. L. Myres, who speaks from personal observation. 211 This is recognised by Professor M. P. Nilsson. See his _Studia de Dionysiis Atticis_ (Lund, 1900), pp. 95 _sqq._, and his _Griechische Feste_, p. 329. To explain the lateness of the festival, Miss J. E. Harrison suggests that “the shift of date is due to Dionysos. The rival festivals of Dionysos were in mid-winter. He possessed himself of the festivals of Demeter, took over her threshing-floor and compelled the anomaly of a winter threshing festival” (_Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion_, Second Edition, p. 147). 212 Scholiast on Lucian, _Dial. Meretr._ vii. 4 (_Scholia in Lucianum_, ed. H. Rabe, Leipsic, 1906, pp. 279-281). 213 Clement of Alexandria, _Protrept._ ii. 15 and 20, pp. 13 and 17 ed. Potter; Arnobius, _Adversus Nationes_, v. 25-27, 35, 39. 214 See below, p. 116; vol. ii. pp. 17 _sqq._