The second Athenian festival of Dionysus was peculiar to Athens, but was probably only one of the country Dionysia transferred to the town; it was called _Lenaea_, after the place where it was usually held, the Lenaeon, in the suburb Limnae, and was held in the month of Gamelion (January). The name suggests a feast of wine-presses, which does not coincide with the time of the celebration; many attempts have been made to explain this difficulty, but without result. The festival, or at any rate a special part of it, bore the name Ambrosia, probably because they drank a great deal of the new wine to which they assigned this divine name; and, in fact, plentiful drinking was a characteristic of all the festivals of the wine god. A great banquet accompanied the festivities, for which the State provided everything, and there was also a solemn procession into the town, in which many people drove, amid jest and frolic, so that the “jokes from the car” became proverbial. In the Lenaeon, to which the procession first marched with the sacrificial animals, solemn dithyrambs were sung in competition, and the prize was a wreath of ivy; there were also dramatic representations, at which both old and new pieces were performed. The third festival of Dionysus was the _Anthesteria_, in the month Anthesterion (February), which lasted three days, and was even more distinctly associated with the tasting of the new wine than the Lenaea. The first day of the festival bore the distinctive name of “Cask-opening” (πιθοιγία). It was essentially a family festival. The casks, with the new wine which was to be used next day for the banquet, were brought in by the servants and opened; the wine was drawn off into amphoras or other vessels, and naturally many a draught was drunk, and in particular the slaves had their share. For the Athenians, who always treated their slaves well, did not grudge them their fair share on this festive occasion, and when they offered their sacrifices at the Cask-opening, and helped to draw off the wine, they probably themselves filled a jar for their servants and workmen with the new gift of Bacchus. All other work ceased for this day and the next, and the children, too, had holidays. The old image of Dionysus, which was to make its solemn entry into the town in the procession of the following day, was also brought on this first day from its temple in the Nemaeon to a chapel in the outer Kerameikos. But this festival was only a preparation for the principal day, called “The Feast of Pitchers,” which began at sunset--the time when all festivals commenced--with a great procession. Those who took part in it appeared wreathed and bearing torches (for the procession did not take place till dark) in the outer Kerameikos; children, too, except those under three years, took part in it, probably accompanied by their mothers, or in carriages, for many participants drove; and here, as in the country Dionysia, it was the