Timing for Offerings and Ritual in Hellenic Polytheism
Part 1
Hello, everyone!
Here is a list of citations in primary and secondary sources of everything I could find relating to timing in hellenic polytheism broken into sections. If you have any suggestions for the next post please let me know!
Offerings
"Never pour a libation of sparkling wine to Zeus after dawn with unwashen hands, nor to others of the deathless gods; else they do not hear your prayers but spit them back."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"Do not stand upright facing the sun when you make water, but remember to do this when he has set towards his rising. And do not make water as you go, whether on the road or off the road, and do not uncover yourself: the nights belong to the blessed gods. A scrupulous man who has a wise heart sits down or goes to the wall of an enclosed court."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"But when Orion and Sirius are come into mid-heaven, and rosy-fingered Dawn sees Arcturus [in September], then cut off all the grape-clusters, Perses, and bring them home. Show them to the sun ten days and ten nights: then cover them over for five, and on the sixth day draw off into vessels the gifts of joyful Dionysus. But when the Pleiades and Hyades and strong Orion begin to set [the end of October], then remember to plough in season: and so the completed year [constellation cycle] will fitly pass beneath the earth."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"For a time they live with the goddess, but when the festival comes round they perform at night the following rites. Having placed on their heads what the priestess of Athena gives them to carry—neither she who gives nor they who carry have any knowledge what it is—the maidens descend by the natural underground passage that goescross the adjacent precincts, within the city, of Aphrodite in the Gardens. They leave down below what they carry, and receive something else which they bring back covered up. These maidens they henceforth let go free, and take up to the Acropolis others in their place."
Pausanias, & Jones, W. H. S. (1959). Description of greece. I, books I and II. Heinemann : Harvard University press.
"At a distance along it, in my opinion, of twenty Stades, to the left on the other side of the Asopus, is a grove of holm oaks and a temple of the goddesses named by the Athenians the August, and by the Sicyonians the Kindly Ones. On one day in each year they celebrate a festival to them and offer sheep big with young as a burnt offering, and they are accustomed to use a libation of honey and water, and flowers instead of garlands. They practise similar rites at the altar of the Fates; it is in an open space in the grove."
Pausanias, & Jones, W. H. S. (1959). Description of greece. I, books I and II. Heinemann : Harvard University press.
"In Titane there is also a sanctuary of Athena, into which they bring up the image of Coronis. It is an old wooden figure of Athena, and I was told that it, too, was struck by lightning. The sanctuary is built upon a hill, at the bottom of which is an Altar of the Winds, and: on it ‘the priest sacrifices to the winds one night in every year. He also performs _ other secret rites at four pits, taming the fierce-ness of the blasts, and he is said to chant as well charms of Medea."
Pausanias, & Jones, W. H. S. (1959). Description of greece. I, books I and II. Heinemann : Harvard University press.
"The present image is a bronze standing figure called Apollo Deiradiotes, because this place, too, is called Deiras (Ridge). Oracular responses are still given here, and the oracle acts in the following way. There is a woman who prophesies, being debarred from intercourse with a man. Every month a lamb is sacrificed at night, and the woman, after tasting the blood, becomes inspired by the god."
Pausanias, & Jones, W. H. S. (1959). Description of greece. I, books I and II. Heinemann : Harvard University press.
"Behind the temple of Chthonia are three places which the Hermionians call that of Clymenus, that of Pluto, and the Acherusian Lake. All are surrounded by fences of stones, while in the place of Clymenus there is also a chasm in the earth. Through this, according to the legend of the Hermionians, Heracles brought up the Hound of Hell. At the gate through which there is a straight road leading to Mases, there is a sanctuary of Eileithyia within the wall. Every day, both with sacrifices and with incense, they magnificently propitiate the goddess, and, moreover, there is a vast number of votive gifts offered to Eileithyia. But the image no one may see, except, perhaps, the priestesses..."
Pausanias, & Jones, W. H. S. (1959). Description of greece. I, books I and II. Heinemann : Harvard University press.
"Both the city and the whole of the land are alike sacred to Athena ; for even those who in their parishes have an established worship of other gods never-theless hold Athena in honour. But the most holy symbol, that was so considered by all many years before the unification of the parishes, is the image of Athena which is on what is now called the Acropolis, but in early days the Polis (City). A legend concerning it says that it fell from heaven; whether this is true or not I shall not discuss. A golden lamp for the goddess was made by Callimachus. Having filled the - lamp with oil, they wait until the same day next year, and the oil is sufficient for the lamp during the interval, although it is alight both day and night."
Pausanias, & Jones, W. H. S. (1959). Description of greece. I, books I and II. Heinemann : Harvard University press.
"The first day of the festival in honour of Heracles they name . . . ; the second they call Heraclea."
Pausanias, & Jones, W. H. S. (1959). Description of greece. I, books I and II. Heinemann : Harvard University press.
"Varro, for example, remarks that piglets (porci), ‘on the tenth day after birth are considered “pure” (puri), and for that reason from ancient times they are called sacres, because they are said to be fit for sacrifice first at that age’. Pliny compares this kind of sacrificial ‘purity’ in three animal species: ‘the young of a pig is “pure” (purus) for sacrifice five days [after birth], that of a sheep, seven days, that of an ox, thirty days’."
Hitch, S., & Rutherford, I. (2017). Animal sacrifice in the ancient greek world. Cambridge University Press.
"Julian’s approach to the pagan priesthood, as it emerges from his own writing, reflects a belief best voiced by the Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry: if priests “think they honor the gods and believe in the existence of the gods, yet neglect to be virtuous and wise, they negate and dishonor the gods.” Julian wished his priests to act as servants of the gods,sacrificing, like himself, twice a day, at dawn and dusk."
Hitch, S., & Rutherford, I. (2017). Animal sacrifice in the ancient greek world. Cambridge University Press.
"Different class of parallels come from other Greek narratives of cattle-rustling. The most famous extant one is that of Nestor’s companions at Il. 11.670–761. They steal their cattle and drive them back, at night, on an itinerary involving Alpheus and Pylos (all as in the Hymn), before sacrificing them in celebration."
Hitch, S., & Rutherford, I. (2017). Animal sacrifice in the ancient greek world. Cambridge University Press.
"In the calendar of the Greeks, a month coincides with one cycle of the moon: the first day thus is the day when the moon will just be visible, the seventh day is the day when the moon is half full and as such clearly visible. Apollo is connected with both days. The seventh day is somewhat more prominent: every month, Apollo receives a sacrifice on the seventh day, all his major festivals are held on a seventh, and his birthday is on the seventh day of a specific month. But already in Homer, he is also connected with new moon, noumēnía: he is Noumenios, and his worshippers can be organized in a group of noumeniast."
Graf, F. (2009). Apollo. Routledge.
"Aphrodite Pandemos seems to have been worshipped by all the demes of Kos on the same day in the month of Panamos, perhaps in connection with the synoecism (or coming together of the island’s populace) that had taken place on the island in the year 366 / 365 bc."
Smith, A. C., & Pickup, S. (2010). Brill’s companion to aphrodite ed. by Amy C. Smith and Sadie Pickup. Brill.
“The same god [he writes] is called Phoebus because he is an ephebe, that is a young man; therefore they sometimes depict the sun as a boy, because he is born every day and shines with new light.”
Graf, F. (2009). Apollo. Routledge.
Auspicious days, Holy days, and Inauspicious days
"To begin with, the first, the fourth, and the seventh -- on which Leto bare Apollo with the blade of gold -- each is a holy day. The eighth and the ninth, two days at least of the waxing month, are specially good for the works of man. Also the eleventh and twelfth are both excellent, alike for shearing sheep and for reaping the kindly fruits; but the twelfth is much better than the eleventh, for on it the airy-swinging spider spins its web in full day, and then the Wise One [the ant], gathers her pile. On that day woman should set up her loom and get forward with her work."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"Avoid the thirteenth of the waxing month for beginning to sow: yet it is the best day for setting plants."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"The sixth of the mid-month is very unfavourable for plants, but is good for the birth of males, though unfavourable for a girl either to be born at all or to be married. Nor is the first sixth a fit day for a girl to be born, but a kindly for gelding kids and sheep and for fencing in a sheep-cote. It is favourable for the birth of a boy, but such will be fond of sharp speech, lies, and cunning words, and stealthy converse."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"On the eighth of the month geld the boar and loud-bellowing bull, but hard-working mules on the twelfth."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"On the great twentieth, in full day, a wise man should be born. Such an one is very sound-witted. The tenth is favourable for a male to be born; but, for a girl, the fourth day of the mid-month. On that day tame sheep and shambling, horned oxen, and the sharp-fanged dog and hardy mules to the touch of the hand. But take care to avoid troubles which eat out the heart on the fourth of the beginning and ending of the month; it is a day very fraught with fate."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"On the fourth of the month bring home your bride, but choose the omens which are best for this business."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"Avoid fifth days: they are unkindly and terrible. On a fifth day, they say, the Erinyes assisted at the birth of Horcus (Oath) whom Eris (Strife) bare to trouble the forsworn."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"Look about you very carefully and throw out Demeter's holy grain upon the well-rolled threshing floor on the seventh of the mid-month. Let the woodman cut beams for house building and plenty of ships' timbers, such as are suitable for ships. On the fourth day begin to build narrow ships."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"The ninth of the mid-month improves towards evening; but the first ninth of all is quite harmless for men. It is a good day on which to beget or to be born both for a male and a female: it is never an wholly evil day."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"Again, few know that the twenty-seventh of the month is best for opening a wine-jar, and putting yokes on the necks of oxen and mules and swift-footed horses, and for hauling a swift ship of many thwarts down to the sparkling sea; few call it by its right name."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"On the fourth day open a jar. The fourth of the mid-month is a day holy above all. And again, few men know that the fourth day after the twentieth is best while it is morning: towards evening it is less good."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html
"These days are a great blessing to men on earth; but the rest are changeable, luckless, and bring nothing. Everyone praises a different day but few know their nature. Sometimes a day is a stepmother, sometimes a mother. That man is happy and lucky in them who knows all these things and does his work without offending the deathless gods, who discerns the omens of birds and avoids transgressions."
Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Hesiod, works and Days. HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS - Theoi Classical Texts Library. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodWorksDays.html