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In Ancient Greece, the Lykaia (Greek: λυκαια) was an archaic festival with a secret ritual on the slopes of Mount Lykaion ("Wolf Mountain"), the tallest peak in rustic Arcadia. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Lykaion (1421 m Λύκαιος ορος Mons Lycaeus Mont Lycée Monte Liceo mod Arcadia or Arkadía ( Greek Αρκαδία is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. The rituals and myths of this primitive rite of passage centered upon an ancient threat of cannibalism and the possibility of a werewolf transformation for the epheboi (adolescent males) who were the participants. A rite of passage is a Ritual that marks a change in a person's social or sexual status Cannibalism (from Spanish es ''caníbal'' in connection with cannibalism among the Antillean Caribs, also called anthropophagy (from Greek ἄνθρωπος See also Lycanthropy (disambiguation Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes, are mythological or folkloric humans with the ability to This page refers to the social group denoted by this term For other uses eg in sculpture see Ephebos (disambiguation. The festival occurred yearly, probably at the beginning of May. [1]

The epithet Lykaios ("wolf-Zeus") is assumed by Zeus only in connection with the Lykaia, which was the main Arcadian festival. Zeus (zjuːs in Greek: nominative: Zeús /zdeús/ genitive: Diós; Modern Greek /'zefs/ in Greek mythology Zeus had only a formal connection as patron of the ritual. In the founding myth, of Lycaon's[2] banquet for the gods that included the flesh of a human sacrifice,[3] perhaps one of his sons, Nyctimus[4] or his grandson, Arcas,[5] Zeus overturned the table and struck the house of Lyceus with a thunderbolt;[6] his patronage at the Lykaia can have been little more than a formula. Lycaon was the son of Pelasgus and Meliboea (or of Oread nymph Cyllene) father of Oenotrus and the mythical first king Nyctimus is also a spider genus ( Thomisidae) In Greek mythology, Nyctimus was the son of Lycaon who was killed and For the butterfly genus see Arcas (butterfly. In Pelasgian Mythology, Arcas (Ἀρκάς is the son of the god [7]

The ritual was nocturnal, to judge from the name of Nyctimus (nyx, "night"). Nyctimus is also a spider genus ( Thomisidae) In Greek mythology, Nyctimus was the son of Lycaon who was killed and Rumors of the ceremony that circulated among other Greeks revolved around the theme of human sacrifice and cannibalism: according to Plato, a particular clan would gather on the mountain to make a sacrifice every nine years to Zeus Lykaios, and a single morsel of human entrails would be intermingled with the animal's. Human sacrifice is the act of Homicide (the Killing of one or several Human beings in the context of a Religious ritual ( ritual killing Cannibalism (from Spanish es ''caníbal'' in connection with cannibalism among the Antillean Caribs, also called anthropophagy (from Greek ἄνθρωπος Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Whoever ate the human flesh was said to turn into a wolf, and could only regain human form if he did not eat again of human flesh until the next nine-year cycle had ended. [8] Pausanias told of the Olympic boxing champion Damarchus of Parrhasia, who had "turned into a wolf at the sacrifice to Zeus Lykaios, and changed back into a man again in the ninth year thereafter",[9] from which Burkert affirms that, for Damarchus to have successfully participated at least nine years later, the participants in the ritual feast must have been ephebes. Damarchus (Δάμαρχος fl ~400 BC was a victorious Olympic boxer from Parrhasia (Arcadia said to have changed his shape into that of a wolf at the sacrifice [10]

A sanctuary of Pan was also located upon the mountain. Pan ( Greek, Genitive) is the Greek god of shepherds and flocks of mountain wilds hunting and rustic music paein means to pasture [11] According to tradition, Euandros, son of Hermes, led a colony from Pallantion in Arkadia into Italy, where he built a town Pallantion on the Palatine, and introduced the cult of Pan Lýkaios and the festival of the Lykaia, which later became the major Roman festival of Lupercalia. For the saint by the name 'Lupercus' see Marcellus of Tangier. [12]

Porphyry reported[13] that Theophrastus had compared the sacrifice "at the Lykaia in Arcadia" with Carthaginian sacrifices to Moloch. Theophrastus ( Greek:; 371 – c 287 BC a Greek native of Eressos in Lesbos, was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic Carthage (Καρχηδών Karkhēdōn, Carthago from the Phoenician קרת חדשת phn-Latn Qart-ḥadašt meaning new town) refers Moloch, Molech, Molekh, or Molek, representing Hebrew מלך mlk, (translated directly into king is either the name of a

There were several sites. At the summit on Mount Lykaion Pausanias saw the ash-pile altar to Zeus[14] but, as attending the rite was impossible, he was obliged to "let it be as it is and as it was from the beginning". Pausanias ( Greek:) was a Greek traveller and Geographer of the 2nd century CE, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus [15]

Near the ancient ash-heap where the sacrifices took place[16] was a forbidden precinct in which, allegedly, no shadows were ever cast. Anyone who entered would have to be sacrificed. [17] There was the cave of Rhea, the Kretaia, where, according to local legend, Zeus was born and was cared for by the nymphs. In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of mythological entities in human female form There were games associated with the satisfactory completion of the Lykaia,[18] which removed in the fourth century to Megalopolis; when it was founded in 371 BCE, Megalopolis was the first urbanization in rustic Arcadia; there the major temple was dedicated to Zeus Lykaios, though the Arcadians continued to sacrifice on the mountain-top to Pausanias' day (second century CE).

Apollo, too had an archaic wolf-form, Apollo Lycaeus, worshipped in Athens at the Lykeion, or Lyceum, which was made memorable as the site where Aristotle walked and taught. This article is about Lyceum as school or as public hall Lyceum can also be short for Lyceum Theatre. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.

Modern Lykaia

In 1973, the Ano Karyes Association "Lykaios Dias" established the modern Lykaia, which are held every four years on the same place as the ancient games. The motto of these games is "Stefanites and not Chrimatites" (Greek: "Στεφανίτες" και όχι "Χρηματίτες"), meaning that the purpose of these games is solely the moral perfection of man and not rewarding the winners with pecuniary means. Modern Lykaia are usually held in the beginning of August. The games begin with the lighting of the flame on the Arcadian's sacred peak. The Estiades of Mount Lykaion, making their appearance from the north, bring the Arcadian's eternal flame. The first Estiada walks slowly towards the southern pillar base (where two golden eagles were placed in ancient times) and lights the torch. The head priestess recites the Lycean Ode by Pindarus and then gives the torch to an athlete named as torch-bearer. Pindar (ˈpɪndɚ (or Pindarus, Greek:) (probably born 522 BC in Cynoscephalae a village in Boeotia; died 443 BC in Argos) was an Ancient The torch-bearer then runs into the stadium and lights the altar which is placed there. The closing ceremony includes cultural events, the lowering of the flag and the playing of the Greece's national anthem. The winner of each athletic event is awarded with an olive branch, a cup, a tripod, a medal or a diploma. All the athletes who participated-regardless of their performance-receive a certificate of participation, thus justifying the Games' motto. The last Lykaia were held from the 29th of July to the 7th of August 2005. The next games will take place in the summer of 2009.

References

  1. ^ Arthur Bernard Cook, Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion I (Cambridge: Cambridge UP) 1914 (on-line excerpt) citing P. Arthur Bernard Cook (1868-1952 was a British Classical scholar, known for work in Archaeology and the History of religions. Welzel, De Iove et Pane dis Arcadicis (Bratislava 1879) p. 23 n. 5, on the strength of Xen. 1. 2. 10 (at Peltai) and Walter Immerwahr, Die Kulte und Mythen Arkadiens (Leipzig 1891) pp. 20f.
  2. ^ "He is related to the wolf even in his name, Lykaon. " (Burkert, 1983:86).
  3. ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheke, 3. The Bibliotheca (in English: Library) in three books provides a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic Legends 98-3. 99.
  4. ^ According to Lycophron and others. Lycophron was a Greek Poet and Grammarian (although the Oxford Classical Dictionary regards these as two different men
  5. ^ According to Catasterismi, following (lost) reference of Hesiod. Catasterismi ( Greek Καταστερισμοί, "placings Hesiod ( Greek: Hesiodos) was an early Greek Poet and Rhapsode, who presumably lived around 700 BCE
  6. ^ Some versions of the story of the Deluge were initiated by this episode, e. g. Pseudo-Apollodorus (Bibliotheke 3. 98-3. 99), Ovid (Metamorphoses, 1. The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid is a narrative poem 240ff), Hyginus (Fabula, 176). Gaius Julius Hyginus (ca 64 BC &ndash AD 17 was a Latin author but whether a native of Spain or of Alexandria is not sure a pupil of the famous
  7. ^ A morphological connection to lyke "brightness" may be merely fortuitous, but see Cook 1914:63-69 "Zeus Lýkaios: Wolf-god or Light-god?"
  8. ^ Plato. Republic, 565d-e.
  9. ^ Pausanias. Description of Greece, 6. Pausanias ( Greek:) was a Greek traveller and Geographer of the 2nd century CE, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus 8. 2.
  10. ^ Burkert, 1983:86ff.
  11. ^ Pausanias. Description of Greece, 8. 38. 5.
  12. ^ Cook 1914, (on-line excerpt), citing Kourouniotes via Pauly-Wissowa Real-Enc. vi. 839ff.
  13. ^ On Abstinence
  14. ^ For primitive ash mounds at sacrificial sites, see W. Kramer, "Prähistorische Brandopferplätze" Helvetica antiqua (1966) pp. 111-22, noted by Burkert 1983.
  15. ^ Pausanias. Description of Greece, 8. 38. 7.
  16. ^ Modern archaeologists have found no trace of human remains among the sacrificial detritus, Walter Burkert, "Lykaia and Lykaion", Homo Necans, tr. Walter Burkert (born Neuendettelsau, Bavaria, February 2, 1931) a scholar of Greek mythology and cult, is an emeritus by Peter Bing (University of California) 1983, p. 90.
  17. ^ Pausanias. Pausanias ( Greek:) was a Greek traveller and Geographer of the 2nd century CE, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Description of Greece, 8. 38. 6.
  18. ^ Arkadia — Lykaion — 4th c. BC - A Panhellenic List of Lycaeonicae Epigraphical Database

Sources

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