Of Ge Olympia we learn [130] that she had a precinct within the enclosure of the later Olympieum. Pausanias by his mention of the cleft in the earth through which the waters of the flood disappeared and of the yearly offerings of the honey-cake in connection with this, shows the high antiquity of certain rites here celebrated. It is indeed most probable that these ceremonies formed a part of the Chytri; for what seems the more ancient portion of this festival pertains also to the worship of those who perished in Deucalion's flood. The worship of Ge Kourotrophos goes back to times immemorial. Pausanias mentions [131] as the last shrines which he sees before entering the upper city, those of Ge Kourotrophos and Demeter Chloe, which must therefore have been situated on the southwest slope of the Acropolis. Here again near the entrance to the Pelasgic fortification, is where we should expect a priori to find the oldest religious foundations "outside the Polis."
Footnote 128:[ (return) ] Heortologie, p. 413.
Footnote 129:[ (return) ] THUCYDIDES 126.
Footnote 130:[ (return) ] ΡAUS. I. 18. 7.
Footnote 131:[ (return) ] ΡAUS. I. 22. 33. SUIDAS, κουροτρόφος.
The location of the fourth hieron of Thucydides can best be determined by means of the festivals, more particularly the dramatic festivals of Dionysus. That the dramatic representations at the Greater Dionysia, the more splendid of the festivals, were held on the site of the existing theatre of Dionysus, perhaps from the beginning, at least from a very early period, all are agreed. Here was the precinct containing two temples of Dionysus, in the older of which was the xoanon [132] brought from Eleutherae by Pegasus. That in early times, at least, all dramatic contests were not held here we have strong assurance. Pausanias [133] the lexicographer, mentions the wooden seats in the agora from which the people viewed the dramatic contests before the theatre έn Διονύσου was constructed--plainly the existing theatre. Hesychius confirms this testimony. [134]
Footnote 132:[ (return) ] ΡAUS I. 2, 5 and I. 20, 3.
Footnote 133:[ (return) ] ΡAUS., Lexikoq. ϊκρια· τα, εν τη αγορα, αφ' ων έθεωντο τους Διονυσιακούς ayôvas πρίν η κατασκευασθηναι το έν Διονύσου θέατρον. Cf. EUSTATH. Comment. Hom. 1472.
Footnote 134:[ (return) ] HESYCH, άπ' αίγείρων.
Bekker's Anecdota include mention, also, [135] of the wooden seats of this temporary theatre. Pollux adds [136] his testimony that the wooden seats were in the agora. Photius gives the further important information that the orchestra first received its name in the agora. [137] There can be no doubt that in very early times, there were dramatic representations in the agora in honor of Dionysus; and there must therefore have been a shrine or a precinct of the god in or close to the agora. The possibility of presentation of dramas at Athens, especially in these early times, unconnected with the worship of Dionysus and with some shrine sacred to him, cannot be entertained for a moment. It is commonly accepted that dramas were represented during two festivals in Athens,--at the contest at the Lenaeum and at the City Dionysia. The plays of the latter festival were undoubtedly given in the extant theatre; but of the former contest we have an entirely different record. Harpocration say [138] merely that the Limnae were a locality in Athens where Dionysus was honored. A reference in Bekker's Anecdota is [139] more explicit. Here the Lenaeum is described as a place sacred to (ιερον) Dionysus where the contests were established before the building of the theatre. In the Etymologicum Magnum [140] the Lenaeum is said to be an enclosure (περίαυλος) in which is a sanctuary of Dionysus Lenaeus. Photius declares [141] that the Lenaeum is a large peribolus in which were held the so-called contests at the Lenaeum before the theatre was built, and that in this peribolus there was the sanctuary of Dionysus Lenaeus. The scholiast to Aristophanes' Frogs says [142] that the Limnae were a locality sacred to Dionysus, and that a temple and another building (οϊκος) of the god stood therein. Hesychius mentions [143] the Limnae as a locality where the Lenaea were held, and says that the Lenaeum was a large peribolus within the city, in which was the sanctuary of Dionysus Lenaeus, and that the Athenians held contests in this peribolos before they built the theatre. Pollux speaks [144] of the two theatres, καϊ Διoνυσίακòν θέατρον καϊ ληναϊκóν. Stephanus of Byzantium quotes [145] from Apollodorus that the "Lenaion Agon" is a contest in the fields by the wine-press. Plato implies [146] the existence of a second theatre by stating that Pherecrates exhibited dramas at the Lenaeum. If the Lenaea and the City Dionysia were held in the same locality, it is peculiar that in all the passages concerning the Lenaeum and the Limnae we find no mention of the Greater Dionysia. But our list of authorities goes still further. Aristophanes speaks [147] of the contest κατ' αγρούς. The scholiast declares that he refers to the Lenaea, that the Lenaeum was a place sacred (ιερόν) to Dionysus, eν αγρούς) and that the word Λήναιον came from the fact that here first stood the ληνος or wine-press. He adds [148] that the contests in honor of Dionysus took place twice in the year, first in the city in the spring, and the second time εν αγροϊς at the Lenaeum in the winter. The precinct by the present theatre, as we know, was sacred to Dionysus Eleuthereus. In this temenus no mention has been found of Dionysus Λίμναιος or Λήναιος.