Footnote 145:[ (return) ] STEPH. BYZ., Λήναιος.
Footnote 146:[ (return) ] PLATO, Protag., 327 w.
Footnote 147:[ (return) ] Achar., 202, and schol.
Footnote 148:[ (return) ] Schol. Aristoph. Achar., 504.
Demosthenes tells us [149] that the Athenians, having inscribed a certain law (concerning the festivals of Dionysus) on a stone stele, set this up in the sanctuary of Dionysus εν Λίμναις, beside the altar. "This stele was set up," he continues, "in the most ancient and most sacred precinct [150] of Dionysus, so that but few should see what had been written; for the precinct is opened only once every year, on the 12th of the month Anthesterio.
Footnote 149:[ (return) ] Near. 76.
Footnote 150:[ (return) ] I have translated ιερω by precinct. This is liable to the objection that ιερον may also mean temple; and ανοίγεται "is opened" of the passage may naturally be applied to the opening of a temple. But "hieron" often refers to a sacred precinct, and there is nothing to prevent the verb in question from being used of a "hieron" in this sense. If we consult the passages in which this particular precinct is mentioned we find, in those quoted from Photius and the Etymologicum Magnum, that the Lenaeum contains a hieron of the Lenaean Dionysus. This might be either temple or precinct. In the citation from Bekker's Anecdota the Lenaeum is the hieron at which were held the theatrical contests. This implies that the hieron was a precinct of some size. The Scholiast to Achar. 202 makes the Lenaeum the hieron of the Lenaean Dionysus. Here "hieron" is certainly a precinct. Hesych. (επi Ληναίω αγών) renders this still more distinct by saying that the Lenaeum contained the hieron of the Lenaean Dionysus, in which the theatrical contests were held. But Demosthenes in the Neaera declares that the decree was engraved on a stone stele. It was the custom to set up such inscriptions in the open air. This stele was also beside the altar. There were indeed often altars in the Greek temple, but the chief altar (βωμος of the passage) was in the open air. Furthermore, if the decree had been placed in the small temple, the designation "alongside the altar" would have been superfluous. But in the larger precinct such a particular location was necessary. Nor can it be urged, in view of the secret rites in connection with the marriage of the King Archon's wife to Dionysus on the 12th of Anthesterio, that hieron must mean temple; since the new Aristotle manuscript tells us that this ceremony took place in the Bucoleum.
The stele being then visible to the public on but one day of the year it follows that the entire precinct of Dionysus εν Λίμναις must have been closed during the remainder of the year. This could not be unless we grant that, in the time of Demosthenes at least, the Lenaea and the Megala Dionysia were held in different precincts, and that the Lenaea and Anthesteria were one and the same festival.
Pausanias tells us [151] that the xoanon brought from Eleutherae was in one of the two temples in the theatre-precinct, while the other contained the chryselephantine statue of Alcamenes. We know, both from the method of construction and from literary notices, that these two temples were in existence in the time of Demosthenes. Pausanias says [152] that on fixed days every year, the statue of the god was borne to a little temple of Dionysus near the Academy. Pausanias' use of the plural in τεταγμέναις ημέραις is excellent authority that the temple of the xoanon was opened at least on more than one day of every year.
From all these considerations it seems to be impossible that the precinct of the older temple by the extant theatre and the sanctuary εν Λίμναις could be the same. The suggestion that the gold and ivory statue of Alcamenes could have been the one borne in procession at the time of the Greater Dionysia is, of course, untenable from the delicate construction of such figures. The massive base on which it stood shows, too, that its size was considerable. The image borne in procession was clearly the xoanon which was brought by Pegasus from Eleutherae.