Oscophore

OSCOPHORE. - An Athenian harvest festival, sacred to Dionysus and Athena Skiras, celebrated on the 7th or 18th of the month Pyanepsion (Oct.-Nov.); connected with the O. were elements of the saga of Theseus, who was said to have instituted it upon his return from Crete with the youths saved from the Minotaur (Plutarch, Theseus, 22 ff.).

The O. began with a solemn procession, whose route ran "from the temple of Dionysus (in Athens) to the sanctuary of Athena Skiras" at Phalerum, and precisely to the so-called Oschophorion (v. HESYCHIUS). In this procession (which was opened by two youths in women's garments) there took part: 22 young men, chosen from the ten demes, who along the route carried vine branches (and were therefore called δαγορός); a chorus of boys, who sang the oschophoric hymns; and finally the deipnophoroi (δεικνυφορίαι), women who carried provisions for the youths, perhaps in memory of those once brought to the young companions of Theseus. Upon arriving at the Oschophorion a sacrifice was celebrated and, after a brief rest, the race of the 20 young men took place (two by two); the ten victors as a prize drank the so-called πεντακλός, a beverage composed of the five principal products of the year (wine, honey, cheese, flour and oil).

Cesare D'Onofrio