PLANETS: V. ASTRALI DIVINITÀ.
sacro (partially preserved by Plutarch, Theseus, 22) the procession made its way to the temple of Apollo, at whose doors an olive branch was hung.
This public festival, however, also had private aspects in that, according to some (scholars citing Aristophanes, Plut. 1050), every Athenian on that day planted an olive branch in front of his own house, keeping it there until the following P. of the year, when the old branch was replaced with a new one. The meaning of the ceremony was to give thanks to Apollo-Sun for the harvest of fruits ripened by the sun. There was also a foot race among young men who still had living parents, which started from the temple of Dionysus and ran to the port of Phalerum: the winner received a “quintuple” cup (πενταπλῆ) of wine, honey, cheese, flour, and oil. This race too had the significance of a harvest festival, specifically of the grape harvest. Later, it was connected with the myth of Theseus, to whom funeral offerings and libations were paid.