irregular, but the challenge for sanctuaries in rural areas was not nearly
as critical as it was for urbanized districts, particularly the city of Athens,
with very little scope for nurturing stock in the vicinity. The Athenians
could not boast a sacred herd, but had tofind alternative ways of
providing the enormous quantities of meat, particularly beef, required
for civic festivals. If we take the public provision of sacrificial meat as
literally as it is described by the‘Old Oligarch’, then citizens could indeed
expect a generous dose of meat ([Xen.]Ath. Pol. 2.9), perhaps as much as
half a kilo per man, at the Panathenaic festival.^53 There were between
forty and forty-five occasions throughout the Athenian festival year
when meat was potentially available in large quantities for public con-
sumption. In practice, however, it is much less clear how many people,
including dependent family members, benefited from these handouts,
Fig. 7.2.Cows and herdsmen near Strelcha, central Bulgaria.the recurring feature of sanctuary regulations: they are usually not concerned with piety or
even ritual actions, except insofar as visitors continue to provide the god with his sacrifice
and his priests with their perquisites’(with reference to the Amphiareion at Oropos:
McInerney 2010, 171).
(^53) McInerney 2010, 174–6, with detailed discussion; the estimate is based on 60 head of
cattle at the Lesser Panathenaia (IGII^2 334 B, fourth centurybc, from Oropos); the half kilo
portion would result from deme-based distributions, for men only; if women and children
were to be included, the quantities would be proportionately much lower; McInerney 2010
187 – 8, on the numbers of sacrifices in the festival year.
Dining cultures 289