been invited to take part in a Bacchic revel (bakkheion) they would not have been
late, and the street would already have been full of tambourines (Lysistrata1–3).
Lysistrata’s complaint is the only surviving reference we have to an exclusively female
celebration of Dionysus at Athens. It is important to notice, moreover, that she
describes a ritual by appointment, one neither spontaneous nor scheduled in the
official calendar.
Most Dionysiac rituals specifically for women were actually part of the public cult
system and administered by local governments, but sometimes it was difficult to draw
the line between public and private events. The overlap of public and private is an
administrative issue in a hellenistic text from Miletos. As part of a job description
issued when the priestess assumed office, the city issued a statement about the
privileges and responsibilities of the priestess of Dionysus:
whenever the priestess performs the sacrifices for the sake of the whole city, it is
not possible for anyone to throw in a victim to be eaten raw [ ̄omophagion] before
the priestess throws one in for the sake of the whole city. Nor is it possible for anyone
to conduct athiasosahead of the public one. But if any man or woman wishes to
offer sacrifice to Dionysus, let the one who sacrifices designate whichever of the two he
wishes to preside and let the designated official receive the perquisites... [section on
schedule of fees]... and the priestess is to give to women... and to provide the equipment for
the women in all the celebrations. And if any woman wishes to sacrifice to Dionysus,
let her give as perquisites to the priestess thesplankhna, the kidneys, the intestine, the
consecrated portion, the tongue, and the leg cut off as far as the hip joint.
And if any woman wishes to perform initiations for Dionysus Bakkhios in the polis or in
thekho ̄raor in the islands, let her give to the priestess astate ̄r(gold coin) everytriete ̄ris.
And at the Katago ̄gia the priests and priestesses of Dionysus Bakkhios are to bring
Dionysus down from the sea with the priest and priestess before day until the setting of
the sun... of the city... (Jaccottet 2003:2.148–50 no. 150; 277–276 BC)
The office of the priestess was controlled by the polis, the ritual described in the
first sentence takes place in town, and is performed ‘‘for the sake of the polis.’’
The public (de ̄mosios)thiasosmust be allowed to take the lead. Private groups
organized to worship Dionysus that wanted to participate had to recognize
the authority of both the polis and the public thiasos. This text gives us the
only epigraphical example of the word ̄omophagion, ‘‘victim eaten raw,’’ a term
heavy with Euripidean resonance, but the raw meat from the sacrificial victim is not
eaten by the worshipers. Rather, it is tossed into something, most likely amegaron,a
subterranean pit for depositing items in sacrifice (Henrichs 1978:133). The raw meat
is owed to Dionysus himself, on Lesbos known as ‘‘Raw-Eater,’’O ̄me ̄ste ̄s(Alcaeus
fr. 129 Voigt).
A tomb epigram gives the name of one of the priestesses of Dionysus at Miletos:
OfficialBakkhaiof the polis, bid farewell to your sacred priestess; this is the right thing to
do for a good woman. She led you to the mountain, and she carried all the sacrificial
equipment and sacred things, passing in procession before the whole city. Her name was
Alkmeionis, daughter of Rhodios; she knew her share of the blessings. (IMiletos2.733:
the translation follows Henrichs 1978:148)Finding Dionysus 337