[Xenophon] Ath. Pol. iii 4 and the question of choruses at the Hephaestia and Promethia

Abstract

In a recent article, J. K. Davies suggested that there were no choral events at the festivals of the Hephaestia and Promethia. He rested his case on the fact that ‘the basic document concerning the festival [sc. the Hephaestia], IG i2 84 of 421/0 refers (probably) to gymnasiarchs (lines 20–21) and nowhere to choregoi or choruses’, and he went on to say that ‘the general heortological tradition [sc. about the Hephaestia]…knew nothing of musical contests’. On this basis, he rejected the contrary evidence of [Xenophon] Ath.Pol. iii 4 which specifically mentions the Hephaestia and Promethia in a list of five festivals to which choregoi were allotted. He suggested that either the author of Ath. Pol. was mistaken, or an emendation of the text proposed by Kirchhoff should be accepted; the emendation inserts seven words into the text, and so switches the reference from choregoi to gymnasiarchs.

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