The Miracle of the Wine at Dionysos' Advent; on the Lenaea Festival

Extract

During the period from December to April Dionysos is celebrated at Athens four times: at the Lesser Dionysia, at the Lenaea, at the Anthesteria, at the Greater Dionysia.

The Lenaea festival falls in the Ionic month of Lenaion, which corresponds with the Attic Gamelion, i.e. January. There are no serious objections to fixing the date in this way. The competition in theatricals held at this festival is called ⋯ ⋯π⋯ Ληναίωι àγών the god Dionysos Ληναίος or Ληνεύς the temple-grounds τ⋯ Λήυαιου. These were probably situated on the stretch of swelling ground, rising from the Apostle Paul Road, between Areopagus and Akropolis, as there was room enough there to seat a large audience. It is worthy of notice that, in contrast with the Greater or Urban Dionysia, ancient narrators call the Lenaea a rural festivity, at which a rustic song is intoned. Still, they are to be distinguished from the Lesser Dionysia, which are celebrated at the end of December.