The Date of the Adonia

Extract

When discussing the date of the Adonia at Alexandria I stated, on the authority of Dr. F. Heichelheim, that an unpublished papyrus in the Rylands collection connected Adonis with the late-Ptolemaic month Gorpiaios. P. Petrie 3.142, which Glotz had shown to relate to the Adonia, gives the 7th of an unnamed month as the date, and, assuming the month to be supplied by the Rylands papyrus, I placed the festival on one of the first days of September. After further study of the Rylands papyrus Dr. Heichelheim now thinks that it contains no mention of Adonis, and this combination therefore falls to the ground. A date in the late summer or early autumn is in my opinion sufficiently established by the other evidence, and as my argument is therefore not much affected, I had intended to withhold this correction until publication of the Rylands papyrus enabled me to supply a precise reference to it. In the present circumstances, however, it seems desirable to place it on record now.