“Xenophon sacrificed on account of an expedition :”1 divination and the sphagia before ancient Greek battles

1 Xenophon, Anabasis, 6.5.2.

2 Xenophon, Memorabilia, 1.1.9 (‘What is not clear to mortals they should attempt to learn from the gods through mantike’), cf. 1.4-8 ; cf. W. Burkert, “Signs, commands, and knowledge : ancient divination between enigma and epiphany”, S.I. Johnston and P. Struck (ed.), Mantike. Studies in Ancient Divination, Leiden, 2005, p. 42.

3 Xenophon, Oikonomika, 5.19.

4 Xenophon, Hipparchos, 1.1 ; 1.2 ; 6.6 ; 7.1.

5 Onasander, 10, 25-27.

6 Euripides, Erechtheus, F352.

7 Platon, Laches, 198e-199a, cf. 195e ; cf. Aeneas the Tactician 10.4, but note Nikias : Thucydides, 7.50.4.

8 E.g. : CEG 5 (C.M. Bowra, “The Epigram on the Fallen at Coroneia”, CQ, 32, 1938, p. 80-86 ; W. Burkert, op. cit., p. 42-43) ; Herodotos, 1.140.1-143.2 ; Thucydides, 2.8.2.

9 P.J. Rhodes, The Athenian Boule, Oxford, 1972, p. 131-132.

10 Xenophon, Hellenika, 6.5.49 ; Aeschines, 3.131, 152.

11 Herodotos, 6.117.

12 Xenophon, Anabasis, 3.2.12 ; Aelian, Varia Historia, 2.25 ; cf. Aristophanes, Knights 660-3 ; Plutarch, Moralia, 862b-e.

13 [Aristote] Athenaion Politeia, 58.1 ; P.J. Rhodes, A Commentary on the Athenaion Politeia, Oxford, revised edition, 1993, p. 650 ; S. Eitrem, “Mantis and Sphagia”, SO, 18, 1938, p. 19.

14 IG II² 1006.6-9, 1008.7, 1011.7, 1028.8, 1029.6, 1030.5 ; Hesperia, 34, 1965, p. 256 ; 36, 1967, p. 66 ; C. Pélékidis, Histoire de l’Éphébie attique des origines à 31 avant Jésus-Christ, Paris, 1962 passim, esp. 104-105, 183-185 ; W. Burkert, Homo Necans. The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth, translated by P. Bing, Berkeley, 1983, p. 65 ; J. Mikalson, Religion in Hellenistic Athens, Berkeley, 1998, p. 243-246, cf. p. 59, 248, 253. Note Artemis at Euripides, Hippol. 228-229.

15 Ephebic oath : M.N. Tod, Greek Historical Inscriptions, Oxford, second edition, 1946, no. 204.17 (SEG 16.140) ; Philochoros FGrH 328 F105 ; Plutarch, Alkibiades, 15.7 ; Demosthenes, 19.303 ; Aeschines, 2.167 ; Lykourgos, Against Leokrates, 76-79 ; Pollux, 8.105-6 ; Stob., 43.48 ; R. Merkelbach, “Aglauros (Die Religion der Epheben)”, ZPE, 9, 1972, p. 280 ; C. Pélékidis, op. cit., p. 75-78, 111-114 ; P.J. Rhodes, op. cit. (1993), p. 494 and 506 ; J. Larson, Greek Heroine Cults, Wisconsin, 1995, p. 40 and 102 ; D. Lyons, Gender and Immortality. Heroines in Ancient Greek Myth and Cult, Princeton, 1997, p. 49-50 ; cf. G.S. Dontas, “ The True Aglaurion”, Hesperia, 52, 1983, p. 55.

16 Plutarch, Moralia, 349f ; Philochoros, FGrH 328 F86 ; J.-P. Vernant, “Artémis et le sacrifice préliminaire au combat”, REG, 101, 1988, p. 227.

17 Thucydides, 6.32.

18 IG I³ 93.23 ; R. Parker, “Sacrifice and battle”, H. van Wees (ed.), War and Violence in Ancient Greece, London, 2000, p. 300.

19 Arrian, Anabasis, 1.2.6.

20 Xenophon, Lakedaimonion Politeia, 12-13.

21 Xenophon, Lakedaimonion Politeia, 13.2.

22 Xenophon, Hellenika, 5.1.33.

23 Xenophon writing in approval of all these Spartan religious formalities concludes that alone of all the Greeks the Spartans are the “masters in war”, Lakedaimonion Politeia, 13.5.

24 Xenophon, Lakedaimonion Politeia, 12.7.

25 Xenophon, Anabasis, 2.2.3, 3.5.18, 4.3.9, 4.3.17, 4.6.23, 5.4.22, 5.5.2, 6.1.31, 6.4.12, 7.2.17, 7.8.20.

26 Thucydides, 5.116 ; cf. e.g. Herodotos, 6.76.2 ; Xenophon, Hellenika, 3.4.15.

27 Xenophon, op. cit., 4.2.18.

28 Xenophon, op. cit., 1.7.18.

29 The word for sacrifices in general including those offered for omens prior to commencement of battle is always and consistently thuomai and related terms ; the verb sphagiazomai is only used of sacrifices offered without hieroskopia immediately prior to battle : W.K. Pritchett, The Greek State at War, Part I, Berkeley, 1971, p. 109-113 ; see also N. Richer, “La recherche des appuis surnaturels topiques par les Spartiates en guerre”, J. Renard (ed.), Le Péloponnèse. Archéologie et Histoire, Rennes, 1999, p. 135 and 142.

30 Thucydides, 7.50.4.

31 Xenophon, Anabasis, 6.4.12-6.5.8 (note the contrast in the vocabulary between the previous sacrifices, thuomai, and the word for this specific sacrifice, sphagiasamenos).

32 See the references in W.K. Pritchett, op. cit., 114. R. Parker, op. cit., p. 301-302 is correct in arguing that sphagia drop out of view in the Hellenistic era, perhaps because they were no longer made.

33 R. Parker, op. cit., p. 300.

34 J.E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, third edition, Cambridge, 1922, p. 64-67.

35 Figure 1 : Chalkis Arch. Museum 7 (F.T. van Straten, Hiera Kala. Images of Animal Sacrifice in Archaic and Classical Greece, Leiden, 1995, fig. 109, R225). Figure 2 : manner of Eucharides Painter ; rf kylix ; 500-475 BC ; Cleveland 26.242 (ARV² 1570.12 ; M.H. Jameson, “Sacrifice before battle”, V.D. Hanson (ed.), Hoplites : the Classical Greek Battle Experience, London, 1991, p. 218, fig. 1 ; F.T. van Straten, op. cit., fig. 112, V144). Figure 3 : Geneva Painter ; rf calyx krater ; 430 BC ; Getty Museum, Malibu 86.AE.213 (S. Peirce, “Death, revelry and thusia”, ClAnt, 12, 1993, fig. 17).

36 J.-L. Durand, “Greek animals : toward a topology of edible bodies”, M. Detienne and J.P. Vernant (ed.), trans. P. Wissing, The Cuisine of Sacrifice among the Greeks, Chicago, 1989, p. 90-92.

37 E.g. : Herodotos, 9.35-8 (Teisamenos at Plataea) ; Euripides, Phoinissai, 172-4 ; Euripides, Herakles, 340 ; Thucydides, 6.69.2 ; Xenophon, Anabasis, 6.5.8, 7.8.10, 22 ; cf. Xenophon, op. cit., 5.6.29 (Xenophon’s mantic expertise) ; note SEG 16.193.

38 Figure 4 : Triptolemos Painter ; rf stamnos ; 470 BC ; Basel Antikenmuseum BS 477 (ARV² 361.7 ; BICS, 32, 1985, pl. 4). The figures are named on the vase as Phoinix and Priam (respectively restraining) Patroklos and Hektor (ARV² 361.7). The argument of A. Griffiths, “A Ram called Patroklos”, BICS, 32, 1985, p. 49-50 (cf. A. Griffiths, “Patroklos the Ram (Again)”, BICS, 36, 1989, p. 139), that it is the ram that is called Patroklos is not sound.

39 W. Burkert, Homo Necans, p. 66 ; A. Henrichs, op. cit., p. 215-216 ; cf. M.H. Jameson, op. cit., p. 227, n 53.

40 Peri Thusion 15 ; see J. Harrison, op. cit., p. 67.

41 Euripides, Electra, 514.

42 Xenophon, Lakedaimonion Politeia, 13.8.

43 Xenophon, Hellenika, 4.2.20 ; cf. Plutarch, Lykourgos, 22.2.

44 Xenophon, Anabasis, 6.5.8.

45 Herodotos, 9.61.3.

46 Xenophon, Hellenika, 4.6.10.

47 Thucydides, 6.69 (S. Eitrem, op. cit., p. 15 ; W.K. Pritchett, op. cit., p. 110 ; M.H. Jameson, op. cit., p. 204 ; R. Parker, op. cit., p. 300).

48 Herodotos, 9.61.3.

49 Herodotos, 6.112.1.

50 Herodotos, 6.112.1 (Marathon for Athenians) ; Xenophon, Anabasis, 1.8.14-7 (Cyrus to Xenophon), 4.3.18-19.

51 Xenophon, op. cit., 6.5.8.

52 The same expression, ‘with the first victim’ is used elsewhere, for sacrifices with a view to battle, e.g. Xenophon, op. cit., 4.3.9.

53 Euripides, Phoinissai, 1255-1258 ; M.H. Jameson, op. cit., p. 208.

54 Lines 484-499.

55 Sophocles, Antigone 1005-1022 ; M.H. Jameson, “Sophocles, Antigone, 1005-1022 : an illustration”, M. Cropp, E. Fantham and S.E. Scully (eds), Greek Tragedy and its Legacy, Calgary, 1986, p. 59-65.

56 E.g. Kleophrades Painter ; rf amphora ; 500-475 BC ; Würzburg 507 (ARV² 181.1 ; F.T. van Straten, op. cit., fig. 165, V262).

57 Euripides, op. cit., 172-174 ; P. Stengel, “Prophezeiung aus den sphagia”, Hermes, 31, 1896, p. 478479 ; W.K. Pritchett, The Greek State at War, Part III, Berkeley, 1979, p. 85 ; cf. M.H. Jameson, op. cit., p. 205, n. 34.

58 Euripides, Hekube, 149, 536-537 dark (melan) and akraiphnes, which here seems to have a meaning of ‘undiluted’, ‘full-bodied’. Figure 5 : Tyrrhenian Group ; bf amphora ; 575-50 BC ; BM 97.7-27.2 (ABV 97.27 ; F.T. van Straten, op. cit., fig. 118, V422). The depiction of the altar and flames is in contrast to the usual depiction of a sphagia, cf. S. Peirce, op. cit., p. 253-254.

59 Euripides, Herakleidai, 819-822.

60 Euripides, Phoinissai, 931-933, cf. 913.

61 Cf. W.K. Pritchett, op. cit., p. 113, n. 28.

62 Herodotos, 9.61.2-3.

63 See discussion of N. Richer, op. cit., p. 142-144.

64 Xenophon, Hellenika, 4.6.10. Cf. Plutarch, Phokion, 13.

65 Aeschyl., Seven Against Thebes, 230-231.

66 A. Henrichs, op. cit., p. 215-216 ; accepted by J.-P. Vernant, op. cit., 232 ; M.H. Jameson, op. cit., p. 220.

67 Xenophon, Anabasis, 1.7.18.

68 Xenophon, op. cit., 6.5.21.

69 For divination from birds (ornithomanteia or oionoskopia), see D. Collins, “Reading the Birds : Oionomanteia in Early Epic”, Colby Quarterly, 38, 2002, p. 17-41 ; M.P.J. Dillon, “Oionomanteia in Greek Divination”, M.P.J. Dillon (ed.), Religion in the Ancient World : New Themes and Approaches, Amsterdam, 1996, p. 99–121 ; A. Bouché-Leclercq, Histoire de la Divination dans l’Antiquité, Paris, 1879, vol. 1, p. 127-143.

70 Thucydides, 4.92.7 ; cf. Xenophon, Hellenika, 2.4.14, 17.

71 Plutarch, Themistocles, 13.2-5, see esp. A. Henrichs, op. cit., p. 208-224.

72 Xenophon, Anabasis, 4.3.17 ; cf. Thucydides, 6.69.2.

73 Xenophon, Lakedaimonion Politeia, 11.3, 13.8 ; N. Richer, op. cit., p. 137.

74 Embateria : Philoch. FGrH 328 F216 ; Tyrtaeus 10.32, 11.22 ; learned by heart : Philoch. ibid.

75 M.H. Jameson, op. cit., 221 ; cf. R. Parker, op. cit., p. 307.

76 M.H. Jameson, op. cit., p. 209 ; cf. J. Casabona, Recherches sur le vocabulaire des sacrifices en grec, Aix–en–Provence, 1966, p. 185 ; W.K. Pritchett, op. cit., p. 110.

77 Xenophon, Hellenika, 4.2.20.

78 Pausanias, 1.40.2-3.

79 Pausanias, 7.26.1-3.

80 Pausanias, 9.13.4.

81 J.-P. Vernant, op. cit., p. 251.

82 Euripides, Phoinissai, 150-153, 190-192.

83 Xenophon, Anabasis, 3.4.18 (Agesilaos) ; Arrian, Anabasis, 1.18.2 (Alexander).

84 Pausanias, 4.4.2-3.

85 Euripides, op. cit., 1415.

86 Euripides, op. cit., 1471-1472.

87 Figure 6 : Exekias ; bf amphora ; 530 BC ; BM B210 (ABV 144.7 ; LIMC I Achilleus 723 ; VII Penthesileia 17).

88 Homeric Hymn to Artemis I, II.4-10 ; Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 10-11, 18 ; Homer, Iliad, 5.51–52 ; cf. Callimachos, Hymn to Artemis 2-3, 19 ; note the scene of Artemis’ arrows piercing a beast from which blood spurts : LIMC II Artemis 109a (Oenochoe : 625 BC ; Boston 1971.297).

89 H. King, “Bound to bleed : Artemis and Greek Women”, A. Cameron and A. Kuhrt (ed.), Images of Women in Antiquity, London, 1983, p. 109-127.

90 J.-P. Vernant, op. cit., p. 227-228 ; M.H. Jameson, op. cit., p. 199-200, 209-12 ; see Xenophon, Hellenika, 2.4.14 ; Diodorus, 14.32.2 ; Pausanias, 10.23.5.

91 Euripides, Phoinissai, Erechtheus, Herakleidai, Iphigeneia in Aulis, Hekuba, and perhaps Phrixus B ; cf. Phylarchos FGrH 81 F80. In Aeschylus Agamemnon, the victim is unwilling, and the sacrifice is to Artemis in the context of setting out for war.

92 W.B urkert, op. cit., p. 65-67, n. 13.

93 J.-P. Vernant, op. cit., p. 238.

94 Plutarch, Pelopidas, 20-1 ; Plutarch, Moralia, 774.

95 J. Wilkins, op. cit., p. 179.