Diasia

## The Festival 10 days after Anthesteria, Diasia "greatest feast of Zeus Meilichios" celebrated by the Athenians. Zeus Meilichios, Zeus the “kindly” or “open to appropriation”. It’s described as a “primitive” ritual due to its age, with one account referencing the festival in 632 BC (120, Parke).

Similar to the Lesser Mysteries, this festival was focused on purification. This festival was held outside of the city of Athens, estimated to be in the Metroon in Agrai by the Ilissos River, the same area where the Lesser Mysteries were held.(59, Lalonde)

Zeus Meilichios was also believed to be a “giver or increase” and “maintainer of a state of wellbeing” (46-47, Lalonde) - depicted as a large coiled snake with a beard, associated with the agathos daimon. According to Harrison, Zeus Meilichios is a euphemism of another epithet of Zeus - Maimaktes “he who rages eager, panting and thirsting for blood” with the characteristics of Erinyes-Eumenides as an “avenger of kindred blood”. This three-faced Zeus is Zeus in his chthonic aspect - Zeus-Hades (16-17, Harrison)

People would entreat Zeus Meilichios for wealth, for purification, for an exorcism from curses or miasma.

The Rites:

No wine and bloodless offerings like animal shaped cakes were common but wealthier families who could afford it offered animals such as pigs. Since this was a chthonic offering, the whole animal was burned (holocaust) and the community couldn’t take part in the meat. Dishes made of offal were prepared instead and gifts given to children (122, Parke).

Sheep were sometimes sacrificed, the person who needed purification would step on it with their left foot with the belief the miasma or curse would pass to the sacrifice. The fleece was also kept for other rituals, a central object for the festival it was called the Sheepskin of Zeus (95, Parke).

Sources: Harrison, Jane Ellen. Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. 1st ed., Cambridge, 1908. Lalonde, Gerald V. Horos Dios (Horos : Διος): An Athenian Shrine and Cult of Zeus. Brill, 2006. Monumenta Graeca et Romana, vol. 11. Parke, H. W. Festivals of the Athenians. Cornell University Press, 1986. ## Ritual Diasia Ritual