Greek (Ancient) to English translations [PRO]
Archaeology | | Greek (Ancient) term or phrase: theoxenia | | a word coming from two, theo and xenia |
| | | theoxenia | Explanation:
Pindar, the greatest of the lyric poets and the voice of Delphi for more than forty years, was born at Kynoskephalae, a village near Thebes, around 518 BC.
He was the son of Daiphantos, who belonged to the ancient and noble family of Aigidae. He was taught music early in his age by his father, who was famous flute player and by the eminent musicians Agathocles and Apollodoros, at Athens. He lived most of his life at Thebes and Delphi, where the oracle arranged to pronounce hymns to Gods.
When he died, no one believed that his shadow from Delphi had gone and the priests every night before dinner had a herald to announce around the Oracle "Pindar is coming to have diner with the Gods" and thus they were inviting the dead to enter the temple, where two tables with food, one for Apollo and one for Pindar had been prepared (the so-called Theoxenia).
http://www.sikyon.com/Thebes/pindar_eg.html
§3. By good fortune, we have indirect evidence about the nature of such a sacrifice, especially from Pindar's Paean 6. This piece was composed for performance at a Delphic festival called the theoxenia. Within the framework of this ancient festival, the gods were treated as actual participants at the sacral banquet of their worshippers.[1] The institution of theoxenia 'having a host-and-guest relationship with the gods' survives elsewhere too in the Hellenic world of the classical period,[2] and there is reason to suppose that its ritual traditions--if not the ritual itself in its attested form--were already attested at the time that our Odyssey took on its present shape.[3] Since the first song of Demodokos in Odyssey viii makes a thematic connection between Apollo's Delphi and a 'feast of the gods' attended by Achaean heroes, the preeminence of Apollo at the Delphic theoxenia[4] leads me to suspect that we are witnessing a Homeric reflex of the ritual traditions surrounding this festival.[5] Furthermore, there are ominous implications for Achilles in the lore connected with the theoxenia. It seems as if the death of Achilles were a traditional theme that is appropriate for a paean performed at the theoxenia.
www.press.jhu.edu/books/nagy/BofATL/chapter4.html
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| Selected response from:
  Vicky Papaprodromou
Greece
Local time: 09:46
| Grading comment Graded automatically based on peer agreement.
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7 mins confidence:  peer agreement (net): +3 | | èåïîåíßá theoxenia
Explanation:
Pindar, the greatest of the lyric poets and the voice of Delphi for more than forty years, was born at Kynoskephalae, a village near Thebes, around 518 BC.
He was the son of Daiphantos, who belonged to the ancient and noble family of Aigidae. He was taught music early in his age by his father, who was famous flute player and by the eminent musicians Agathocles and Apollodoros, at Athens. He lived most of his life at Thebes and Delphi, where the oracle arranged to pronounce hymns to Gods.
When he died, no one believed that his shadow from Delphi had gone and the priests every night before dinner had a herald to announce around the Oracle "Pindar is coming to have diner with the Gods" and thus they were inviting the dead to enter the temple, where two tables with food, one for Apollo and one for Pindar had been prepared (the so-called Theoxenia).
http://www.sikyon.com/Thebes/pindar_eg.html
§3. By good fortune, we have indirect evidence about the nature of such a sacrifice, especially from Pindar's Paean 6. This piece was composed for performance at a Delphic festival called the theoxenia. Within the framework of this ancient festival, the gods were treated as actual participants at the sacral banquet of their worshippers.[1] The institution of theoxenia 'having a host-and-guest relationship with the gods' survives elsewhere too in the Hellenic world of the classical period,[2] and there is reason to suppose that its ritual traditions--if not the ritual itself in its attested form--were already attested at the time that our Odyssey took on its present shape.[3] Since the first song of Demodokos in Odyssey viii makes a thematic connection between Apollo's Delphi and a 'feast of the gods' attended by Achaean heroes, the preeminence of Apollo at the Delphic theoxenia[4] leads me to suspect that we are witnessing a Homeric reflex of the ritual traditions surrounding this festival.[5] Furthermore, there are ominous implications for Achilles in the lore connected with the theoxenia. It seems as if the death of Achilles were a traditional theme that is appropriate for a paean performed at the theoxenia.
www.press.jhu.edu/books/nagy/BofATL/chapter4.html
| Vicky Papaprodromou
Greece
Local time: 09:46
Works in field
Native speaker of:  Greek
PRO pts in category: 4
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