Levels: Deme Religious Participation Flashcards
What is a deme ?
A town or village
What did each deme have ?
It’s own set of religious festivals organised into a sacred calendar differed between demes although there were certain gods or heroes that were specific to individual demes that were be common across festivals
What is our example for a deme ?
Erchia
- male population of 500 with 2,000-3,000 residents
- we can see how religious participation worked
How many days of sacrifice took place at a deme level each year ?
- a calendar dated to the 4th Century BC at Erchia writes that 25 days per year during which they sacrificed 59 animals laid for by wealthier demesmen
Who funded deme sacrifices ?
Wealthier demes men
What epithets of Apollo are worshipped in Erchia ?
- Apoteopaios, averter of evil
- Delphinios, of Delphi
- Lykeios, of wolves
- Nymphehets, leader of the nymphs
- Paion, healer
- Pythios, the Pythian
How did deme level participation tie into polis religion ?
Priests of these cults might also represent the deme at a festival in Athens with Erchia being recorded to have offered sacrifices to gods such as Athena Polias at the Acropolis
