Hymnia (Ancient Greek: Ὑμνία) was an epithet of the Greek goddess Artemis under which she was worshipped throughout Arcadia. She had a temple someplace between Orchomenus and Mantineia. We know from the geographer Pausanias that Orchomenus at least used to hold festivals in her honor.[1]

The priests and priestesses of Hymnia were at first always virgins who were to remain celibate in the priesthood.[2] They were also subject to high standards of propriety, such as being forbidden to enter into the home of a private individual.[3] This lifetime celibacy was fairly unusual for ancient Greek priesthoods.[4]

In the early 7th century BCE, after the king Aristocrates of Orchomenus raped one of the priestesses in the temple,[5] it was deemed that the priestess should always be a married woman,[6] or, according to some, an elderly woman,[7] or one who had simply ceased or had had "enough" sex with men.[8][9]

The sanctuary of Artemis Hymnia is believed to have been near the modern town of Levidi, on the northern slope of Mt. Anchisia.[10][11]

References

  1. ^ Perlman, Paula Jean (2000). "Theorodokoi (Type Two)". City and Sanctuary in Ancient Greece: The Theorodokia in the Peloponnese. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 17. ISBN 9783525252185. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  2. ^ Brulé, Pierre (2003). "The feminine and the sacred". Women of Ancient Greece. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 9780748679843. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  3. ^ Jevons, F. B. (2014). An Introduction to the History of Religion. Routledge Revivals. Routledge. ISBN 9781317600053. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  4. ^ Dillon, Matthew (2003). Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion. Taylor & Francis. p. 75. ISBN 9781134365098. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  5. ^ Jevons, Frank Byron; Gardner, Percy (1895). A Manual of Greek Antiquities. Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 203. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  6. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece viii. 5. § 8, 12. § 3, 13. §§ 1,4.
  7. ^ Budin, Stephanie Lynn (2015). "Artemis and Women". Artemis. Taylor & Francis. p. 111. ISBN 9781317448884. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
  8. ^ Humphreys, David; de Montfaucon, Bernard (1725). The Supplement to Antiquity Explained, and Represented in Sculptures. Vol. 2. p. 136. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
  9. ^ Fant, Maureen B.; Lefkowitz, Mary R., eds. (2016). Women's Life in Greece and Rome: A Source Book in Translation. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 366. ISBN 9781472578495. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
  10. ^ Donohue, A. A. (2005). "The Statue from Levidhi". Greek Sculpture and the Problem of Description. Cambridge University Press. p. 124. ISBN 9780521840842. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  11. ^ Pausanias (1897). Description of Greece, commentary by JG Frazer. Translated by James George, Frazer. Retrieved 2021-09-10.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Schmitz, Leonhard (1870). "Hymnia". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 2. p. 537.

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