Kronia

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The Kronia (Ancient Greek: Κρόνια) was an Athenian festival held in honor of Kronos (Cronus) on the 12th day of Hekatombaion, the first month of the Attic calendar, and roughly equivalent to the latter part of July and first part of August.[a]

The festival was also celebrated in parts of Ionia, and in these places the month was called Kronion, named after the festival.[2]:  82 [3]:  385 [b] Scholars usually interpret it as a celebration of the mid-summer (first) harvest.[2]:  38 

Details from ancient sources[]

The Roman playwright Accius says that to celebrate the Kronia, "In nearly all fields and towns they happily feast upon banquets, and everyone waits upon his own servants."[4] Slaves and the free, rich and poor, all dined together and played games.[d]

The freedom from work and social egalitarianism enjoyed on the day represented the conditions of the mythical Golden Age, when Kronos (Cronus) still ruled the world. In the Golden Age, the earth had spontaneously supported human life, and since labor was unneeded, slavery had not existed:[e]

"It was a period of thorough harmony in which hierarchical, exploitative, and predatory relationships were nonexistent."[5][3]:  385, 391 [note 34] 

(Accius describes the Kronia in order to explain its perceived influence on the Roman Saturnalia.[6][e])

The Kronia was a time for social restraints to be temporarily forgotten. Slaves were released from their duties, and participated in the festivities alongside the slave-owners. Slaves were “permitted to run riot through the city, shouting and making a noise.”[7] Other than the Kronia, there is only limited evidence of religious devotion to Kronos (Cronus).[2]:  83 

See also[]

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ For example, in 2021, the Kronia would fall on 21 July 2021.[1]
  2. ^ Since the Koronia was significant enough to name the whole month Koronion,[2]:  82 [3]:  385  (something analogous to saying “Christmas” instead of “December”) the event was important to the people of Ionia, regardless of the importance of Kronos / Cronus himself (which scholars find little evidence for[2]:  83 ).
  3. ^ The Saturnalia was held in honor of Saturn, the Roman's equivalent of Kronos / Cronus.
  4. ^ Kronia games included dice (kyboi), knucklebones (astragaloi), and the board game pessoi.[citation needed]
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b The festivities are also described by the Roman-era Greek writer Lucian,[4] who was probably describing the Saturnalia of his day rather than the Attic-Ionic Kronia.

References[]

  1. ^ "Attic Calendar". EpistemeAcademy.org. Calendars. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Bremmer, J.N. (2008). Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible and the Ancient Near East. Brill. pp. 38, 82–83.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Hansen, William F. (2002). Ariadne's Thread: A guide to international tales found in classical literature. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 385, 391.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Lucius Accius. "fragment 3". [no title?]; cited in Bremmer (2008).[2]:  38  Accius' purpose is to claim the Kronia as an influence on the Roman Saturnalia.[c]
  5. ^ Graf, Fritz. "Myth". Religions of the Ancient World. pp. 52, 268.[full citation needed]
  6. ^ Bremmer, J.N. "Ritual". Religions of the Ancient World. p. 38.[full citation needed]
  7. ^ Burkert, Walter (1985). Greek Religion. Harvard University Press. p. 231.


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