there was a festival at every stage
in the growth of the grape and in the making of the wine, and especially
at the approach of vintage time, and when the vintage was put into the
press. There were processions and rustic dances, and all the usual
features of the carnival, as the revellers became more and more under
the influence of the god. In these revels, women consecrated to this
divinity, and called Bacchantes or Maenads, formed a special group. The
symbol of their worship was a thyrsus--a pole ending with a bunch of
vine or ivy leaves, or with a pine cone and a fillet. At intervals the
procession would stop, and one of the revellers would mount a wagon or a
platform and recount to those below, disguised as Pans and Satyrs, the
adventures of the god of wine and joy. From these rustic masquerades
emerged in time both Tragedy and Comedy.

Of the festivals in the city, the Anthesteria, or Feast of Flowers, was
of most interest to the fair sex. This festival occurred in the
spring--when the preceding year's wine was tasted for the first
time--and lasted three days. Its principal feature was the Feast of
Beakers, which began at sunset with a great procession. Those who took
part in it appeared, wearing wreaths of ivy and bearing torches, in the
Outer Ceramicus. This festival was in the especial charge of the
king-archon, and the wife of that magistrate played the chief role in
the ceremonies. Maidens and matrons appeared, disguised as Horae, Nymphs,
or Bacchantes, and crowded round the triumphant car on which the ancient
image of Dionysus, was conveyed to the town. At a certain stage in the
procession, the king-archon's wife, known as the Basilissa, was given a
seat in the car, beside the image of Dionysus, for on this day she was
the symbolical bride of the god. Thus, on this joyous wedding day, the
nuptial procession conducted the car to the temple of the god in Limnai.

In the inmost shrine of the temple a mystic sacrifice for the welfare of
the State was offered by the Basilissa and the fourteen ladies of honor
expressly appointed by the archon for this purpose. After the sacrifice,
with which numerous secret ceremonies were connected, the mystic union
of Dionysus, and the Basilissa was celebrated, symbolizing the sacred
marriage of the god with his much-loved city. On the following day,
among other ceremonies, the ladies of honor offered sacrifices to
Dionysus, on various specially erected altars.

These were joy