ANAKEIA
ANAKEIA (
ἀνάκεια) or ANAKEION
(
ἀνάκειον), a festival of the
Dioscuri, or
Ἄνακτες, as they were
called, at Athens. (
Hesych. sub voce Pollux,
1.37.) Athenaeus (vi. p. 235) mentions a temple of the Dioscuri called
Ἀνάκειον, at Athens, on the northern
slope of the Acropolis; he also informs us (iv. p. 137) that the Athenians,
probably on the occasion of this festival, used to prepare for these heroes
in the Prytaneium a meal consisting of cheese, a barley-cake, ripe figs,
olives, and garlic, in remembrance of the ancient mode of living. These
heroes, however, received the most distinguished honours in the Dorian and
Achaean states, where it may be supposed that every town celebrated a
festival in their honour, though it may not have been under the name of
ἀνάκεια. Pausanias (
10.38,
3) mentions a
festival held at Amphissa, called that of the
ἀνάκτων παίδων: but adds that it was disputed whether they
were the Dioscuri, the Curetes, or the Cabeiri. That the Dioscuri worshipped
in the Doric and Achaean cities were not the same as the Athenian
ἄνακτες, seems clear from Cicero,
de
Nat. Deor. 3.21. (K. F. Hermann,
Gottesd.
Alterth. § 62, n. 27.)
[
L.S]
