Ascolia, in

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cu ...

, was a yearly

feast A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...

that the peasants of

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean ...

celebrated in honor of

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

. The rites included sacrificing a goat, chosen because goats were prone to eating and destroying grapevines, and using its skin to make a football, which was filled with wine and smeared in oil. Festival participants then competed against each other by trying to leap onto it in a game that gave the festival its name (''askoliazein'', ἀσκωλιάζειν); the one who remained standing at the end of the contest won the wineskin as a prize. Participants also painted their faces with wine dregs, sang hymns, and recited satirical poetry. The Atticans also made icons of Dionysus to hang in their vineyards to turn in the wind, which were called ''aiorai'' (αἰώραι). George Spence suggested that this was due to a popular belief that the god ensured fertility of any field he faced, while

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...

speculated that the icons were intended as an offering to the spirits of the dead who had committed suicide by hanging. The festival was eventually introduced into Italy as

Vinalia The Vinalia were Roman festivals of the wine harvest, wine vintage and gardens, held in honour of Jupiter and Venus. The ''Vinalia prima'' ("first Vinalia"), also known as the ''Vinalia urbana'' ("Urban Vinalia") was held on 23 April to bless an ...

, and the ''aiorai'' became known as ''oscilla.'' The chief magistrate, or demarch, of a

deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and ear ...

conducted the festival, while the deme paid for the expenses.

References

*
''Encyclopaedia Perthensis: Or, Universal Dictionary of the Arts, Sciences, Literature, &c.'', vol. 2
(1816).
Biblioteca Classica: Or, A Classical Dictionary. Anthon, Charles, ed. vol. 1.
(1831).
Popular English Specimens of the Greek Dramatic Poets.
Aeschylus. (1831). * Ancient Attica Festivals in ancient Athens Greek festivals of Dionysus {{Reli-festival-stub