''Pseudanor'' (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Ψευδάνωρ
pseudo- + anēr "false man", metaphorically an "effeminate man") was a Macedonian

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

applied to

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

. Other Macedonian appellations to the god were ''Agrios'' (Ἄγριος) "wild" (as god of the countryside) and ''Erikryptos'' (Ἐρίκρυπτος) "completely hidden" (as the god hidden from the frenzied women roaming the countryside by the

kourotrophos Kourotrophos ( 'child nurturer') is the name that was given in ancient Greece to gods and goddesses whose properties included their ability to protect young people. Numerous gods are referred to by the epithet such as Athena, Apollo, Hermes, He ...

''Kala Thea'', the Beautiful Goddess, and raised as a girl: the transition to ''pseudanor''). All of the names of Dionysus above are attested in four inscriptions from

Beroea Beroea (or Berea, ) was an ancient city of the Hellenistic period and Roman Empire now known as Veria (or Veroia) in Macedonia, Northern Greece. It is a small city on the eastern side of the Vermio Mountains north of Mount Olympus. The town is m ...

c. 248–264 AD. However, the history of ''Pseudanor'' was certainly much older. The Macedonian historian

Polyaenus Polyaenus or Polyenus ( ; see ae (æ) vs. e; , "much-praised") was a 2nd-century Roman Macedonian author and rhetorician, known best for his ''Stratagems in War'' (), which has been preserved. He was born in Bithynia, Asia Minor. The ''Suda'' c ...

relates an aetiological myth:

In the reign of Argaeus, the
Illyria In classical and late antiquity, Illyria (; , ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; , ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyrians. The Ancient Gree ...
n
Taulantii Taulantii or Taulantians ('swallow-men'; Ancient Greek: , or , ; ) were an Illyrians, Illyrian people that lived on the Adriatic coast of southern Illyria (modern Albania). They dominated at various times much of the plain between the rivers Dri ...
under Galaurus invaded Macedonia. Argaeus, whose force was very small, directed the Macedonian virgins (parthenoi), as the enemy advanced, to show themselves from mount Ereboea (Ἐρέβοια). They accordingly did so; and in a numerous body they poured down, covered by wreaths, and brandishing their thyrsi instead of spears. Galaurus, intimidated by the numbers of those, whom instead of women he supposed to be men, sounded a retreat; whereupon the Taulantii, throwing away their weapons, and whatever else might retard their escape, abandoned themselves to a precipitate flight. Argaeus, having thus obtained a victory without the hazard of a battle, erected a temple to Dionysus Pseudanor; and ordered the priestesses of the god, who were before called ''Klοdones'' by the Macedonians, to ever afterwards be distinguished by the title of ''Mimallones''.

The ''Klodones'' and the ''Mimallones'' are also mentioned by

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

in his biography of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

, one of his ''

Parallel Lives * Culture of ancient Greece Culture of ancient Rome Ancient Greek biographical works Ethics literature History books about ancient Rome Cultural depictions of Gaius Marius Cultural depictions of Mark Antony Cultural depictions of Cicero ...

''. The aetiological myth in Polyaenus may have originated or been adapted in the '' Aitia'' ('Causes") of

Callimachus Callimachus (; ; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar, and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works, most of which ...

, but Polyaenus mentions both important points: Dionysus's ambivalent sexuality and the masculine qualities of the

Maenads In Greek mythology, maenads (; ) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of his retinue, the ''thiasus''. Their name, which comes from :wikt:μαίνομαι#Ancient Greek, μαίνομαι (''maínomai'', “to ...

. This female-male-female transvestite ritual (it was only natural that Dionysus presided over it)Not uncommon in other parts of Greece: Sparta, Argos, Tegea etc. of the Klodones-Mimallones probably marked the transition of the Macedonian girls to adulthood.

References

Bibliography

* Dillon, Matthew
Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion
* Hatzopoulos, Miltiades B., "Macedonian Cults" (as "Cultes et rites de passage en Macédoine"), Athens & Paris, 1994 ** Devine, A. M.
"Review: Macedonian Cults"
''The Classical Review'', New Series, Vol. 46, No. 2 (1996), pp. 279–281, Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association * Macurdy, Grace Harriet
"Klodones, Mimallones and Dionysus Pseudanor"
''The Classical Review'', Vol. 27, No. 6 (Sep., 1913), pp. 191–192, Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association * Padilla, Mark William (editor)
"Rites of Passage in Ancient Greece: Literature, Religion, Society"

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...

Press, 1999. {{ISBN, 0-8387-5418-X *

Stratagem
Book 4.1
http://www.ipet.gr/veroia//show_rec.php?id=va2k00036 Greek Text] Epithets of Dionysus Mythology of Macedonia (ancient kingdom) Religion in ancient Macedonia Sexuality in classical antiquity

See also

References

Bibliography