Mélange of Melanaegis and Leukaspis: On the Aetiology of the Apatouria Festival

Abstract

The paper discusses the sources of the aetiological myth of the Apatouria festival. The story as we know it from late sources associates the festivity with Dionysus Melanaegis. The presence of the god in the story is probably not due to the character of the religious cult, but to various literary associations.