Birthdays in the Greek world

[azara]

Dear Amyntoros,I posted this message on the main board as the other thread is sliding down.
I consulted my old Greek dictionary at the word GÇ£ghenethliosGÇ¥, an adjective which associated with GÇ£emeraGÇ¥ (day) means birthday, and found some quotes. I pass them to you as I found them, because I havenGÇÖt yet had time to check.
Aeschylus: Eumenides 7, mention of a birthday present
Plato: Convivium, 203; Xenophon, Cyropaedia 1,3,10: mention of birthday celebrations (ghenethlia).
Eurypides: Ion,653; Plato, Alcibiades 1-¦ 121: mention of sacrifices and celebrations on oneGÇÖs birthday.
I looked at that word because we have it, almost identical, in Italian as a learned archaism, but I donGÇÖt know if there are other Greek words of the same meaning, and my dictionary is only from Greek to Italian.In retrospect, another doubt: do these quotes refer to celebrations for newborn babies only? If this is the case, excuse me.
My best regards Azara

[amyntoros]

Thanks so much for this, Azara. (That must be a wonderful dictionary, indeed!) I'm about to go and check on these references - may take me a while as I don't have all of the books to hand. I'll post later on anything I fin. In the meantime, perhaps there are other Pothosians who are familiar with some of the refs and can let us know if they refer only to the celebrations at the time of the birth.Best regards,Amyntoros

[azara]

The glorious Lorenzo Rocci dictionary is good ideed, the way they used to be: very rich of examples, very laconic in explanations, which are often in Latin. I forgot to add that there are various examples of later authors, such as Lucian, Appian, Nonnus of Panopolis,Alciphron, Matthew the Evangelist who use the term "ghenethlios emera", or its variants, just like the Latins used "dies natalis", which undoubtedly means birthday in the modern sense, so to speak. The earlier examples are more uncertain; there is also a reference to the Palatine Anthology and, since it contains material of different periods,that might be useful:
Palatine Anthology, 6, 321 and 6, 325I'll do some of the checking as well, and then we'll compare notes. My best regards Azara

[amyntoros]

Hi Azara,

IGÇÖve finally had a chance to look up the references you posted here. Two are about the birthdays of gods GÇô Aeschylus tells of a gift given at the birth of Apollo, and Plato in his Symposium (Convivum) tells of Eros being born on AphroditeGÇÖs birthday. (We can add to this the known celebrations of the birthdays of various gods such as AthenaGÇÖs at the Panathenaia.) The quote from Euripides is about a celebration at the birth of a child GÇô you did suspect some of the quotes may refer only to this GÇô while Xenophon writes about an Asian (Persian?) kingGÇÖs birthday feast, and Plato in Alcibiades tells how the whole of Asia celebrated the Persian kingGÇÖs birthday with sacrifice and feasting.So. . . we have birthday celebrations for gods and Persian kings and none for the average man, but the question arises; did the Macedonian kings also celebrate their birthdays? I found a further mention of an inscription giving a list of victors in a festival celebrating the birthday of Ptolemy Philadelphus, however IGÇÖve no idea if this was an Egyptian tradition built around the deification of the king (a celebration of the GÇ£livingGÇ¥ godGÇÖs birthday), or if Philadelphus was continuing a Macedonian tradition. And then again it could also have been a celebration in the Persian fashion, assuming that Alexander had adopted it after his conquest and Ptolemy Soter copied him, as he was wont to do!IGÇÖd like to find more early references to birthdays, if I can, and in the meantime curiosity compels me to take another look at the Alexander histories and see if any of his frequent sacrifices along with games and races took place around the presumed date of his birth. It wonGÇÖt prove anything, but itGÇÖll be interesting. :-)Best regards,Amyntoros

[azara]

Thank you, Amyntoros, for the thorough work you did; I could be of little help because I had another unexpected spell in hospital: nothing serious, but a nuisance anyway.
I think that there is a possibility that A. celebrated his birthday, especially after achieving the status of a god; by the way, couldn't it be a part of the divine honours he requested from Greek cities near the end of his life? With my best regards Azara