Note 1348 — Chapter VI · THE BENEFIT OF DISSOLUTION.

The classical meaning of κόλλυβα was ‘small coins.’ The scholiast on Aristoph. Plut. 768 mentions κόλλυβα among the καταχύσματα thrown over a new slave on his introduction to the household. These consisted mainly of sweetmeats, etc. (cf. op. cit. 798) whence apparently Hesychius (s.v. κόλλυβα) explains that word by τρωγάλια. More probably small coins were thrown along with various sweetmeats; for the kindred custom of throwing καταχύσματα over a bride on her entry into her new home has continued down to the present day, and these certainly now comprise small change as well as sticky edibles.