Note 324 — Chapter IV · THE WOMEN’S FESTIVALS. Thesmophoria, Arrephoria, Skirophoria, Stenia, Haloa.

As to the meaning of the difficult word Ἀχαία I can offer nothing satisfactory. It is perhaps worth noting that Athenaeus (III. 74 § 109), on the authority of Semos, mentions a sort of cake called Ἀχαιΐνα, which was made on the occasion of the Thesmophoria; the people who carried it are said to have exclaimed ‘Munch an Achaina full of fat,’ ἐπιλέγοντες τῶν φερόντων ‘Ἀχαΐνην στέατος ἔμπλεων τράγου.’ The scholiast on Ar. Ach. 709 says that Demeter got her name of Achaia ἀπὸ τοῦ κτύπου τῶν κυμβάλων καὶ τυμπάνων τοῦ γενομένου κατὰ ζήτησιν τῆς Κόρης, and he may be right.