Note 112 — Chapter I · DRAMATIC CONTESTS AT ATHENS

[Nilsson (Studia de Dionysiis Atticis, p. 108) shows that the festival was probably not celebrated in all the demes at precisely the same time, though it always took place after the autumn sowing, being in fact in origin a ceremony designed to secure the fertility of the new-sown seed. Cf. Plat. Rep. v. p. 475 D ὥσπερ δὲ ἀπομεμισθωκότες τὰ ὦτα ἐπακοῦσαι πάντων χορῶν περιθέουσι τοῖς Διονυσίοις οὔτε τῶν κατὰ πόλεις οὔτε τῶν κατὰ κώμας ἀπολειπόμενοι. There must also have been time for the troupes of actors to move from one place to another.]