Note 1165 — Chapter III · CONDITION OF UNMARRIED WOMEN.—LOVE.

The religious rites in which the women of Athens officiated were numerous and important: 1. The orgiastic ceremonies in honour of Pan were performed with shouts and clamour, it not being permitted to approach that divinity in silence.—Sch. Aristoph. Lysistr. 2. They celebrated sacred rites in honour of Aphrodite Colias, id. ibid. 3. Another divinity, in whose honour they congregated together, was Ginesyllis a goddess in the train of Aphrodite, who obtained the name ἀπὸ τῆς γενέσεως τῶν παίδων. id. ibid. Cf. Luc. Amor. § 42. 4. The part they took in the orgies of Dionysos is well known. 5. They, too, were the principal actors in the festival of Adonis. Plut. Alcib. § 18. and to mention no more they may strictly be said to have constituted the principal attraction of the Panathenaic procession.