Note 374 — Chapter I · CONDITION OF THE POOR.

These suppers were eaten by the poor, together with the eggs and other small offerings used in purifying places. Luc. Dial. Mort. i. § 1. Catapl. § 7. Lomeier, de Lustrat. c. xxi. p. 258, seq. Cakes called Amphiphontes were offered to Artemis within a circle of burning torches. These offerings were made in the temples, and on cross-roads, at the full moon, when the sun, rising ere the moon sets, there is constant light throughout the twenty-four hours, which was signified by the ring of torches; the whole round of the day being filled with light. In the island of Hecatè, on the coast of Delos, the Delians used to dedicate offerings to Iris, of cakes called Basynias, made with wheaten flour and honey, the offering called cokkora, a dried fig, and three walnuts. Athen. xiv. 53. The Athenians, when sacrificing to the Seasons, offered up boiled meat, and not roasted, as on other occasions; praying to be protected from the heats which dry up and destroy everything, and to be blessed with moderate warmth, to ripen and bring everything to perfection. Id. xiv. 72.