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On this page: Hieromanteia – Hieromenia – Hieromnemones – Hieronicae – Hierophantes – Hieropoii – Hierosylias Graphe

IIIEROMNEMONES.

and even persons of the highest families sent their daughters to the temples to sacrifice their chastity to the gods, at least till the time of their marriage. This practice of females offering their chastity to the gods was of ancient origin in the East, and seems to have arisen from the notion that the gods ought to have the first-fruits of every thing. The custom prevailed at Babylon (lierod. i. 399; Strab. xvi. p. 745), as well as in many other places. (Comp. Heyne,De Bahyloniorum institute rcligioso^&c. inComment. Societ. Getting.vol. xvi. p. 30, &c.) The Greek temples had of course slaves to perform the lowest services (Pans. x. 32. § 8) ; but we also find mention in some Greek temples of free persons of both sexes, who had dedicated them­selves voluntarily to the services of some god, and to whom the term ofhieroduli was generally ap­plied. Masters, who wished to give slaves their freedom, but were prevented by various causes from manumitting them, presented them to some temple astepofiovXoiunder the form of a gift or a sale, and thus procured for them liberty in reality. Such cases of manumission frequently occur in in­scriptions, and are explained at length by Curtius(de Mamimissionesacra Graecorum,in hisAnccdotaDelvhica,Berlin, 1843, p. 10, &c. ; comp. Pint.A mat.c. 21, t&'z>&\\a>ve\evOepot ical &(f>€TOcriv].The femalehieroduli, who prostituted their persons, are only found in Greece connected with the worship of divinities who were of Eastern origin, or many of whose religious rites were borrowed from the East. This was the case with Aphrodite, who was originally an Oriental goddess. At her temple at Corinth there were a thousand /epoSouAot Ircupca, who were the ruin of many a stranger who visited Corinth, and there was also a large number of the same class of women at her temple at Eryx, in Sicily. (Strab. viii. p. 378, vi. p. 272, comp. xii. p. 559.) (Hirt,Die Hierodulen,with appendices by Bockh and Buttmann, Berlin, 1818 ; Kreuser,Der Hellcnen Priestersiaat, mit vorziiglicher Ruck-sicht auf die, Hierodulen,Mainz, 1824 ; Movers,Die Ptionizier,p. 359, &c. ; Hermann,Lehrbuch d. yottesdienstlichen A/terthiimer d. Griechen,§ 20, n. 13—16.)

HIEROMANTEIA(lepo^avr^a).[!)ivina-

TIO.]

HIEROMENIA (fepo/w/i/ia), was the time of the month at which the sacred festivals of the Greeks began, and in consequence of which the whole month received the name offifyv hp6s.It was a part of the international law of Greece that all hostilities should cease for the time between states who took part in these festivals, so that the inhabitants of the different states might go and return in safety. Theliierorneniaeof the four great national festivals were of course of the most importance: they were proclaimed by heralds (o-7roi/§o(/>dpot), who visited the different states of Greece for the purpose. The suspension of hosti­lities was called e5/ce%ei/na. (Pind.Isthm.ii. 23 ; Strab. viii. p. 343 ; Krause,Olympia,p. 40, &c. ; and the articleolympia.)

HIEROMNEMONES(lepo^^oves^were the more honourable of the two classes of repre­sentatives who composed the Amphictyonic council. An account of them is given under amphictyones. We also read of Hieronmemones in Grecian states, distinct from the Amphictyonic representatives of this name. Thus the priests of Poseidon, at

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I1IEROSYLIAS GRAPIIE.

Megara, were calledhieromnemones (Pint.Symp.viii. 8. § 4) ; and at Byzantium, which was a colony of Megara, the chief magistrate in the state appears to have been called by this name. In a decree of Byzantium, quoted by Demosthenes(pro Coron.p. 255. 20 ; compare Polyb. iv. 52. § 4), an hieromnemon is mentioned, who gives his name to the year ; and we also find the same word on the coins of this city. (Eckhel,Doctr. Num.vol. ii. p. 31, &c.) At Chalcedon, another colony of Megara, an hieromnemon also existed, as is proved\)ja decree which is still extant. (Miiller,Dor.iii.9.§ 10.) An inscription found in Thasos also men­tions an hieromnemon who presided over the trea­sury. (Bockh,Corp. Inscrip.vol. ii. pp. 3 83, 184.)

HIERONICAE. [athletae.]

HIEROPHANTES (fepo^^s). [ELE[;_

SINIA.]

HIEROPOII (t'fpoTrotof), were sacrificers at Athens, of whom ten were appointed every year, and conducted all the usual sacrifices, as well as those belonging to the quinquennial festivals, with the exception of those of thePanathenaea. (Pollux, viii. 107 ; Photius,s. v.'lepoTrotoi.) They are frequently mentioned in inscriptions. (Bockh,Corp. Inscr.vol. i. p. 250.) The most honourable of these officers were the sacrificers for the revered goddesses or Eumenides(iepoiroiol tollscre/ii/cuy id-ecus), who were chosen by open vote, and pro­bably only performed the commencement of the sacrifice, and did not kill the victim themselves. (Dem.c. Meld.p. 552. 6 j Bockh,Pull. Econ. of Athens^p. 216.)

HIEROSYLIASGRAPHE(lepo<rv\ias ypa-</>??). The action for sacrilege is distinguished from thek\otttjsiep&v^p^aTco*/ypaty-f],in that it was directed against the offence of robbery, aggravated by violence and desecration, to which the penalty of death was awarded. In the latter action, on the contrary, the theft or embezzlement, and .its subject-matter,onlywere taken into con­ sideration, and the dicasts had a power of assessing the penalty upon the conviction of the offender. With respect to thetribunal before which a case of sacrilege might have been tried, some circum­ stances seem to have produced considerable dif­ ferences. Theypad>7)might be pieferred to the king arch on, who would thereupon assemble the areiopagus and preside at the trial, or to one of thethesmothetae in his character of chief of an ordi­ nary Heliastic body ; or, if the prosecution assumed the form of anapagoge or ephegesis, would fall within the jurisdiction of the Eleven. Before the first-mentioned court it is conjectured (Meier,Att.Proc.p. 307) that the sacrilege of the alleged spoliation, as well as the fact itself, came in ques­ tion ; that thethesmothetae took cognizance of those cases in which the sacrilege was obvious if the fact were established ; and that the Eleven had jurisdiction when the criminal appeared in the character of a common robber or burglar, surprised in the commission of the offence. In all these cases the convict was put to death, his property confiscated, and his body denied burial within the Attic territory. There is a speech of Lysias (507-0Callia)extant upon this subject, but it adds little to our knowledge ; except that slaves were allowed upon that occasion to appear as informers against their master — a resident alien — and an­ ticipated their emancipation in the event of his conviction, [J. S. M.]