Chapter XLVI: Appendix: V

RITUAL PURIFICATION EFFECTED BY RUNNING WATER, RUBBING WITH ANIMAL OR VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES (~ski/lla~, FIGS), ABSORPTION OF THE _materia peccans_ INTO EGGS.

For the purpose of ritual purification it is necessary to have water drawn from running springs or streams, or from the sea: ~tha/lassa klu/xei pa/nta tanthrô/pôn kaka/~, Eur., _IT._ 1193. (Hence in the exalted {589} semi-oracular language of bardic poetry ~hê ami/antos = tha/lassa~, Aesch., _P._ 578. At a sacrifice ~ho hiareu\s aporrai/netai thala/ssa|~, sacrificial calendar from Kos: _Inscr. Cos_, 38, 23.) Various details on this point in Lomeier, _De lustrat._ c. 17. In the water thus drawn from running sources the power of washing off and carrying away the evil still seemed to be inherent. When the pollution is unusually severe it has to be purged by the water from several running springs: ~krêna/ôn apo\ pe/nte~, Emped. 452 M. = 143 D.; ~apo\ krênô=n triô=n~, Menand., ~Deis.~ 530, 22 K.; Orestes se apud tria flumina circum Hebrum ex response purificavit (from the stain of matricide), Lamprid., _Heliog._ vii, 7--or else at Rhegion in the seven streams which combine to form one river: Varro ap. Prob., _ad Verg._, p. 3, 4 Keil; Sch. Theoc., prol., p. 1, 3 ff. Düb. (and cf. Hermann, _Opusc._ ii, 71 ff.). Even water from fourteen different springs might be used at a purification of murder: Suid. 476 BC Gaisf. (~apo\ di\s hepta kuma/tôn~, conclusion of an iambic or trochaic line). In all this the remarkable persistence of Greek ritual performances is shown once more. Even in a late period the same kathartic rules prevail. An order of the Klarian oracle of about the third century A.D. (ap. Buresch, _Klaros_, p. 9) commands those who seek its aid ~apo\ Naïa/dôn hepta mateu/ein katharo\n po/ton entu/nesthai, ho/n theiô=sai pro/sothen~ (taken from _Il._ ~Ps~ 533, but understood in a temporal sense) ~echrê=n kai\ epessume/nôs aphu/sasthai rhê=nai/ te do/mous ktl.~ And in a magical papyrus (about fourth century), ap. Parthey, _Abh. Berl. Ak._ 1865, p. 126, l. 234-5, instructions are given to collect ~hu/dôr pêgai=on apo\ z' pêgô=n~ for magic purposes. (Then again in mediæval superstition: for the purposes of _hydromantia_ "water must be taken from three running streams, a little from each", etc.--Hartlieb ap. Grimm, p. 1770--probably a survival from classical antiquity: cf. Plin., _NH._ 28, 46, _e tribus puteis_, etc.) Cf. also and in general the completely analogous use of water in old Indian ceremonies of purification: Oldenberg, _Rel. Veda_, 423 ff.; 489.--~_perima/ttein, apoma/ttein_~: wiping-off of the uncleanness: see Wyttenb. ad Plu., _Mor._ vi, pp. 1006-7. In this use _~peripsê=n~_ also occurs: in a transferred sense a ~pharmako/s~ is called a ~peri/psêma = perika/tharma~, _Ep. ad Cor._ 1, 4, 13. Washing-off with bran, earth, etc., is often mentioned. Otherwise the _~ski/lla~_ is used or the bodies of sacrificed dogs: ~eka/thêre/ te/ me kai\ _ape/maxe_ kai\ periê/gnise da|di/ois~ (with ~periê/gn.~) ~kai\ _ski/llê|_~, Luc., _Necyom._ 7. The Superstitious Man is accustomed ~hierei/as kale/sas ski/llê| ê\ _sku/laki_ keleu=sai hauto\n perikatha=rai~, Thphr., _Ch._ 28 (16) fin. All sorts of medicinal properties were attributed to the ~ski/lla~. (The idea is elaborated farcically in the pamphlet of "Pythagoras" ~peri\ ski/llês~ [D.L. viii, 47? ~kê/lês~ Cobet], an extract of which is given by Galen ~p. eupori/st.~ 3, vol. xiv, **576-9 K.) But above all it is regarded as ~katha/rsios~: Artem. iii, 50; ~kathartikê\ pa/sês kaki/as~, Sch. Theoc. v, 121, and cf. Cratin., ~Chei/r.~ 232 K. Hence it is also ~alexipha/rmakon, ho/lê pro\ tô=n thurô=n kremame/nê~, Diosc. ii, 202 fin. (see _Hermes_, 51, 628); such also was the teaching of "Pythagoras": Plin., _NH._ 20, 101; **or it may be buried at the threshold: Ar. ~Danaï/d.~ _fr._ 8 [255 H.-G.]. {590} It is also ~lu/kôn phthartikê/~: Artem. iii, 50 (cf. _Gp._ 15, 1, 6, with notes of Niclas). As being able to keep off daimones (in wolf-form) it was then used in religious "purification".--Figs are also used for the purpose of religious cleansing and scouring (_black_ figs particularly inferum deorum et avertentium in tutela sunt, Macr. 3, 20, 2-3). Figs used ~en katharmoi=s~: Eustath., _Od._, p. 1572, 57 (? is this the meaning of the ~perima/ttein~ of the eyes with figs in Pherecr. ap. Ath. 3, 78 D [132 K.]). Hence ~Zeu\s suka/sios = katha/rsios~ (Eustath.). Figs the best ~alexipha/rmakon~: Arist. ap. Jul., _Ep._ 24, p. 505, 7 ff. From the specially magic properties of the fig comes the idea that fig-trees are never struck by lightning: Plu., _Smp._ 5, 9, p. 684 C; _Gp._ 11, 2, 7; Theoph. Nonn. 260, 288 (and cf. _Rh. Mus._ 50, 584); Lyd., _Mens. fr. fals._ 1, p. 181 W.; 4, 4, p. 69 W. The ~pharmakoi/~ at the Thargelia (above, chap. ix, n. 26) wear strings of figs round their necks (Hellad. ap. Phot., _Bibl._, p. 534a, 5 ff.), and are beaten with branches of the fig-tree (~kra/dai~) and with ~ski/llai~ (Hippon. _frr._ 4, 5, 8; Hsch. ~kradi/ês no/mos~): here again the figs have a kathartic purpose (Müller mistakes this, _Dorians_, i, 346), as is shown also by the presence of ~ski/llai~ as well (cf. in general Theoc. vii, 107; v, 121). Before the ~pharmakoi/~ were driven out of the city as scapegoats they were thus "purified" with the above-mentioned ~kra/dai~ and ~ski/llai~. The same thing is said in the story of the ravens which parodies this expiatory rite. The ravens are offered up to ~Loimo/s~ as a sort of ~pharmakoi/--_perikathai/rontas_ epô|dai=s aphie/nai zô=ntas, kai\ epile/gein tô=| Loimô|; pheu=g' es ko/rakas~ (Arist. _fr._ 454 [496 Tbn.]; for a similar ~apotropiasmo/s (eis ai=gas agri/as)~ see the commentators on Macar. iii, 59, Diogen. v, 49; cf. ~tê\n _no/son_~ (regarded as a daimon), ~phasi/n, es ai=gas tre/psai~, Philostr., _Her._ 179, 8 Kays.).--Rubbing-off of the "impurity" was effected also with the dead bodies of puppies (~ski/llê ê\ sku/laki~, Thphr., _Ch._ 28 [16]). Those ~hagnismou= deo/menoi~ were rubbed down with the bodies of puppies (which had been sacrificed to Hekate): ~perima/ttontai~, and this is ~periskulakismo/s~, Plu., _Q. Rom._ 68, p. 280 C.

It was believed that these materials (wool and the skins of animals were also employed) received into themselves the harmful and polluting substance. This is why _eggs_ are also used as ~katha/rsia~: e.g. in _P. Mag. Lond._, n. 121, l. 522 ap. Kenyon, _Greek papyri in BM._ i, p. 101 (1893): ~gra/phe to\ o/noma eis ô|a\ du/o arrenika\ kai\ tô=| heni\ _perikathai/reis_~ (sic) ~seauto\n ktl.~ More in Lomeier, _Lustr._ (ed. 2 Zutph. 1700), p. 258 f. They were meant to absorb the impurity. ~anela/mbanon ta\ tou= perikatharthe/ntos kaka/~, Auct. ~p. deisid.~ ap. Clem., _Str._ vii, p. 844 P.