The Kakodaimonistai ( ancient Greek κακοδαιμονισταί, singular κακοδαιμονιστής, worshippers of the evil daemon) were a dining club in ancient Athens that consisted of the poet Kinesias and his companions Apollophanes, Mystallides, and Lysitheus. They are attested in a speech by Lysias criticizing Kinesias. They chose the name to ridicule the gods and Athenian custom. [1] One of the ways in which they did this, was by dining on unlucky days (ἡμέραι ἀποφράδες), holidays set apart for fasting, in order to test the gods. [2] All of the kakodaimonistai except Kinesias died young, possibly due to excessive consumption of alcohol. [3]
The name Kakodaimonistai, which as been translated as "devil-worshippers" [2] or "the bad luck club", [4] was a parody of the name Agathodaimonistai used by some respectable social clubs. [2] Such monthly banqueting fraternities were common at the time. [5]
References
- ^ Lysias, fragment 143.
- ^ a b c Dodds 1951, p. 188.
- ^ Meijer 1981, p. 216.
- ^ Sedley 2013, p. 6.
- ^ Mikalson 1975, p. 22.
Works cited
- Dodds, E. R. (1951). The Greeks and the irrational. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-00327-9.
- Hadjimichael, Theodora A. (2019-08-20). "On Kinesias' Musicopoetic Paranomia". Greek and Roman Musical Studies. 7 (2): 284–307. doi: 10.1163/22129758-12341351. eISSN 2212-9758. ISSN 2212-974X.
- Meijer, P. A. (1981-01-01). "Philosophers, inellectuals and religion in Hellas". Faith, Hope and Worship. BRILL. pp. 216–263. ISBN 978-90-04-29669-5.
- Mikalson, Jon D. (1975). "Ήμέρα άποφράσ". The American Journal of Philology. 96 (1). JSTOR 293586.
- Sedley, David (2013-11-21). From the Pre-Socratics to the Hellenistic Age. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199644650.013.002.
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