The Kronia ( Ancient Greek: Κρόνια) was an Athenian festival held in honor of Kronos ( Cronus) on the 12th day of Hekatombaion, the first month of the Attic calendar, and roughly equivalent to the latter part of July and first part of August. [a]
The festival was also celebrated in parts of Ionia, and in these places the month was called Kronion, named after the festival. [2]: 82 [3]: 385 [b] Scholars usually interpret it as a celebration of the mid-summer (first) harvest. [2]: 38
The Roman playwright Accius says that to celebrate the Kronia, "In nearly all fields and towns they happily feast upon banquets, and everyone waits upon his own servants." [5] Slaves and the free, rich and poor, all dined together and played games. [d]
The freedom from work and social egalitarianism enjoyed on the day represented the conditions of the mythical Golden Age, when Kronos (Cronus) still ruled the world. [6] In the Golden Age, the earth had spontaneously supported human life, and since labor was unneeded, slavery had not existed. [e] William Hansen describes the Golden Age of Kronos as "a period of thorough harmony in which hierarchical, exploitative, and predatory relationships were nonexistent." [3]: 385, 391 [note 34]
The Kronia was a time for social restraints to be temporarily forgotten. Slaves were released from their duties, and participated in the festivities alongside the slave-owners. Slaves were "permitted to run riot through the city, shouting and making a noise." [7] Other than the Kronia, there is only limited evidence of religious devotion to Kronos (Cronus). [2]: 83
The Kronia ( Ancient Greek: Κρόνια) was an Athenian festival held in honor of Kronos ( Cronus) on the 12th day of Hekatombaion, the first month of the Attic calendar, and roughly equivalent to the latter part of July and first part of August. [a]
The festival was also celebrated in parts of Ionia, and in these places the month was called Kronion, named after the festival. [2]: 82 [3]: 385 [b] Scholars usually interpret it as a celebration of the mid-summer (first) harvest. [2]: 38
The Roman playwright Accius says that to celebrate the Kronia, "In nearly all fields and towns they happily feast upon banquets, and everyone waits upon his own servants." [5] Slaves and the free, rich and poor, all dined together and played games. [d]
The freedom from work and social egalitarianism enjoyed on the day represented the conditions of the mythical Golden Age, when Kronos (Cronus) still ruled the world. [6] In the Golden Age, the earth had spontaneously supported human life, and since labor was unneeded, slavery had not existed. [e] William Hansen describes the Golden Age of Kronos as "a period of thorough harmony in which hierarchical, exploitative, and predatory relationships were nonexistent." [3]: 385, 391 [note 34]
The Kronia was a time for social restraints to be temporarily forgotten. Slaves were released from their duties, and participated in the festivities alongside the slave-owners. Slaves were "permitted to run riot through the city, shouting and making a noise." [7] Other than the Kronia, there is only limited evidence of religious devotion to Kronos (Cronus). [2]: 83