Le festin d'Icarios

myminifactory

A poet receives the drunken god, accompanied by wild satyrs and frenzied maenads. It is believed that Icarios, an Athenian hero who cultivated the vineyards in Greece, was honored. The community of Icaria was renowned for its Dionysiac worship and appeared to be the first settlement in Attica to welcome the god. The people of Icaria claimed their town's name came from a local hero, Icarios, who befriended and hosted the young Dionysus. To express his gratitude, Dionysus gifted Icarios with a grapevine and taught him how to produce wine. Icarios then shared this knowledge with his neighbors, who subsequently drank too much of their own wine, became intoxicated, suspected Icarios of poisoning them, and killed him. Every autumn, the people of Icaria celebrate Dionysus (and probably the story of Icarios) in a festival of drinking, feasting, singing, and dancing. This rural celebration appears to have inspired similar festivals throughout Attica and eventually led to the establishment of the City Dionysia - a spring festival honoring Dionysus held in the city of Athens. Ancient Greek tradition holds that an Icarian named Thespis was the first actor to portray a character within a narrative. The Roman poet Horace wrote in his late 1st century BC work, "Ars Poetica" (275-7), that Thespis traveled through Attica with his fellow performers on a wagon. They delivered street theater performances in the central market of Athens but by 534 BC, Thespis reportedly received an award at the City Dionysia - the first for performance of a tragedy.