Abstract

The episode related by Herodotus (III 48) of the three hundred young Corcyreans saved from being castrated by the Samians is obviously the aition of a Samian festival in honour of Artemis. One has only to translate the elements of the account in terms of ritual to obtain a precise picture of this festival: altar robbery with fighting. A compari- son with Spartan flagellation at the altar of Artemis Orthia supports the initiatory cha- racter of this ritual, which was equally modelled on a real practice, that of bomolochia. A more hypothetical explanation can be given for the presence in the aition of the Corcyreans, Corinthiens and Lydians.