Payment for services rendered

Written by thehouseofvines

So I’m looking through a collection of inscriptions when I come across this list of priestly perquisites and other sacrificial expenses for the deme of Aixone in Attica, which includes the following:

For the priestess of Dionysos Anthios: as priestly emoluments: 5 dr.; the skin of the he-goat; on the table, a thigh, a side of hip, a half-head stuffed with intestines. (CGRN 57)

In all my time serving Dionysos and his community no one has given me half a goat’s head stuffed with intestines.

10 thoughts on “Payment for services rendered”

  1. They sell some at the African market in Springfield. When I get some money I’ll buy you a goat head and I’ll see if they can throw in some intestines

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  3. I wonder if it was cooked for gifting, the half goat head I mean. Oh dear. I assume it was a goat head. What if it wasn’t?

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    1. The scholar who was analyzing the inscription said that while it was possibly presented as is, it was also possible that they made it into a kind of sausage or headcheese. These are the fascinating details of ancient religion we don’t often consider – the sounds and sights and smells of it, and the small, practical aspects they didn’t bother writing down because they were so commonplace.

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  4. Could make for a very interesting ‘church’ cookbook for fundraisers–Dionysian goat headcheese; “barley again?”, transforming a staple into a dish the kids will beg for; 10 delicious ways to cook goat thigh.

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