§ 7 The Lenaea
The Lenaea was a festival in honour of Dionysus Lenaeus.83 It was celebrated, at any rate, during the earliest times, in a sacred enclosure called the Lenaeum.84 Hence the feast was also termed the ‘Contest at the Lenaeum’, or the ‘Epilenaean Dionysia’; and the poet who won a prize there was said to have been ‘victorious at the Lenaeum’.85 The site of the Lenaeum is unfortunately a matter in much dispute, and no certain conclusion has been arrived at. Except that it was in or close to the market-place, the site of which is itself uncertain, nothing definite can be said about it.
The Lenaea was a winter gathering. It was held in the month of Gamelion, at a time corresponding to the end of January.86 The weather was still often stormy, and the sea was not yet considered safe for voyagers.87 Consequently there were few visitors in Athens. The festival was a domestic sort of holiday, confined to the Athenians themselves. The proceedings were simple and unpretentious, as compared with the splendid ceremonial and vast audiences at the City Dionysia. Aristophanes, in the Acharnians, which was produced at the Lenaea, says he can now abuse Athens as much as he likes, without being accused of degrading her in the eyes of foreign Greeks.88 The entertainments at the Lenaea consisted of a procession, and of contests in tragedy and comedy.89 The procession was not an impressive spectacle, like that at the City Dionysia, but was conducted in primitive fashion by men who drove about in wagons, and assailed the bystanders with abuse and ridicule.90 The festival as a whole was much shorter than the City Dionysia.
The early history of tragedy at the Lenaea is veiled in obscurity. The first piece of information on the subject which we possess belongs to the latter part of the fifth century. It consists of a record of the tragic performances at the Lenaea for the years 419 and 418.91 In both these years the number of poets who competed was two, and each of them exhibited three tragedies.92 There is no mention of a satyric play. Again, we are told that in 416 Agathon won a tragic victory at the Lenaea.93 These two notices comprise all that is known about tragedy at this festival during the fifth century. They appear to prove that towards the close of the century the tragic contests had become a regular institution, though the number of poets and plays was much smaller than at the City Dionysia. Whether the contests were of recent origin, or reached back for many years, cannot be ascertained. During the fourth century new tragedies continued to be produced at the Lenaea without any cessation. In 367 Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, won the tragic prize there. Aphareus, who flourished about 350, exhibited there on two occasions. Theodectes, the pupil of Aristotle, obtained one victory at the Lenaea; Astydamas, his contemporary, obtained seven.94 As to the arrangement of the contest during this period, and the number of plays produced, there is no information. But it is probable that the new tragedies were preceded by an old one, as at the City Dionysia. After the fourth century nothing further is known about the connexion of the Lenaea with the tragic drama.95 The festival continued to be celebrated down to the second century A.D., and possibly later.96 But whether tragedies, either old or new, were still included in the programme, is quite uncertain.
Comedy was the special product of the Lenaea, and was regarded as of more importance than tragedy. It was doubtless at this festival that comic contests were first regularly organized. The date is not recorded. But they must have been in existence at any rate as early as 463,97 since at that time they were already included in the City Dionysia. There is also another piece of evidence. Chionides, one of the early comic poets, is said to have begun to exhibit plays in 487. It is unlikely that the exact year of his first appearance would have been remembered, unless it had referred to a regular public contest. Hence we may probably assume that comic contests had been established as early as 487; and if so, they may have been established at the Lenaea.98 But they cannot go back beyond about 500, since comedy in general was a later institution than tragedy. The first definite and dated record of a comic contest at the Lenaea is for the year 425, when Aristophanes produced his Acharnians.99 From this time forward the history of comedy at the Lenaea is much the same as its history at the City Dionysia. During the fifth century there were three competing poets, and each brought out a single play.100 In the fourth century the number of poets was varied to five.101 The practice of exhibiting an old comedy as a prelude to the new ones was introduced in the course of the next hundred years.102 In the second century original comedy was still flourishing as vigorously as ever at Athens, though none of the records so far dated with certainty refer to the Lenaea.103 There is no evidence as to its later course.
A few remarks may be made here on the relative importance of the Lenaea and the City Dionysia from the theatrical point of view. The City Dionysia was much the most splendid and imposing gathering of the two. It was attended by larger crowds of people, and was subjected to stricter regulations. Aliens were not allowed to take part in the choruses; metics were forbidden to serve as choregi.104 No such prohibitions existed at the Lenaea. It must obviously have been a much greater honour for a poet to produce his plays at the City Dionysia, before the vast concourse of citizens and strangers, than in the comparative privacy of the Lenaea. In tragedy this was more particularly the case. The great tragic poets, after their fame had been once established, seem to have mostly confined themselves to the City Dionysia. Sophocles, for instance, won eighteen victories there, and only two or six at the Lenaea.105 The Lenaea would be generally reserved for inferior poets, or for youthful authors who had still their reputation to make. Thus in 418 one of the competitors was an obscure poet called Callistratus.106 In 416 the victor was Agathon, who had never yet obtained a tragic prize.107 Foreign poets may also have been generally confined to this festival. It was here that Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, won his solitary success.108 The circumstances were rather different in regard to comedy. The leading comic poets seem to have made little distinction between the two festivals. Aristophanes produced his plays indifferently at both.109 Cratinus won six Lenaean victories as opposed to three in the City, Teleclides five as opposed to three.110 In explanation of this fact we should remember that comedy was the chief feature at the Lenaea, tragedy an appendage. Also, as the competitors in comedy only produced one play at a time, a poet of a fertile mind would need two contests in the year in order to exhibit what he had written. Still, in spite of the more equal distribution of the comic poets between the two festivals, there can be little doubt that even in comedy a ‘City victory’ was always the highest distinction.111