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a large choir singing in unison with instruments of various kinds.76 The grand procession of Ptolemy II at Alexandria has been mentioned elsewhere.77 These were all single events, but rulers might also establish recurrent ones. Scores of new festivals were set up in the Hellenistic age either by or in honour of powerful persons. The Roman emperors often founded Games in their own honour, with a musical as well as a sporting programme. |
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An important development in the early third century BC was the formation, in more than one part of Greece, of professional associations of musicians and actors. Such entertainers had by this time come to be known by the general name of technitai, often translated 'artists', but connoting professional training and skill rather than artistry of the inspirational sort. Sometime about 290-280 the technitai of Athens formed themselves into a company or guild for the purpose of mounting shows, not only in their home city but also at other venues further afield. Very soon afterwards, if not even before, a similar body constituted itself from the artists 'who come together at the Isthmus and Nemea', that is, from those living in the north-east Peloponnese or other areas near enough for them to be regular visitors to the Isthmian and Nemean Games. Both of these guilds operated for over two centuries, sometimes in bitter rivalry, and in changing fortunes. Both of them quickly established relations with the supremely prestigious religious centre at Delphi and were granted various rights and privileges there. The Isthmian-Nemean guild, in particular, played a prominent role in the third century at the Delphic Soteria festival. In about 211 it was invited to take part in the newly reorganized festival of the Muses at Thespiae, and there is also evidence from this period for its activity at Thebes, on Delos, and around the Peloponnese. It was indeed, unlike the Athenian guild, developing into something approaching a nation-wide organization, with local branches in various places. At the same time other guilds were springing up in more distant regions. There was a major one based in Teos and covering Ionia and the Hellespont; it first appears about 235 BC, and it survived into the third century AD. There is evidence for others in Rhodes, Cyprus, Alexandria, and Sicily. From the time of Augustus there was an international associ- |
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76 Posidonius, FGrH 87 F 14 = fr. 168 Th. |
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77 See p. 41. |
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