Abstract

The man in a Thracian outfit represented on a hydria in London as eating a dead child has been interpreted either as a Titan with Zagreus or Lycurgus with his son. Neither of these interpretations seems plausible, especially in light of our present knowledge about sacrificial rules. As I argue, the image is more likely to be inspired by a story dramatized in the Lycurgeia of Aeschylus, in which an advent of Dionysus to the country ruled by Lycurgus caused an epidemic of cannibalism. With much likelihood, this motif was also present in a passage — unfortunately only partially preserved — in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca (21.117–123). This mythical crisis was subsequently solved by Orpheus, which seems clear from passages in Aristophanes, Horace and Themistius, who allude to a rationalized version of this story.