Who are the Psoloeis and who the Oleiae among the Boiotians?
They relate that the daughters of Minyas, Leucippê and Arsinoê and Alcathoê, becoming insane, conceived a craving for human flesh, and drew lots for their children. The lot fell upon Leucippê to contribute her son Hippasos to be torn to pieces. Their husbands, who put on ill-favoured garments for their grief and sorrow, were called “Grimy” (Psoloeis); but the Minyads themselves were called Oleiae, that is to say, ‘Murderesses.’ And even today the people of Orchomenos give this name to the women descended from this family; and every year, at the festival of Agrionia, there takes place a flight and pursuit of them by the priest of Dionysos with sword in hand. Any one of them that he catches he may kill, and in my time the priest Zoïlus killed one of them. But this resulted in no benefit for the people of Orchomenos. For Zoïlus fell sick from some slight sore and, when the wound had festered for a long time, he died. The people of Orchomenos also found themselves involved in some suits for damages and adverse judgements; wherefore they transferred the priesthood from Zoïlus’s family and chose the best man from all the citizens to fill the office.
– Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae 38
Tagged: dionysos, heroes, may you never thirst
