Ascus (Mythology)

September 22, 2024

Ascus (Ancient Greek: Ἄσκος) was a giant from ancient Greek mythology, who in conjunction with Lycurgus of Thrace chained the god Dionysus and threw him into a river. The god Hermes (or, according to other tellings, Zeus) rescued Dionysus, conquered (ἐδαμασεν) the giant, flayed him, and made a bag (ἄσκος) of his skin.^[1][2]

A folk etymology once said that the town of Damascus in Syria derived its name from this event, though the name of that city dates back to at least the 15th century BCE.^[3]

This is not a lot of information, and some other pages do not mention it at all, so I had to consult Copilot which came up with the featured image and a limerick:

There once was a giant named Ascus, Whose deeds were both daring and brash. He captured a god, But was flayed by a rod, And now he’s a tale from the past!

Askos (Ancient Greek ἀσκός “tube”; plural: ἀσκοί – askoi) is the name given in modern terminology to a type of ancient Greek pottery vessel^[4] used to pour small quantities of liquids such as oil. It is recognisable from its flat shape and a spout at one or both ends that could also be used as a handle. They were usually painted decoratively like vases and were mainly used for storing oil and refilling oil lamps.

Statue of a satyr including a torch and a wineskin from 3rd–2nd century B.C

These were extensively traded in and around the Mediterranean. An example of this is UC47602 in the Petrie Museum‘s collection, which is a Black Glazed vessel with an almost metallic appearance and was originally produced in Greece (the main production was in Attica), Etruria, and was excavated in Memphis.

The original meaning of ἀσκός is wineskin. The early Christian sect of the Ascitae takes its name from them. The Ascodrugitae, however, are unrelated except in a folk etymology.^[5]

The Ascitans (or Ascitae, from the Greek ἀσκός, askos, wineskin) were a peculiar Montanist sect of 2nd century Christians, who produced the practice of dancing around burst wine-skins at their assemblies, saying that they were those new bottles filled with new wine, whereof Jesus makes mention, according to the New American Standard Bible translation, Matthew 9:17:

Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Philastrius thought the sect of the Ascodrugites was the same as the Ascitae, but his etymology of the former is false.^[6]

wineskin

A wineskin is an ancient type of bottle made of leathered animal skin, usually from goats or sheep, used to store or transport wine.

History

Its first mentions come from Ancient Greece, where, in the parties called Bacchanalia, dedicated to the god Bacchus by the vintage of this drink, the sacrifice of the goat was offered, following which the wineskin could be made that would conserve the wine.^[7]

New Wine into Old Wineskins is a parable of Jesus. It is found at Matthew 9:14–17, Mark 2:18–22 and Luke 5:33–39.^[8]

External links

Media related to Askoi at Wikimedia Commons

An example

Greek vase shapes

References

Etymologicum Magnum s.v. Δαμασκός
Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica s.v. Δαμασκός
Schürer, Emil (2014). Vermes, Geza (ed.). The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ. Vol. 2. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 51. ISBN 9781472558299.
“Askos – The Classical Art Research Centre”. www.beazley.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-05-02. Retrieved 2018-06-14.
Joshua T. Katz (2002), “How the Mole and Mongoose Got Their Names: Sanskrit ākhú– and nakulá“, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 122 (2): 296–310, doi:10.2307/3087624, JSTOR 3087624.
Joshua T. Katz (2002), “How the Mole and Mongoose Got Their Names: Sanskrit ākhú– and nakulá“, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 122 (2): 296–310, doi:10.2307/3087624, JSTOR 3087624.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). “Ascitans” . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 722.
“What Are Wineskins?”. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, Eerdmans, 1997, ISBN 0-8028-2315-7, pp. 248-250.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Schmitz, Leonhard (1870). “Ascus”. In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 384.