Such gesture, directed towards an inoffensive person, became an insult, and the word sycophant might imply one who insulted another by bringing a frivolous or malicious accusation against him.
According to S. Reinach (Revue des etudes grecques, xix., 1906), who draws special attention to the similar formation "hierophant," the sycophant was an official connected with the cult of the Phytalidae, whose eponymus Phytalus was rewarded with a fig-tree by the wandering Demeter in return for his hospitality.
The final act of the cult, the "exaltation" of the fig, with which Reinach compares the "exaltation" of the ear of corn by the hierophant at the Eleusinian mysteries, was performed by the sycophant.
It was during her trip to retrieve Persephone from the underworld that she revealed the Eleusinian mysteries.
While Demeter was searching for her daughter, having taken the form of an old woman called Doso, she received a hospitable welcome from Celeus, the King of Eleusis in Attica (and also Phytalus).
He asked her to nurse Demophon and Triptolemus, his sons by Metanira.
Feeds |
Contact