Meaning: the thirtieth
Triakas (τριακάς | τριακάδες pl.) was the name given to the final day in the lunar month in most parts of Greece. Although there are few if any records of its traditions in a specifically Delphic context, in the wider Greek world we know it was a day of rememberance for the dead, and considered sacred to Hekate.
The final day of every lunar month - whether its the 29th day or 30th day - is called Triakas - “the thirtieth”.
τριακάς | τριακάδες
A. the number thirty, ἐς τριακάδας δέκα ναῶν A.Pers.339.
II. the thirtieth day of the month. Hes.Op.766, IG12.845.2, 7.2712.69 (Acraeph.), PCair.Zen.150.8 (iii B. C.), Dsc.Eup.1.146, Hippiatr.97; τ. ἡ πικρή (when school fees were due) Herod.3.9; first used by Thales, acc. to D.L.1.24. At Athens the τριακάδες were dedicated to the memory of the dead, Harp., Poll.1.66, etc.; offerings were made to Hecate, Ath.7.325a, etc.; ἡ τῶν τ. ἀνιέρωσις Tab.Defix.99.12; ἐπαρᾶσθαι ταῖς τριακάσιν SIG286.13 (Milet., iv B. C.); of a festival in the cult of Zeus Panamaros, ib.900.36 (iv A. D.). 2. a month, containing 30 days, Luc.Luct.16, Rh.Pr.9.
– LSJ, Ancient Greek Lexicon $^{99}$
The thirtieth day of the month is best for inspecting different kinds of work that have to be done and for apportioning food-supplies. This is the day that people spend by sorting out [krinein] what is alētheia [true] and what is not. ^
^ West WD commentary p. 351 remarks:
“Civil calendars often fell out of step with the moon…, and it was on the 30th that errors arose. Each month had to be allowed either 29 or 30 days, but the last day was called triakas (or in Athens henē kai nea, ‘the old and the new’) in either case, the preceding day being omitted in a ‘hollow’ month. So it was always a question of when to have the 30th.”
In other words, each polis had its own traditions about the calendar (West here calls these traditions “civil calendars”). At the time of the 30th, then, there is a crisis about arriving at a pan-Hellenic norm from the standpoint of each polis. This norm is conveyed here by the notion of alētheiē ‘truth’ (see the note at Theogony line 28). [On the civic calendars of the various Greek city-states, see A. E. Samuel, Greek and Roman Chronology (Handb. d. Altertumswiss. I.7), 1972.]
– Hesiod, Works and Days $^{100}$
Ancient Greeks shared a common way of measuring time, which was based on lunar months regulated by the movement of the sun. A new month commenced always on the new moon, nominally producing months of twenty- nine or thirty days in length.
– The Cosmos in Ancient Greek Religious Experience, E. Boutsikas $^{29}$
The necessity to decide when people actually managed to sight the crescent Moon in Greece on the critical occasions was vital (much like the same problem that confronts those researching Islamic astronomy who have to identify specific dates). This would actually mean that the first day of the month was at least two days after the New Moon/conjunction, and if there was stormy weather even more. Indeed, this difficulty still plagues the Muslim world today—despite access to superior resources and (theoretically?) a more rigorous approach compared to the one followed by the ancient Greeks. Yet the ancient Greeks were perfectly capable of calculating the average lengths of months and thus a New Moon/conjunction (Pritchett, 2001). Lunar months average 29.53 days and that is why many Greeks had full months of 30 days followed by ‘hollow’ months of 29 days, because 2 × 29.53 = about 59 and 30 + 29 = 59 days.
– I. Liritzis,B.Castro, Delphi and Cosmovision $^{20}$
The Triakades festival dedicated to Hekate
The treaty of isopoliteia between Miletus and Olbia (dated towards 330 BC) supplies the single eloquent evidence regarding the Triakades festival held in the honour of Hekate both at Olbia and Miletus, its metropolis. In the occasion, the goddess was worshipped as sovereign deity of “afterlife”. One of the treaty clauses explicitly mentions the prayers to be uttered during the Triakades: “(…) and the Milesians have the right of praying (ἐπαρᾶσθαι), at the festival of the Triakades, as they pray at Miletus”.
4.1. The date of the Triakades festival
At Olbia and Miletus, the Triakades festival was very likely held each month, on the thirtieth day, alike in Athens and outside Attica. A clue to this effect is supplied by the scholiast of Aristophanes, who reports that in Athens, the wealthy sent abundant meals as offering for Hekate, each month (“κατὰ μῆνα”), in the evening, according to the moon rhythm: “by new moon, at night, the rich sent abundant meals as offering to Hekate of the “junctions” (triodoi) […] it was customary that the rich offered each month bread and other offerings to Hekate”.
The same scholiae in Aristophanes designate as τριακάς, namely “the thirtieth” – and the last – day of the month, the day in which offerings were offered to Hekate: “τῇ Ἑκάτῃ θύουσι τῇ τριακάδι” (“Hekate is granted sacrifices on the thirtieth day of the month”). In his turn, Athenaios, speaking of the red mullet or common rudd offering (τρίγλη), consecrated to Hekate, comments: “as she is the goddess of crossroads (triodoi) and has three looks and is dedicated feasts on the thirtieth day of the month”.
The Triakades festival is recorded by a commemorative inscription from Panamara of the 4th century BC, from where we find that a priest and another figure, his mystagogue that: “they generally did not neglect any mysteries along the entire year, missing no sacrifice and no triakas”; alike in Athens, the main ritual of the Triakades celebrated at Panamara was the feast granted to Hekate’s worshippers by the rich citizens of the city. At Lagina, in Caria, τριακάδες were numbered the celebration days of Hekate; on the occasion, banquets in which goddess’s devotees attended were held.
4.2. Triakades and the commemoration of the dead
Rituals celebrated in honour of Hekate on the thirtieth day of each month coincided with the honouring of the dead. In fact, the ancient commentators report that: “the thirtieth day was ascribed to the dead […] and was called triakas”. For instance, in Athens is recorded the Triakades (τριακάδες) festival dedicated to the commemoration of the dead. Also, a funerary rule from Keos dated to the 5th century BC stipulates the suppression of celebrating the commemoration of the dead on the thirtieth day of the month (τριηκόστια), which proves its popularity. According to an inscription discovered at Mantineea in the 1st century BC, the ἐν τοῖς τριακοστοῖς ceremony occurred in the sanctuary of Demeter and Cora, whose cults were associated with the monthly offerings to the dead. During these periodical festivals held by junction of two months, the dead were honoured as a collective able to link the past to the future, as well as citizen families among each other. In fact, rituals performed on the thirtieth month day represented the regular version of the rituals completed on the thirtieth day after the death of an individual and were also designated as τριακάς / τριακάδες (or τριακόστια). These marked the coming out of the mourning and return to normal living, reuniting the family of the deceased around a common feast. The rituals of the thirtieth day of the month were likely calked on practices occurring after the funerals; these were centred on the common feast of the dead family.
– The cult of goddess Hekate in Miletus and the Milesian colonies, Mihai Remus Feraru $^{101}$
That day fell on the first of the month, and Hecate, the maiden with ruddy feet, was graciously announcing her prophecy eager for fulfillment**.
– Pindar, Paean 2**
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