John the Lydian on the Maiuma festival (1)

Text
The Maiuma spring festival was of the Aramaic origin.

John the Lydian, De Mensibus 4.76-80:
In this way (they explain) according to theology, but according to the method of enquiring into the nature and origin of things (physiology) many wish May to be water. For among the Syrians who speak (their) foreign language, still even now water is so called, so that aqueducts are called meiouri. … They call feasting ‘to do the Maiuma’, from which [we get the term] Maiuma. The festival was held in Rome in the month of May. The leading men of the city went down to the shore, to the city called Ostia, to enjoy themselves by throwing one another into the waters of the sea. And so the time of the festival of this type was called Maiuma.

Source (list of abbreviations)
John the Lydian, De Mensibus 4.76-80

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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