HĬĔRŎPOII (ἱεροποιοί), sacrificers at Athens, of whom ten were
appointed every year, and conducted all the usual sacrifices, as well
as those belonging to the quinquennial festivals, with the exception
of those of the Panathenaea.
HĬLĂRĬA (ἱλάρια), a Roman festival, celebrated on the 25th of March,
in honour of Cybelé, the mother of the gods.
HIPPŎBŎTAE (ἱπποβόται), the feeders of horses, the name of the
nobility of Chalcis in Euboea, corresponding to the ἱππεῖς in other
Greek states.
HIPPŎDRŎMUS (ἱππόδρομος), the name by which the Greeks designated
the place appropriated to the horse-races, both of chariots and of
single horses, which formed a part of their games. The word was also
applied to the races themselves. In Homer’s vivid description (_Il._
xxiii., 262-650) the nature of the contest and the arrangements for
it are very clearly indicated. There is no artificially constructed
hippodrome; but an existing land-mark or monument (σῆμα) is chosen
as the goal (τέρμα), round which the chariots had to pass, leaving
it on the left hand, and so returning to the Greek ships on the
sea-shore, from which they had started. The chariots were five in
number, each with two horses and a single driver, who stood upright
in his chariot. The critical point of the race was to turn the goal
as sharp as possible, with the nave of the near wheel almost grazing
it, and to do this safely: very often the driver was here thrown out,
and the chariot broken in pieces. The account in Homer will give us
an equally good idea of a chariot-race at Olympia, or in any other of
the Greek games of later times. The general form of the hippodrome
was an oblong, with a semicircular end. For an account of the chariot
races at Rome see CIRCUS.
HISTRĬO (ὑποκριτής), an actor.--(1) GREEK. It is shown in the
articles CHORUS and DIONYSIA that the Greek drama originated in the
chorus which at the festivals of Dionysus danced around his altar,
and that at first one person detached himself from the chorus, and,
with mimic gesticulation, related his story either to the chorus
or in conversation with it. If the story thus acted required more
than one person, they were all represented in succession by the same
actor, and there was never more than one person on the stage at a
time. This custom was retained by Thespis and Phrynichus. Aeschylus
introduced a second and a third actor; and the number of three
actors was but seldom exceeded in any Greek drama. The three regular
actors were distinguished by the technical names of πρωταγωνιστής,
δευτεραγωνιστής, and τριταγωνιστής, which indicated the more or
less prominent part which an actor had to perform in the drama. The
female characters of a play were always performed by young men.
A distinct class of persons, who made acting on the stage their
profession, was unknown to the Greeks during the period of their
great dramatists. The earliest and greatest dramatic poets, Thespis,
Sophocles, and probably Aeschylus also, acted in their own plays, and
in all probability as protagonistae. It was not thought degrading
in Greece to perform on the stage. At a later period persons began
to devote themselves exclusively to the profession of actors, and
distinguished individuals received even as early as the time of
Demosthenes exorbitant sums for their performances.--(2) ROMAN. The
word _histrio_, by which the Roman actor was called, is said to have
been formed from the Etruscan _hister_, which signified a ludio or
dancer. In the year 364 B.C. Rome was visited by a plague, and as
no human means could stop it, the Romans are said to have tried to
avert the anger of the gods by scenic plays (_ludi scenici_), which,
until then, had been unknown to them; and as there were no persons at
Rome prepared for such performances, the Romans sent to Etruria for
them. The first histriones, who were thus introduced from Etruria,
were dancers, and performed their movements to the accompaniment of
a flute. Roman youths afterwards not only imitated these dancers,
but also recited rude and jocose verses, adapted to the movements
of the dance and the melody of the flute. This kind of amusement,
which was the basis of the Roman drama, remained unaltered until the
time of Livius Andronicus, who introduced a slave upon the stage for
the purpose of singing or reciting the recitative, while he himself
performed the appropriate dance and gesticulation. A further step in
the development of the drama, which is likewise ascribed to Livius,
was, that the dancer and reciter carried on a dialogue, and acted a
story with the accompaniment of the flute. The name histrio, which
originally signified a dancer, was now applied to the actors in
the drama. The atellanae were played by freeborn Romans, while the
regular drama was left to the histriones, who formed a distinct class
of persons. The histriones were not citizens; they were not contained
in the tribes, nor allowed to be enlisted as soldiers in the Roman
legions; and if any citizen entered the profession of an histrio, he,
on this account, was excluded from his tribe. The histriones were
therefore always either freedmen, strangers, or slaves, and many
passages of Roman writers show that they were generally held in great
contempt. Towards the close of the republic it was only such men as
Cicero, who, by their Greek education, raised themselves above the
prejudices of their countrymen, and valued the person no less than
the talents of an Aesopus and a Roscius. But notwithstanding this
low estimation in which actors were generally held, distinguished
individuals among them attracted immense crowds to the theatres, and
were exorbitantly paid. Roscius alone received every day that he
performed one thousand denarii, and Aesopus left his son a fortune of
200,000 sesterces, which he had acquired solely by his profession.
The pay of the actors was called _lucar_, which word was perhaps
confined originally to the payment made to those who took part in the
religious services celebrated in groves.
HŎMOEI (ὅμοιοι), the Equals, were those Spartans who possessed the
full rights of citizenship, and are opposed to the ὑπομείονες,
or those who had undergone some kind of civil degradation. This
distinction between the citizens was no part of the ancient Spartan
constitution. In the institution ascribed to Lycurgus, every
citizen had a certain portion of land; but as in course of time
many citizens lost their lands through various causes, they were
unable to contribute to the expenses of the syssitia, and therefore
ceased to possess the full rights of Spartan citizens. Hence the
distinction appears to have arisen between the ὅμοιοι and ὑπομείονες,
the former being those who were in the possession of their land,
and consequently able to contribute to the syssitia, the latter
those who through having no land were unable to do so. The Homoei
were the ruling class in the state. They filled all the public
offices with the exception of the Ephoralty, and they probably met
together to determine upon public affairs under the name of ἔκκλητοι
in an assembly of their own, which is called ἡ μικρὰ ἐκκλησία,
to distinguish it from the assembly of the whole body of Spartan
citizens.
HŎNŌRES, the high offices of the state to which qualified individuals
were called by the votes of the Roman citizens. The words
“magistratus” and “honores” are sometimes coupled together. The
capacity of enjoying the honores was one of the distinguishing marks
of citizenship. [CIVITAS.] _Honor_ was distinguished from _munus_.
The latter was an office connected with the administration of the
state, and was attended with cost (_sumptus_) but not with rank
(_dignitas_). Honor was properly said _deferri, dari_; munus was said
_imponi_. A person who held a magistrates might be said to discharge
_munera_, but only as incident to the office, for the office itself
was the _honor_. Such munera as these were public games and other
things of the kind.