LEITURGIA (λειτουργία, from λεῖτον, Ion. λήϊτον, _i.e._ δημόσιον, or,
according to others, πρυτανεῖον), a liturgy, is the name of certain
personal services which, at Athens, every citizen who possessed
a certain amount of property had to perform towards the state.
These personal services, which in all cases were connected with
considerable expenses, were at first a natural consequence of the
greater political privileges enjoyed by the wealthy, who, in return,
had also to perform heavier duties towards the republic; but when the
Athenian democracy was at its height the original character of these
liturgies became changed, for, as every citizen now enjoyed the same
rights and privileges as the wealthiest, they were simply a tax upon
property connected with personal labour and exertion. All liturgies
may be divided into two classes: 1, ordinary or encyclic liturgies
(ἐγκύκλιοι λειτουργίαι); and 2, extraordinary liturgies. The former
were called encyclic, because they recurred every year at certain
festive seasons, and comprised the _Choregia_, _Gymnasiarchia_,
_Lampadarchia_, _Architheoria_, and _Hestiasis_. Every Athenian who
possessed three talents and above was subject to them, and they were
undertaken in turns by the members of every tribe who possessed the
property qualification just mentioned, unless some one volunteered to
undertake a liturgy for another person. But the law did not allow any
one to be compelled to undertake more than one liturgy at a time, and
he who had in one year performed a liturgy was free for the next, so
that legally a person had to perform a liturgy only every other year.
Those whose turn it was to undertake any of the ordinary liturgies
were always appointed by their own tribe. The persons who were exempt
from all kinds of liturgies were the nine archons, heiresses, and
orphans until after the commencement of the second year of their
coming of age. Sometimes the exemption from liturgies (ἀτελεία) was
granted to persons for especial merits towards the republic. The only
kind of extraordinary liturgy to which the name is properly applied
is the _trierarchia_ (τριηραρχία); in the earlier times, however, the
service in the armies was in reality no more than an extraordinary
liturgy. [See EISPHORA and TRIERARCHIA.] In later times, during and
after the Peloponnesian war, when the expenses of a liturgy were
found too heavy for one person, we find that in many instances two
persons combined to defray its expenses. Such was the case with the
choragia and the trierarchy.
LEMBUS, a skiff or small boat, used for carrying a person from a ship
to the shore. The name was also given to the light boats which were
sent ahead of a fleet to obtain information of the enemy’s movements.
LEMNISCUS (λημνίσκος), a kind of coloured ribbon which hung down
from crowns or diadems at the back part of the head. Coronae adorned
with lemnisci were a greater distinction than those without them.
This serves to explain an expression of Cicero (_palma lemniscata,
pro Rosc. Am._ 35), where palma means a victory, and the epithet
lemniscata indicates the contrary of infamis, and at the same time
implies an honourable as well as lucrative victory. Lemnisci were
also worn alone and without being connected with crowns, especially
by ladies, as an ornament for the head.
LĔMŬRĬA, a festival for the souls of the departed, which was
celebrated at Rome every year in the month of May. It was said to
have been instituted by Romulus to appease the spirit of Remus,
whom he had slain, and to have been called originally Remuria. It
was celebrated at night and in silence, and during three alternate
days, that is, on the ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth of May. During
this season the temples of the gods were closed, and it was thought
unlucky for women to marry at this time and during the whole month
of May, and those who ventured to marry were believed to die soon
after, whence the proverb, _mense Maio malae nubent_. Those who
celebrated the Lemuria walked barefooted, washed their hands three
times, and threw black beans nine times behind their backs, believing
by this ceremony to secure themselves against the Lemures. As regards
the solemnities on each of the three days, we only know that on the
second there were games in the circus in honour of Mars, and that on
the third day the images of the thirty Argei, made of rushes, were
thrown from the Pons Sublicius into the Tiber by the Vestal virgins
[ARGEI]. On the same day there was a festival of the merchants,
probably because on this day the temple of Mercury had been dedicated
in the year 495 B.C.