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[76] This law they wrote on a pillar of stone, and set it up in the sanctuary of Dionysus by the altar in Limnae1(and this pillar even now stands, showing the inscription in Attic characters, nearly effaced). Thus the people testified to their own piety toward the god, and left it as a deposit for future generations, showing what type of woman we demand that she shall be who is to be given in marriage to the god, and is to perform the sacrifices. For this reason they set it up in the most ancient and most sacred sanctuary of Dionysus in Limnae, in order that few only might have knowledge of the inscription; for once only in each year is the sanctuary opened, on the twelfth day of the month Anthesterion.2

1 A district in the southern part of Athens, though topographers differ widely as to its location. It was doubtless originally a swamp (λίμνη).

2 Anthesterion corresponds to the latter half of February and the prior half of March. It was in this month that the Feast of Flowers (τὰ Ἀνθεστήρια) was celebrated in honor of Dionysus.

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