Maiuma – egy szíriai ünnep a késő antikvitásban
Maiuma – a Syriac festival in the Late Antiquity

Summary/Abstract: An oriental festival, called Maiuma or Maiumas is attested from several sources from the 4–6th centuries. The spectacles of this festival, that lasted at least a week long, often took place in theaters, where the stage was filled with water. This article raises the possibility that the Maiuma of the city Rome, as it is described by John Lydus, may be identical with the festival Zinza of the Philocalus calendar. The late antique Maiuma is not independent from the syro-phoenician Marzeach, this older holiday developed into the Maiuma in the east, but in the Western Mediterraneum its successor was another aquatic festival, in July: bathing on St. John’s Eve is attested from Late Antiquity only from areas that had been under Punic influence. The eastern theatrical festival disappeared in the Middle Ages, but the ritual bathing at summer solstice survived till the 20th century in the Balkan

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