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 | | Such gesture, directed towards an inoffensive person, became an insult, and the word sycophant might imply one who insulted another by bringing a frivolous or malicious accusation against him. |
 | | According to S. Reinach (Revue des etudes grecques, xix., 1906), who draws special attention to the similar formation "hierophant, " the sycophant was an official connected with the cult of the Phytalidae, whose eponymus Phytalus was rewarded with a fig-tree by the wandering Demeter in return for his hospitality. |
 | | The final act of the cult, the " exaltation " of the fig, with which Reinach compares the " exaltation " of the ear of corn by the hierophant at the Eleusinian mysteries, was performed by the sycophant. |
| encyclopedia.jrank.org /correction/edit?locale=en&content_id=64088 (747 words) |
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