Bible Lexicons

The distinction between τὰ γενέσια , the commemoration of the dead, and τὰ γενέθλια , the birthday feast of a living man, disappears in late Greek (cf. Lob. Phryn. p. 103, Rutherford NP, p. 184); and in the papyri τὰ γενέσια is always birthday feast. Thus P Fay 114.20 (A.D. 100) τὴν εἰκθυὶν (l. ἰχθὺν ) πέμσις (l. πέμψεις ) τῆι κδ εἲ (l. ἢ ) κ ̄ε ̄ εἰς τὰ γενέσια Γεμέλλης , ";send the fish on the 24th or 25th for Gemella’s birthday feast,"; for which other dainties are ordered in ib. 119.30 ff. P Fay 115.8, a year later, says that pigs are going to be sacrificed on the birthday feast (εἰς τὰ γενέσια ) of Sabinus. Cf. BGU I. 1.9 (iii/A.D.) an account of various outlays connected with the γενεσί [οις ] τῶν [θεῶ ]ν Σεβαστῶν , and Preisigke 1525 (A.D. 131—dedication of a statue) γενέσια Ἁδριανοῦ β ̄ ἡ πόλις . So for the birthdays of private persons BGU I. 333.5 (iii/iv A.D.) (= Chrest. I. 489) π ]άντως ποιήσατε , ἐὰν ᾖ δυνατό [ν ], κ [α ]τελθεῖν ὑμᾶς εἰς τὰ γενέσια τοῦ υἱοῦ ἡ [μῶ ]ν Σαραπίωνος . So in accounts of expenditure, as P Oxy IV. 736.58 (c. A.D. 1) γενεσίοις Τρυφᾶτος στεφά (νων ) (ὀβολοὶ δύο ), P Giss I. 31.6 (ii/A.D.) γενεσίοις Διογενίδ (ος ) δ ̄. For γενεθλία used in the same sense we may cite P Oxy III. 494.24 (A.D. 156) εἰς εὐωχίαν αὐτῶν ἣν ποιήσονται πλησίον τοῦ τάφου μου κατ᾽ ἔτος τῇ γενεθλίᾳ μου , ";for a feast which they shall celebrate at my tomb on my birthday every year"; (Edd.), BGU I. 149.15 (ii/iii A.D.) γε [νε ]θλίο [ις Σοκνοπαίου ] θεοῦ μεγάλου μεγάλ [ου , P Oxy I. 112.4 (iii/iv A.D.) τοῖς γενεθλίοις τοῦ θεο [ῦ , ib, VIII. 1144.4 (i/ii A.D.), etc. From the inscriptions note OGIS 90.46 (the Rosetta Stone—B.C. 196) ἐν ἧι τὰ γενέθλια τοῦ βασιλέως ἄγεται , ib. III.29 (after B.C. 163) τὴν γενέθλιον ἡμέ [ραν τὴν Βοή ]θου , and Priene 105.22 (c. B.C. 9) τὴν τοῦ θηοτάτου Καίσαρο [ς γ ]ενέθλιον . In the last inscription, l. .40, if the restoration can be trusted, we have the remarkable statement ἦρξεν δὲ τῶι κόσμωι τῶν δι᾽ αὐτὸν εὐανγελί [ων ἡ γενέθλιος ] τοῦ θεοῦ , ";but the birthday of the god [the Emperor Augustus] was for the world the beginning of tidings of joy on his account"; : cf. Deissmann LAE, p. 371.

For ἡ γενέσιος (sc. ἡμέρα ) see OGIS 583.15 (i/A.D.) τῆι γενεσίῳ , Cagnat IV. 353b. 4, 13 (ii/A.D.), of a monthly celebration, γενεσίῳ Σεβαστοῦ , and ἐνμήνῳ γενεσίῳ . Similarly Michel 544.10 (B.C. 114) ἐποιήσατο δὲ καὶ γε [νεθ ]λίας τοῖς τε παισὶν καὶ παιδευταῖ [ς , of a hospitable Phrygian gymnasiarch. Both these adjectives are replaced by the noun in Genesis 40:20, where the birthday of Pharaoh is ἡμέρα γενέσεως . We find in P Cairo Preis 31.23 (A.D. 139–40) the compound, παι ]δίου πρωτογενεσίοις .