Listed 18 sub titles with search on: Ancients' feasts, games and rituals for wider area of: "VIOTIA Prefecture GREECE" .
ELIKON (Mountain) VIOTIA
On Helicon tripods have been dedicated, of which the oldest is the one which it is said Hesiod received for winning the prize for song at Chalcis on the Euripus. Men too live round about the grove, and here the Thespians celebrate a festival, and also games called the Museia. They celebrate other games in honor of Love, offering prizes not only for music but also for athletic events.
KORONIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Pamboeotia (pamboiotia), a festive panegyris of all the Boeotians, which the grammarians
compare with the Panathenaea of the Atticans, and the Panionia of the Ionians.
The principal object of the meeting was the common worship of Athena Itonia, who
had a temple in the neighbourhood of Coronea, near which the panegyris was held
(Strabo, ix. p. 411; Pans. ix. 34, § 1). From Polybius (iv. 3, ix. 34) it appears
that during this national festival no war was allowed to be carried on, and that
in case of a war a truce was always concluded. This panegyris is also mentioned
by Plutarch (Amat. Narrat. p. 774 f.). It is a disputed point whether the Pamboeotia
had anything to do with the political constitution of Boeotia, and with the relation
of its several towns to Thebes. The question is discussed in Sainte-Croix, Des
Gouvernements federat. p. 211, &c.; Raoul-Rochette, Sur la Forme et l'Administr,
de l??tat federatif des Beotiens, in the Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscript. vol. viii.
(1827), p. 214. It seems probable that its object was religious, not political,
though, as at other panegyreis, there were no doubt political harangues [PANEGYRIS].
The state and constitution of Boeotia is discussed under BOEOTARCHES
(See also Gilbert, Staatsalterthumer, ii. 53.)
This text is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
OGCHISTOS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
ORCHOMENOS (Archaeological site) VIOTIA
Agrionia. A festival celebrated chiefly at Orchomenus, in
Boeotia, in honour of Dionysus, surnamed Agrionios, i. e. the wild. This festival
was solemnized only by women and priests of Dionysus. It consisted of a kind of
game, in which the women for a long time acted as if seeking Dionysus, and at
last called out to one another that he had escaped to the Muses, and had concealed
himself with them. After this they prepared a repast, and, having enjoyed it,
amused themselves with solving riddles. This festival was remarkable for a feature
which proves its great antiquity. Some virgins, who were descended from the Minyans,
and who probably used to assemble around the temple on the occasion, fled, and
were followed by the priest armed with a sword, who was allowed to kill the one
whom he first caught. This sacrifice of a human being, though originally it must
have formed a regular part of the festival, seems to have been avoided in later
times. One instance, however, occurred in the days of Plutarch.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Agrionia, a festival which was celebrated chiefly at Orchomenus, in Boeotia, in honour of Dionysus, surnamed Agrionios, i. e. the wild or boisterous. It appears from Plutarch (Quaest. Rom. 102), that this festival was solemnised during the night only by women and the priests of Dionysus. It consisted of a kind of game, in which the women for a long time acted as if seeking Dionysus, and at last called out to one another that he had escaped to the Muses, and had concealed himself with them. After this they prepared a repast; and having enjoyed it, amused themselves with proposing riddles to one another. This festival was remarkable for a feature which proves its great antiquity. Some virgins, who were descended from Minyas, and who probably used to assemble around the temple on the occasion, fled and were followed by the priest armed with a sword, who was allowed to kill the one whom he first caught. The sacrifice of a human being, though originally it must have formed a regular part of the festival, seems to have been avoided in later times. One instance, however, occurred in the days of Plutarch (Quaest. Graec. 38). But as the priest, Zoilos, who had killed the woman was afterwards attacked by disease, and several extraordinary accidents occurred to the Minyans, the priest and his family were deprived of their official functions. The festival, as well as its name, is said to have been derived from the daughters of Minyas, who, after having for a long time resisted the Bacchanalian fury, were at length seized by an invincible desire of eating human flesh. They therefore cast lots on their own children; and as Hippasos, son of Leukippe, became the destined victim, they killed and ate him, whence the women belonging to that race were at the time of Plutarch still called the destroyers (ogeiai or aiolaiai) and the men mourners (psoloeis). Agrionia of a similar kind were celebrated also at Thebes and at Argos (Hesych. s. v. Agriania, which seems to be only another form for Agrionia). At Thebes the festival was celebrated with games and contests, while at Argos it was a festival of the dead (nekusia).
This text is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Festival held by Plataeans, Great D., festival held by Boeotians.
THISVI (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Here there is a sanctuary of Heracles with a standing image of stone, and they hold a festival called the Heracleia.
TIFA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
(Paus. 9,32,4).
VIOTIA (Ancient area) GREECE
A peculiar festival held by the Boeotians in honour of Here.
The goddess had, according to the story, once quarrelled with Zeus and hidden
herself on Mount Cithaeron. Her husband then spread the report that he was going
to marry another wife, and had an image of oak-wood decked out in bridal attire
and carried over Cithaeron on a chariot with a numerous train amid the singing
of marriage hymns. Here, in her jealousy, threw herself upon her supposed rival,
but, on discovering the trick, reconciled herself, with laughter, to Zeus, took
her seat on the chariot, and founded the festival in memory of the incident. The
feast was celebrated every seven years by the Plataeans alone and called the Little
Daedala. But every sixtieth year all the cities of the Boeotian federation kept
it as the Great Daedala. At the Little Daedala, guided by the note of a bird,
they fixed on a tree in a grove of oaks and cut a figure out of it, which they
dressed in bridal attire and took, as in marriage procession, to the top of Cithaeron.
Here they offered a goat to Zeus and a cow to Here, and burned the image with
the offering. At the Great Daedala the images made at the Little Daedala were
distributed by lot among the cities of the Boeotian confederacy, and the same
proceedings were then repeated.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
THESPIES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Games in honor of Love, offering prizes not only for music but also for athletic events.
Erotia or erotidia, the most solemn of all the festivals celebrated in the Boeotian town of Thespiae. It took place every fifth year, and in honour of Eros, the principal divinity of the Thespians. Respecting the particulars nothing is known, except that it was solemnised with contests in music and gymnastics (Plut. Amat. 1; Paus. ix. 31,3; Athen. xiii). At this festival married couples made up any quarrels they might have. The worship of Eros seems to have been established at Thespiae from the earliest times; and the ancient symbolic representation of the god, a rude stone (argos lithos), continued to be looked upon with particular reverence even when sculpture had attained the highest degree of perfection among the Greeks, and when Thespiae possessed the world-renowned statue of Eros (Paus. ix. 27,1; compare Schol. ad Pind. Olymp. vii. 154; Ritschl, in the Rhein. Mus. vol. ii. p. 106)
This text is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Eros or Erotidia. The most solemn of all the festivals celebrated in the Boeotian town of Thespiae. It took place every fifth year, and in honour of Eros, the principal divinity of the Thespians. Respecting the particulars nothing is known, except that it was solemnized with contests in music and gymnastics ( Amat.1; Pausan. ix. 31. 3; Athen. xiii. p. 561). At this festival married couples made up any quarrels they might have. The worship of Eros seems to have been early established at Thespiae, where the ancient symbolic representation of the god--a rude stone--was long looked upon with reverence (Pausan. ix. 27. 1).
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Jan 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
After the decline of Ascra, the inhabitants of Thespiae attended to the worship of the Muses and to the arrangements for the musical contests in their honour that took place once in five years.
LEVADIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A festival with games, open to all Greeks, held at Lebadea in Boeotia, in honour of Zeus Basileus, started by the Boiotian Confederacy to commenorate the Spartans' defeat at Leuktra in 371; held in Panamos month (August-September), they included athletic contests and horse races.
PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Festival of Liberty with games, held every four years at Plataea, in memory of the battle.
The feast of liberty; a festival which the Greeks, after the battle of Plataea (B.C. 479), instituted in honour of Zeus Eleutherius (the deliverer). It was intended not merely to be a token of their gratitude to the god, but also as a bond of union among themselves; for, in an assembly of all the Greeks, Aristides carried a decree that delegates from all the Greek States should assemble every year at Plataea for the celebration of the Eleutheria. The town itself was at the same time declared sacred and inviolable, as long as its citizens offered the annual sacrifices which were then instituted on behalf of Greece. Every fifth year these solemnities were celebrated with contests (agon ton Eleutherion) in which the victors were rewarded with chaplets. The annual solemnity at Plataea, which continued to be observed down to the time of Plutarch ( Arist.19 and 21), was as follows: On the sixteenth of the month of Maemacterion, a procession, led by a trumpeter, who blew the signal for battle, marched at daybreak through the middle of the town. It was followed by wagons loaded with myrtle-boughs and chaplets, by a black bull, and by free youths who carried the vessels containing the libations for the dead. No slave was permitted to minister on this occasion. At the end of this procession followed the archon of Plataea, who was not allowed at any other time during his office to touch a weapon or to wear any other but white garments, now wearing a purple tunic and with a sword in his hand, and also bearing an urn, kept for this solemnity in the public archives (grammatophulakion). When the procession came to the place where the Greeks who had fallen at Plataea were buried, the archon first washed and anointed the tombstones, and then led the bull to a pyre and sacrificed it, praying to Zeus and Hermes Chthonius, and inviting the brave men who had fallen in the defence of their country to take part in the banquet prepared for them.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Jan 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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