Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Ancients' feasts, games and rituals for destination: "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.
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