Festivals in ancient Greece

secret religious rites in ancient Greece

thumb|400px|A Hellenistic art|Hellenistic Greek [[mosaic depicting the god Dionysos as a winged daimon riding on a tiger, from the House of Dionysos at Delos (which was once controlled by Athens) in the South Aegean region of Greece, late 2nd century BC, Archaeological Museum of Delos]]

festival in ancient Greece

Four distinct Ancient Greek sports festivals

lunisolar calendar

Thesmophoriazusae (; Thesmophoriazousai, ), or Women at the Thesmophoria (sometimes also called The Poet and the Women), is one of eleven surviving comedy plays by Aristophanes. It was first produced in 411 BC, probably at the City Dionysia. The play's focuses include the subversive role of women in a male-dominated society; the vanity of contemporary poets, such as the tragic playwrights Euripides and Agathon; and the shameless, enterprising vulgarity of an ordinary Athenian, as represented in this play by the protagonist, Mnesilochus. The work is also notable for Aristophanes' free adaptatio

The Thesmophoria (, from θεσμός (divine law) and φόρος (carrier, bearer)) was an ancient Greek religious festival, held in honour of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone. It was held annually, mostly around the time that seeds were sown in late autumn – though in some places it was associated with the harvest instead – and celebrated human and agricultural fertility. The festival was one of the most widely celebrated in the Greek world. It was restricted to adult women, and the rites practiced during the festival were kept secret. The most extensive sources on the festival are a com

The Lenaia () was an annual Athenian festival with a dramatic competition. It was one of the lesser festivals of Athens and Ionia in ancient Greece. The Lenaia took place in Athens in Gamelion, roughly corresponding to January. The festival was in honour of Dionysus Lenaios. There is also evidence the festival also took place in Delphi.

thumb|Small Pottery of ancient Greece|terracotta wine vessels such as this one (c. 410 BC) were given as gifts during the Anthesteria. They often depict children at play or mimicking adults, here a chubby Eros pulling a toy cart. ([[Walters Art Museum)]] The Anthesteria (; ) was one of the four Athenian festivals in honor of Dionysus. It was held each year from the 11th to the 13th of the month of Anthesterion, around the time of the January or February full moon. The three days of the feast were called , , and .

thumb | right | alt=Votive relief found at river Ilissos | Votive relief found at river IlissosCynosarges ( Kynosarges) was a famous temple of Heracles, public gymnasium, and surrounding grove located just outside the walls of Ancient Athens on the southern bank of the Ilissos river and near the Diomeian gate. The modern suburb of Kynosargous is named after it.

Thargelia () was one of the chief Athenian festivals in honour of the Delian Apollo and Artemis, held on their birthdays, the 6th and 7th of the month Thargelion (about May 24 and May 25).

thumb|250px|Poseidon's head (identified by an inscription), detail from a scene representing Athena and [[Poseidon. Side B from an Attic black-figure neck-amphora, c. 550–530 BC. From Vulci. Signed by the Amasis Painter.]] The Panionium (Ancient Greek: Πανιώνιον, Paniōnion) was an Ionian sanctuary dedicated to Poseidon Helikonios and the meeting place of the Ionian League. It was on the peninsula of Mt. Mycale, about south of Smyrna—now İzmir, in Turkey. Herodotus describes it as follows:The Panionion is a sacred ground in Mykale, facing north; it was set apart for Poseidon of Helicon by the j

thumb|right|280px|Procession of men (Apaturia?), Attic Red-figure pottery|red-figure kylix, 480 BC, [[Louvre (G 138)]]

The Aphrodisia festival (Ancient Greek: Ἀφροδίσια) was an annual festival held in Ancient Greece in honor of the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite (Ancient Greek: Ἀφροδίτη Πάνδημος). It took place in several Ancient Greek towns, but was especially important in Attica and on the island of Cyprus, where Aphrodite was venerated with a magnificent celebration. The festival occurred during the month of Hekatombaion, which modern scholars recognize as starting from the third week in July to the third week of August on the Gregorian calendar. Aphrodite was worshipped in most towns of Cyprus, as w

The Boedromia () was an ancient Greek festival held at Athens on the 7th of Boedromion (summer) in the honor of Apollo Boedromios (the helper in distress). Though Apollo was referred to as Boedromios by the Boeotians as well as other Greeks, the festival was exclusively celebrated by the Athenians. According to Demosthenes, the only classical writer to refer to the festival, it had a military connotation, and thanks the god for his assistance to the Athenians during wars. It could also commemorate a specific intervention at the origin of the festival. Various ancient sources have offered diffe

thumb|300px|Celebrating the Adonia: fragment of an Attic red-figure wedding vase, ca. 430–420 BCE

thumb|A recreation of the Statue of Athena that would have been found inside the Parthenon. thumb|Recreation of the west pediment of the Parthenon.

Pyanopsia (Πυανόψια) or Pyanepsia (Πυανέψια) was an ancient Athenian festival held in honor of Apollo in Athens on the 7th day of the month Pyanepsion (October/November). Its name literally means "bean-stewing", in reference to one of the sacred offerings given during this time, and is taken from the Greek words πύανος - pyanos "bean" and ἕψειν - hepsein "to boil".

thumb|Red-figure pottery|Red-figure [[kylix of a possible scene from the Oschophoria, ca. 510 BCE, currently held in the Archaeological Museum of Vulci, Vulci.]] The Oschophoria () were a set of ancient Greek festival rites held in Athens during the month Pyanepsion (autumn) in honor of Dionysus, the god of the vine. The festival may have had both agricultural and initiatory functions. Amidst much singing of special songs, two young men dressed in women's clothes would bear branches with grape-clusters attached (ὠσχοί) from Dionysus to the sanctuary of Athena Skiras, and a footrace followed in

Plynteria (Gr. '''''') was a festival of ancient Greece celebrated at Athens every year, on the 22nd of Thargelion, in honor of Athena Polias, with the heroine Aglauros (or with the two combined as Athena Aglauros), whose temple stood on the Acropolis. The festival's name came from plynein (), a Greek verb meaning "to wash".

The Kronia or Cronia () was an Athenian festival held in honor of Kronos (Cronus) on the 12th day of Hekatombaion, the first month of the Attic calendar, and roughly equivalent to the latter part of July and first part of August.

The Noumenia (, lit: new moon) is the first day of the lunar month and also a religious observance in ancient Athens and much of Greece (cf. Attic calendar).

The Theorica (), also called the Theoric Fund or Festival Fund, was the name for the fund of monies in ancient Athens expended on festivals, sacrifices, and public entertainments of various kinds. The fund was, in certain circumstances, also distributed among the people in the shape of largesses from the state.

thumb|99x99px|Artemis The Elaphebolia (; Έλαφηβόλια Elaphēbolia) was an ancient Greek festival held at Athens and Phocis during the month of Elaphebolion (March/April dedicated to Artemis Elaphebolos (deer slayer). In the town of Hyampolis in Phocis, it would have been instituted by the inhabitants to commemorate a victory against the Thessalians.

thumb|Hetaira|Hetairai at Haloa festival dancing around a giant [[phallus (Oedipus Painter, 480 BC)]] Haloa or Alo (Ἁλῶα) was an Attic festival, celebrated principally at Eleusis, in honour of Demeter (Δήμητρα, η Αλωαίη), protector of the fruits of the earth, of Dionysus, god of the grape and of wine, and Poseidon (Ποσειδώνας ο Φυτάλμιος), god of the seashore vegetation. In Greek, the word hálōs (ἅλως) from which Haloa derives means "threshing-floor" or "garden." While the general consensus is that it was a festival related to threshing—the process of loosening the edible part of cereal grain

thumb | right The Chalkeia festival (also spelled Chalceia), the festival of Bronze-workers, was a religious festival devoted to the goddess Athena and the god Hephaestus. It was celebrated on the last day of Pyanepsion (October or November in the Attic calendar). The festival celebrated Athena and Hephaestus, in honor of both gods as patron deities of Athens, and as deities of handicrafts.

The Synoikia () was an ancient Greek festival held in Athens commemorating the political unification of Attica. It was also called the Thesean Synoikismos and the Feast of Union, and celebrated Theseus as founder of Athens and the goddess Athena as the city's patron goddess. The festival was celebrated in the month of Hekatombeion on the 16th. A two-day festival, on the 15th and the 16th was held every second year.

Metageitnia ( literally change of neighborhood) was an Ancient Greek festival held in Athens during the month Metageitnion (August/September) in the honor of Metageitnius Apollo. The month of Metageitnion was named after the festival Metageitnia, which celebrated the migration of Theseus from Melite to Diomeia. The celebration of the festival itself declined over time and was replaced by the Apaturia. The festival evolved into a celebration of migrations, immigrations, departures, and colonizations among the Ionians - Metageitnius Apollo presided over the metoikia (the abode).

Thalysia () was an ancient Greek festival celebrated in honour of Dionysus and Demeter or of Demeter alone. It was held in autumn, after the harvest, to thank the gods for the benefits they had conferred upon men.

thumb|400px|Scene on a third-century A.D. sarcophagus depicting an [[orgia]]

In ancient Greece, the Buphonia ( "ox-slayings") denoted a sacrificial ceremony performed at Athens as part of the Dipolieia, a religious festival held on the 14th of the midsummer month Skirophorion—in June or July—at the Acropolis. In the Buphonia a working ox was sacrificed to Zeus Polieus (Zeus protector of the city), which shows parallels to traditional rituals customs from early antiquity. A group of oxen was driven forward to the altar at the highest point of the Acropolis. On the altar a sacrifice of grain had been spread by members of the family of the Kentriadae, on whom this duty de

ancient Greek festival in honor of Heracles in Athens and elsewhere

ancient festival in Athens

thumb | right | alt=Theseus dragging the Minotaur from the Labyrinth. | Theseus dragging the Minotaur from the Labyrinth.The Theseia (Ancient Greek: Θησεῖα, Thēseĩa) was an ancient Greek festival held in Athens in the honor of Theseus. This festival was first implemented in the 470s BCE, after an Athenian general known as Cimon son of Miltiades attacked the island of Skyros in search of the bones of Theseus, after receiving instructions from an oracle of Delphi to go there. Once he defeated the local Dolopians, he scoured the island and found a tomb of a gigantic man that he would proclaim to

ancient Greek festival for Artemis

thumb|400px|Dionysian scene on a 3rd-century AD sarcophagus In ancient Greek religion, an orgion (ὄργιον, more commonly in the plural orgia) was an ecstatic form of worship characteristic of some mystery cults. The orgion is in particular a cult ceremony of Dionysos (or Zagreus), celebrated widely in Arcadia, featuring "unrestrained" masked dances by torchlight and animal sacrifice by means of random slashing that evoked the god's own rending and suffering at the hands of the Titans. The orgia that explained the role of the Titans in Dionysos's dismemberment were said to have been composed by

ancient religious festival to Apollo on Delos

300px|thumb|right|Votive relief showing Bendis (right, identified by her Phrygian cap) approached by eight athletes and two officials. The torch in the hands of the first official shows that the athletes were part of a torch relay team. The Bendidia was an ancient Athenian festival celebrating the Thracian goddess Bendis. It was celebrated on the 19th day of the month of Thargelion (late May, in the Gregorian calendar), and was introduced in 429 BC. The festival took place in Piraeus. It was rare for ancient Athens to permit foreign residents of the city to worship their own gods; the cult of

ancient Greek festival

religious festivals in ancient Greece, for salvation/safety