Among the Spartans two festivals of Apollo occupy the chief place. First the HYACINTIIIA, celebrated at Amyclie, the ancient capital of La conia, and connected with the accidental death of Hyacinthus (q.v.), the favorite of the god. It drew together the whole population of Sparta, and its obseivance was so strong a religious obligation on the men of Amyclx that they even sought leave from their generals in order to return for it. It came in the spring, and united mourning for the death of the boy with joy at his return. The first day was given up to sorrow, and an offering at the grave beneath the altar of Apollo; on the second day were choruses by boys, processions, and dances, while the evening was spent in feasting. The doings of the third day are not reported, but very possibly at this time the venerable image of Apollo was presented with the new robe which the women of Sparta embroidered yearly. Even more important was the great festival of the CARNEIA, held during nine days of summer, and so highly regarded by the Spartans that, when it approached, no military operations were undertaken. It was originally a herdsmen's fes tival, but at Sparta had assumed a military character. The men bivouacked in booths, in nine divisions, and all the exercises were gov erned by the commands of the herald. We hear also of musical contests, and a singular foot race in which one man was pursued by a number of others. If he was caught it was a sign of good luck, while his escape foreboded evil. Paral lel usages among other peoples seem to show that the runner is a personification of the fruits of autumn, so that his capture assured pros perity. Both these festivals were common to the whole Dorian race, but the details of their cele bration at other places are unknown.
At Delphi, in the THEOPIIANIA, the return of Apollo in the spring after his winter sojourn among the Hyperboreans was celebrated, while in the THEOXENIA Apollo and the other gods were entertained at a sumptuous feast to which dis tinguished men, such as the poet Pindar, were sometimes invited as a mark of respect. Other festivals of this kind were celebrated elsewhere in honor of other gods. Throughout Bceotia, and also at Delphi, it was common to honor Apollo with processions in which laurel branches were carried. At Thebes these DAPIINEPIIORIA were
celebrated only every ninth year, when the god was represented by his youthful priest, who was preceded in the procession by a relative carrying a long olive rod, wound with laurel and flowers, and with iron balls at each end and the middle, to which numerous ribbons were attached. The priest was followed by a chorus of maidens with suppliants' branches, who sang the praises of the god. Among the splendid festivals of Greece were the DELIA, celebrated every fifth year at the beginning of spring, by the Ionians at Delos. In this form the celebration was instituted by the Athenians in after they had carefully purified the island by the removal of all graves. In the years of its occurrence it replaced the old annual festival of the Apollonia. To it the Athenians sent a State delegation on the ship which was said to have carried Theseus to Crete, and during its absence no death sentence could be executed, a law which prolonged the life of Socrates for nearly a month. It was accompanied by athletic games, horse-races, and competitions between choruses, and seems to have been the scene of the most famous musical contests. After the great victory of Platwa, Pausanias and the Greeks instituted the ELEUTIIERIA in gratitude to Zeus, the Giver of Freedom (Eleutherios), and these were celebrated with annual sacrifices and athletic contests in every fifth year at least as late as the second century of our era. In con nection with some festivals 'we hear of CALLis TEIA, contests of beauty, which were between women on Lesbos and Tenedos, in connection with the worship of Hera, and at Basilis in Arcadia with the worship of Demeter, while in Elis the contestants were men, and a similar rivalry be tween the old men of the tribes seems to have formed part of the Panathenna.
The festivals of the gods are noted in Preller, Griechische Mythologie, 4th ed. by C. Robert (Berlin, 1887-94) ; consult especially Index IV. They are also briefly described in Schomann Lipsius, Griechische Alterthiimer, ii. (Berlin, 1902) ; and Stengel, "Griechische Kultus Alter thiimer," 2d ed. in Muller, Handbuch der Has sischen Alterthummaissensclulft (Munich, 1898). For Athens, consult A. Mommsen, Die Feste der Stadt Athen im Alterthum (Leipzig, 1898).