Εμφανίζονται 22 τίτλοι με αναζήτηση: Εορτές, αγώνες & ιεροπραξίες αρχαίων στην ευρύτερη περιοχή: "ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΑ Νομός ΠΕΛΟΠΟΝΝΗΣΟΣ" .
ΙΣΘΜΙΑ (Αρχαίο ιερό) ΛΟΥΤΡΑΚΙ ΠΕΡΑΧΩΡΑΣ
Καθιερώθηκαν από το 582 π.Χ. Οι Κορίνθιοι υποστήριζαν ότι τα καθιέρωσε ο βασιλιάς τους Σίσυφος, προς τιμήν του Μελικέρτη-Παλαίμωνα, που ξεβράστηκε στις ακτές της Ισθμίας. Οι Αθηναίοι, πάλι, διαφωνούσαν, λέγοντας ότι ιδρυτής των Ισθμίων ήταν ο Θησέας. Τα Ισθμια γίνονταν κάθε δύο χρόνια την άνοιξη. Το βραβείο των νικητών ήταν ένας κλάδος πιτύος (πεύκου).
Ισθμια. Αγώνες προς τιμήν του Ποσειδώνα, που διεξάγονταν στο ιερό του στην Ισθμία κάθε δύο χρόνια, την άνοιξη, για τρεις μέρες. Στο πλαίσιο της άποψης ότι η ίδρυση των πανελλήνιων αγώνων ανάγεται σε ταφικούς αγώνες, τα Ίσθμια έχουν συνδεθεί με το θάνατο του Μελικέρτη, που πνίγηκε στη θάλασσα μαζί με τη μητέρα του Ινώ, και απαντά και με το όνομα "Παλαίμων". Κατά το πρώτο ήμισυ του 6ου αιώνα π.Χ., οι Κορίνθιοι πρόσθεσαν γυμνικούς και ιππικούς αγώνες στους εορτασμούς που γίνονταν από τον 7ο κιόλας αιώνα στην Ισθμία. Οι αγώνες συνεχίστηκαν καθόλη τη διάρκεια της Ρωμαϊκής εποχής υπό τον έλεγχο της Κορίνθου, εκτός από την περίοδο 146-44 π.Χ., όταν η Κόρινθος έχασε τα πολιτικά δικαιώματά της και την ευθύνη των αγώνων ανέλαβε η Σικυώνα. Τα Ίσθμια ξεκινούσαν μετά την προσφορά θυσίας στον Ποσειδώνα και γεύματος στους πιστούς. Οι αθλητικοί αγώνες διεξάγονταν στο στίβο και οι μουσικοί στο θέατρο. Στους νικητές δινόταν αρχικά ένα στεφάνι από πεύκο και από τις αρχές του 5ου αι. π.Χ. από αγριοσέλινο (γρίηλον), ενώ στους Ρωμαϊκούς χρόνους και από τα δύο.
Το κείμενο παρατίθεται τον Ιούνιο 2005 από την ακόλουθη ιστοσελίδα, με φωτογραφίες, του Ιδρυματος Μείζονος Ελληνισμού
Isthmia. One of the four great Hellenic festivals. It was celebrated at the Isthmus
of Corinth; and though inferior to the splendour of Olympia, it probably surpassed
the Nemea in brilliancy (cf. Themist. Orat. xv. p. 229, xxviii. p. 413, ed. Dind.;
and Aristid. Isthm. eis poseid. iii. p. 41, Dind. vol. i.). Indeed, when one considers
the natural advantages of Corinth as a centre of commerce, it is rather surprising
that the Isthmian games did not attain higher importance than those of Olympia.
Pindar describes the scene of the Isthmia by a variety of poetic expressions,
e. g. tan haliermea Isthmou deirada (Pind. Isth. i. 9), isthmion napos (Isth.
vii. 63), pontou gephur' akamantos (Nem. vi. 40), &c. A [p. 1024] sacred enclosure
planted with pines, within which was the temple of the Isthmian Poseidon, surrounded
the scene of the games (Strab. viii. 380). Pausanias saw here a theatre and a
stadium of white marble (lithou leukou), but does not speak of the hippodrome,
whence it may perhaps be inferred that it had disappeared or gone to ruin before
the time of his visit (Paus. ii. 1, 7). A late inscription, belonging probably
to Hadrian's reign, refers to the restoration of several edifices here which had
fallen into decay. In it are mentioned kataluseis, or lodging-places, for the
athletes who came to the Isthmian games from all parts of the world (tois apo
tes oikoumenes epi ta Isthmia paragenomenois athletais); also enkriterioi oikoi,
in which it is likely that the admissibility of intending candidates was discussed
and determined; and a portico with vaulted chambers attached (stoa sun kekamaromenois
oikois), in which probably those who intended to compete made ready and waited
during the interval before their turn to engage came on (Boeckh, C. I. n. 115,
p. 573, vol. i.). The kraneion, a gymnasium standing in an enclosure of the same
name planted with cypresses, might have been used by the athletes in training
for the games (Pans. ii. 2, 4; Plut. Alex. 14; Athen. xiii. 6, 589; Diog. Laert.
vi. 77, p. 351).
For information respecting the origin of the games, there remains
to us nothing but obscure traces of primitive cults, which kept their seat in
the Isthmus even into historic times. The myth which seems to be of greatest antiquity
ascribes the institution of the festival to Poseidon and Helios, when Castor won
the prize in the stadium, Kalais in the diaulos, Orpheus in playing on the cithara,
Herakles as pammachos (i. e. as pancratiast), Polydeukes in boxing, Peleus in
wrestling, Telamon in discus-throwing, and Theseus in the armour-race. In horseracing,
Phaethon was victorious with the riding-horse, and Neleus with the four-horse
chariot. On this occasion there was also a ship-race, in which the Argo obtained
the prize (Dion. Chrysost. Orat. Corinth. xxxvii. t. ii. p. 107). In this myth
nearly all the potentates of prehistoric Hellas are observed grouped in one tableau.
Another legend represents the Isthmian games as founded by Poseidon
to honour the memory of Melikertes, son of Athamas king of Orchomenos and Ino,
who cast herself with Melikertes into the sea, becoming thereupon a Nereid with
the name Leukothea, while her son became the sea-deity Palaemon (Schol. ad Pind.
Isthm. p. 514 seq. B; Ovid. Met. iv. 521 seqq.).
According to another tradition, the Nereids appeared to Sisyphos,
and commanded him to found the games in honour of Melikertes. A modification of
this myth states that the corpse of the son of Ino lay unburied upon the shore
of the Isthmus; that the Corinthians were, in consequence, sorely pressed by famine;
and that, consulting the oracle as to the means of relief, they were directed
to inter the dead youth and establish the games in memory of him.
Yet another myth informs that Theseus founded the Isthmia in grateful
commemoration of his victory over the wicked giant Sinis Pityokamptes (Schol.
ad Pind. Isthm. p. 514 B). Now, since both Sinis and Theseus were children of
Poseidon, the institution of the festival by the latter might be looked upon as
an act of atonement offered by him to his offended father; and this view would
help us to understand the statement that the Melikertes festival took rank rather
as a mystic rite than as a popular assembly, the cynosure of sightseers (Plut.
Thes. 25, teletes echon mallon e theas kai panegurismou taxin). The other legends
as to the origin of the Isthmia need not detain us. In almost all we see that,
as the mythic history of the Olympic games takes us back to Zeus, so that of the
Isthmian refers us ultimately to Poseidon. Plut. (l. c.) says that Theseus founded
the latter in emulation of Herakles, who had established the former. Later accounts
represent Theseus as having confirmed, by the institution of the games, a friendly
political relationship between Athens and Corinth. According to Hellanikos, and
Andron of Halicarnassus, Theseus made a covenant with the Corinthians by which
Athenian theoroi should receive at the Isthmia so much standing-ground (proedria)
as could be covered by the sail of the theoric vessel (Plut. l. c.). The inscription
of the Parian marble numbers 995 years backwards from its own time to the institution
of the Isthmian games by Theseus.
In the time of the Cypselids at Corinth, the celebration of these
games was suspended for seventy years (Solin. 12). Solon offered a reward of a
hundred drachmae to every Athenian isthmionikes, from which it is evident that
in his time the Isthmia had obtained wide celebrity as a periodic festival. It
is noteworthy that even the destruction of Corinth by Mummius in 146 B.C. did
not break the continuity of the games. They flourished under the Roman empire,
and Corinthian coins of the reigns of Hadrian, Verus, M. Aurelius, and Commodus,
frequently bear the inscription ISTHMIA. In the reign of Julian these, like the
other great Hellenic games, were zealously celebrated, but they ceased to exist
probably about Olymp. 293, when Christianity became the established religion of
the Roman empire.
Of the four great Pan-Hellenic festivals, two--the Olympia and Pythia--were
penteteric, i.e. recurring after intervals of four years: while two--the Nemean
and Isthmian--were trieteric, i.e. recurring after intervals of two years. Hence
Pliny (H. N. iv. § 5) and Solinus (c. 9) are in error when they represent the
Isthmia as quinquennial. Cf. Pindar, Nem. vi. 40, where he uses the words: en
amphiktionon taurophonoi t rieteridi Poseidanion an temenos. Eusebius places the
first historic Isthmiad in Olymp. 49, 3 (Chron. libr. post. p. 125, interp. Hieron.
ed. Seal. ii.). The Isthmia occurred in the first and third years of each Olympiad.
As to the season in which they were held, so much alone is certain (cf. Boeckh,
Explic. ad Pind. Olymp. ix. p. 183) that the Isthmia which fell in the first year
of an Olympiad took place in summer (Thucyd. viii. 10; Curt. iv. 5, 11), and that
those which fell in the third took place in spring (Xen. Hell. iv. 5; Liv. xxxiii.
32, 33). Dodwell argued from Pindar, Olymp. ix. 83, with Schol., that the former
were celebrated on the 12th of the Attic month Hecatombaeon, which corresponded
with the penultimate month of the Corinthian year (Dodw. de Cycl. vi. 3, p. 283
ff.). Corsini held that this summer festival occurred on the 12th of the Corinthian
Panemos, which, according to him, coincided with the Attic Hecatombaeon; according
to Boeckh, with Metageitnion. But Boeckh (ad Pind. l. c.) shows the inconclusiveness
of their reasoning.
The programme of the Isthmian games included gymnic equestrian and
musical contests, the gymnic being probably the oldest. The Isthmian contests
no doubt resembled in the main those of the other three great festivals. They
were open to boys, men, and youths, well grown but not quite matured to manhood
(ageneioi). Mention is on record of isthmionikai who obtained prizes in the stadium
(for men and boys), the pancratium (for men and ageneioi), and the pentathlum
(Dion Chrysost. Diog. e isthm. Orat. ix. p. 291, vol. i. Reisk., and Krause, Pyth.
Nem. Isthm. pp. 209 ff.). In equestrian contests we hear only of victories with
the four-horse chariot and the riding-horse, but we cannot, from absence of reference
to other equestrian contests, infer that there were none except these.
Pausanias (i. 2, v. 2) mentions a general truce which prevailed during
the Isthmian games (isthmikai spondai), and dated from the mythic age. In historic
times this truce was regularly proclaimed throughout Hellas by heralds called
spondophoroi, whose persons were sacred, but who were not obeyed, however, if
the festival was not at the time under legitimate management (cf. Xen. Hell. iv.
5, 2; Diod. xiv. 86, p. 709; Pans. iii. 10, 1).
The Eleans alone of the Hellenic states sent no theoroi to these games;
nor did any from Elis, except the people of Lepreum, present themselves as candidates
for Isthmian honours (Paus. l. c. and vi. 16, 2).
We have little or no information as to the special rules which regulated the celebration of the Isthmia, but we may suppose them to have been similar to the rules observed at the Olympia, Nemea, and Pythia (vid. Aristid. peri homon., Or. xlii. p. 781; Themist. Or. xv. p. 229; Krause, Olympia, § 15, 144-156). We know, however, that the same person might here compete in as many as three contests on one and the same day (Pans. vi. 15, 3). We gather from Plutarch (Sympos. v. 2) that women were admitted to poetical competitions. The beginning of the games was announced by a herald, who, advancing into the middle of the scene, proclaimed silence with a trumpet, and then in a set form of words declared the festival to have begun (Liv. xxxiii. 32; Themist. l. c.).
The Isthmia were naturally even from prehistoric times under the control
of the Corinthians (cf. Pans. v. 2, 1; 22, 3; Plut. Thes. 25). In Pindar they
alone are referred to as the presidents (cf. Nem. ii. 20). But in Olymp. 96 the
games were held by the Laconizing Corinthian exiles, under the protection of Agesilaus,
who interrupted the celebration of the festival by the Argives and those of the
Corinthians who had submitted to them. As soon as he withdrew, the Argives celebrated
the games over again. But in Olymp. 98. 2, by the peace of Antalkidas, the Corinthians
were freed from the Argive yoke, and recovered control of the Isthmia. When Corinth
was destroyed by Mummius (B.C. 146), the management of the festival passed to
the Sicyonians, who retained it until the restoration of Corinth by Julius Caesar,
when the agonothesia returned to its original possessors (Pans. ii. 2, 2). We
have no account of the number of presidents of the games (agonothetai), who were
chosen apparently for their wealth and nobility. It is supposable that, like the
Hellanodikae at Olympia, they wore a distinctive robe of office; and we know from
Dion Chrysost. (Orat. ix. Diog. e isthm. p. 291, vol. i. ed. R.) that their heads
were adorned with crowns.
The prize of victors at the Isthmia, like that won at each of the
other three great festivals, had during the historic period no intrinsic value,
its symbolic worth being thereby immeasurably enhanced. In Homeric times, such
prizes always possessed intrinsic worth, and it is a mere anachronism when some
myths describe the primitive Isthmia as an agon stephanites. The victor's meed
in historic times was a wreath of parsley (selinon: cf. Pind. Nem. iv. 88; Olymp.
xiii. 31). It has been thought that the Nemean differed from the Isthmian wreath
in that the former was made of green or fresh, while the latter was made of dry
parsley (Schol. Pind. Olymp. xiii. 45); but this view lacks proof. Tradition has
it that the original parsley-wreath was succeeded in prehistoric times by a wreath
of pine; but in the classical period we hear only of the former being awarded,
as it continued to be in the time of Timoleon (cf. Diod. xvi. 679 ; Plut. Tim.
26). Nor was it until probably long after the restoration of Corinth by Julius
Caesar that the pine-wreath supplanted it. But under the Empire isthmionikae are
regularly represented as crowned with the pine, called simply he pitus, like the
Olympian garland, ho kotinos (vid. Plut. Symp. v. 3, 1-3; Pans. v. 21, 5, vi.
13; Luc. Anach. 9, 16). While parsley was suited to an agon epitaphios, the pine
was characteristic of the worship of Poseidon (cf. Plut. Symp. l. c.). A Corinthian
coin of the reign of Verus shows the pine-wreath, and from this onward to the
abolition of the festival the wreath of the isthmionikae continued to be woven
of pine. Here, as in the other great games, the victor received with the crown
a palm branch in token of his victory (Plut. Symp. viii. 4, 1; Pans. viii. 48,
2). At these games Flamininus (and Nero afterwards) declared the autonomy of Hellas
(Liv. xxxiii. 32; Suet. Ner. 22, 24). Rhetoricians, poets, and other writers brought
their productions under public notice at the Isthmia (Dion Chrysost. Diog. e peri
aretes, pp. 277, 278, vol. i. R.). According to Dion Chrysost. (Diog. e isthm.
Orat. ix. p. 289, vol. i. R.), visitors came from Italy, Sicily, Libya, Thessaly,
the Ionian States, and even the Borysthenes, to be present at the great Isthmian
festival.
As the Olympia, Pythia, and Nemea lent their names to minor festivals,
so the name Isthmia was applied to other games than those held at the Isthmus
of Corinth. The number of inferior Isthmia, however, was not as large as that
of the inferior copies of the other great games. Coins and inscriptions remain,
which refer to Isthmia held at Ancyra in Galatia. Isthmia at Nicaea in Bithynia
are mentioned on a coin of this town, struck in the time of Valerianus. [p. 1026]
The Isthmia at Syracuse are known to us only from the isolated statement of a
schol. to Pind. Olymp. xiii. 158, which, however, is credible from the fact that
Syracuse was founded by Corinth. Several ancient authors whose writings are lost
treated the subject of the Isthmian games. Both Plutarch and Athenaeus refer to
a work on this subject written by the epic poet Euphorion (Plut. Sympos. v. 3,
2, 3; Athen. iv. 182). For further information, the reader may be referred to
Krause (Pyth., Nem., Isthm.), whose work has been chiefly followed in the present
article.
This text is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Isthmia (ta Isthmia). One of the four great national festivals of the Greeks, held on the Isthmus of Corinth, in a grove of pine-trees sacred to Poseidon, near the shrines of the Isthmian Poseidon and of Melicertes. From B.C. 589, they were held in the first month of spring, in the second and fourth years of each Olympiad. According to legend, the Isthmian Games were originally funeral games in memory of Melicertes (q.v.); another tradition relates that they were established by Theseus either in honour of Poseidon, or in commemoration of his victory over Sciron and Sinis. In any case, the Athenians were specially interested in the festival from the earliest times. It was alleged that, from the days of Theseus downwards, they had what was called the proedria, the right of occupying the most prominent seats at the games, and, in accordance with a law attributed to Solon, they presented to those of their citizens who were victors in the contests a reward amounting to 100 drachmae. The only occasion when Socrates was absent from Athens, except with the army, was to attend this festival. The inhabitants of Elis were completely excluded from the games, being debarred from either sending competitors or festal envoys. The Corinthians had the presidency, which was transferred to the Sicyonians after the destruction of Corinth (B.C. 146), but at the rebuilding of Corinth (B.C. 46) it was restored to that city. The contests included gymnastic exercises, horseraces, and competitions in music. The former two differed in no essential way from the Olympian Games; in the third, besides musicians, poets of either sex contended for the prize. Besides the customary palm, the prize in Pindar's time consisted of a wreath of dry selinon (often translated "parsley," but more probably identical with the "wild celery," apium graveolens). The selinon was a symbol of funeral games. After the destruction of Corinth, a crown of pine needles was substituted for it. The games long continued to be held, even under the Roman Empire. (Cf. Plut. Timoleon, 26; Sympos. v. 3, 1-3).
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Η σπουδαιότητα της Ισθμίας αποδεικνύεται εκτός των άλλων και από το
γεγονός ότι στο ιερό της διεξαγόταν μία από τις τέσσερις μεγάλες Πανελλήνιες εορτές,
τα Ίσθμια. Κατά την τοπική παράδοση ιδρυτής τους θεωρείτο ο Σίσυφος, όμως σύμφωνα
με μία άλλη εκδοχή καθιερώθηκαν από το Θησέα προς τιμήν του Ποσειδώνα. Πανελλήνια
σημασία απέκτησαν την εποχή των Κυψελιδών.
Τα Ίσθμια τελούνταν κάθε δύο χρόνια και κατά τη διεξαγωγή τους ίσχυαν
οι λεγόμενες “Ισθμιάδες σπονδές”, δηλαδή ειρηνική περίοδος για τις
πόλεις που συμμετείχαν. Η οργάνωσή τους ακολούθησε το πρότυπο των Ολυμπιακών Αγώνων:
περιλάμβαναν αγωνίσματα όπως ο δρόμος , το άλμα, ρίψεις, πένταθλο, παγκράτιο,
ιππικοί αγώνες και αρματοδρομίες. Από τον 5ο αι. π.Χ προστέθηκαν αγώνες μουσικής
και απαγγελίας καθώς και διαγωνισμοί ζωγραφικής. Οι νικητές έπαιρναν ως έπαθλο
ένα στεφάνι από πεύκο.
Μέχρι τα μέσα του 2ου αι π.Χ τα Ίσθμια βρίσκονταν υπό την εποπτεία
των Κορινθίων και είχαν αποκτήσει μεγάλη φήμη. Οταν το 146π.Χ η Κόρινθος
λεηλατήθηκε, την ευθύνη των αγώνων ανέλαβε η Σικυώνα.
Η οργάνωσή τους ανατέθηκε και πάλι στους Κορινθίους μετά το 46π.Χ.
Στον αρχαιολογικό χώρο της Ισθμίας λειτουργεί σήμερα ένα μουσείο,
όπου φυλάσσονται ενδιαφέροντα ευρήματα από το χώρο και την ευρύτερη περιοχή.
Το κείμενο παρατίθεται το Νοέμβριο 2003 από τουριστικό φυλλάδιο του Δήμου
Λουτρακίου - Περαχώρας.
ΝΕΜΕΑ (Αρχαίο ιερό) ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΑ
Νέμεα. Σύμφωνα με την παράδοση, τα Νέμεα ξεκίνησαν το 573 π.Χ. και διεξάγονταν κάθε δύο χρόνια, τη δεύτερη πανσέληνο μετά το θερινό ηλιοστάσιο, προς τιμήν του Οφέλτη, γιου του βασιλιά Λυκούργου, που βρήκε φρικτό θάνατο από δάγκωμα φιδιού. Αν και αργότερα προστάτης των αγώνων ανέλαβε ο Δίας, τα Νέμεα συνέχισαν να έχουν ένα νεκρικό χαρακτήρα, που τον φανέρωναν τα μαύρα ιμάτια που φορούσαν οι Ελλανοδίκες και το άλσος κυπαρισσιών γύρω από το ιερό του Δία. Όπως στα Ολύμπια, έτσι και στα Νέμεα δεν περιλαμβάνονταν μουσικοί αγώνες. Αρχικά, η πόλη των Κλεωνών είχε τον έλεγχο των αγώνων, αλλά αργότερα ανέλαβε τη διοργάνωσή τους το Αργος. Το έπαθλο για τους νικητές ήταν ένα στεφάνι από αγριοσέλινο.
Το κείμενο παρατίθεται τον Ιούνιο 2005 από την ακόλουθη ιστοσελίδα, με φωτογραφίες, του Ιδρυματος Μείζονος Ελληνισμού
Nemea was a valley in Argolis, between Kleonae and Phlius. It was the reputed
scene of many famous mythical events. Here (it was said) Argos had watched Io:
and here Heraklees slew the lion. Pausanias (ii. 15, 2) relates that in his time
the den of the Nemean lion was pointed out in a mountain range, a little less
than two miles from Nemea. And here too, in historic times, stood a splendid temple
of Nemean Zeus, with a sacred enclosure (alsos, not to be rendered grove ), in
which the Nemean games (Nemea or Nemeia) were held (Strab. viii. p. 377). Pindar
describes the locality of these games by a variety of imaginative expressions:
e. g. Nemeaiou en poluumnetoi Dios alsei (Nem. ii. 4, 5); askiois Phliountos hup'
ogugiois oresin (Nem. vi. 45, 46); chortois en leontos (Olymp. xiii. 44). The
valley of Nemea from its situation belonged naturally to the people of Kleonae,
who for a long time were presidents of the games (agonothetai). But, before Olymp.
53, 1, the Argives obtained possession of the temple and the presidency at the
games. At a later time the Kleonaeans recovered the right of presiding, but did
not retain it (Pind. Nem. x.; Pausan. ii. 15, 3).
In prehistoric times we find the institution of the Nemean festival
connected with the expedition of the Seven against Thebes (Apollodor. iii. 6,
4), or with the slaying of the Nemean lion by Herakles (Schol. Pind. Nem.). Writers
who held the former opinion uniformly describe the festival as an agon epitaphios,
established to commemorate the youth Archemoros, who was killed by a serpent (Apollodor.
l. c.), but differ as to the particular Archemoros whose death was thus honoured.
Some represented him to have been the son of Lycurgus, king of Nemea, while others
(among whom was Aeschylus) related that he was the son of Nemea, daughter of Asopus
(Schol. Pind. Nem.). Apollodorus in the passage referred to gives the names of
the victors, together with the contests, in which they were victorious at the
first Nemean games. The second celebration of these games is attributed by Pausanias
(x. 25, 2, 3) to the Epigoni.
As regards the first historic occurrence of the festival, we have
but scanty evidence. In its local character it had no doubt been in existence
from immemorial antiquity; but not until long after the Olympic games had become
famous did those of Nemea rise to the rank of a Pan-Hellenic festival. Eusebius
dates the first Nemead from Olymp. 53, 2: but it is probable from the dissertation
of G. Hermann, whose conclusions are supported by Boeckh, that the series of historical
Nemeads began in the winter of Olymp. 51 (Boeckh, C. I. i. n. 34, p. 53). The
Nemean games, like the Isthmian, in this respect were biennial (agon trieterikos),
i. e. two complete years elapsed between each festival. Accordingly they fell
twice within the Olympic period, occurring alternately in winter and summer in
the second and fourth years respectively of each Olympic penteteris. We read in
the Schol. to Pindar's Nemean odes that they took place on the 12th of the month
Pan[ecedil]mos (meni panemoi dodekatei), but such authority helps us but little
in settling the matter.
The games comprised musical, gymnic, and equestrian contests (agon
mousikos, gumnikos, hippilos). (Plut. Philop. 11; Pausan. viii. 50, 3; Schol.
Pind. Nem.) The gymnic contests at Nemea, as regards the subjects of competition,
corresponded closely with those at Olympia. The following are expressly mentioned:--The
simple foot-race (gumnon stadion) for men and boys; the wrestling bout (pale)
for men and boys; the pentathlon for men and boys; the pagikration for men and
boys (Pind. Nem. passim; Herod. vi. 92, ix. 75). That boxing (pugmachia) was a
subject of competition may be inferred from Pausan. viii. 40, 3. We learn further
from Pausanias (ii. 15, 2) and Pindar that, besides the simple foot-race, the
Nemean games included the armour-race (hoplites dromos) and the long race (ho
dolichos--notice accent). In the equestrian contests we know that Alcibiades,
Chromios of Aetna, and Polykles of Sparta (Pausan. i. 22, 6) were victorious.
That the games occupied more than one day may be inferred from Liv.
xxvii. 31, where he uses the words per dies festos in reference to them.
The Argives, as has been said above, ultimately supplanted the Kleonaeans
as presidents of the Nemean festival, but they occasionally delegated this function
to military chieftains, like Philip of Macedon or Titus Quintius Flamininus (Liv.
xxvii. 30, xxxiv. 41). In a late inscription the officers who actually presided
are referred to as Hellanodikae (Hellanodikai). Boeckh conjectured that these
were twelve in number, while those who discharged the like duty at Olympia, and
bore the same title, numbered only ten (Boeckh, C. I 1126, p. 581).
Like the other great Pan-Hellenic festivals, the Nemean was an agon
stephanites, i. e. one in which the victor obtained a wreath in token of his victory.
The Nemean wreath was, according to some accounts, at first woven of olive-sprays
(elaia), the garland of green parsley (chlora selina) having replaced it afterwards;
according to others, the parsley wreath, was the original prize (as it continued
to be throughout historical [p. 228] times) on account of its special fitness,
as an emblem of mourning, to be associated with the memory of Archemoros. But
a different myth, already alluded to, represents Herakles, when he instituted
the games after overcoming the lion, as having also appointed the parsleywreath
to be the victor's reward. And this latter account seems to have been present
to the mind of Pindar, for he speaks of the wreath as botana leontos (Nem. vi.
71, 72).
During the celebration of each Nemean festival a cessation of hostilities
(ekecheiria, spondai) between belligerents was an imperative duty (cf. en hieromeniai
Nemeadi, Pind. Nem. iii. 2, with schol.). A sacred embassy, too, was on these
occasions sent by each of the several Hellenic states to Nemea, with offerings
to Nemean Zeus (Demosth. Meid. p. 552, § 115).
Historians, as well as late coins and inscriptions, testify that the
(still so called) Nemean games came to be regularly held in Argos (Polyb. v. 101,
5; Diod. xix. 64; Liv. xxx. 1; Boeckh, C. I. 234, p. 356). On a comparatively
early occasion, indeed, Argos had been the scene of the festival. For the circumstances,
vid. Plut. Arat. 28. Local festivals, named after the great Nemean, were established
in many places, e. g. at Aetna in Sicily (Schol. Pind. Olymp. xiii. 158) and at
Megara (Schol. Pind. Olymp. vii. 157). That Nemea were also instituted at Anchialos
in Thrace may be inferred from a medal stamped under Caracalla, bearing the name
NEMAIA (instead of the usual NEMEIA); and, from the fact of its bearing also the
word XEOPSEPIA, the further inference has been drawn that the Thracian Nemea were
founded in honour of Sept. Severus. (For more detailed information respecting
Nemea, see Krause, Pythien, Nemeen, u. Isthmien, whose guidance has been mainly
followed in the present article.)
This text is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Nemea, (ta Nemea or Nemeia). The Nemean Games; one of the four Greek national festivals, which was celebrated in the valley of Nemea in the territory of the Argive town Cleonae. In historic times the festival was held in honour of Zeus, who had here a temple with a sacred grove. Originally it is said to have consisted of funeral games, instituted by the Seven during their expedition against Thebes, in memory of the boy Archemorus as an agon epitaphios. Heracles afterwards changed it into a festival in honour of Zeus. From about B.C. 575 on wards, athletic competitions were added to the festival, after the model of those at Olympia; and, like the latter, it was only gradually that it developed into a general Hellenic celebration. It was held twice in a period of four years--once in August, every fourth year; once in winter, every second or first Olympic year. It is more probable, however, that the so-called "Winter Nemea" were only local games held in Argos, and that the Panhellenic Nemea were celebrated in alternate years at the end of every first and third Olympic year, at a time corresponding to our July. The question is discussed by Unger in the Philologus, but Droysen, in Hermes, considers it still unsettled. The management of the festival was originally possessed by the Cleonaeans, but soon passed, together with the possession of the sanctuary, into the hands of the Argives. The games, which lasted more than one day, consisted of gymnastic, equestrian, and musical contests; the prize was a palm-branch and a garland of fresh selinon, often rendered "parsley," but more probably identical with the "wild celery."
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
City of Argolis,
in northeastern Peloponnese,
southwest of Corinth.
In this city were held every two years (in July the second and fourth
year of each Olympiad) the Nemean games, in honor of Zeus. These games were fourth
in fame among the panhellenic games after the Olympic (also to Zeus), the Pythian
(to Apollo) and the Isthmian (to Poseidon).
Nemea was the site of the first of Heracles' 12 labors, his fight
against the lion, and some ascribed to him the creation of the games. But the
more “official” origin was ascribed to Adrastus, the king of Argos
who led the ill-fated expedition of the Seven against Thebes
to try and help Polynices, one of Oedipus's sons, regain the kingship his brother
Eteocles refused to hand him over when time came. Reaching Nemea on their way
toward Thebes, Adrastus and
his companions asked water to Hypsipyle, the exiled queen of the island of Lemnos,
who had once been the wife of Jason but was now a slave at the service of Lycurgus,
the king of the place, serving as a nurse to Opheltes, his baby son. To help them,
the nurse, forgetting an oracle stating that the baby should not be put on the
ground until he could walk, laid the baby for a minute on the grass near a fountain,
where he was killed by the snake guarding it. The games were then instituted by
Adrastus as part of Opheltes' funerals and as a propitiatory ceremony to the his
memory and the seven princes took part in their first occurrence.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
ΠΕΛΛΑΝΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΞΥΛΟΚΑΣΤΡΟ
Αγώνες στους οποίους συμμετείχαν ντόπιοι αθλητές και τα έπαθλα ήταν χρηματικά (Παυσ. 7,27,4).
ΚΕΛΕΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΝΕΜΕΑ
Γίνονταν κάθε τέσσερα χρόνια και κάθε φορά ο ιερέας ήταν διαφορετικός, είχε μάλιστα το δικαίωμα και να παντρευτεί. Αυτές ήταν μόνο οι διαφορές από τα Ελευσίνια Μυστήρια, ενώ κατά τα άλλα η τελετή παρέμενε ίδια, δηλαδή αυτά τα μυστήρια αποτελούσαν μίμηση των Ελευσινίων (Παυσ. 2,14,1).
ΚΟΡΙΝΘΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΠΕΛΟΠΟΝΝΗΣΟΣ
A festival celebrated at Corinth in honour of Artemis. It is mentioned only by Xenophon, and no particulars are known about it.
A festival with a torch-race celebrated at Corinth in honour of Athene as a goddess of fire.
ΜΥΣΑΙΟΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΡΙΚΑΛΑ ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΑΣ
Η γιορτή αυτή κρατούσε εφτά μέρες. Την τρίτη μέρα οι άντρες, αλλά ακόμα και τα αρσενικά ζώα, απομακρύνονταν από το Ιερό και τις ιεροπραξίες τελούσαν μόνες οι γυναίκες κατά τη διάρκεια της νύχτας. Την επόμενη μέρα οι άντρες επέστρεφαν και άρχιζαν με τις γυναίκες ανταλλαγή πειραγμάτων και αστείων (Παυσ. 7,27,9-10). Η γιορτή αυτή ήταν μάλλον συγγενική προς τα Θεσμοφόρια, που τελούνταν αυστηρά και μόνο από γυναίκες με σκοπό την καρποφορία της γης.
ΣΙΚΥΩΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΑ
A propitiatory festival solemnized at Sicyon in honour of Apollo and Artemis.
Carneia were also celebrated at Sikyon
ΦΛΙΟΥΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΝΕΜΕΑ
Πριν να τελέσουν τα μυστήρια, οι Φλιάσιοι έκαναν σπονδές στον Αραντα και στους γιους του κοιτάζοντας προς τους τάφους τους στον Αραντίνο λόφο (Παυσ. 2,12,5).
ΙΣΘΜΙΑ (Αρχαίο ιερό) ΛΟΥΤΡΑΚΙ ΠΕΡΑΧΩΡΑΣ
Festivals celebrated at Megara, at Epidaurus Limera (in Laconia), and on the Corinthian Isthmus in honour of Ino
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