Listed 2 sub titles with search on: Ancients' feasts, games and rituals for destination: "VRAVRON Ancient city ATTICA, EAST".
Brauronia. An Attic festival held every fifth year in the
little town of Brauron, in honour of Artemis Brauronia. At Brauron, Orestes and
Iphigenia on their return from Tauris were supposed to have landed and to have
left the statue of the Tauric goddess. The festival was under the superintendence
of ten hieropoioi; and the chief solemnity consisted in the circumstance that
Attic girls between the ages of five and ten years, dressed in crocus-coloured
garments, went in solemn procession to the sanctuary, where they were consecrated
to the goddess. During this act, the hieropoioi sacrificed a goat, and the girls-performed
a propitiatory rite in which they imitated bears. This rite may have simply arisen
from the fact that the bear was sacred to Artemis, especially in Arcadia; but
a tradition preserved in Suidas relates its origin as follows: In the Attic town
of Phanidae a bear was kept, which was so tame that it was allowed to go about
quite freely, and received its food from and among men. One day a girl ventured
to play with it, and, on treating the animal rather harshly, it turned round and
tore her to pieces. Her brothers, enraged at this, went out and killed the bear.
The Athenians thereupon were visited by a plague; and when they consulted the
oracle, the answer was given that they would rid themselves of the evil which
had befallen them if they would compel some of their citizens to make their daughters
propitiate Artemis by a rite called arkteuein, for the crime committed against
the animal sacred to the goddess. The command was more than obeyed; for the Athenians
decreed that from thenceforth all women, before they could marry, should have
once taken part in this festival, and have been consecrated to the goddess. Hence
the girls themselves were called arktoi, the consecration arkteia, the act of
consecrating arkteuein, and to celebrate the festival arkteuesthai.
There was also a quinquennial festival called Brauronia, which
was celebrated by men and dissolute women, at Brauron, in honour of Dionysus.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Dec 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Brauronia, a festival celebrated in honour of Artemis Brauronia, in the Attic
town of Brauron (Herod. vi. 138), where, according to Pausanias (i. 23, 9; 33,
1; iii. 16, 6; viii. 46, 2), Orestes and Iphigeneia, on their return from Tauris,
were supposed by the Athenians to have landed, and left the statue of the Taurian
goddess. It was held every fifth year, under the superintendence of ten hieropoioi
(Pollux, viii. 9, 31) ; and the chief solemnity consisted in the circumstance
that the Attic girls between the ages of five and ten years, dressed in crocus-coloured
garments, went in solemn procession to the sanctuary (Suidas, s. v. Arktos; Schol.
on Aristoph. Lysistr. 646), where they were consecrated to the goddess. During
this act the hieropoioi sacrificed a goat, and the girls performed a propitiatory
rite in which they imitated bears. This rite may have arisen simply from the circumstance
that the bear was sacred to Artemis, especially in Arcadia; but a tradition preserved
in Suidas (s. v. Arktos) relates its origin as follows : In the Attic town of
Phauidae a bear was kept, which was so tame that it was allowed to go about quite
freely, and received its food from and among men. One day a girl ventured to play
with it, and, on treating the animal rather harshly, it turned round and tore
her to pieces. Her brothers, enraged at this, went out and killed the bear. The
Athenians now were visited by a plague; and when they consulted the oracle, the
answer was given that they would get rid of the evil which had befallen them if
they would compel some of their citizens to make their daughters propitiate Artemis
by a rite called arkteuein, for the crime committed against the animal sacred
to the goddess. The command was more than obeyed; for the Athenians decreed that
from thenceforth all women, before they could marry, should have taken part once
in this festival, and have been consecrated to the goddess. Hence the girls themselves
were called arktoi, the consecration arkteia, the act of consecrating arkteuein,
and to celebrate the festival arkteuesthai. (Hesych. and Harpocrat. s. v.; Schol.
on Aristoph. l. c.) But as the girls when they celebrated this festival were nearly
ten years old, the verb dekateuein was sometimes used instead of arkteuein.
There was also a quinquennial festival called Brauronia, which was celebrated
by men and dissolute women, at Brauron, in honour of Dionysus (Aristoph. Pax,
870, with the note of the Scholiast; and Suidas, s. v. Brauron). Whether its celebration
took place at the same time as that of Artemis Brauronia, must remain uncertain,
although the very different characters of the two festivals incline us rather
to believe that they were not celebrated at the same time. According to Hesychius,
whose statement however is not supported by any ancient authority, the Iliad was
recited at the Brauronian festival of Dionysus by rhapsodists.
This text is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited Aug 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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