- Pamboeotia
Pamboeotia (Gr. polytonic|παμβοιώτια) was a major festive
panegyris of all theBoeotia ns, celebrated probably annually, which the grammarians compare with thePanathenaea of theAttica ns, and thePanionia of theIonia ns.Citation
last = Schmitz
first = Leonhard
author-link =
contribution = Pamboeotia
editor-last = Smith
editor-first = William
title =Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
volume = 1
pages = 854-855
publisher =Little, Brown and Company
place = Boston
year = 1870
contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-dgra/0861.html ] Though probably quite older than this, even primitive, the festival is celebrated with the name "Pamboeotia" only starting in the3rd century BC . [cite book | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Cambridge Ancient History | publisher =Cambridge University Press | date = 1970 | location = Cambridge | pages = 292 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=0qAoqP4g1fEC | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-521-23447-6] cite book | last = Golden | first = Mark | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Sport in the Ancient World from A to Z | publisher =Routledge | date = 2003 | location = | pages = 123 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=QT6nX5-rbSMC | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-415-24881-7] The festival was celebrated in the tenth month of theBoeotia n calendar, "Pamboiotos", at a temple ofAthena Itonia in the neighborhood ofCoronea .The principal object of the meeting was the common worship of
Athena Itonia . [Strabo, "Geographica" ix. p. 411] [Pausanias, "Description of Greece" ix. 34. § 1] Activities included dancing and music and athletic events of a somewhat militaristic character, such as spear-throwing, trumpeting, heralding, mock battles, and horse racing. The priestess of the shrine was appointed by theBoeotian League . [cite book | last = Buck | first = Robert J. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = A History of Boeotia | publisher =University of Alberta Press | date = 1979 | location = Alberta | pages = 88-89 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=5Ada2TbJWM0C | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-88864-051-X]A depiction of a Pamboeotia festival can be seen on a "lekane" in the
British Museum , on which men approach an altar ofAthena that is covered in flame. Some of the men are leading an ox to sacrifice to the goddess. Before these men is a woman bearing on her head a platter of offerings. [cite book
last = Redfield
first = James M.
authorlink = James M. Redfield
coauthors =
title = The Locrian Maidens: Love and Death in Greek Italy
publisher =Princeton University Press
date = 2003
location = Princeton
pages = 93
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=9d7S-rcAyo0C
doi =
id =
isbn = 0-691-11605-9]From
Polybius it appears that during this national festival no war was allowed to be carried on, and that in case of a war a truce was always concluded. [Polybius , iv. 3, ix. 34] This panegyris is also mentioned byPlutarch . [Plutarch , "Amat. Narrat." p. 774, f.] It is a disputed point whether the Pamboeotia had anything to do with the political constitution of Boeotia, or with the relation of its several towns to Thebes; but if so, it can have been only previous to the time when Thebes had obtained the undisputed supremacy in Boeotia. [The question is discussed in Sainte Croix, "Des Gouvernements federat." p. 211, &c.] [Desiré-Raoul Rochette , "Sur la Forme et l'Administr. de l'Etat federatif des Beotiens," in the "Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscript." vol. viii. (1827) p. 214, &c.] Some writers think it likely that this was the occasion on whichBoeotia n representatives to theDelphi cAmphictyonic League were elected. [cite journal | last = Botsford | first = G.W. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Constitution and Politics of the Boeotian League | journal =Political Science Quarterly | volume = XXV | issue = 1 | pages = 272 | publisher = Ginn & Co. | location = New York | date = March 1910 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=dlJEAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA272 | doi = | id = | accessdate = 2008-05-13]References
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