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 p138  Artemisia

Article by Leonhard Schmitz, Ph.D., F.R.S.E., Rector of the High School of Edinburgh
on p138 of

William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.:
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.

ARTEMI′SIA (ἀρτεμίσια), one of the great festivals celebrated in honour of Artemis in various parts of Greece, in the spring of the year. We find it mentioned at Syracuse in honour of Artemis Potamia and Soteria (Pind. Pyth. II.12). It lasted three days, which were principally spent in feasting and amusements (Liv. XXV.23; Plut. Marcell. 18). Bread was offered to her under the name of Λοχία (Hesych. s.v.). But these festivals occur in many other places in Greece, as at Delphi, where, according to Hegesander (Athen. VII p325), they offered to the goddess a mullet on this occasion; because it appeared to hunt and kill the sea-hare, and thus bore some resemblance to Artemis, the goddess of hunting. The same name was given to the festivals of Artemis in Cyrene and Ephesus, though in the latter place the goddess was not the Grecian Artemis, but a deity of Eastern origin (Dionys. IV.25; Achill. Tat. VI.4, VII.12, VIII.17; Xenoph. Ephes. I.2).

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