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p476 Erotia

Article by Leonhard Schmitz, Ph.D., F.R.S.E., Rector of the High School of Edinburgh
on p476 of

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

ERO′TIA or EROTI′DIA (ἐρώτια or ἐρωτίδια), the most solemn of all the festivals celebrated in the Boeotian town of Thespiae. It took place every fifth year, and in honour of Eros, the principal divinity of the Thespians. Respecting the particulars nothing is known, except that it was solemnised with contests in music and gymnastics (Plut. Amat. 1; Paus. IX.31 § 3; Athen. XIII p561). The worship of Eros seems to have been established at Thespiae from the earliest times; and the ancient symbolic representation of the god, a rude stone (ἀργὸς λίθος), continued to be looked upon with particular reverence even when sculpture had attained the highest degree of perfection among the Greeks (Paus. IX.27 § 1; compare Schol. ad Pind. Olymp. VII.154; Ritschl, in the Rhein. Mus. vol. II p106).

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p476 Erotia

Article by Leonhard Schmitz, Ph.D., F.R.S.E., Rector of the High School of Edinburgh on p476 of

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

Article by Leonhard Schmitz, Ph.D., F.R.S.E., Rector of the High School of Edinburgh
on p476 of

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