Soteries
The Soteria ( Greek Σωτήρια , German also Soteria ) were sacrifices and thanksgiving festivals in ancient Greece , often in the form of competitions held in honor of a god for salvation from danger. They could also be organized as supplication for future events. They were to be found in many cities and were celebrated either once, annually or at multi-year intervals. Mostly Zeus was honored in his role as Soter ( σωτήρ = "Savior") in this way, but festivals of this kind could also be celebrated for other gods and even mortals. So there were annual soteries for Aratos in Sikyon and for Philopoimen in Megalopolis .
The soteries with the greatest supra-regional importance took place in Delphi . They were from the Aitolians founded after fighting the under Brennus warring Celts v in 279th BCE remained victorious and saved the Delphic sanctuary from pillage and destruction. The success of the Aetolian Federation in upgrading the Delphic soteries to Panhellenic games is shown by the acceptance resolutions received in writing from the invited cities. Originally only musical agonies were held during the Delphic Soteria , after their reorganization by the Aitolian Federation in 246 BC, BC gymnic and hipster agons added.
The first games were played in the autumn of 276 BC. Under the chairmanship of the Delphic archon Peithagoras and found up to the expulsion of the Aitolians from Delphi in 189 BC. Held independently of the Pythias .
Remarks
literature
- Martin Persson Nilsson : Greek festivals of religious importance excluding the Attic. Teubner, Leipzig 1906. Reprint Teubner, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-519-07254-8 , p. 34 f; 359
- Friedrich Pfister : Soteria 2. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III A, 1, Stuttgart 1927, Sp. 1221-1231.
- Walther Kolbe : The foundation of the Aitolian soteries in Delphi . In: Hermes , Volume 68, 1933, pp. 440-456.