Agrionia was an

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

religious festival in honor of

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Roma ...

Agrionius. It was celebrated annually, especially at Orchomenus in

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia ( el, Βοιωτία; modern: ; ancient: ), formerly known as Cadmeis, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, and its ...

. According to

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

, agrionia was celebrated at night with only women accompanied by the priests of Dionysus, who often wore black garments. Women pretended to search for Dionysos and then declared that he has fled to the Muses and hidden there. After that they feasted and begun to present and solve riddles. According to legend, the

Minyades The Minyades ( grc-gre, Μινυάδες) were three Orchomenian ( Arcadian) princesses in Greek mythology. These sisters were protagonists of a myth about the perils of neglecting the worship of Dionysus. Names and family The names of the Min ...

or (), the daughters of king Minyas of Orchomenus, who had despised the Dionysian rites, were seized with a desire to eat human flesh of one of their children. They cast lots to decide which of their children they would eat and selected

Hippasus Hippasus of Metapontum (; grc-gre, Ἵππασος ὁ Μεταποντῖνος, ''Híppasos''; c. 530 – c. 450 BC) was a Greek philosopher and early follower of Pythagoras. Little is known about his life or his beliefs, but he is sometimes c ...

, son of

Leucippe In Greek mythology, Leucippe ( grc, Λευκίππη means 'white horse') is the name of the following individuals: *Leucippe, one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and his sister-spouse Tethys. Leucippe, along wi ...

. Plutarch also explains that the festival included a

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

. At this festival it was originally the custom for the priest of the god to pursue a woman of the Minyan family with a drawn sword and kill her. cites Plutarch, Quaest. Rom. 102, Quaest. Graecae 38. This practice was later discontinued after the occurrence of bad omens.

References

Attribution: *{{EB1911, wstitle=Agrionia, volume=1, page=424 Festivals in ancient Boeotia Greek festivals of Dionysus