The Heracleia ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλεια ἐν Κυνοσάργει ''Herakleia en Kynosargei'') were ancient
festivals
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...
honoring the divine hero
Heracles
Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...
.
The ancient Athenians celebrated the festival, which commemorated the death of Heracles, on the second day of the month of Metageitnion (which would fall in late July or early August), at the
Cynosarges Cynosarges ( grc-gre, Κυνόσαργες ''Kynosarges'') was a famous temple of Heracles, public gymnasium, and surrounding grove located just outside the walls of Ancient Athens on the southern bank of the Ilissos river and near the Diomeian ...
gymnasium at the demos
Diomeia outside the walls of Athens, in a sanctuary dedicated to Heracles. His priests were drawn from the list of boys who were not full Athenian citizens (''
nothoi'').
Many famous nothoi exercised there (such as
Demosthenes
Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual pr ...
) but it was probably not exclusively set aside for them.
The Attic cults of Herakles were often closely connected with youth: at several of his cult sites there was a gymnasium attached, and there was a mythological tradition (perhaps originating 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 ...
) that after Heracles died he was translated to
Olympus, where he married
Hebe, the personification of youth. Because of this Heracles is sometimes worshipped as a god and sometimes as a dead hero.
In Thebes, the center of the cult of Heracles, the festivities lasted a number of days, and consisted of various athletic and musical contests ''(agones)'', as well as sacrifices. They were celebrated in the gymnasium of
Iolaus
In Greek mythology, Iolaus (; Ancient Greek: Ἰόλαος ''Iólaos'') was a Theban divine hero. He was famed for being Heracles' nephew and for helping with some of his Labors, and also for being one of the Argonauts.
Family
Iolaus was ...
, the nephew and ''
eromenos
In ancient Greece, an ''eromenos'' was the younger and passive (or 'receptive') partner in a male homosexual relationship. The partner of an ''eromenos'' was the ''erastes'', the older and active partner. The ''eromenos'' was often depicted as a ...
'' of Heracles, and were known as the Iolaeia. The winners were awarded brass tripods.
"Heracleia" is also a female first name, from which the common Romanian first name
Raluca is ultimately derived, via the Greek name
Ralloú'.
See also
*
Athenian festivals
The festival calendar of Classical Athens involved the staging of many festivals each year. This includes festivals held in honor of Athena, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, Persephone, Hermes, and Herakles. Other Athenian festivals were b ...
External links
''Le Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines de Daremberg et Saglio''
Heracles
Festivals in ancient Athens
July observances
August observances
{{AncientGreek-reli-stub