Pamboeotia

Pamboeotia (Gr. polytonic|παμβοιώτια) was a major festive panegyris of all the Boeotians, celebrated probably annually, which the grammarians compare with the Panathenaea of the Atticans, and the Panionia of the Ionians.Citation
last = Schmitz
first = Leonhard
author-link =
contribution = Pamboeotia
editor-last = Smith
editor-first = William
title = Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
volume = 1
pages = 854-855
publisher = Little, Brown and Company
place = Boston
year = 1870
contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-dgra/0861.html ] Though probably quite older than this, even primitive, the festival is celebrated with the name "Pamboeotia" only starting in the 3rd century BC. [cite book | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Cambridge Ancient History | publisher = Cambridge University Press | date = 1970 | location = Cambridge | pages = 292 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=0qAoqP4g1fEC | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-521-23447-6] cite book | last = Golden | first = Mark | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Sport in the Ancient World from A to Z | publisher = Routledge | date = 2003 | location = | pages = 123 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=QT6nX5-rbSMC | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-415-24881-7] The festival was celebrated in the tenth month of the Boeotian calendar, "Pamboiotos", at a temple of Athena Itonia in the neigh­borhood of Coronea.

The principal object of the meeting was the common worship of Athena Itonia. [Strabo, "Geographica" ix. p. 411] [Pausanias, "Description of Greece" ix. 34. § 1] Activities included dancing and music and athletic events of a somewhat militaristic character, such as spear-throwing, trumpeting, heralding, mock battles, and horse racing. The priestess of the shrine was appointed by the Boeotian League. [cite book | last = Buck | first = Robert J. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = A History of Boeotia | publisher = University of Alberta Press | date = 1979 | location = Alberta | pages = 88-89 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=5Ada2TbJWM0C | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-88864-051-X]

A depiction of a Pamboeotia festival can be seen on a "lekane" in the British Museum, on which men approach an altar of Athena that is covered in flame. Some of the men are leading an ox to sacrifice to the goddess. Before these men is a woman bearing on her head a platter of offerings. [cite book
last = Redfield
first = James M.
authorlink = James M. Redfield
coauthors =
title = The Locrian Maidens: Love and Death in Greek Italy
publisher = Princeton University Press
date = 2003
location = Princeton
pages = 93
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=9d7S-rcAyo0C
doi =
id =
isbn = 0-691-11605-9]

From Polybius it appears that during this national festival no war was allowed to be carried on, and that in case of a war a truce was always concluded. [Polybius, iv. 3, ix. 34] This panegyris is also men­tioned by Plutarch. [Plutarch, "Amat. Narrat." p. 774, f.] It is a disputed point whether the Pamboeotia had anything to do with the political constitution of Boeotia, or with the relation of its several towns to Thebes; but if so, it can have been only pre­vious to the time when Thebes had obtained the undisputed supremacy in Boeotia. [The question is discussed in Sainte Croix, "Des Gouvernements federat." p. 211, &c.] [Desiré-Raoul Rochette, "Sur la Forme et l'Administr. de l'Etat federatif des Beotiens," in the "Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscript." vol. viii. (1827) p. 214, &c.] Some writers think it likely that this was the occasion on which Boeotian representatives to the Delphic Amphictyonic League were elected. [cite journal | last = Botsford | first = G.W. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Constitution and Politics of the Boeotian League | journal = Political Science Quarterly | volume = XXV | issue = 1 | pages = 272 | publisher = Ginn & Co. | location = New York | date = March 1910 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=dlJEAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA272 | doi = | id = | accessdate = 2008-05-13]

References