The Carneian festival (Κάρνεια) was one of the most important religious festivals in ancient Sparta and other Dorian cities, held in honor of Apollo Carneios, who was worshipped in various parts of the Peloponnesus. There were nine major festivals on the Spartan calendar, the most important of which were the Carneia, the Gymnopaedia and the Hyakinthia held at Amyclae. Sparta (Doric: Spártā, Attic: SpártÄ“) is a city in southern Greece. ... [[Im Category: ... For other uses, see Apollo (disambiguation). ... Peloponnesos (Greek: Πελοπόννησος, sometime Latinized as Peloponnesus or Anglicized as The Peloponnese) is a large peninsula in Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Isthmus of Corinth. ... Corybantian dance, the type of dance most likely danced on Gymnopedia festivals (image from Smiths Dictionary of Antiquities) Gymnopaedia derives from the ancient Greek γυμνοπαιδία, a festivity in Sparta, where naked youths would perform war dances. ... The Hyacinthia (Ancient Greek / Hyakínthia) were Spartan religious festivities, organized at Amyclae every year in early summer. ... Amykles or Amikles (Greek: Αμύκλες, older form, polytonic: , monotonic: Αμύκλαι; older forms: Amyklai, Amykle, Amiklai and Amikle; Latin: Amyclae) is a village and an archaeological site located southwest of Sparta. ...

The Carneia began on the seventh day of the month of Carneios (the Athenian Metageitnion) and lasted nine days. Nine tents were pitched near the city walls, inhabited by nine men who lived like soldiers, obeying the commands of a herald. The priest conducting the sacrificies was known as the Agetes; thus, the festival was sometimes known as Agetoria or Agetoreion. From each of the Spartan tribes, five unmarried men (Karneatai) were chosen as the Agetes' ministers, an office they held for four years, during which they were not allowed to marry. Some of the Karneatai were called staphylodromoi ("grape-cluster runners"). During the festival, the staphylodromoi chased after a man wearing a garland; to catch him meant good luck in the coming harvest. The Attic calendar is the calendar that was in use in ancient Attica, the ancestral territory of the Athenian polis. ...

According to tradition, the army was not allowed to leave the Spartan territory during this festival. The Spartan rulers were not permitted to lead any kind of military campaign or declare war, and all male citizens had to be purified. Because of this, the Athenians had to fight the Battle of Marathon alone. Combatants Athens, Plataea Persia Commanders Miltiades, Callimachus â€ , Arimnestus Datis â€ ?, Artaphernes Strength 10,000 Athenians, 1,000 Plataeans 20,000 - 100,000 a Casualties 192 Athenians killed, 11 Plataeans killed (Herodotus) 6,400 killed, 7 ships captured (Herodotus) a These are modern consensus estimates. ...

The Carneia was also celebrated at the Dorian city of Cyrene in North Africa, as attested in Pindar's fourth Pythian ode and Callimachus's hymn to Apollo. Cyrene can refer to: The USS Cyrene (AGP-13), a motor torpedo boat tender Cyrene, a figure from Greek mythology Cyrene, a Greek colony in Libya (north Africa) 133 Cyrene, an asteroid Cyrene, fictional character who is the mother of Xena in the series Xena: Warrior Princess See also: Cyrenaica... Pindar (or Pindarus) (probably born 522 BC in Cynoscephalae, a village in Boeotia; died 443 BC in Argos), was perhaps the greatest of the nine lyric poets of ancient Greece. ... Callimachus (Greek: ; ca. ... A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a god or other religiously significant figure. ... For other uses, see Apollo (disambiguation). ...