Agrionia

Agrionia were festivals celebrated annually by the Boeotians in honor of Dionysus, in which the women, after playfully pretending for some time to search for that god, desisted, saying that he had hidden himself among the muses. They were solemnized at night by the women and the priests only. The tradition is that the-daughters of Minyas, having despised the rites of the god, were seized with frenzy and ate the flesh of one of their children, and that the Agrionia were celebrated in expiation of the offence. A singular feature of the festival was the assembling of maidens of the family of Minyas in front of the temple, whence the maidens would flee, followed by a priest with a sword, who would kill any of the maidens he might overtake.