Demetria
（
Δημητρία). An annual festival which the Athenians, in
B.C. 307, instituted in honour of Demetrius Poliorcetes, who, together with his father
Antigonus, was consecrated under the title of “saviour god.” It was
celebrated every year in the month of Munychion, the name of which, as well as that of the day
on which the festival was held, was changed into Demetrion and Demetrias. A priest ministered
at their altars, and conducted the solemn procession and the sacrifices and games with which
the festival was celebrated (
Diod. Sic. xx. 46;
Plut. Demetr. 10Plut.
Demetr., 46). To honour the new god still more, the Athenians at the same time changed
the name of the festival of the Dionysia into that of Demetria, as the young prince was fond
of hearing himself compared to Dionysus.
