METAGEI´TNIA
METAGEI´TNIA (
μεταγείτνια,), a festival celebrated by the Attic demos Melite, in
honour of Apollo Metageitnios. The chief solemnities consisted in offering
sacrifices, and the festival was believed to commemorate the emigration
(
γειτνίασις πρὸς ἑτέρους) of the
inhabitants of Melite to Diomis. (Plut.
de Exil. §
6; comp. Suidas and Harpocrat. s. v.
Μεταγειτνιών.) But it seems not improbable that the institution
of this festival is connected with the extension of the worship of Apollo so
as to embrace all classes, under the influence of Epimenides (cf. Curtius,
Hist. of Greece, 1.323). The idea of migration in the
worship of Apollo is indicated in the story of Ion, and from that idea may
come the title Metageitnios given to Apollo and thence to the Attic month.
[
L.S] [
G.E.M]
