Carneia

Carneia, important religious festival among ancient Dorian-speaking Greeks, held in the month of Karneios (roughly August). The name is connected with Karnos, or Karneios (probably meaning “ram”), said to have been a favourite of the god Apollo, unjustly killed by the descendants of Heracles and therefore commemorated to appease the god’s anger; perhaps he was an old god of fertility displaced by Apollo. Five young men called Karneatai were chosen out of each tribe; one man, decked with garlands, ran away, and the rest followed him. The person whom they chased was probably the temporary incarnation of some spirit of vegetation; to catch him perhaps signified that fertility was not allowed to go away but was secured, to be used for the next year’s crops.

Spartans could not wage war during the Carneia. As a result, the Spartans arrived too late at the Battle of Marathon (490 bc), and King Leonidas was sent to Thermopylae with inadequate troops (480 bc).