DĒLĬA

( δήλια ), the name of festivals and games celebrated in the island of Delos, to which the Cyclades and the neighbouring Ionians on the coasts belonged. The Delia had existed from very early times, and were celebrated every fifth year. That the A then i ans took part in these solemnities at a very early period, is evident from the Deliastae (afterwards called θεωροί ) mentioned in the laws of Solon; the sacred ve el ( θεωρίς ), moreover, which they sent to Delos every year, was said to be the same which These us had sent after his return from Crete. In the course of time the celebration of this ancient panegyris in Delos had ceased, and it was not revived until B.C. 426, when the A then i ans, after having purified the island in the winter of that year, restored the ancient solemnities, and added horse-races, which had never before taken place at the Delia. After this restoration, Athens, being at the head of the Ionian confederacy, took the most prominent part in the celebration of the Delia; and though the islanders, in common with Athens, provided the choruses and victims, the leader ( ἀρχιθέωρος ), who conducted the whole solemnity, was an A then i an, and the A then i ans had the superintendence of the common sanctuary. From these solemnities, belonging to the great Delian panegyris, we must distinguish the le er Delia , which were mentioned above, and which were celebrated every year, probably on the 6th of Thar gel i on. The A then i ans on this occasion sent the sacred ve el ( θεωρίς ), which the priest of Apollo adorned with laurel branches, to Delos. The emba y was called θεωρία ; and those who sailed to the island, θεωροί ; and before they set sail a solemn sacrifice was offered in the Delion, at Marathon, in order to obtain a happy voyage. During the absence of the ve el the city of Athens was purified, and no criminal was allowed to be executed.