Editing Thesmophoria (section)

==Festival==
[[File:'Thesmophoria' by Francis Davis Millet, 1894-1897.jpg|alt=Semi-circular painting showing a procession of women, dressed in white robes.  A Greek temple is partially visible in the background.|thumb|Painting of the Thesmophoric procession by the American artist [[Francis Davis Millet]].]]
The Thesmophoria was one of the most widespread ancient Greek festivals.{{sfn|Habash|1997|p=20}} The fact that it was celebrated across the Greek world suggests that it dates back to before the Greek settlement in [[Ionia]] in the eleventh century BCE.{{sfn|Chlup|2007|p=74}}  The best evidence for the Thesmophoria concern its practice in [[Athens]], but there is also information from elsewhere in the Greek world, including [[Arcadia (regional unit)|Arcadia]],<ref>Herodotus, 2.171</ref> [[Sicily]] and [[Eretria]].{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=110}}

The festival was dedicated to Demeter and her daughter Persephone{{sfn|Habash|1997|p=19}} and was celebrated in order to promote fertility, both human and agricultural.{{sfn|Habash|1997|p=20}} It was celebrated only by women, and men were forbidden to see or hear about the rites.{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=110}} It is not certain whether all free women celebrated the Thesmophoria, or whether this was restricted to aristocratic women;{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=118}} whichever was the case, non-citizen and unmarried women appear not to have celebrated the festival.{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=112}} In fact, participation was expected of all [[Attica|Attic]] wives, and could serve as a form of proof of marriage.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pritchard|first=David M.|title=The Position of Attic Women in Democratic Athens|date=October 2014|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0017383514000072/type/journal_article|journal=Greece and Rome|language=en|volume=61|issue=2|pages=190|doi=10.1017/S0017383514000072|s2cid=74391789|issn=0017-3835|doi-access=free}}</ref>

In Athens, the Thesmophoria took place over three days, from the eleventh to the thirteenth of [[Pyanepsion]].{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=110}} This corresponds to late October in the [[Gregorian calendar]], and was the time of the Greek year when seeds were sown.{{sfn|Tzanetou|2002|p=331}} The Thesmophoria may have taken place in this month in other cities,{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=111}} though in some places – for instance [[Delos]] and [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] – the festival seems to have taken place in the summer, and been associated with the harvest, instead.{{sfn|Tzanetou|2002|p=331}}  In other places the festival lasted for longer – in [[Syracuse, Sicily]], the Thesmophoria was a ten-day long event.{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=111}}

The main source about the rituals of the Thesmophoria comes from a scholion on [[Lucian]]'s ''Dialogues of the Courtesans''.{{sfn|Tzanetou|2002|p=333}} A second major source is [[Aristophanes]]' play ''[[Thesmophoriazusae]]'';{{sfn|Dillon|2002|p=114}} however, Aristophanes' portrayal of the festival mixes authentically Thesmophoric elements with elements from other Greek religious practice, especially the worship of [[Dionysus]].

[[Herodotus]] mentions the Thesmophoria in the second book of '[[Histories (Herodotus)|the Histories]]' and compares it to a similar Egyptian mystery ritual. He is vague about the practice and refuses to go into detail. However, he claims that the rite was introduced to the [[Pelasgians|Pelasgian]] women in Greece by the daughters of [[Danaus]], a mythical king of Libya. Herodotus further claims that knowledge of the Thesmophoria was nearly lost following ethnic cleansing of the Pelasgians by the [[Dorians]] in the [[Peloponnese]]. He credits the Arcadians for the survival of the practice because of their survival of the cleansing.<ref>Herodotus, the Histories. Edited by Paul Cartledge. Translated by Tom Holland, Penguin Books, 2015. Page 182.</ref>