Kronia
Template:Short description The Kronia (Template:Langx) was an Athenian festival held in honor of Kronos (Cronus) on the 12th day of Hekatombaion, the first month of the Attic calendar, and roughly equivalent to the latter part of July and first part of August.Template:Efn
The festival was also celebrated in parts of Ionia, and in these places the month was called Kronion, named after the festival.<ref name=Bremmer-2008/>Template:Rp<ref name=Hansen-2002/>Template:RpTemplate:Efn Scholars usually interpret it as a celebration of the mid-summer (first) harvest. Its Roman equivalent is Saturnalia.<ref name=Bremmer-2008/>Template:Rp
Details from ancient sources
[edit]The Roman playwright Accius says that to celebrate the Kronia, "In nearly all fields and towns they happily feast upon banquets, and everyone waits upon his own servants."Template:Refn Slaves and the free, rich and poor, all dined together and played games.Template:Efn
The freedom from work and social egalitarianism enjoyed on the day represented the conditions of the mythical Golden Age, when Kronos (Cronus) still ruled the world.<ref name=Graf-RelAncWld/> In the Golden Age, the earth had spontaneously supported human life, and since labor was unneeded, slavery had not existed.Template:Efn William Hansen describes the Golden Age of Kronos as "a period of thorough harmony in which hierarchical, exploitative, and predatory relationships were nonexistent."Template:Nobreak
The Kronia was a time for social restraints to be temporarily forgotten. Slaves were released from their duties, and participated in the festivities alongside the slave-owners. Slaves were "permitted to run riot through the city, shouting and making a noise."<ref name=Burkert-1985/> Other than the Kronia, there is only limited evidence of religious devotion to Kronos (Cronus).<ref name=Bremmer-2008/>Template:Rp