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The Lenaia was an annual festival with a drama
Drama

Drama is the specific Mode of fiction Mimesis in performance. The term comes from a Ancient Greek word meaning "Action " , which is derived from "to do" ....
tic competition but one of the lesser festivals of Athens
Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
 and Ionia
Ionia

Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest Izmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Hellenes settlements....
 in ancient Greece
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
. The Lenaia took place (in Athens) in the month of Gamelion, roughly corresponding to January. The festival was in honour of Dionysus Lenaius
Dionysus

In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos , is the God of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival....
. Lenaia probably comes from lenai, another name for the Maenad
Maenad

In Greek mythology, Maenads were the female followers of Dionysus, the most significant members of the Thiasus, the retinue of Dionysus. Their name literally translates as "raving ones"....
s, the female worshippers of Dionysus.

The Lenaia is depicted on numerous vases, showing typical Maenad scenes, but also scenes of aristocrats and wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
-mixing rituals.






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The Lenaia was an annual festival with a drama
Drama

Drama is the specific Mode of fiction Mimesis in performance. The term comes from a Ancient Greek word meaning "Action " , which is derived from "to do" ....
tic competition but one of the lesser festivals of Athens
Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
 and Ionia
Ionia

Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest Izmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Hellenes settlements....
 in ancient Greece
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
. The Lenaia took place (in Athens) in the month of Gamelion, roughly corresponding to January. The festival was in honour of Dionysus Lenaius
Dionysus

In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos , is the God of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival....
. Lenaia probably comes from lenai, another name for the Maenad
Maenad

In Greek mythology, Maenads were the female followers of Dionysus, the most significant members of the Thiasus, the retinue of Dionysus. Their name literally translates as "raving ones"....
s, the female worshippers of Dionysus.

The Lenaia is depicted on numerous vases, showing typical Maenad scenes, but also scenes of aristocrats and wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
-mixing rituals. It is unknown exactly what kind of worship occurred at the festival, but it may have been in honour of Dionysus as a youth, or the rebirth of Dionysus after his murder by the Cyclopes
Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
. It may have also had some connection with the Eleusinian Mysteries
Eleusinian Mysteries

The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremony held every year for the Cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance....
, as some of the same religious officials were involved (such as the archon
Archon

Archon is a Greek language word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem ???-, meaning "to rule", derived from the same root as monarch, hierarchy and anarchism....
 basileus
Basileus

Basileus , signifies "Monarch" or "king". It is perhaps best known in English language as a title used by Byzantine Empire emperors, but also has a longer history of use for persons of authority in ancient Greece, as well as for the kings of modern Greece....
 and the epimeletai). These officials were at the head of the procession (pompe), which probably ended with a sacrifice of some kind.

In Athens, the festival was held in the Lenaion, possibly a theatre outside the city or a section of the Agora
Ancient Agora of Athens

The Ancient Agora of Athens is the best-known example of agora, located in Ancient Athens, Greece....
. Beginning in the 5th century BC, plays were performed, as at the Dionysia
Dionysia

The Dionysia was a large religious festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central event of which was the performance of tragedy and, since 487 BC, Greek comedy....
 festival later in the year. Unlike the Dionysia, only Athenian citizens and metics watched the plays, but this is likely due to foreigners being unable to travel by sea in the winter. In 440 BCE, new comic constests were officially included in the Lenaia. At the Lenaia, comedy was more important than tragedy
Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of The arts based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific Poetic tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western culture....
, and many of Aristophanes
Aristophanes

Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a prolific and much acclaimed comedy playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays have come down to us virtually complete....
' plays were first performed there. Five comedies were usually performed (except during the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War which lasted from 431-404BC was an Ancient Greece military conflict, fought by Athens and its Athenian empire against the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta....
 when only three were performed). Comedy was not considered distinct to poetry. There were no contests (agon
Agon

Agon is an ancient Greek word with several meanings:*In one sense, it meant a contest, competition, or challenge that was held in connection with religious festivals....
) for the singing of dithyramb
Dithyramb

The dithyramb was originally an Ancient Greece hymn sung to the god Dionysus and was also a term used as an epithet of the god.. Its wild and ecstatic character was contrasted by Plutarch with that of the paean....
s. It is unknown when the Lenaia was abandoned, but contests of some sort continued into the 2nd century BC.

See also

  • Dionysia
    Dionysia

    The Dionysia was a large religious festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central event of which was the performance of tragedy and, since 487 BC, Greek comedy....
  • Anthesteria
    Anthesteria

    Anthesteria, one of the four Athens festivals in honour of Dionysus , was held annually for three days, the eleventh to thirteenth of the month of Anthesterion ....