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The Soteria were ancient festivals held in many Greek cities from the IIIBC. They honoured the saviour (Sôter) of a danger and could be dedicated to all the gods or only one (mainly Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
 Soterios). Heroic men regarded as deliverers were sometimes associated to the divinities, e.g. Aratus
Aratus

Aratus was a Greeks didactic poet, known for his technical poetry....
 at Sicyon
Sicyon

Sikyon was an ancient Greece city situated in the northern Peloponnesus between Corinth, Greece and Achaea. The king-list given by Pausanias comprises twenty-four kings, beginning with the autochthonous Aegialeus; the penultimate king of the list, Agamemnon, compels the submission of Sicyon to Mycenae; after him comes the Dorian usurper Pha...
.

The most famous Soteria in the antiquity were those held at Delphi
Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
. They had been instituted to commemorate the victory over the celt
Celt

Celts , is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic languages. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the Modern Celts of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture....
 invader Brennus
Brennus (3rd century BC)

Brennus was one of the leaders of the army of Gallic invasion of the Balkans, defeated the assembled Greeks at Battle of Thermopylae , and is popularly reputed to have sacked and looted Delphi, although the ancient sources do not support this....
 (279 BC).






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The Soteria were ancient festivals held in many Greek cities from the IIIBC. They honoured the saviour (Sôter) of a danger and could be dedicated to all the gods or only one (mainly Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
 Soterios). Heroic men regarded as deliverers were sometimes associated to the divinities, e.g. Aratus
Aratus

Aratus was a Greeks didactic poet, known for his technical poetry....
 at Sicyon
Sicyon

Sikyon was an ancient Greece city situated in the northern Peloponnesus between Corinth, Greece and Achaea. The king-list given by Pausanias comprises twenty-four kings, beginning with the autochthonous Aegialeus; the penultimate king of the list, Agamemnon, compels the submission of Sicyon to Mycenae; after him comes the Dorian usurper Pha...
.

The most famous Soteria in the antiquity were those held at Delphi
Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
. They had been instituted to commemorate the victory over the celt
Celt

Celts , is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic languages. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the Modern Celts of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture....
 invader Brennus
Brennus (3rd century BC)

Brennus was one of the leaders of the army of Gallic invasion of the Balkans, defeated the assembled Greeks at Battle of Thermopylae , and is popularly reputed to have sacked and looted Delphi, although the ancient sources do not support this....
 (279 BC). They were composed of sports and musical competitions. Many cities were invited to the Delphi’s Soteria. In 246 BC, the Aetolian confederacy reorganized the festivities in order to equal others ancient games (Pythian games
Pythian Games

The Pythian Games were one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece, a forerunner of the modern Olympic Games, held every four years at the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi....
...).

The Oxford Classical Dictionary edited by S.Hornblower, A.Spawforth (1996)