Elaphebolia

(ἐλαφηβόλια). The greatest festival in the town of Hyampolis in Phocis, and celebrated in honour of Artemis, in commemoration, it is said, of a victory which its inhabitants had gained over the Thessalians, who had ravaged the country and reduced the Phocians in the neighbourhood of the town nearly to the last extremity ( De Mul. Virt. p. 244 B; Pausan. x. 35. 4). The only particular which we know of its celebration is, that a peculiar kind of cake (ἔλαφος) was made on the occasion (Athen. xv. p. 646 e). These cakes were, as their name indicates, probably made in the shape of a stag or a deer and offered to the goddess.