anagogia
~ia sive velatis sive apertis dictis de etemis superne patrie gaudiis tractat et ‥ legentem ‥ excitat ‥ ad desiderium superne felicitatis
magnus dies festus figurat ‥ festum suum perpetuum per ~iam
ANAGO´GIA(ἀναγώγια), a festival celebrated at Eryx, in Sicily, in honour of Aphrodite. The inhabitants of the place believed that, at a certain period of the year, the goddess went over into Africa, and that all the pigeons of the town and its neighbourhood likewise departed to accompany her. (Aelian, Hist. An. 4.2, V. H. 1.14; Athen. 9. p. 394.) Nine days afterwards, at the so-called καταγώγια (return), one pigeon having returned and entered the temple, the rest followed. This was the signal for general rejoicing and feasting. The whole district was said at this time to smell of butter, which the inhabitants believed to be a sign that Aphrodite had returned. (Athen. 9. p. 395; comp. K. F. Hermann, Gottesd. Alterth. § 68, n. 29.)
[L.S](ἀναγώγια). A festival celebrated at Eryx in Sicily in honour of Aphrodité. Nine days later, a second festival, the καταγώγια, was celebrated.