Agroteras Thysia

(Ἀγροτέρας θυσία). A festival celebrated at Athens in honour of Artemis Agrotera (from ἄγρα, chase), in consequence of a vow made during the First Persian War to sacrifice to Artemis as many goats as there should be Persians slain at Marathon. But as the number of Persians slain was so great as to exceed that of the available goats, the Athenians decreed that five hundred goats should be offered every year. This is the account given by Xenophon, but other writers give different legends.