Ephesia
（τὰ Ἐφέσια). A great gathering of Ionians at Ephesus, the ancient capital of the Ionians in Asia. It was held every year, and had, like all panegyreis, a twofold character—that of a bond of political union among the Greeks of the Ionian race, and that of a common worship of the Ephesian Artemis. Thucydides compares it (iii. 104) to the ancient Delia (q.v.). Respecting the particulars of its celebration, we only know that it took place at night and was accompanied with much mirth and feasting, and that mystical sacrifices were offered to the Ephesian goddess ( Thuc. l. c.; Dion. Hal. Antiq. Rom. iv. 25). That games and contests formed likewise a chief part of the solemnities is clear from Hesychius (s. v.), who calls the Ephesia an ἀγὼν ἐπιφανής. The drunken revelry described in the love-tale of Achilles Tatius (books vi.-viii.) is not mentioned by these authors. See Ephesus.From the manner in which Thucydides and Strabo speak of the Ephesia, it seems that it was only a panegyris of a part of the Ionians, perhaps of those who lived in Ephesus itself and its vicinity.