torch-race

torch-race (lampadēdromia), form of sacred contest common to many cults throughout Greece. In Athens it formed part of the Panathenaea and of the festivals of the fire gods Prometheus and Hephaestus. The competitors had to carry lighted torches to the goal, usually the altar of the god or goddess being celebrated. Anyone whose torch went out was disqualified, and the winner placed his torch on the altar. The race was run by teams from each tribe as a relay race, or by single competitors. At the festival of the Thracian goddess Bendis, referred to at the beginning of Plato's Republic, there was the novelty of a torch-race on horseback.