leonideia

LEONIDEIA(λεωνιδεῖα) were solemnities celebrated every year at Sparta in honour of Leonidas, who, with his 300 Spartans, had fallen at Thermopylae. Opposite the theatre at Sparta there were two sepulchral monuments, one of Pausanias and another of Leonidas, where a contest was held, in which none but Spartans were allowed to take part. (Paus. 3.14.1.)