APATURIA, in Antiquity, a solemn feast celebrated by the Athenians in honour of Bacchus. The word is usually derived from απατη, fraud. It is said to have been instituted in memory of a fraudulent victory obtained by Melanthus, king of Athens, over Xanthus, king of Bœotia, in a single combat, which they agreed upon, to put an end to a debate between them relating to the frontiers of their countries. Hence Budæus calls it festum deceptionis, the feast of deceit.
Other authors give a different etymology of this feast. They tell us that the young Athenians were not admitted into the tribes on the third day of the apaturia, till their fathers had first sworn that they were their own children; and that till that time they were supposed in some measure to be without fathers, απατεῖς; whence the feast, say they, took its name. Xenophon, on the other hand, informs us that the relations and friends met on this occasion, and joined with the fathers of the young people who were to be received into the tribes; and that from this assembly the feast took its name; that in απατεῖς, the α, far from being a privative, being here a conjunctive, signifies the same thing with ἵνα, together. This feast lasted four days: the first day, those of the same tribe made merry together; and this they called ἰορᾶ. The second day, which they called αναρᾶς, they sacrificed to Jupiter and Minerva. The third day, which they called πυρᾶς, such of their young men and maids as were of age were admitted into their tribes. The fourth day they called πύρδα.