LAMPADEPHORIA, i.e., the torch-bearing, or the torch-race, an Athenian ceremony at the festivals of the fire-gods Prometheus, Vulcan, and Minerva, in which the runners carried lighted torches, sheltered by shields, from the joint altar of these gods in the outer Ceramiceus to the Acropolis. After the battle of Marathon, it was introduced into the festivals of Pan; and in the time of Socrates, into those of Artemis, on which occasion horses were first used. The art seems to have consisted in carrying a lighted torch from the starting-place to the goal without letting it go out. Several chains of runners were stationed along the race-course, which was about half a mile in length. The first runner in each chain passed the lamp to the second, he in his turn to the third, and so on. That chain which was the first to pass the still burning torch to its destination was declared victorious. The ceremony was most probably intended to symbolize the theft of the fire from the chariot of the sun by Prometheus, and to commemorate the benefits which have accrued to mankind from his crime.