in Grecian Antiquity, a festival celebrated at Platæa, in honour of Jupiter Eleutherius, or "the assertor of liberty," by delegates from almost all the cities of Greece. Its institution originated thus: After the victory which the Grecians under Pausanias obtained at Platæa, B.C. 479, over Mardonius the Persian general, an altar and statue were erected to Jupiter Eleutherius, who had freed the Greeks from the tyranny of the barbarians. It was further decreed in a general assembly of the Greeks, by the advice of Aristides the Athenian, that delegates from all the Greek states should assemble annually at Platæa to celebrate the Eleutheria, or festival of liberty. Every fifth year the solemnities were celebrated with contests in which chaplets were awarded to the victors. The annual festival at Platæa still existed in the time of Plutarch, and was celebrated thus:—At break of day the procession set out through the middle of the town, headed by a trumpeter who sounded a signal for battle; and it was followed by waggon loads of myrtle boughs and garlands, by a black bull, and a number of free youths (slaves being excluded from the ceremony) who carried libations of wine and milk in large-earred vessels, with jars of oil and precious unguents; and the rear was brought up by the archon or chief magistrate of the city, who, though not permitted at any other time to touch a weapon or to wear a garment that was not white, appeared on this occasion with a sword in his hand and clad in a purple tunic, and also bearing an urn preserved for this solemnity in the city archive. When the procession arrived at the sepulchres of those who had fallen at Platæa, the archon, having drawn water from a neighbouring spring, first washed and anointed the monuments, and then sacrificed the bull on a pyre of wood; at the same time invoking Jupiter and Mercury, and inviting the souls of the heroes who had perished on the plains of Platæa to partake of the entertainment prepared for them. He then filled a bowl with wine, and pledged those who lost their lives in the defence of the liberties of Greece.

A festival of the same name was observed by the Samians in honour of the god of love. Slaves, also, on their emancipation, kept a holiday which they called Eleutheria.

ELEUTHEROPOlis, an ancient episcopal city, situated in the south-western plain of Judæa, between Hebron and Askalon. It has been identified by Dr Robinson with the modern Beit-Jibrin, the Betogabra of Ptolemy and the Pentingerian Tables.