The only information about it comes from Menander’s *Epitrepontes*, a dubious gloss by Hesychius, and Euripides (*Iphigenia Taurica*, V. 1449), who seems to hint at a similarity or relationship between this festival and the Brauronia (v.). From these scant elements, one can only say that the Tauropolia involved an all-night vigil, attended by married women and young girls, the latter of whom honored Artemis with music and dances; and that, as a clear symbol of human sacrifice, a man had to be struck on the neck with a sword so that blood would flow.
BIBL.: L. Deubner, *Attische Feste*, Berlin 1932, pp. 208–209. Cesare D’Onofrio