LAENA (χλαῖνα), a woollen cloak, the cloth of which was twice the
ordinary thickness, shaggy upon both sides, and worn over the pallium
or the toga for the sake of warmth. In later times the laena seems,
to a certain extent, to have been worn as a substitute for the toga.
LAMPĂDĒPHŎRĬA (λαμπαδηφορία), _torch-bearing_, LAMPADEDROMIA
(λαμπαδηδρομία), _torch-race_, and often simply LAMPAS (λαμπάς),
was a game common throughout Greece. At Athens we know of five
celebrations of this game: one to Prometheus at the Prometheia, a
second to Athena at the Panathenaca, a third to Hephaestos at the
Hephaesteia, a fourth to Pan, and a fifth to the Thracian Artemis
or Bendis. The first three are of unknown antiquity; the fourth was
introduced soon after the battle of Marathon; the last in the time of
Socrates. The race was usually run on foot, horses being first used
in the time of Socrates; sometimes also at night. The preparation for
it was a principal branch of the _Gymnasiarchia_, so much so indeed
in later times, that the _Lampadarchia_ (λαμπαδαρχία) seems to have
been pretty much equivalent to the _Gymnasiarchia_. The gymnasiarch
had to provide the lampas, which was a candlestick with a kind of
shield set at the bottom of the socket, so as to shelter the flame of
the candle; as is seen in the following woodcut, taken from a coin.
He had also to provide for the training of the runners, which was
of no slight consequence, for the race was evidently a severe one,
with other expenses, which on the whole were very heavy, so that
Isaeus classes this office with the _choregia_ and _trierarchia_, and
reckons that it had cost him 12 minae.
[Illustration: Lampae. (From a Coin.)]