The Lithobolia was an apotropaic festival of ancient Greece associated with the cults of the harvest goddesses Damia [ca] and Auxesia -- sometimes used interchangeably with Demeter and Persephone -- celebrated throughout the Saronic Gulf, but especially in Troezen, Aegina, and Epidauros.
[1][3][4][5] The citizens of Troezen were possibly ashamed at having murdered foreign guests to their city, though scholars have observed that the bloodshed of innocent passersby feature in many harvest festivals.
[6] The exact nature of the festival is unclear, but scholars believe it was a purification rite and consisted of a kind of ritual abuse, similar to other fertility cults.
[9] While there may or may not have been real bloodshed during the event, it seems related to the ancient belief that blood sacrifices pleased the Chthonic deities.
[3][10] The cults of these deified women involved aischrologia (αἰσχρολογία) or "filthy language", which possibly also featured in the Lithobolia.