Definition: The Cronia was a Greek festival in honor of Cronus and Rhea that is thought of as the Greek equivalent of the Roman holiday Saturnalia. At this festival honoring the overturned parents of the Olympian gods and goddesses, masters and slaves would exchange roles and masters would eat with slaves. The Cronia took place in the middle of the Athenian month of Hecatombaion, the first month of the year.
The similarity between Cronia and Saturnalia lies in the reversal of roles and the honoring of the same god.
Source: "Religion and Politics in Aeschylus' Oresteia" A. M. Bowie. The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 43, No. 1. (1993), pp. 10-31.
