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PANATHENAEA

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 673 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PANATHENAEA , the See also:

oldest and most important of the Athenian festivals. It was originally a religious celebration, founded by See also:Erechtheus (Erichthonius), in See also:honour of See also:Athena Polias, the See also:patron goddess of the See also:city. It is said that when See also:Theseus See also:united the whole See also:land under one See also:government he made the festival of the city-goddess See also:common to the entire See also:country, and changed the older name Athenaea to Panathenaea (See also:Plutarch, Theseus, 24). The See also:union (Synoecism) itself was celebrated by a distinct festival, called Synoecia or Synoecesia, which had no connexion with the Panathenaea. In addition to the religious See also:rites there is said to have been a See also:chariot See also:race from the earliest times, in which Erechtheus himself won the See also:prize. Considerable alterations were introduced into the proceedings by See also:Peisistratus (q.v.) and his sons. It is probable that the distinction of Greater and Lesser Panathenaea See also:dates from this See also:period, the latter being a shorter and simpler festival held every See also:year. Every See also:fourth year the festival was celebrated with See also:peculiar magnificence; gymnastic See also:sports were added to the See also:horse races; and there is little doubt that Peisistratus aimed at making the penteteric Panathenaea the See also:great Ionian festival in rivalry to the Dorian See also:Olympia. Tlie penteteric festival was celebrated in the third year of each See also:Olympiad. The See also:annual festival, probably held on the 28th and 29th of Hecatombaeon (about the See also:middle of See also:August), consisted solely of the sacrifices and rites proper to this See also:season in the cult of Athena. One of these rites originally consisted in carrying a new peplus (the See also:state robe of Athena) through the streets to the See also:Acropolis to clothe the See also:ancient carved See also:image of the goddess, a ceremonial known in other cities and represented by the writer of the Iliad (vi. 87) as being in use at See also:Troy; but it is probable that this rite was afterwards restricted to the great penteteric festival.

The peplus was a costly, See also:

saffron-coloured garment, embroidered with scenes from the See also:battle between the gods and giants, in which Athena had taken See also:part. At least as See also:early as the 3rd See also:century B.C. the See also:custom was introduced of spreading the peplus like a See also:sail on the See also:mast of a See also:ship, which was rolled on a See also:machine in the procession. Even the religious rites were celebrated with much greater splendour at the Greater Panathenaea. The whole See also:empire shared in the great See also:sacrifice; every See also:colony and every subject state sent a deputation and sacrificial animals. On the great See also:day of the feast there was a procession of the priests, the sacrificial assistants of every See also:kind, the representatives of every part of the empire with their victims, of the See also:cavalry, in See also:short of the See also:population of See also:Attica and 1So named from a See also:note (1902) directed by Dr See also:Don See also:Louis Maria Drago, the See also:Argentine See also:minister of See also:foreign affairs, to the Argentine See also:diplomatic representative at See also:Washington at the See also:time of the difficulties of See also:Venezuela incident to the collection of debts owed to foreigners by that country. 2 The See also:Bureau is supported by contributions, varying in amount according to population, of the twenty-one See also:American republics, See also:Andrew See also:Carnegie contributed $750,000 and the various republics $250,000 for the erection of a permanent See also:home for the Bureau in Washington. The Bureau has a library of some 15,000 volumes, and publishes numerous handbooks, See also:pamphlets and maps, in addition to its monthly Bulletins. Its executive See also:head is a director, chosen by the Governing See also:Board. great part of its dependencies. After the presentation of the peplus, the See also:hecatomb was sacrificed. The subject of the See also:frieze of the See also:Parthenon is an idealized treatment of this great procession. The festival which had been beautified by Peisistratus was made still more imposing under the See also:rule of See also:Pericles.

He introduced a See also:

regular musical contest in See also:place of the old recitations of the rhapsodes, which were an old See also:standing See also:accompaniment of the festival. This contest took place in the See also:Odeum, originally built for this purpose by Pericles himself. The See also:order of the agones from this time onwards was—first the musical, then the gymnastic, then the equestrian contest. Many kinds of contest, such as the chariot race of the apobatai (said to have been introduced by Erechtheus), which were not in use at Olympia, were practised in See also:Athens. Apobates was the name given to the See also:companion of the charioteer, who showed his skill by leaping out of the chariot and up again while the horses were going at full See also:speed. There were in addition several See also:minor contests: the Pyrrhic, or See also:war See also:dance, celebrating the victory of Athena over the giants; the Euandria, whereby a certain number of men, distinguished for height, strength and beauty, were chosen as leaders of the procession; the Lampadedromia, or See also:torch-race; the Naumachia (Regatta), which took place on the last day of the festival. The proceedings were under the superintendence of ten athlothetae, one from each tribe, the lesser Panathenaea being managed by hieropoei. In the musical contests, a See also:golden See also:crown was given as first prize; in the sports, a See also:garland of leaves from the sacred See also:olive trees of Athena, and vases filled with oil from the same. Many specimens of these Panathenaic vases have been found; on one See also:side is the figure of Athena, on the other a See also:design showing the nature of the competition in which they were given as prizes. The season of the festival was the 24th to the 29th of Hecatombaeon, and the great day was the 28th. See A. See also:Mommsen, Feste der Stadt Athen (1898) ; A.

See also:

Michaelis, Der Parthenon (1871), with full bibliography; P. Stengel, See also:Die griechischen Kultusaltertamer (1898) ; L. C. See also:Purser is See also:Smith's See also:Dictionary of Antiquities (3rd ed., 1891) ; L. R. Farnell, Cults of the See also:Greek States; also See also:article ATHENA and See also:works quoted.

End of Article: PANATHENAEA

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