Panathenaea

Last updated
The Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, location of the athletic competitions The Panathenaic Stadium (Kallimarmaro) of Athens.jpg
The Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, location of the athletic competitions

The Panathenaea (or Panathenaia) was a multi-day ancient Greek festival held annually in Athens that would always conclude on 28 Hekatombaion, the first month of the Attic calendar. [1] The main purpose of the festival was for Athenians and non-Athenians to celebrate the goddess Athena. [2] Every four years, the festival was celebrated in a larger manner over a longer time period with increased festivities and was known as the Great (or Greater) Panathenaea. [1] In the years that the festival occurred that were not considered the Great Panathenaea, the festival was known as the Lesser Panathenaea. [3] The festival consisted of various competitions and ceremonies, culminating with a religious procession that ended in the Acropolis of Athens. [4]

Contents

History

The inaugural celebration of the Great Panathenaea occurred in 566 BCE and possibly continued until around 410 CE. [5] Edicts issued by Theodosius I in 391 CE banned sacrifices and closed the temples in Athens, making it very unlikely the festival continued until 410 CE despite some archeological evidence that indicates it may have. [6] There is some uncertainty surrounding the creation of the festival but Peisistratos is commonly credited with the solidification of the festival in 566 BCE, organizing it and turning it into a significant Athenian celebration. [7]

Mythology

There are multiple mentions of the founding of the Panathenaea in Greek mythology that most notably include the stories of Theseus and Erectheus (also referred to as Erichthonius in mythological texts). The Iliad holds the earliest mention of the festival and attributes its creation to Erechtheus. [7] The son of Gaia and Hephaestus, Erechtheus created the festival and dedicated it to Athena after becoming the king of Athens. [8] In Plutarch's Life of Theseus, Theseus unifies multiple Attic communities into one state, giving it the name of Athens and creating a feast known as Panathenaea or "the sacrifice of all the united Athenians". [9]

Religious festival

Banquets

Athenians would begin the festival with a banquet during the first night in the Agora where meat would be cut up to be distributed using a ceremonial kopis. [10] There was also a major banquet on the second day and a smaller banquet-style meal after the procession on the last day of the festival where people would eat bread alongside parts of the animals that were sacrificed to Athena. [11]

Procession

The most significant aspect of the festival was the procession to the Acropolis on the last day of the festival (28 Hekatombaion), where Athenians would make sacrifices to the goddess Athena. Such as a Hekatomb (sacrifice of 100 oxen or cows) [12] The night before this procession, the younger population of Athens would have a vigil known as a pannychis where the people would dance on the Acropolis. During this vigil, the people of Athens would sing a paean for Athena, a song of praise that typically would not be sung at celebrations for Athena but at celebrations for the god Apollo instead. [13]

During the Lesser Panathenaea young girls known as arrephoroi would carry a specially woven peplos robe to place on the wooden cult image of Athena located in the Erechtheum, a temple on the north side of the Acropolis that was dedicated to Athena. [13] [14] In line with the occurrence of the Great Panthenaea every four years a larger peplos tapestry would be woven to be put on the statue of Athena in the Parthenon, a temple in the centre of the Acropolis. [13] [14]

The Acropolis of Athens, where the procession would conclude Attica 06-13 Athens 50 View from Philopappos - Acropolis Hill.jpg
The Acropolis of Athens, where the procession would conclude

Athenians would begin their procession in the Kerameikos neighbourhood and would continue south until they reached the Acropolis. [15] The procession consisted of over 1,000 people from a wide range of backgrounds but was led by the high priestess and the treasurers of the temple followed by the arrephoros carrying the peplos robe. [16] This lead group would be followed by other priests (hieropoios), priestesses (athlothetai), and unmarried young women (kanephoros), magistrates, soldiers, athletes, representatives from other states, musicians, and herdsmen among others. [16] The procession would conclude with more than one hundred cows and sheep being sacrificed on the altar of Athena in the Acropolis in a religious ceremony known as a hecatomb. [13] [16] Non-Athenians also participated in the procession, with female metics carrying hydria I and male metics carrying bread used for the meal after the festival or other non-animal offerings on ornate trays known as skaphai. [13]

Competitions

During the festival many competitions were held including a chariot race, a stadion, and various other athletic events. [4] [17] There would also be singing and poetry competitions, where participants would perform selections from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey . [18]

Prizes

After the conclusion of the competitions at the festival, prizes were awarded to the victors. The reward that is most synonymous with the festival was the Panathenaic prize amphora with images on the sides that would remain similar year to year. [19] These prize amphoras were filled with valuable high-class sacred olive oil and the victors would also sometimes receive monetary prizes in the form of Greek drachma instead of amphoras. [20] The victors’ names were carved into stone victor lists, which were displayed in various parts of Athens. [21] They were placed primarily near churches or religious shrines, with the most notable of these places being the Acropolis. [21]

A Panathenaic prize amphora given to the winner of the chariot race Panathenaic prize amphora of a chariot race, Made in Athens about 410-400 BC, found at Taucheira in Cyrenaica, modern Libya, Winning at the ancient Games, British Museum (7642694662).jpg
A Panathenaic prize amphora given to the winner of the chariot race

Prize amphoras

The prize amphoras were the major reward victors received during the festival. People in Ancient Greece associated olive oil with Athena because of the mythological story of her gifting the first Moria to Athens, using the tree to claim the city over the god Poseidon. [22] Olive oil and the prize amphoras were associated with power, wealth, and prosperity due to this association with Athena. [22] The standardized versions of these amphoras would typically depict an image of Athena with roosters standing on two columns on each side of the goddess. [17] On the other side of the amphora, there would typically be images related to the event or competition that the amphora was won for. [17] These images were believed to be included in an attempt to show the rest of the world that Athens was the self-proclaimed head of ancient Greek civilization. [23] An armed Athena was meant to indicate that the goddess was the protector of Athens. [24] The roosters supported this image as the people of Athens saw the birds as having a "fighting spirit" with the columns being used to emphasize the rooster's presence. [24]

Portion of the Parthenon Frieze that depicts the peplos and the arrephoros Peplos scene BM EastV cropped.JPG
Portion of the Parthenon Frieze that depicts the peplos and the arrephoros

Archeological influence

The Parthenon Frieze is a marble sculpture in the Parthenon in the Acropolis of Athens that has a portion that is interpreted to be depicting people of Athens participating in the religious procession that takes place during the Panathenaea. [25] There are images of the high priestess, priests, a young girl meant to resemble an arrephoros, and people herding animals to be sacrificed to the gods. [26]

Current relevance

A silver medal from the 2004 Summer Olympics with the Panathenaic Stadium in the background Parte frontal da medalha de prata dos Jogos Olimpicos de Atenas, 2004, Acervo do Museu do Futebol.jpg
A silver medal from the 2004 Summer Olympics with the Panathenaic Stadium in the background

The Panathenaea ended around the conclusion of the 4th century CE, but it still holds some relevance in the present day. [5] The Panathenaic Stadium was initially a small racetrack with seating on a hill overlooking the track used for the athletic competitions until it was upgraded in the 4th century BCE by the logographer Lykourgos. [27] He upgraded the track to a small stadium with stone seating, remaining until Herodes Atticus upgraded the stadium again in the middle of the 2nd century CE. [27] He made the stadium much larger and used marble instead of stone. [28] The stadium was abandoned after Theodosius I banned the festival and was not used again until the Zappas Olympics in the late 19th century CE. [6] [29] Before the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics the stadium was completely renovated, going on to host both the opening and closing ceremonies as well as a number of the competitions. [30] The stadium has hosted many athletic events since then, most notably the archery competition and marathon finish for the 2004 Summer Olympics. [31] One side of the Olympic medals from the 2004 Summer Olympics also depicts an image of the Panathenaic Stadium. It is important to note that the modern Olympic Games are more directly inspired by the ancient Olympic Games than the Panathenaic Games.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acropolis of Athens</span> Ancient citadel above the city of Athens

The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. The word Acropolis is from the Greek words ἄκρον and πόλις. The term acropolis is generic and there are many other acropoleis in Greece. During ancient times the Acropolis of Athens was also more properly known as Cecropia, after the legendary serpent-man Cecrops, the supposed first Athenian king.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parthenon</span> Temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece

The Parthenon is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena during the fifth century BC. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of classical Greek art, an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, democracy, and Western civilization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erechtheus</span> Archaic king of Athens

Erechtheus in Greek mythology was a king of Athens, the founder of the polis and, in his role as god, attached to Poseidon, as "Poseidon Erechtheus". The name Erichthonius is carried by a son of Erechtheus, but Plutarch conflated the two names in the myth of the begetting of Erechtheus.

<i>Athena Parthenos</i> Sculpture of the Greek goddess Athena

The statue of Athena Parthenos was a monumental chryselephantine sculpture of the goddess Athena. Attributed to Phidias and dated to the mid-fifth century BCE, it was an offering from the city of Athens to Athena, its tutelary deity. The naos of the Parthenon on the acropolis of Athens was designed exclusively to accommodate it.

Fifth-century Athens was the Greek city-state of Athens in the time from 480 to 404 BC. Formerly known as the Golden Age of Athens, the latter part being the Age of Pericles, it was buoyed by political hegemony, economic growth and cultural flourishing. The period began in 478 BC, after the defeat of the Persian invasion, when an Athenian-led coalition of city-states, known as the Delian League, confronted the Persians to keep the liberated Asian Greek cities free.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panathenaic Games</span> Festival in ancient Greece

The Panathenaic Games were held every four years in Athens in Ancient Greece from 566 BC to the 3rd century AD. These Games incorporated religious festival, ceremony, athletic competitions, and cultural events hosted within a stadium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erechtheion</span> Ancient Greek temple

The Erechtheion or Temple of Athena Polias is an ancient Greek Ionic temple on the north side of the Acropolis, Athens, which was primarily dedicated to the goddess Athena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peplos</span> Garment worn by women of Ancient Greece

A peplos is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by c. 500 BC, during the late Archaic and Classical period. It was a long, rectangular cloth with the top edge folded down about halfway, so that what was the top of the rectangle was now draped below the waist, and the bottom of the rectangle was at the ankle. One side of the peplos could be left open, or pinned or sewn together. In Latin and in a Roman context, it could be called a palla.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panathenaic Stadium</span> Stadium in Athens, Greece

The Panathenaic Stadium or Kallimarmaro is a multi-purpose stadium in Athens, Greece. One of the main historic attractions of Athens, it is the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parthenon Frieze</span> Sculpture from the Parthenon in Athens

The Parthenon frieze is the high-relief Pentelic marble sculpture created to adorn the upper part of the Parthenon's naos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panathenaic amphora</span> Special shape of attic amphoras

Panathenaic amphorae were the amphorae, large ceramic vessels, that contained the olive oil given as a prize in the Panathenaic Games. Some were ten imperial gallons and 60–70 cm (24–28 in) high. This oil came from the sacred grove of Athena at Akademia. The amphorae which held it had the distinctive form of tight handles, narrow neck and feet, and they were decorated with consistent symbols, in a standard form using the black figure technique, and continued to be so, long after the black figure style had fallen out of fashion. Some Panathenaic amphorae depicted Athena Promachos, goddess of war, advancing between columns brandishing a spear and wearing the aegis, and next to her the inscription τῶν Ἀθήνηθεν ἄθλων "(one) of the prizes from Athens". On the back of the vase was a representation of the event for which it was an award. Sometimes roosters are depicted perched on top of the columns. The significance of the roosters remains a mystery. Later amphorae also had that year's archon's name written on it making finds of those vases archaeologically important.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kanephoros</span>

The Kanephoros was an honorific office given to unmarried young women in ancient Greece, which involved the privilege of leading the procession to sacrifice at festivals; the highest honour was to lead the pompe (πομπή) at the Panathenaic Festival. The role was given to a virgin selected from amongst the aristocratic or Eupatrid families of Athens whose purity and youth was thought essential to ensure a successful sacrifice. Her task was to carry a basket or kanoun (κανοῦν), which contained the offering of barley or first fruits, the sacrificial knife and fillets to decorate the bull, in procession through the city up to the altar on the acropolis.

The Chalkeia festival, the festival of Bronze-workers, was a religious festival devoted to the goddess Athena and the god Hephaestus. It was celebrated on the last day of Pyanepsion. The festival celebrated Athena and Hephaestus, in honor of both gods as patron deities of Athens, and as deities of handicrafts.

The Synoikia was an ancient Greek festival held in Athens commemorating the political unification of Attica. It was also called the Thesean Synoikismos and the Feast of Union, and celebrated Theseus as founder of Athens and the goddess Athena as the city's patron goddess. The festival was celebrated in the month of Hekatombeion on the 16th. A two-day festival, on the 15th and the 16th was held every second year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classical Athens</span> City-state in ancient Greece

The city of Athens during the classical period of ancient Greece was the major urban centre of the notable polis (city-state) of the same name, located in Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 180 years, until 322 BC. The peak of Athenian hegemony was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC, known as the Age of Pericles.

The festival calendar of Classical Athens involved the staging of many festivals each year. This includes festivals held in honor of Athena, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, Persephone, Hermes, and Herakles. Other Athenian festivals were based around family, citizenship, sacrifice, and women. There were at least 120 festival days each year.

Pandion was the eponymous hero of the Attic tribe Pandionis, which was created as part of the tribal reforms of Cleisthenes at the end of the sixth century BC. He is usually assumed to be one of the two legendary kings of Athens, Pandion I or Pandion II.

Jenifer Neils is an American classical archaeologist and was from July 2017 to June 2022 director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Formerly she was the Elsie B. Smith Professor in the Liberal Arts in the Department of Classics at Case Western Reserve University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kleophrades Painter Panathenaic prize amphora</span>

The Kleophrades Panathenaic prize amphora is an Archaic period amphora by the Kleophrades Painter from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dating to c. 500 BCE, the amphora, filled with olive oil, was the prize for a victor in the Panathenaia games in Athens. This particular amphora is a neck amphora that stands at 63.5 centimetres (25.0 in) tall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Propylaia (Acropolis of Athens)</span> The gate of the Acropolis of Athens

The Propylaia is the classical Greek Doric building complex that functioned as the monumental ceremonial gateway to the Acropolis of Athens. Built between 437 and 432 BCE as a part of the Periklean Building Program, it was the last in a series of gatehouses built on the citadel. Its architect was Mnesikles, his only known building. It is evident from traces left on the extant building that the plan for the Propylaia evolved considerably during its construction, and that the project was ultimately abandoned in an unfinished state.

References

  1. 1 2 Shear, Julia L. "Hadrian, the Panathenaia, and the Athenian Calendar". Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 180 (2012): 159. JSTOR   41616930.
  2. ↑ Shear, Julia L. Serving Athena: The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 2.
  3. ↑ Lewis, David M. "Law on the Lesser Panathenaia". Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 28, no. 3 (1959): 247.
  4. 1 2 Shear, Julia L. Serving Athena: The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 1.
  5. 1 2 Shear, Julia L. Serving Athena: The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 6.
  6. 1 2 Shear, Julia L. Serving Athena: The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 7.
  7. 1 2 Voltz, Alexander. "A Festival of Tyrants: The Peisistratids and Their Great Panathenaia, 566-507 B.C." A. D. K. Voltz. October 2020.
  8. ↑ Gvozdeva T.B. "Erichthonius or Theseus, who established the Panathenaea?" RUDN Journal of World History 13 (2021): pp. 259-268.
  9. ↑ Plutarch. Life of Theseus. Translated by John Dryden. Massachusetts: MIT, 2009.
  10. ↑ Mikalson, Jon D. "Erechtheus and the Panathenaia". The American Journal of Philology 97, no. 2 (1976): 152.
  11. ↑ Mikalson, Jon D. "Erechtheus and the Panathenaia". The American Journal of Philology 97, no. 2 (1976): 151-52.
  12. ↑ Shear, Julia L. Serving Athena: The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 4.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Mikalson, Jon D. "Erechtheus and the Panathenaia". The American Journal of Philology 97, no. 2 (1976): 151.
  14. 1 2 Stamatopoulou, Z. (2012). Weaving Titans For Athena: Euripides and the Panathenaic Peplos (HEC. 466-74 and IT 218–24). The Classical Quarterly, 62(1), 72.
  15. ↑ Mikalson, Jon D. "Erechtheus and the Panathenaia". The American Journal of Philology 97, no. 2 (1976): 150.
  16. 1 2 3 Gerding, Henrik, and Henrick Gerding. "The Erechtheion and the Panathenaic Procession". American Journal of Archaeology 110, no. 3 (2006): 392.
  17. 1 2 3 Popkin, Maggie L. "Roosters, Columns, and Athena on Early Panathenaic Prize Amphoras: Symbols of a New Athenian Identity". Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 81, no. 2 (2012): 210.
  18. ↑ Nagy, Gregory (2020). Plato's Rhapsody and Homer's Music: The Poetics of the Panathenaic Festival in Classical Athens. Online: Harvard University Center for Hellenic Studies.
  19. ↑ Popkin, Maggie L. "Roosters, Columns, and Athena on Early Panathenaic Prize Amphoras: Symbols of a New Athenian Identity". Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 81, no. 2 (2012): 207–08.
  20. ↑ Popkin, Maggie L. "Roosters, Columns, and Athena on Early Panathenaic Prize Amphoras: Symbols of a New Athenian Identity". Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 81, no. 2 (2012): 209.
  21. 1 2 Tracy, Stephen V. "Agora I 6701: A Panathenaic Victor List of ca. 190 B.C." Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 84, no. 4 (2015): 720.
  22. 1 2 Boardman, J., Kathleen M. Kenyon, E. J. Moynahan, and J. D. Evans. "The Olive in the Mediterranean: Its Culture and Use [and Discussion]". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 275, no. 936 (1976): 191.
  23. ↑ Popkin, Maggie L. "Roosters, Columns, and Athena on Early Panathenaic Prize Amphoras: Symbols of a New Athenian Identity". Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 81, no. 2 (2012): 227–28.
  24. 1 2 Popkin, Maggie L. "Roosters, Columns, and Athena on Early Panathenaic Prize Amphoras: Symbols of a New Athenian Identity". Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 81, no. 2 (2012): 213-23
  25. ↑ Connelly, Joan B. "Parthenon and Parthenoi: A Mythological Interpretation of the Parthenon Frieze". American Journal of Archaeology 100, no. 1 (1996): 53.
  26. ↑ Connelly, Joan B. "Parthenon and Parthenoi: A Mythological Interpretation of the Parthenon Frieze". American Journal of Archaeology 100, no. 1 (1996): 58-60.
  27. 1 2 Romano, David Gilman. "The Panathenaic Stadium and Theater of Lykourgos: A Re-Examination of the Facilities on the Pnyx Hill". American Journal of Archaeology 89, no. 3 (1985): 441.
  28. ↑ Romano, David Gilman. "The Panathenaic Stadium and Theater of Lykourgos: A Re-Examination of the Facilities on the Pnyx Hill". American Journal of Archaeology 89, no. 3 (1985): 444.
  29. ↑ Margaritis, George, Mateusz Rozmiarek, and Ewa Malchrowicz-Mosko. 2017. Tangible and intangible legacy of the 19th century zappas olympics and their implications for contemporary sport tourism. Physical Culture and Sport 74, (1): 54-60.
  30. ↑ Young, David C. (1996). The Modern Olympics: A Struggle for Revival. Johns Hopkins University Press.
  31. ↑ Kasimati, Evangelia (2015). "Post-Olympic Use of the Olympic Venues: The Case of Greece". Athens Journal of Sports. 2 (3): 173. doi: 10.30958/ajspo.2-3-3 .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.