🦉The Panathenaia🦉
28 Hekatombaion
The annual Panathenaia in Athens was Athena’s biggest civic festival, in which Athena Polias, Athena Nike, and Athena Hugeia were honored. The main purpose of the Panathenaia was to deliver a new saffron-colored robe (peplos) to the olivewood statue of Athena Polias in the Erechtheum. Woven into this peplos was a depiction of Athena’s victory alongside and in support of Zeus in the Gigantomachy. A second myth that was of great importance here was Athena’s birth from Zeus’ head, her birthday being celebrated on 28 Hekatombaion. The festival may have originally only been celebrated on this day, but later grew into an 8 day long occasion from 23 - 30 Hekatombaion. Competitions took place on most of the days, with an all-night celebration (pannykhis) on 27 Hekatombaion preceding a dawn procession up to Athena’s Great Altar on the Akropolis for a grand sacrifice of a hekatomb and the presentation of the peplos.
Like many festivals, it was a chance for the population to celebrate their communal identity, but as it developed and grew and was influenced by national events, the festival also became a chance for Athens to display its growing power and wealth. Athena’s adopted son in myth, King Erikhthonios, was credited with establishing the festival and also with erecting the statue of Athena Polias. Through him, the Athenian citizens were in a sense descendants of Athena, adding to the importance of this festival. In 566BC, it was supposedly Peisistratos who instituted the “Greater Panathenaia” which would happen every four years, a grander version in which even non-Athenians could compete in the events. Following Kleisthenes’ democratic reforms, Athenian-only tribal events were included. After the victory at Salamis during the Persian Wars, a trireme on wheels was added to the procession. After the headquarters of the Delian League moved to Athens, increasing its power and domain, Athens’ “allies” were required to participate in the festival and also to provide a panoply and sacrificial cow for the festival.
The Peplos… and the Peplos
As mentioned, the annual peplos for the statue depicted the Gigantomachy and was saffron-colored. It was started nine months prior when the loom was set up during the artisan festival of Khalkeia. The arrhēphoroi, four high-born girls aged between 7 and 10, and the ergastinai (female workers) who were also high-born women, were involved in the making of this peplos.
A second ‘peplos’ later came into play. This was the massive sail of the trireme that was added to the procession after the Persian Wars. It also depicted the Gigantomachy, now with increased importance as a metaphorical and mythological link to Athens’ battle and victory against the Persians. This sail was made by male professional weavers and was only presented at the Greater Panathenaia. It is important to note that originally these two were conflated in scholarship, until John Mansfield’s dissertation in 1985, The Robe of Athena and the Panathanaic Peplos. Walter Burkert’s Greek Religion, a common resource for Hellenic Polytheists, predates this, being published first in 1977.
The Pannykhis and The Procession
The Pannykhis was a celebration on the Akropolis that lasted all night on 27 Hekatombaion. Not a lot seems to be known about it, but choruses of young men and women were featured, as was the sunrise torch race. This team relay race started outside the Akademos at the altar of Eros, where a sacrifice may have been made to both Athena and Eros. It went into the city, through the agora and up to the Akropolis to light the flame at the Great Altar of Athena for the sacrifice.
At sunrise, the procession would gather at the Dipylon Gate (main gate to the city walls) in the Kerameikos (potters’ quarters). Male and female, citizen and metic (resident foreigner) and even former slaves took part in this. It was led by members of Athena’s cult which would include her priestess, the kanēphoroi (basket-bearers) who wore white makeup and carried baskets containing ritual implements for the sacrifice, and the arrhēphoroi and ergastinai (female workers) who had worked on the peplos. After them came the other religious and government officials.
Metics would wear purple robes and carried silver trays of cakes and honeycombs, and their daughters carried water pitchers. Former slaves carried oak branches. Handsome elder aristocratic men (thallophoroi), would carry olive branches. Accompanying the procession would be musicians playing music, and the sacrificial animals.
Events
Based on inscriptions listing prizes for winners, a possible program has been reconstructed as follows:
Day 1 - Musical and Rhapsodic Contests
Day 2 - Athletic Contests for Boys and Youths
Day 3 - Athletic Contests for Men
Day 4 - Equestrian Contests
Day 5 - Tribal Contests
Day 6 - Torch Race and Sacrifice
Day 7 - Boat Race
Day 8 - Awarding of Prizes, Feasting and Celebrations
Musical contests included competitions for solo aulos (“flute”) and kithara (“lyre”) players, singing and playing the kithara, and singing with aulos accompaniment. Along with these there were competitions for the recitation of epic poetry.
Athletic contests included footraces (200, 400 and 4800 meters), boxing, wrestling, hoplite race, pentathlon (running, wrestling, long jump, discus and javelin throwing), pankration (Combination of boxing, wrestling and kicking). Many of the contests had two or three age divisions.
Equestrian contests included a horse race, chariot races with both two and four horses, a javelin throw from horseback, and a mule-cart race. In the horse and chariot races, it was the owner of the horses who was awarded the prize, and thus it was possible for women to be ‘winners’ of these events.
Tribal contests were for Athenians only who would represent their tribe. It included a pyrrhic dance (armed dance using movements reflecting battle), euandria (male beauty or fitness contest), the torch race and a boat race in the harbour. The apobates race was also one of the tribal contests associated with this festival (but not unique to Athens), in which warriors jumped from speeding chariots. It’s unclear if they finished the race on foot, or if they hopped on and off the moving chariot. Traditionally, Erikhthonios was considered the inventor of charioteering in battle attire.
Prizes for musical contests were gold crowns and money. For athletic and equestrian contests, they were special Panathenaic amphorae filled with sacred olive oil. These had an image of the event on one side and of an armed Athena on the other, and symbolized the many aspects of Athena celebrated at the festival. Prizes were also given for second place.
Offerings & Communal Meal
The biggest offering during the festival was the hekatomb for Athena Polias at the end of the procession - a sacrifice of a hundred or more animals, primarily cows but also sheep. This may have come after preliminary offerings, and either the thigh pieces or the bones and fat would be given as burnt offerings, with musical accompaniment. It wasn’t just Athena Polias who would receive offerings, however; during the procession to the great Altar there would be individual sacrifices given to Athena Nike and Athena Hugeia at their temples. There would also be special cakes offerings. After the sacrifices, the meat would be roasted and distributed as communal meals for residents of the city, but tribal banquets subsidized by wealthy citizens may also have contributed to these meals.
Sources:
Burkert, Walter - Greek Religion (1977, trans. 1985)
Mansfield, John - The Robe of Athena and the Panathanaic Peplos (1985)
Neils, Jenifer - Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens (1994)
Deacy, Susan & Villing, Alexandra - Athena in the Classical World (2001)
Ogden, Daniel - A Companion to Greek Religion (2007)
Larson, Jennifer - Ancient Greek Cults (2007)
Deacy, Susan - Athena (2008)
Mikalson, Jon D. - Ancient Greek Religion (2nd ed. 2010)
Larson, Jennifer - Understanding Greek Religion (2016)
Ideas for Modern Celebration
Length: Could be celebrated for 8 days, just on 28 Hekatombaion, or that day plus the night before if you want to include inspiration from the pannychis
Torch race: If celebrating with friends or family, you could stage a relay race. If solitary, you could include “torches” in a procession by using a lit candle
Procession: A procession could be made (at dawn if possible) from your front door, front gate, or other location that could stand in as a “gate”. A candle, offerings, and olive or oak branches could be carried, and music played.
Contests: In the days leading up to 28 Hekatombaion, or on the day, you could engage in competitions with friends or family
Music: Play a devotional playlist or other music, play an instrument if you know how
Reading hymns and prayers
Communal meal: You could cook and share with family and friends
Honor Athena Nike, Athena Hugeia and Athena Polias with offerings, you could light candles for each of them with the candles from your procession
Offerings:
Make honey cakes, cheesecake, cow/sheep shaped cookies or other baked goods
Offer beef or lamb, which could be incorporated in the communal meal
Something you’ve crafted
