Panathénées (in Greek old Παναθήναια / Panatếnaia ) was religious festivities which were held every year with Athens in the honor of the birth of the goddess Athéna, goddess poliade (protective of the city) of Athens. It was oldest and most important of the religious events of the city.

Panathénée was annual and took place of the 23 to the 30 of the month of hécatombéon - first month of the year attic, equivalent with second half of our month of current July. According to the tradition, it is rested by the mythical king Érichthonios in the honor of Athéna Polias, Thésée giving him its name of “Panathénée” at the time of the Synœcisme. Every four years were also held the panathénées large , which included/understood panathénaïques plays and which were three or four days longer. These plays were most prestigious for the citizens of Athens but they were not as important as the Olympic Games or the others Jeux panhellenic.

Plays panathénaïques

The first large ones panathénées were organized by Pisistrate in 566 av. J. - C. and were inspired by the Olympic Games. Pisistrate also added to it competitions of poetry and music, present in the Jeux néméens but absent from the Olympic Games; for example, a contest of Rhapsode S where one recited Homeric poems . It was also the tyrant who distinguished Panathénées annual and Large Panathénées, festivals with opulence still more reinforced and which took place every four years.

The plays were divided into plays reserved to the Athenians and those which were opened with all the Greeks. The latter were about the same ones as with the Olympic Games, with Boxe, Lutte, Pancrace ( pankration ), Pentathlon and Course of tanks, the most prestigious test.

The plays reserved to the Athenians were somewhat different. They included race with torch until Parthenon (the ancestor of the relay of torch which takes place before the modern Games Olympic), of the battles of infantry and cavalry, a throw of javelin with horse, a race of Apobatai (plural of ἀποϐάτης / apobátês ; it is the athlete of a race of tank in which the driver was to jump of the carriage, to run to side then to jump inside), the Pyrriche (apparently of the military exercises in music) and the Euandrion (a beauty contest among the athletes). In the last years there was also a race of Trière S.

The sporting winners were rewarded by a crown for olive-tree coming from the olive-trees crowned from Athéna, as well as Amphore S of Olive oil, of the same source. These vases, called “panathénaïques”, were found in great number in Greece, Sicily and Italy. They comprise on a side a representation of Athéna, other an illustration of the test in which the winner had illustrated itself. The winners in the artistic field gained, them, a gold crown. The tribe whose trière had gained the race gained a gold sum, of which a part was devoted to a sacrifice with Poséidon. The tests and contests were supervised by elected special magistrates every four years, the athlotètes (ἀθλοθέται).

The procession of the péplos

The culminating point of large panathénées was reached the birthday day of the goddess, the 28 of the month, when the city offered to Athéna a péplos (πέπλος), clothing woven during the year by women of Attique, and dyed with the saffron of the Indies (our current Curcuma). Clothing was worn in large pump in all the city, then decorated a statue of Athéna poliade (in Πολιάς Greek, “protective of the city”) on the Acropole.

The procession included/understood priests and young girls (the Canéphore S) carrying the tools of the sacrifice, the old men carrying of the olive branches and young people in armor of Hoplite, the former winners of the plays, the embassies of the Athenian colonies (and at fifth century BC, of the cities of the Ligue of Délos), etc the participation in this procession was an great honor and was the prerogative of the big families. At sixth century BC, the fact of having prevented the sister of Harmodius from being canéphore started a plot against the Pisistratides and the assassination of Hipparque. The Métèque S also took part in the ceremony, but behind the citizens. For the panathénée annual one, the procession had less ostentation and of width.

The most famous representation of this procession is reproduced on the plank of the Parthenon, which counts 360 characters, including 143 riders, and 220 animals. The unit, carefully composed, us shows on the Western part the preparations of the procession, which is represented on the parts north and south, while the assembly of the gods is held on the last part.

There was also large a Sacrifice in Athéna and the meat of the sacrificed animals was eaten at the time of an enormous banquet for the festival closure.

See too