Parthenon such as the Kronia and the Synoikia, also took place In accordance with tradition it was King Theseus—an Athenian hero closely related to Athena—who instituted the Panathenaia, among other cults (other sources, however, point at Erichtonios as its creator) Under the archonship of Hippokleides and afterward under Peisistratus (566 b.c.e.) the festival was extended to include a number of athletic competitions and musical performances The Great Panathenaia—including these games and contests—commenced every four years Both literary and archaeological sources concerning the content of the Great Panathenaia are abundant: To some extent the Parthenon frieze is consecrated to the depiction of several episodes of the festival’s procession, and an inscriptional catalog of prizes for the contests of the early fourth century b.c.e has been found on the Acropolis The Panathenaic Games, held during the large-scale festival, included solo and group contests The athletic competition began with individual gymnastic activities, in which participants from all over the Greek world could take part: footraces (according to their distance they were called stadion, diaulos, dolichos, and hippios), wrestling, boxing, pancratium (a mixture of both boxing and wrestling), pentathlon (which included five events: jump, stade race or dromos, discus throw, javelin throw, and wresting), four-horse and two-horse chariot races, javelin throwing from horseback, and apobatai (hoplites getting on and off moving chariots) Team contests were reserved to Athenian citizens and included a mock combat with cavalry (anthippasia), a beauty competition among athletes (euandrion), military dancing known as the pyrriche, and a regatta In general, prizes for the winners consisted of amphoras filled with olive oil, since olive trees were especially sacred to the goddess Athena The festival also included poetic and musical competition, open to participants from all over Greece There was a rhapsodic contest on recitation of Homeric texts and other epic poetry, and several prizes were offered for the best singers and players of instrumental music (on the kithara and aulos) Once Pericles had built the Odeion, these activities are believed to have taken place there In the evening a torch race (lampadephoria) was organized; the fire was brought from the altar of Eros in the Academy, and a nocturnal celebration with dances and singing (pannychis) followed The Panathenaic procession, which was organized the following day, was one of the most distinctive aspects of the festival, and its origin could perhaps date from the seventh century b.c.e Every year a special robe (peplos) was woven and decorated, as a gift for Athena, by working maidens (ergastinai) carefully chosen from 331 Athenian aristocratic families Being selected to work on the cloth was an important civic honor The parade (pompe) started early at the Dipylon Gate, in the northern part of the city, and walked through the Agora to the Acropolis into the Erechtheion, to finally place the new embroidered peplos, dyed in saffron, on a human-scale statue of Athena Polias Maidens with head baskets (kanephoroi), the ergastinai, and several men from all ages and classes took part in the procession as well Even metics (residents of Attica who were not properly citizens) joined the procession, serving as skaphephoroi and carrying offerings, such as cakes and honeycombs However, they could not follow the whole parade up to the Acropolis, as they had to stay at the gateway, or propylaia A large hecatomb was made afterward upon the altar of Athena, and meat from sacrificed cows and sheep was used in a ritual meal at the end of the festival Attendance to the banquet was proportionally distributed on the basis of demes (local districts of Attica) As a whole the Panathenaic Festival was not only the celebration of a sacred cult but also a dynamic spectacle where the power of Athens was expressed and where the ideology of political supremacy was largely confirmed See also Greek city-states; Greek drama; Greek mythology and pantheon; Greek oratory and rhetoric; gymnasium and athletics; Olympic Games Further reading: Golden, M Sport and Society in Ancient Greece Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998; Neils, J., ed Goddess and Polis The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992; ———, ed Worshipping Athena: Panathenaia and Parthenon Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996; Parke, H W Festivals of the Athenians London: Thames and Hudson, 1977; Simon, E Festivals of Attica: An Archaeological Commentary Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983 Emiliano J Buis Parthenon The Parthenon was built in Athens, Greece, during the fifth century b.c.e to honor the city’s patron deity, Athena Following the Persian War, which ended in 487 b.c.e., Athens was at the height of its power Under the leadership of Pericles, the Athenians used war monies to begin building the Parthenon in 448 b.c.e Architects Ictinus and Callicrates erected the temple atop the