Panathenaea

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Panathenaea:

see AthenaAthena
, or Pallas Athena
, in Greek religion and mythology, one of the most important Olympian deities. According to myth, after Zeus seduced Metis he learned that any son she bore would overthrow him, so he swallowed her alive.
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Panathenaea

an ancient Greek festival in honor of the goddess Athena, celebrated annually during the month of Heka-tombaion (late July and early August). It began as a local Athenian festival in prehistoric times but was changed into a festival for all Attica by the legendary king Theseus in approximately the 13th century B.C., according to classical tradition. From the time of Pisistratus (sixth century B.C.), the Pana-thenaea consisted of the main rite, a competition between rhapsodic singers, and musical, gymnastic, and equestrian contests. The main rite comprised a procession to the Acropolis, a sacrifice called a hecatomb, and the clothing of the statue of Athena with a garment called a peplos. Only the Greater Panathenaea, celebrated every four years, included the main rite, however; the rite was not part of the annual Lesser Panathenaea. The winners of the various competitions were awarded garlands of leaves from the sacred olive tree and amphorae with oil.

REFERENCE

Deubner, L. Attische Feste. Berlin, 1932.

Panathenaea

July or August

Panathenaea is the most important of the ancient Greek festivals, celebrated in Athens in honor of Athena, the patron goddess of that city. The lesser festival was held every year, and the Great Panathenaea every fourth year much more elaborately. The date was the 28th of the Attic month of Hecatombaeon (July or August).
In the yearly celebrations, there were musical and athletic contests, animal sacrifices, and a procession. The procession of the Great Panathenaea was an especially grand affair and is pictured on a frieze of the Parthenon. The peplus, a garment with an embroidered depiction of the battle of the gods and the giants, was rigged like a sail on a ship with wheels and carried through the city to the Acropolis. The procession included priests leading a train of animals that would be sacrificed, maidens carrying sacrificial implements, warriors, old men with olive branches, and horses. The festival ended with the sacrifice of oxen and a banquet.

SOURCES:
ClassDict-1984, p. 440
DictFolkMyth-1984, p. 88
NewCentClassHandbk-1962, p. 809
OxClassDict-1970, p. 774
(c)

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This was certainly the purpose of the two great festivals which he founded and developed, the Panathenaea and the Greater or City Dionysia."(17) It was at Dionysia that tragedy was institutionalized and given a basis within the body of Athenian political life.(18) It would be misleading to see the official position of the theatre as a bureaucratic imposition, for it was accepted as a civic duty.

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He either instituted or significantly altered the festival called the Greater Panathenaea, at which he introduced contests of bards.