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24 - Athenian Festivals

from Part IV - Culture and Sport

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2021

By
Margaret M. Miles  and
Jenifer Neils
Edited by
Jenifer Neils  and
Dylan K. Rogers
Jenifer Neils
Affiliation:
American School of Classical Studies, Athens
Dylan K. Rogers
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
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Summary

The ancient Athenians held two major Panhellenic festivals: the Great Panathenaia in celebration of the goddess Athena and the Great Mysteries in honor of Demeter. This chapter compares and contrasts the rituals of these two festivals in relation to the topography and monuments of Athens, focusing on how the celebrations drew together different parts of the community of Athens.

Keywords

PanathenaiaEleusinian MysteriesinitiationSacred WayprocessionAthenaDemeter
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens , pp. 332 - 344
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Further Reading

The literature on these subjects is vast; a good place to start is Parker 2005. Attic processions are the subject of chapters in Friese 2019. Mylonas 1961 is still the locus classicus for the site of Eleusis, now supplemented by the extensive work of Clinton, in particular Clinton 1992 and 2005/2008. On the nature and modern study of Mystery religions, see Cosmopoulos 2003 and Bremmer 2014. For the argument that the ritual dates back to the Bronze Age, see Cosmopoulos 2015. The City Eleusinion is thoroughly published by Miles 1998. For a general overview of the Panathenaia, see Neils 1992 and 1996, and Neils and Tracy 2003; more comprehensive is Shear 2021. For discussion of the Telesterion and the Odeion of Perikles, see Shear 2016.

Bibliography

Additional resources to accompany this chapter can be found at: www.cambridge.org/NeilsRogers

Bremmer, J. 2014. Initiation into the Mysteries of the Ancient World. Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clinton, K. 1992. Myth and Cult: The Iconography of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Clinton, K. 2005/2008. Eleusis. The Inscriptions on Stone: Documents of the Sanctuary of the Two Goddesses and Public Documents of the Deme. 2 vols. Athens.Google Scholar
Cosmopoulos, M. 2015. Bronze Age Eleusis and the Origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cosmopoulos, M. ed. 2003. Greek Mysteries. The Archaeology and Ritual of Ancient Secret Cults. London.Google Scholar
Friese, W., et al., eds. 2019. Ascending and Descending the Akropolis: Movement in Athenian Religion. Aarhus.Google Scholar
Miles, M.M. 1998. The City Eleusinion. Agora 31. Princeton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miles, M.M. 2012. “Entering Demeter’s Gateway: The Roman Propylon in the City Eleusinion.” In Architecture of the Sacred: Space, Ritual, and Experience from Classical Greece to Byzantium, eds. Wescoat, B.D. and Ousterhout, R.G., Cambridge, 114–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mylonas, G. 1961. Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries. Princeton.Google Scholar
Neils, J. 2001. The Parthenon Frieze. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Neils, J. ed. 1992. Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Athens. Princeton.Google Scholar
Neils, J. ed. 1996. Worshipping Athena: Panathenaia and Parthenon. Madison.Google Scholar
Neils, J., and Schultz, P.. 2012. “Erechtheus and the Apobates Race on the Parthenon Frieze (North XI–XII).” AJA 116: 195–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neils, J., and Tracy, S.. 2003. The Games at Athens. Agora Picture Book 25. Princeton.Google Scholar
Parker, R. 2005. Athenian Religion: A History. Oxford.Google Scholar
Rogers, D.K. 2021. “Sensing Water in Roman Greece: The Villa of Herodes Atticus at Eva-Loukou and the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis.” AJA 125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shear, J.L. 2021. Serving Athena: The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Shear, T.L. 2016. Trophies of Victory: Public Buildings in Periklean Athens. Princeton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wachsmann, S. 2012. “Panathenaic Ships: The Iconographic Evidence.” Hesperia 81: 237–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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