widely celebrated throughout Greece, which is hardly surprising given the importance
of wine in Mediterranean culture.
There was an annual festival in Athens called the Panathenaia in honour of
Athena, the patron deity, held in late summer, involving a great procession of
representatives from all sections of Athenian society of both sexes, including non-
citizens and slaves, which took place from the Diplyon gate along the sacred way
through the agora to the acropolis. This procession is represented in the sculptures
on the frieze of the Parthenon, the climax being the presentation of a new robe or
peplosto the goddess. On the robe women had embroidered scenes from the battle
of the gods and giants, representing Athena’s triumph. This was followed by a great
sacrifice and the distribution of meat. Every four years the festival became the Great
Panathenaia when games were celebrated including chariot racing, men’s and boys’
athletics, a regatta and a torch race. There were musical competitions and recitations
of Homer.
The main Spartan festival, also celebrated over nine days in late summer in
other Dorian communities, was the Karneia, honouring Apollo Karneios (of the
Ram). It has been suggested this incorporated worship of an earlier pastoral god
Karnos who led the flocks to new pastures. It was celebrated with music and song,
and included a footrace in which young men carrying fruited vine branches chased
a runner dressed with the wool fillets of a sacrificial victim. If he was caught, it was
a signal for good luck in the coming year. There was a prohibition against fighting
in the period of the festival, taken so seriously that the Spartans did not turn up for
the battle of Marathon.
There were other city festivals supported by the state, including ones for the
exclusive attendance of women. One such was the Thesmophoria, an annual three-
day festival held in the autumn at the time of seed sowing in honour of Demeter and
her daughter Persephone. The adjective thesmophorosmeans ‘law-bringer’, implying
that the goddesses were givers of civilization. The Homeric Hymn to Demetertells the
story of the rape of her daughter Persephone while gathering flowers by Hades who
carried her off to the underworld. The grief-stricken Demeter appealed to Zeus for
her return but as she had eaten pomegranate seeds, her return could only be partial.
With her annual return ‘rich-crowned Demeter. .. straightway made fruit to spring
up from the rich lands, so that the whole wide earth was laden with leaves and
flowers’ (l. 472). The seasonal myth represents the renewal of fertility in the spring.
The festival was open to all free women of respectable character, married or
unmarried, and was celebrated partly in the city and partly at the Attic coastal town
of Halimus, which was the setting for mystic rites including the live burial of pigs in
specially dug pits. There was fasting, sacrifices and also dancing and feasting at the
conclusion. There were similar festivals in other cities in Greece and throughout the
Athenian colonies.
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