Serving Athena : The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities

"His book asks how individuals took part in the Panathenaia, the most important festival in ancient Athens, and how doing so created identities for them. Everyone did not take part in the same way and the opportunities also changed over time. This differential participation articulated individuals' relationships both to the goddess and to the community so that the festival played an important role in negotiating what it meant to be Athenian (and non-Athenian). Athenians' involvement also marked out their membership in the group of 'all the Athenians', while for others, both individuals and collectives, participating placed them in relationship to this community of 'all the Athenians'. Thus the festival served to create identities both at the level of individuals and at the level of the worshipping community of 'all the Athenians'. Neither the celebration nor Athenian identities were static so that changes in one sphere affected the other. The Panathenaia also provides a lens for thinking about Sourvinou-Inwood's polis religion, its relationship to identities and the connections between ritual and religion, on the one hand, and politics, in the hard sense, on the other"--ISBN : 9781108485272 "His book asks how individuals took part in the Panathenaia, the most important festival in ancient Athens, and how doing so created identities for them. Everyone did not take part in the same way and the opportunities also changed over time. This differential participation articulated individuals' relationships both to the goddess and to the community so that the festival played an important role in negotiating what it meant to be Athenian (and non-Athenian). Athenians' involvement also marked out their membership in the group of 'all the Athenians', while for others, both individuals and collectives, participating placed them in relationship to this community of 'all the Athenians'. Thus the festival served to create identities both at the level of individuals and at the level of the worshipping community of 'all the Athenians'. Neither the celebration nor Athenian identities were static so that changes in one sphere affected the other. The Panathenaia also provides a lens for thinking about Sourvinou-Inwood's polis religion, its relationship to identities and the connections between ritual and religion, on the one hand, and politics, in the hard sense, on the other"-- Provided by publisher Cover Half-title page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents List of Figures List of Tables Preface List of Abbreviations 1 The Panathenaia: An Introduction 2 Giants and Heroes: The Mythologies of the Panathenaia 3 The Little Panathenaia 4 The Great Panathenaia: Ritual and Reciprocity 5 The Panathenaic Games: Entertaining the Goddess 6 Creating Identities at the Great Panathenaia: Athenian Men 7 Creating Identities at the Great Panathenaia: Other Residents and Non-Residents 8 The City, the Goddess and the Festival Appendix 1 The Hellenistic Archons of Athens: 323/2 to 48/7 bc Appendix 2 The Parthenon Frieze and the Panathenaia Appendix 3 The Races for the Apobates and the Dismounting Charioteer Appendix 4 The Pyrrhiche and the Tribal Team Events Appendix 5 The Date of IG II2 3079 = IG II3.4 528 Appendix 6 The Officials of the Great Panathenaia in the Third Century bc Appendix 7 Tiberius Claudius Novius and the Great Panathenaia Sebasta Appendix 8 The Text of Agora XVIII C197 Tables Bibliography Index Locorum Index of Collections General Index In ancient Athens, the Panathenaia was the most important festival and was celebrated in honour of Athena from the middle of the sixth century BC until the end of the fourth century AD. This in-depth study examines how this all-Athenian celebration was an occasion for constructing identities and how it affected those identities. Since not everyone took part in the same way, this differential participation articulated individuals' relationships both to the goddess and to the city so that the festival played an important role in negotiating what it meant to be Athenian (and non-Athenian). Julia Shear applies theories of identity formation which were developed in the social sciences to the ancient Greek material and brings together historical, epigraphical, and archaeological evidence to provide a better understanding both of this important occasion and of Athenian identities over the festival's long history.