A summer religious, musical, and athletic festival, the Great Panathenaea (Panathenaia) was the most ancient and important festival honoring Athena Polias (and Erechtheus).
Instead of "pan" meaning "all" as part of the name, the festival was originally called Athenaia. This changed when legendary hero and early Athenian king Theseus united all of Attica, with its administrative center still in Athens.
In addition to the Great Panathenaea, there was also a lesser one held every year except in years when it was joined to the greater.
The Great Panathenaea was held every fourth year; specifically, on every third Olympic year, perhaps, and from the 24-29 of the Athenian month Hecatombaeon, which was in, roughly, August.
In about 520 B.C., Athenian tyrant Hipparchus (or Pisistratus) instituted a recital of The Iliad and The Odyssey at the Great Panathenaea, a date ante quem Homer was recognized as the author of the two epic, according to M.L. West. Pisistratus (also) instituted a music contest, according to the William Smith dictionary.
Sources:
- "The Invention of Homer," by M. L. West; The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 49, No. 2 (1999), pp. 364-382.
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890)
Bulfinch describe Theseus' role in starting the festival He says the festival is peculiar in two ways:
"It was peculiar to the Athenians, and its chief feature was a solemn procession in which the Peplus, or sacred robe of Minerva, was carried to the Parthenon, and suspended before the statue of the goddess. The Peplus was covered with embroidery, worked by select virgins of the noblest families in Athens."
Bulfinch Chapter 20
