OF JOHANNES MEURSIUS

PANATHENÆA.

OR

ON

MINERVA’S

Twin festival of that name among the Athenians,

A Singular Book.

CHAPTER I.

Panathenaea, the greatest festival of Minerva among the Athenians.

A decorative woodcut initial 'M' features a figure amidst swirling floral and architectural motifs.

THAT the Panathenaea was the most celebrated festival of Minerva among the Athenians is a fact sufficiently known to everyone. But how it was accustomed to be celebrated is not equally clear to all. It seemed appropriate to me to set forth here those things which I have observed concerning it, for the sake of illuminating antiquity. Mention of it is found in Hesychius: "Panathenaea, a festival and contest of the Athenians." And in Eustathius, on the Iliad (Book 2): "For it is a festival common to all Boeotians; just as the Panionia is for the Ionians. The same is true for the Panathenaea." And elsewhere...