Panathenaea: Or, A Singular Book on the Twin Festival of Minerva

CHAPTER V.

At the beginning, they were celebrated for only one day. This appears from the passage in Thucydides, Book VI: "The Great Panathenaea being left over, on which day alone it was not suspicious for the citizens to gather in arms for those conducting the procession." Later, it was extended to several days. The Scholiast on Euripides’ Hecuba: "The Panathenaea, a festival of Athena, with all the Athenians gathering there, and the other Greeks as well, celebrating for many days." And this was done for the sake of adornment and magnificence. The words of Aristides indicate this in his Panathenaic Oration: "One must also consider from the very symbol of the speeches that it is not necessary to measure the festival of the Panathenaea itself by a single day. But, if it must be so, one should add that the multitude of days is granted for the sake of beauty and solemnity." And behold, their first night is commemorated in the Memorabilia of Epictetus, in the Eclogues of Stobaeus, which I have in my possession in manuscript: "On the first night of the Panathenaea, Hipparchus thought a tall and handsome man stood over him, and hinted at these verses." But I restore the corrupt words there as follows: "That Hipparchus, [when] a man stood over him..."