1.5 Festivals

Greece

(S&C) Funeral games (p. 86)

These games included many sports such as boxing, wrestling, a foot race, archery and javelin. Click here to read about the boxing that took place during the funeral games of Patroclus (Homer, Iliad 23.651-797, 85).

(S&C) The ten tribes of Athens (p. 87)

These tribes were created by Cleisthenes in the late 6th century BC.  The new tribes were different from the old as it was geographically organised rather than by families. Click here to read more about the tribes. 

The Panathenaic Procession (p. 87)

The procession took place on the 6th day of the festival. It was carved onto the Ionic frieze of the Parthenon. Click here for a detailed discussion of the Parthenon Frieze. For images from the British Museum click here. The continuous strip of marble that made up an ionic frieze was a great area on which to sculpt a procession as it would need to contain hundreds of people in a single scene. Had the sculptors have tried to do this on either the pediments or metopes they would have faced the challenge of a much smaller space and difficult angles. The scene would have been only visible to those who stood between the columns of the Parthenon.

Rome

The Lupercalia (p. 92)

This festival's origins were debated by the Romans themselves. Plutarch linked the festival with Archadian Lycaea (a wolf). Click here to read about it (Plutarch, Romulus 21.3). Ovid included a discussion of the festivals origins as part of his Fasti, linking it with the Greek Pan. Click here to read it.

The Saturnalia

This was a festival that involved the whole of Rome. The whole city would engage in public feasting, slaves would switch roles with their masters, and gifts would be exchanged. Links have also been made between the Saturnalia and modern Christmas. Click here to learn more.