The reorganization of the Panathenaic games in the 6th century BC: the agon gymnicus and the Hoplites

Abstract

In this article we study the reorganization of the Panathenaia from 566 until the end of the Sixth century BC, focusing especially on some athletic contests with military character, as well as exploring the imaginary of the festival in relation to the giants and the Athena Promachos of Panatenaic amphoras. The "warrior" stamp of the festival can be related, from our perspective, with a social context of development of a group of citizens who could afford the armament (the solonian zeugitai); they participate in the feast and feel represented ideologically in it and possibly also in the practice of the games. In this sense we will analyze the social basis of the transfer of certain aristocratic values to a part of the demos and the cultural construction of this collective through the panathenaic celebration in the historical context of Sixth Century Athens.