ABSTRACT
Athens is inevitably of special interest to us because of its cultural achievements in antiquity, even though the modern capital city spreads its ugly tentacles across the plain and implants a pall of smog on the atmosphere. This is enhanced by the magnificence of the Acropolis, threatened by the tramp of tourists as well as by the corrosion of chemicals in the air, and by the superb American excavations in the agora. The primary object of the celebration was the presentation of a new robe to the goddess Athene. This was set on the mast of a ship-cart, and borne with holy implements and sacrificial animals to her home on the acropolis. Every fourth year the Panathenaic festival was celebrated on a larger scale. There are of course literary references to the Festival, but it is not too much to say that the three main sources of our knowledge are due to archaeology.
