Plynteria

Overview

"The most holy symbol, then, of the goddess, which was established by common consent many years before the cities united, is an image of Athena which is on what is now called the Acropolis, but was then called the city. The tradition is that it fell from heaven..." (Pausanias 1.26.6).

Plynteria (Festival of Washing) was held on the 25th of Thargelion. As the name implies, the statue of Athena Polias was bathed on this day, with the statue being taken in procession from the temple and brought to Phaleron to be cleaned. This tradition continued even after the 5th century when Pheidias created a statue made of gold and ivory, Athena Panthenos (Parke, 153).

The Praxiergidai, an Athenian sacerdotal family, was responsible for robing the image and performing the ritual. Men and the uninitiated were not allowed to participate. (Parke, 153)

Before the procession, the statue’s robes and ornaments would be removed and the statue wrapped to hide it from view. The procession itself was accompanied by Elpheboi, young men in military training, and pre-set ritual stops were believed to have occurred. (Parke 154)

Once at sea, the Bathers or Washers, two young women, would wash the statue and a priestess would wash Athena’s robe. The procession would return to Athena’s temple evening, led by torchlight. The Praxiergidai would robe and adorn the statue once more. (Parke, 154)

Similar to Anthesteria on the Day of Pots, the temples were closed on this day and Parke believes the day was treated as inauspicious and Athenians would avoid serious business. (Parke, 154)

A surviving fragment describes a decree from Apollo and the Oracle of Delphi that the state should provide funds for robing Athena’s statue “in accordance to ancestral custom and the oracle of the god” and sacrifices made to the two Fates and Zeus Moiragetes and the Earth Goddess. (Parke, 154).

*Apollodorus. The Library. Translated by James George Frazer, 1921. Theoi Classical Texts Library, edited by Aaron J. Atsma, [](https://www.theoi.com/Text/Apollodorus1.html)www.theoi.com/Text/Apollodorus1.html.*

Parke, H. W. Festivals of the Athenians. Cornell University Press, 1986.

*Pausanias. Description of Greece. Translated by W. H. S. Jones and H. A. Ormerod, Harvard University Press, 1918. Perseus Digital Library, edited by Gregory R. Crane, Tufts University, www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D26%3Asection%3D6.*