The Chalkeia festival (also spelled Chalceia), the festival of Bronze-workers, was a religious festival devoted to the goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...

and the god

Hephaestus Hephaestus (; eight spellings; grc-gre, Ἥφαιστος, Hḗphaistos) is the Greek god of blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire (compare, however, with Hestia), and volcanoes.Walter B ...

. It was celebrated on the last day of Pyanepsion (October or November in the

Attic calendar The Attic calendar or Athenian calendar is the lunisolar calendar beginning in midsummer with the lunar month of Hekatombaion, in use in ancient Attica, the ancestral territory of the Athenian polis. It is sometimes called the Greek calendar be ...

). The festival celebrated Athena and Hephaestus, in honor of both gods as patron deities of Athens, and as deities of handicrafts.Erika Simon, Festivals of Attica, pg. 38-39, University of Wisconsin Press. 1983 Each year, preparations were begun for a specialized

peplos A peplos ( el, ὁ πέπλος) is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by circa 500 BC, during the late Archaic and Classical period. It was a long, rectangular cloth with the top edge folded down a ...

(a robed garment worn by Greek women), which was made to be offered to the goddess at another festival, the

Panathenaea The Panathenaea (or Panathenaia) was a multi-day ancient Greek festival held annually in Athens that would always conclude on 28 Hekatombaion, the first month of the Attic calendar.Shear, Julia L. “Hadrian, the Panathenaia, and the Athenian Cal ...

Traditions

Though Hephaestus was involved, the festival's main focus was Athena, specifically under the epithet Athena Hephaistia and Athena Ergane. The offerings recorded for each day were always for Athena, not her male counterpart. Also, the main focus of the festival (the sacred peplos) was for Athena, while Hephaestus wasn't given any gifts. 'Athena Hephaista' was the epithet given to Athena in this context as a special association with Hephaestus, the god of the smiths. A statue of this aspect of Athena was constructed in the '' Hephaisteion'' next to the cult statue of Hephaestus in 343 B.C. ‘Athena Ergane’ was a specific title given to Athena as the patron of crafts, particularly weaving. Under this moniker, she was the goddess of all handicrafts, or functional artwork. To honor this, on the day of the festival, a loom is set up by the priestesses of Athena and the Arrephoroi. From the loom, a great peplos is warped and woven. The Arrephoroi were young girls, not much more than seven years old, and had been chosen by the

archon basileus ''Archon basileus'' ( grc, ἄρχων βασιλεύς ') was a Greek title, meaning "king magistrate": the term is derived from the words '' archon'' "magistrate" and '' basileus'' "king" or " sovereign". Most modern scholars claim that in Class ...

from four aristocratic girls nominated by the Athenian people. Because of their youth they were not really directly involved with the weaving, but it was believed that the beginning of the work was blessed by their presence. It was considered a great honor to be chosen to be an Arrephoros; there are honorific portrait statues and inscribed statues that have been found that commemorate various daughters’ involvement as child servants of Athena.Evy Johanne Haland, “The Ritual Year of Athena: The Agricultural Cycle of the Olive, Girls’ Rites of Passage, and Official Ideology,” Journal of Religious History, Vol. 36, No. 2, pg. 256 June 2012

The Sacred Peplos

Athena Ergane was the goddess of spinning and weaving, and so every year at the Chalkeia, on the day of the festival, the priestesses of Athena Polias and the young Arrephoroi would ritualistically set up a loom to make a sacred peplos to be offered to the goddess. It is very likely that the

Graces In Greek mythology, the Charites ( ), singular ''Charis'', or Graces, were three or more goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity, goodwill, and fertility. Hesiod names three – Aglaea ("Shining"), Euphrosyne ("Joy"), and Thali ...

, were somehow involved in the ritual of setting up the loom, and contributed to weaving the peplos. On this loom, the enormous peplos was woven by women volunteers, the ergastinai (meaning “female weavers”), who were either virgin girls of marriageable age or older matrons. Every year the peplos was woven by the Ergastinai under the supervision of a priestess of the Athena's cult. When the work at the loom began, the Arrephoroi wore white robes, and were present to offer their perceived sacredness. There were two ways the peplos was made: it was either a smaller peplos made by women, or a larger one made by men. The smaller peplos was woven annually by the ergastinai, and offered as a robe for the statue of Athena Polias during the Lesser Panathenaea. The larger peplos was woven every four years by male professional weavers, and was presented to Athena at the Greater Panathenaea.Zoe Stamatopoulou, “Weaving Titans for Athena: Euripides and the Panathenaic Peplos,” Classical Quarterly Vol. 62.1 pg. 72–80. May 2012 Regardless of size, the weavers had to create a particular scene on the peplos: Athena's defeat of

Enceladus Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn (19th largest in the Solar System). It is about in diameter, about a tenth of that of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Enceladus is mostly covered by fresh, clean ice, making it one of the most refle ...

and the Olympian's defeat of the Giants, the

Gigantomachy In Greek and Roman mythology, the Giants, also called Gigantes (Greek: Γίγαντες, ''Gígantes'', Γίγας, ''Gígas''), were a race of great strength and aggression, though not necessarily of great size. They were known for the Giganto ...

. During the battle between the Gigantes and the Olympian gods, Enceladus was disabled by a spear thrown by the goddess Athena.

References

{{reflist Festivals in ancient Athens Festivals of Athena Hephaestus

Traditions

The Sacred Peplos

See also

References