Pandia (festival)

The Pandia was an ancient state festival attested as having been held annually at Athens as early as the time of Demosthenes.[1] Although little that is known of the Pandia is certain,[2] it was probably a festival for Zeus,[3] and was celebrated in the spring after the City Dionysia in the middle of the month of Elaphebolion (late March and early April).[4] Demosthenes speech Against Midias (21.8) has a meeting, during which the conduct of the City Dionysia was reviewed, being held after the Pandia.[5] However, according to Pickard-Cambridge, Gould, and Lewis, the association with the full moon "can neither be affirmed nor rejected",[6] and modern scholarship appears to favor the later dates of the 16 or 17 Elaphebolion.Another mythological figure whose name has been suggested as a possible source for the name of the festival is Pandion, a legendary king of Athens who, as part of the tribal reforms of Cleisthenes at the end of the sixth century BC, became the eponymous hero of the Athenian tribe Pandionis.
festivalAthensDemosthenesCity DionysiaElaphebolionAgainst MidiasSelenePandiaPandionCleisthenesAthenian tribePhotiusPlotheiaAthenian festivalsInscriptiones GraecaeHarpocrationPolluxMycenean periodBekker, ImmanuelCook, Arthur BernardLynda GarlandPickard-Cambridge, Sir arthur W.Smith, WilliamA Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities