PAN 
313 
PAN 
PAN'AT, a town of France, in the department of the 
Aveiron: feventeen miles fouth of Rhodez, and eighteen 
weft of Milhau. 
PANATAL'LAH, a town of Kindooftan, in the circar 
of Ruttunpour s forty miles north-weft of Ruttunpour. 
PAN ATHENE'A, [Greek.] An ancient Athenian 
feftival in honour of Minerva, the protedlrefs of Athens, 
whom the Greeks called Athena. Harpocration and Sui- 
das refer the inftitution of this feftival to Erichthonius IV. 
king of Athens, who lived before Thefeus. Theodoret 
alone fays the feaft was eftablifhed by Orpheus. Be this 
as it may, till the time of Thefeus it was a particular feaft 
of the city of Athens, and was called {imply Athencea; 
but, that prince uniting all the people of Attica into one 
republic, they afterwards all aflifted at the feaft ; whence 
the name Panathenaa, i. e. the feaft of all Attica. In 
effeft all Attica was prefent; as each people fent a bullock 
for the facrifices, and for the entertainment of the vaft 
multitude of people affembled. 
There were two feftivals under this denomination, the 
greater and the lefs. The greater panathenaea were exhi¬ 
bited every five years ; the lefs every three, or, according 
to fome writers, annually. The ceremonies w'ere the 
fame in both ; excepting that a peplus, or banner, wherein 
the arfions of thegoddefs were reprefented in embroidery, 
performed by maids, with the names of thofe who had 
diftinguifhed themfelves in the fervice of the republic; 
was only borne at the greater feftival. 
Prizes were eftablifhed there for three different kinds 
of combat. The firft confifted of foot and horfe races; 
the fecond, of athletic exercifes; and the third, of poe¬ 
tical and mufical contefts, as noticed under our article 
Music. Thefe laft are faid to be inlfituted by Pericles. 
The following is the order obferved in the greater 
feftival, according to M. Barthelemi, who quotes nu¬ 
merous authorities on the occafion : “ The inhabitants 
of the different towns of Attica thronged to the capital, 
leading with them a great number of vidtims deftined for 
facrifices to the goddefs. On the firft morning were the 
horfe-races, in which the fons of the firft citizens of 
Athens contended for the honour of the vidlory. In the 
Jtadium were other young men ftruggling for the prize 
at wreftling, and different exercifes of the body; and in 
the odeum were feveral muficians engaged in gentler and 
lefs perilous contefts. Some executed pieces on the flute 
or cithara; others fang, and accompanied their voices 
with.one of thefe inftruments. The fubjedl propofed to 
them was the eulogium of Harinodius, Ariftogiton, and 
Thrafybulus, who had refcued the republic from the yoke 
of the tyrants by which it was oppreffed : for, among the 
Athenians, public inftitutions are fo many monuments 
for the citizens who have ferved the ftate, and leffons for 
thofe who are called upon to render it fervice. A crown 
of olive, and a veftel filled with oil, were the prizes be¬ 
llowed upon the viftors. Crowns were afterwards con¬ 
ferred on individuals who appeared to the people to have 
merited that mark of honour by their zeal in the fervice 
of their country. 
“ At the Ceramicus paffed a proceflion, formed without 
the walls, and which began at that place to file off. It was 
compofed of different claffes of citizens crowned with 
chaplets of flowers, and remarkable for their perfonal 
beauty. Among the number were old men of a majeftic 
and venerable appearance, bearing branches of olive; 
middle-aged men, who, armed with lances and with buck¬ 
lers, feemed only to refpire war; youth, from eighteen to 
twenty, who fang hymns in honour of thegoddefs; beau¬ 
tiful bays, clad in a Ample tunic, adorned only with their 
native graces; and, laftiy, girls, w ho where of the firft 
families in Athens, and whofe features, ftiape, and deport¬ 
ment, attracted every eye. With their hands they held 
bafkets on their heads, which, under a rich veil, con¬ 
tained facred utenfils, cakes, and every thing necelfary 
for the facrifices. Female attendants, who followed them, 
yvith one hand held over them an umbrella, and carried 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1245. 
in the other a folding chair. This is a fpecies of fervitude 
impofed on the daughters of all foreigners fettled at 
Athens : a fervitude they fhare in common with their 
fathers and mothers, who likewife carried on their ftioul- 
ders veffels filled with water and honey, for the purpofe 
of libations. They were followed by eight muficians ; 
four of whom played on the flute and four on the lyre. 
After them came rhapfodifts finging the poems of Homer ; 
and dancers armed at all points, who, attacking each 
other at intervals, reprefented, to the found of the flute, 
the battle of Minerva with the Titans. Next came a fhip 
that appeared to glide over the ground by the pow'er of 
the wind, and the efforts of a great number of rowers, 
but which really was put in motion by concealed ma¬ 
chinery. The veftel had a fail of light fluff, the peplus, 
on which young girls had reprefented in embroidery the 
vidlory of Minerva over the Titans. On it alfo they had 
depidled, by order of the government, fome heroes whofe 
illuftrious deeds had merited to be celebrated with thofe 
of the gods. This proceflion marched on with folemn 
fteps, under the direction of feveral magiftrates ; and tra¬ 
velled the moft frequented quarter of the city amidft a 
crowd of fpedlators, moft of whom were placed on fcaf- 
folds eredled for the occafion. When it had reached the 
temple of the Pythian Apollo, the peplus was taken down 
and carried to the citadel, where it was depofited in the tem¬ 
ple of Minerva.” The peplus, though here defcribed as a 
fail, and in a former part of the article as a banner, was in 
faff a garment, fuch as was worn by women of diftindlion at 
Athens : it was a long robe that reached to the feet, with¬ 
out any fleeves, and fo extremely fine, that the fhape of 
the body could eafily be difcovered through it. With 
this peplus, the llatue of Minerva was decorated at the 
conclufion of the feaft. 
“ In the evening, at the academy, was the torch-race; 
The courfe is only fix or feven ftadia in length. It ex¬ 
tends from the altar of Prometheus, which is at the gate 
of this garden, to the walls of the city. Several young 
men are ftationed in this interval at equal diftances. 
When the fliouts of the multitude have given the fignal, 
the firft lights his flambeau at the altar, and, running 
with it, hands it to the fecond, who tranfmits it in the 
fame manner fo the third, and fo fucceflively. He who 
fuffers it to be extinguifhed can no more enter the lifts ; 
and they who flacken their pace are expofed to the rail¬ 
leries, and even blows, of the populace. To gain the 
prize, it is neceffary to have paffed through the different 
llations with fuccefs. This trial of fkill was frequently 
repeated, and is diverlified according to the nature of the 
feftival. 
“The candidates who had been crowned at the dif¬ 
ferent exercifes invited their friends to flipper. Sump¬ 
tuous repafts were given in the prytaneum and other 
public places, which lafted till the following day. The 
people among whom the immolated vidtims were diftri- 
buted fpread tables on every fide, and gave a loofe to their 
lively and tumultuous mirth.” Anarcharfis, vol. ii. 
PANATHENA'IC, adj. Belonging to the panathenaea. 
PANAU'R, or Poneaur, a river of Hindooftan, which 
rifes near Oufcotta in Myfore, and runs into the bay of 
Bengal near Cuddalore. 
PA'NAX,/. [a name borrowed from the old Greek 
botanifts, whofe w«►«!, or wayaioK, was fo denominated 
from Tray, all, and axo;, a medicine, becaufe of its abun¬ 
dant virtues; and appears, by the account in Diofcorides, 
to have been a broad-leaved umbelliferous plant, though 
modern writers are not agreed refpedling the fpecies. 
The name therefore being unoccupied, Linnaeus very 
happily adopted it for the Chinefe ginfeng, that famous 
reftorative and panacea, whofe reputed virtues certainly 
yield in no refpedt to the ancient 2rav«|, and which is 
moreover of the umbelliferous order.] Ginseng ; a genus 
of the clafs polygamia, order dioecia, or rather perhaps 
pentandria digynia ; natural order umbellatae, Linn, (um- 
belliferse, Juff.) Genetic charadters—I. Hermaphrodite 
4 L Flowers. 
