Plynteria (Gr. ) was a festival of ancient Greece celebrated at Athens every year, on the 22nd of Thargelion, in honor of Athena Polias, with the heroine Aglauros (or with the two combined as Athena Aglauros),Photius, Lex. s.v.Plutarch, Alcibiades 34Suda, s.v. whose temple stood on the Acropolis.Herodotus, viii. 53Hesychius of Alexandria s.v. The festival's name came from plynein (), a Greek verb meaning "to wash".
Plutarch states that the festival took place on the 25th, but probably only because it lasted for several days.Edward Dodwell, de Cyclis p. 349comp. Philol. Mus. ii. p. 234 The day of this festival was at Athens among the apophrades () or dies nefasti, that is, impure days on which temples were closed and business was not done. During the festival the temple of Athena was surrounded by a rope to preclude all communication with it.Pollux, viii. 141 Her statue was stripped of its garments and ornaments so that they might be ritually cleaned, and was in the meanwhile covered over to conceal it from the sight of man.Xenophon, Hellenica i. 4. § 12 The genos of women who performed this service were called praxiergidai ().Hesychius of Alexandria s.v. The city was therefore, so to speak, on this day without its protecting divinity, and any undertaking commenced on it was believed to be necessarily unsuccessful. A procession was also held on the day of the Plynteria, in which a quantity of dried figs, called hegetoria (), was carried around.Etymol. Magn.Hesychius of Alexandria s.v. Photius, Lex. s.v.
The Plynteria is thought to have originated in Ionia, where some communities had a month named Plynterion.
See also Athenian festivals
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