Today is the first #newmoon after the summer #solstice meaning it's 1 Hekatombaion - Athenian New Year! The Athenians had a number of calendars in use; Hekatombaion was the first month of the lunisolar 'festival calendar'. 
New holders of civic offices would be sworn in, swearing oaths, with the gods as their witness, to fulfil their duties in a manner befitting the office. Athenian #democracy relied on its citizens' (free Athenian men) direct participation in the councils, assemblies and courts.
The latest batch of #ephebes - 18-year-old sons of citizens - were called up. They'd swear an oath to defend Athens and never shame the city. Two years of training would start turning boys into well-disciplined #hoplites; they gained a cloak, a spear, a shield and #citizenship.
Party preparations began, too: the end of the month saw the #Panathenaea #festival. A celebration of #Athens and its patron goddess #Athena - one of the biggest festivals in all of Attica. Sacrifices, ceremonies, parades and music and poetry festivals all had to be prepared.
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