The citizens of Athens presented a new peplos to Athena at her annual festival in honor of her birthday. It was woven by a team of maidens nine months before the procession, beginning at the Chalkeia, the festival of craftsmen. The traditional theme was Athena's exploit in overcoming Enceladus, son of Tartarus and Ge and one of the hundred-armed giants who made war on the gods, in the battle of Gods and Giants. The main concern was not the weaving of the material which was wool but rather the decoration, designed in bright colors of yellow and blue. The original garment was measured to human scale, but by the late fifth century it was of such colossal size it equalled a ship's sail. In order to carry the peplos to the Acropolis it was fixed on a model of a ship mounted on wheels which was kept from year to year and carried along the Panathenaic Way for all the citizens to see. (Parke, p. 38-39)
