Girls & Religion: Young Girls in Classical Athenian Religious Ceremonies

The “Marble funerary statues of a maiden and a little girl,” a pair of artifacts on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, offers evidence for the prominence of religious positions in a young, nubile virgin’s life. The statue depicts a young maiden and child in chitons, garments loosely draped over men’s and women’s bodies in Ancient Greece and Rome. The older girl wears a mantle pinned back to her shoulders, the traditional garb of the kanephoros: a processional role. The funerary statue is a reminder of her premature death, having never gotten the chance to marry or reach full adulthood. Since the maiden’s male kyrios presumably commissioned the statues, the position of kanephoros and participation in religious ceremonies were most likely held in high esteem among the men of Classical Athens; this ceremonial role may have been regarded as her “greatest achievement.”

Beyond physical artifacts, Aristophanes’ plays present an opportunity for contemporary readers to investigate the various religious and ceremonial positions held by young virgin women and pre-adolescent girls in Classical Athens. The comic play Lysistrata, produced by the Athenian playwright in 411 BC, illustrates the roles held by promising daughters of the nobility. A chorus of old women reads the following: “As soon as I was seven, I served as an arrhephoros. Then I was an aletris at ten years of age, for the goddess in charge. Next, wearing the saffron-colored robe, I was a “bear” at the Brauronia. As a beautiful young girl, I was a kanephoros wearing a necklace of dried figs.” Virgin girls held a prominent role in religious traditions, working their way through a sequence of four noteworthy positions: arrephoros, aletris, participant of Brauronia, and kanephoros. I will focus primarily on the essential roles of arrephoros, a participant of Brauronia, and kanephoros. Many Classical Athenian traditions and ceremonies could not have been conducted without young girls and unmarried women performing these roles. Women may have been brought into religious ceremonies through these positions to perform feminine house chores, including weaving, as a show of devotion/faithfulness to divine feminine patrons. Goddesses honored by young women include Athena and Artemis, who have ties to female virginity, transitions, and rites of passage. 

Honoring Athena through yearly ceremonial tradition would not have been possible without the girls’ skill with a loom and reenactment of the myth of Athen’s origin. The first position held by girls around the age of seven was the office of arrephoroi. The King-Archon, the chief magistrate responsible for various noble families, would choose four girls to perform in the Arrephoroi festival. During the festival, a reenactment of Athen’s mythical foundation, the girls carried boxes under the Acropolis, an area containing sacred objects. Outside of the primary festival, the four girls worked alongside the priestess of Athena Polias to weave Athena’s Panatheanaic robe. In Birds, a play produced by Aristophanes in 414 BCE, the playwright draws attention to the significance of the religious activity: “A prosperous construct, this city. Now, what god do you suppose will be the citadel guardian? For whom shall we prepare the peplos?” The “peplos” Aristophanes refers to is Athena’s Panatheanaic robe woven by the preadolescent girls with help from their mentor. Aristophanes uses the gifting of the garb as a metaphor for honoring the city’s guardian. 

Without the participation of unmarried virgins at Brauronia, a religious festival held in honor of Artemis, the Athenians would not have received “salvation.” Every four years, a group of girls between five and ten would be selected to travel to Baruron. Among other activities, the girls would create garments dedicated to Artemis. The following is an inscription from the 4th century BCE found alongside a deposit of dedications: “There is an embroidered sea purple tunic in a box: Thyaene and Malthace dedicated it. An embroidered sea purple tunic in a box: Eukoline dedicated it.” These garments and offerings could not have been created without the aid of unmarried women and their training in the creation of tunics and other attire; training men would not have received. The practice’s significance to Athenian belief is emphasized in the following proposal from the late 4th / early 3rd century BCE, arguing that the festival “dedicated to the goddess [is necessary] for the salvation of the Athenian people.” Divine interventions would have been sought both on the individual level–for protection from illness, increased fertility,  and assistance in childbirth–and at the communal level, to ensure the physical perpetuation of the city-state across generations.  

Young virgin women would not have been appointed to a position of religious significance and dealt with respectfully during ceremonies if they weren’t necessary. The respect they were shown is exemplified through the last responsibility in the sequence of religious obligations performed by young maidens:  the office of kanephoroi or “basket bearer.” This honorable position, reserved for girls of nobility with exceptional promise, would have held a prominent role in various religious festivals and processions. One of the few remaining descriptions of kanephoros is present in one of Aristophanes’ comedies. In Acharnians (425 BCE), the father of comedy describes the private festival for Dionysus put on by an Athenian citizen and Spartans to celebrate a private truce: “Speak words of good omen, speak words of good omen! Let the kanephoros go ahead, a little in front. Xanthias, hold the phallus pole erect! Daughter, put down the basket, so that we may begin.” The virgin daughter or Kore, leads the religious procession, carrying barley, filets, and the sacrificial knife in her basket. Without the ceremonial items, performing the given ritual would have been impossible. In the patriarchal world of Classical Athens, the father’s respectful request for the daughter to “go ahead a little” and “put down the basket” would have been rare outside of religious ceremonies. Thus, if virgin girls were not deemed to be truly necessary, they may have been replaced by honorable men–unless Aristophanes’ references are for comedic effect.Virgin girls and preadolescents were crucial to the “salvation” of the Athenian populace. Classical Athenian religious tradition drew upon the skills females would have possessed alongside their role in ensuring the physical perpetuation of Athens. Feminine fertility would have been of utmost importance in a culture where lineage carried enormous weight. As a result, an exploration of classical Athens through religious ceremony offers a possibly unique perspective on the power feminine figures would have held in society. The craft of fabric-making and clothing held immense significance; without the expertise of women, the men of Athens would have been left unclothed and, in their eyes, without the gods’ blessings. Additionally, the nature of our primary sources is worth examining. Our principal source for the role of preadolescents and nubile girls in Athenian tradition is Aristophanes’ comedies. In ancient Greek comedy, concepts of virginity and purity likely held meanings that extended beyond traditional physical definitions. Since our sources are comedies written for entertainment, we’re left to wonder: How representative are comedies of the real-world female experience? Is the prominent role the daughter held and the father’s respect in Acharnians written in for comedic effect? To an audience of Classical Athenian men, young women and girls, played by men, receiving praise for their “central” role in tradition may have well been first-rate entertainment–the very idea may have elicited laughter. It underscores how comedy, as a unique space, allowed for the exploration of gender dynamics and cultural realities that might have been otherwise difficult to address. Despite possible discrepancies between the authentic Classical Athenian female experience in ceremonies and Aristophanes’ comedies, his work remains an essential source for the lives of Classical Athenian girls.