Arrephoroi

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peplos scene on the east side of the Parthenon frieze (East V, 31-35, Elgin Collection, British Museum , London). The second figure from the right folds the peplos, a boy helps.

Arrephoroi ( Greek  ἀῤῥηφόροι ) were selected girls who served as servants of the Athena priestess in the cult of Athena Polias on the Athens Acropolis . According to Pausanias , two Arrephoroi each lived for one year on the Acropolis in the so-called Arrephorion . Their ministry ended with the Mysteries of the Arrephoria. Here the Arrephoroi brought two unknown objects into a cave of the sanctuary of Aphrodite in the gardens below the Acropolis on secret routes . On their way back, they brought back two also unknown objects. They were then released and two new servants were elected. The cult goes back to the rescue of Erichthonios , whom Athena packed in a box and handed him over to Pandrosus , a daughter of Kekrops , and her sisters with the command not to open the box.

The festival took place on the 3rd or 5th Skirophorion . After harpocration there were four arrephoroi each, two of which were destined to weave the peplos annually , which was given to Athena after the Panathenaic procession .

It is generally believed that the corresponding scene is shown on block V on the east side of the Parthenon frieze. Deviating theories are represented by Connelly (preparation of the sacrifice of one of the daughters of Erechtheus ) and Chrysoula Kardara (representation of the first Panathenaic procession in which the boy Erichthonios hands the peplos to his predecessor Kekrops ).

literature

  • Frank Brommer: The Parthenon Frieze. Catalog and investigation. 2 volumes. (Text + panels) von Zabern, Mainz 1977, ISBN 3-8053-0241-X
  • Joan Breton Connelly: Parthenon and Parthenoi: A Mythological Interpretation of the Parthenon Frieze. American Journal of Archeology 100, pp. 58-80
  • M. Golden: Children and childhood in classical Athens . Baltimore, Maryland 1990, pp. 46ff.
  • JM Mansfield: The Robe of Athena and the Panathenaic Peplos . Diss. University of California, Berkeley 1985, pp. 260ff.
  • Helge Olaf Svenshon: Studies on the hexastyle prostylos of archaic and classical times . Darmstadt 2002 p. 74ff. ( Online ; PDF; 952 kB)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pausanias 1, 27, 3
  2. ↑ Suda , article Arrêphorein .
  3. ↑ Chrysoula Kardara: Ho Archaios Naos kai to Subject tes Zophorou tou Parthenonos. Archaiologike Ephemeris 1964, pp. 62–158