An ''Arrephoros'' ( grc, Ἀρρήφορος) was a girl
acolyte
An acolyte is an assistant or follower assisting the celebrant in a religious service or procession. In many Christian denominations, an acolyte is anyone performing ceremonial duties such as lighting altar candles. In others, the term is used f ...
in the cult of
Athena Polias on the
Athenian Acropolis. They were seven to eleven years old. According to
Pausanias,
[Pausanias]
1.27.3.
/ref> two ''Arrephoroi'' lived for a year on the Acropolis and concluded their term with a mystery rite called the Arrhephoria: they carried unknown objects into a cavern, and there exchanged them for other unknown objects.
The lexicon of Harpocration states (s.v. Arrêphorein) that there were four ''Arrephoroi'' and that two supervised the weaving of the Panathenaic peplos
A peplos ( el, ὁ πέπλος) is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by circa 500 BC, during the late Archaic and Classical period. It was a long, rectangular cloth with the top edge folded down a ...
.
Notes
Sources
* Joan Breton Connelly, ''Portrait of a priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece'', p. 27
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Ancient Athenian religious titles
Athena
Ancient Greek priestesses
Obsolete occupations