The Kanephoros (, , pl. Kanephoroi (Greek: ); latinate plural form Canephorae; lit. "Basket Bearers") was an honorific office given to unmarried young women in

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

, which involved the privilege of leading the procession to sacrifice at festivals; the highest honour was to lead the () at the Panathenaic Festival. The role was given to a virgin selected from amongst the aristocratic or

Eupatrid The Eupatridae (literally "good fathered", i.e. "offspring of noble fathers" or "the well-born") were the ancient nobility of the Greek region of Attica. Origin Tradition ascribes to Theseus, whom it also regards as the author of the union (''syn ...

families of Athens whose purity and youth was thought essential to ensure a successful sacrifice. Her task was to carry a

basket A basket is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff Fiber, fibers, and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, Stolon, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials ...

or ''kanoun'' (), which contained the offering of barley or first fruits, the sacrificial knife and fillets to decorate the bull, in procession through the city up to the altar on the

acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

. From

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

’s ''

Lysistrata ''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city ...

'' we have evidence that the office of kanephoros was the last in a sequence of religious duties that an unmarried Athenian girl might undertake; first as an '' arrhephoros'', later an ''aletris'', then as an ''arktos'' (). The passage continues, " nally, when I had grown to be a beautiful girl, I was a kanephoros and wore a necklace of dried

figs The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, together with western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and i ...

." Though the precise age of the kanephoros is not known, this suggests the girl was probably between 11 and 15. In such a conspicuous and ritually important office the chosen girl was expected to have a blameless reputation. In 514 BCE the sister of Harmodios, whose name is unknown, was rebuffed as kanephoros in the Greater Panathenaia; this insult is cited as the cause of her brother’s later assassination of the tyrant Hipparchos which hastened the fall from power of the Peisistratid family.Aristotle ''Ath. Pol.'' 18.BM Lavelle ''The Nature of Hipparchos' Insult to Harmondios'', AJP107, 1986, pp. 318–31. The cult practice of bearing the basket in a sacrificial procession may date back to the

Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and Minoan art, energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the Minoan pa ...

period; however, the Athenian usage seems to belong to the beginnings of the Panathenaia. The role is also referred to in myth with the abduction of Oreithyia by Boreas. A girl who acted as kanephoros would have advertised the central place of her family in Athenian society, and her own availability for a

dynastic marriage Royal intermarriage is the practice of members of ruling dynasties marrying into other reigning families. It was more commonly done in the past as part of strategic diplomacy for national interest. Although sometimes enforced by legal requiremen ...

. The depiction of the kanephoros in art presents an interesting problem. Unlike the ephebos there are few representations of such girls, possibly because of the restriction on mentioning the name of honourable women in ancient Greek society. Excluding the

Parthenon The Parthenon (; ; ) is a former Ancient Greek temple, temple on the Acropolis of Athens, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the Greek gods, goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of c ...

there are only some 44 images of girls and ''kanoun'' in the period 550 to 330 BCE. Otherwise she must be identified by her dress: while serving her office, the kanephoros wore a distinctive full-length mantle. One example is in the

kylix In the pottery of ancient Greece, a kylix ( , ; ; also spelled ''cylix''; : kylikes , ) is the most common type of cup in the period, usually associated with the drinking of wine. The cup often consists of a rounded base and a thin stem under ...

by Makron, Toledo, Ohio 1972.55. On the

Parthenon Frieze The Parthenon frieze is the low-relief Mount Pentelicus#Pentelic marble, Pentelic marble sculpture created to adorn the upper part of the Parthenon's Cella, naos. It was sculpted between and 437 BC, most likely under the direction of Phidias. O ...

, none of the maidens (who may be identified by their long hair) are depicted carrying the ''kanoun'' and all of them wear the festival mantle. However, Linda Jones Roccos suggests that the maidens wearing both

peplos A peplos () is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by , during the late Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, Classical period. It was a long, rectangular cloth with the top edge folded down ab ...

and mantle implies they are kanephoroi, which would be consistent with the evidence of contemporary vase painting and wedding iconography.L. J. Roccos, ''The Kanephoros and her Festival Mantle in Greek Art'' 1995, pp. 654–59. This would solve the problem of the curious absence of the basket bearers from the processional frieze. The kanephoros was not exclusive to the Panathenaia or to Athens. She may be found at a number of festivals across the Greek world, including: the Country Dionysia of

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

; Mother of the Gods in Athens, and Apollo Pythais, Artemis Brauronia, Asklepios; Demeter and Isis at Eleusis; Zeus Disoterien in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

; Zeus Basileus in Lebadeia; Argive Hera; Xphrodite; Hermes at Salamis; Hekate on

Delos Delos (; ; ''Dêlos'', ''Dâlos''), is a small Greek island near Mykonos, close to the centre of the Cyclades archipelago. Though only in area, it is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. ...

; Sarapis and Isis; Herakles; Heros Iatros; Neoptolemos. The ruler cult of the

Ptolemaic kingdom The Ptolemaic Kingdom (; , ) or Ptolemaic Empire was an ancient Greek polity based in Ancient Egypt, Egypt during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 305 BC by the Ancient Macedonians, Macedonian Greek general Ptolemy I Soter, a Diadochi, ...

included a kanephoros of the deified queen

Arsinoe II Arsinoë II (, 316 BC – between 270 and 268 BC) was Queen consort of Thrace, Anatolia, and Macedonia by her first and second marriage, to king Lysimachus and king Ptolemy Keraunos respectively, and then Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egy ...

References

Sources

*Brulé, Pierre (translated by Antonia Nevill). ''Women of Ancient Greece''. Edinburgh University Press, 2003, , 2003. *Dillon, Matthew. ''Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion''. Routledge, 2003, . *Goff, Barbara E. ''Citizen Bacchae: Women’s Ritual Practice in Ancient Greece''. University of California Press, 2004, {{ISBN, 0-520-23998-9. *Roccos, Linda Jones. "The Kanephoros and her Festival Mantle in Greek Art", ''American Journal of Archaeology'', Vol. 99, No. 4, October 1995, pp. 641–666. Ancient Greek religion Culture of ancient Greece Ancient Greek priestesses Girls Virginity Baskets

See also

References

Sources