Personal Experience in Civic Festivals: The Arrhephoroi at the Panathenaia
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Classical Greek festivals were overwhelming. They were loud, cacophonous events, that smelled of fresh blood and boiling meat; they were usually joyous celebrations. These were an opportunity to strengthen civic bonds with the gods. But such festivals – particular large civic festivals, like the Panathenaia – are often discussed at the macro-level. As such, we lose the potential to find personal religious experiences because we cannot see what it feels like to be caught up in that cacophony.
In this paper, I will present a viable narrative for the lived experience of the arrhephoroi. These were seven- to eleven-year-old elite Athenian girls who lived on the Acropolis and assisted in the production of Athena’s Panathenaic peplos, which was the primary offering of the Panathenaia. I will examine whether direct involvement in producing a sacred garment aids in the personalisation of public religious experience, and what the overall experience of the festival on a young girl might be. Finally, I will look at whether the exceptional position of the arrhephoroi influences their religious practice in later life, and particularly during subsequent Panathenaic festivals. |
Marble votive relief with an arrhephoros at the loom, from the Athenian Akropolis, fourth century BCE. Akropolis Museum 2554
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