Canephora

The canephoras (from the Greek κανηφόρος, basket bearer) were young virgins of distinguished birth, who at the Panathenaic festivals carried baskets containing a sacrificial knife and sacred barley to pour on the altar. and about the sacrificial victims.

Likewise, there were canephoras at the festivals of Hera of Argos, Artemis of Syracuse, and Dionysus in Athens, among others. In Athens, marriageable young women also served as canephores, worshiping Artemis so that the goddess would not take revenge for the loss of her virginity.

The epigraphic and literary testimonies do not clarify some of its characteristics. In the Panathenaea and the Pythias there were several canephoras but it is possible that in the other festivities there could have been a single canephora to carry the materials for the sacrifices. From a passage in Aristophanes it is inferred that there were four phases in the education of the girls of good family: at 7 years old they were arréforas and learned to weave; At 10, they alétrides and learned to make bread; at an indeterminate age, bears who danced in the sanctuary of Artemis of Brauron and when they were fully developed and prepared for marriage, canephoras. Furthermore, when they were canephoras they were given a badge consisting of a necklace of dried figs. It has been pointed out that acting as canephora, in addition to being an honor for their family and having a function in the religious ritual, also had the social function of showing male viewers a young woman who is ready to marry.

Famous canephoras

In mythology, Orithia and Herse were sisters who, according to one version of the myth, served as canephores when they were kidnapped by Boreas and Hermes. On the other hand, in historical times, it was said that the daughter of Pisistratus had been kissed in public and then kidnapped while acting as a canephora. Furthermore, one of the reasons why the tyrannicides murdered Hipparchus was that he had humiliated Harmodius in the following way: after inviting one of his sisters to being a canephora, then he dismissed her saying that he had not invited her because he did not believe her worthy of such an honor.

In art

Canephoras are represented in paintings made on ceramic containers and also in sculptures. In the art of the archaic period they were recognized mainly by the basket they carried on their heads, but from the V century onwards. C. They are also recognized for wearing a characteristic long festive cloak that hung over their shoulders.

Some authors have identified two of the figures sculpted in the eastern part of the Parthenon frieze as canephores (E 50-51).

The caryatids are columns modeled in the shape of a woman whose name is associated with slaves from Caria. However, one of the hypotheses that have been considered about their meaning is that they represent canephoras, who performed ritual functions in honor of Artemis, since these statues have a bearing on their heads similar to a basket.

On the other hand, Cicero speaks in one of his speeches about two famous bronze statues called canephoras worked by the famous artist Polycleitus that Verres took from Messina to Rome.