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‘Working women’: female professionals on Classical Attic gravestones1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Angeliki Kosmopoulou
Angeliki Kosmopoulou
Affiliation:
American School of Classical Studies, Athens
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Abstract

Figured gravestones commemorating female professionals constitute a distinct group among Attic memorials of the Classical period. Gravestones of this group honour the dead women by emphasizing their occupations and professional accomplishments, concentrating on the professional rather than the familial or social persona of the dead in order to preserve their memory in posterity. Despite their relative infrequence, such memorials shed light on the place of women in Athenian society and may serve as an additional source of evidence for the perception of the female role at the time. Deviating from the set modes of female funerary commemoration and the typical emphasis on domestic scenes, which sustains the contemporary ideal of secluded Athenian women, the memorials under consideration register a ‘public persona’ for the women they honour, making us aware of the complexities of the role of women in ancient Greek society.

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Articles
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Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 96 , November 2001 , pp. 281 - 319
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 2001

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References

2 Humphreys, S. C., The Family, Women and Death: Comparative Studies (London, 1983), 58–88, 120Google Scholar; Bergemann 1997, 86–7, 123.

3 See e.g. Austin, M. M. and Vidal-Naquet, P., Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece: An Introduction (Berkeley, 1977), 144Google Scholar; Humphreys (n. 2), 65–9, 104–7; Schmaltz, B., Griechische Grabreliefs (Darmstadt, 1983), 213–15Google Scholar; Vernant, J. P.: Mortals and Immortals: Collected Essays, ed. Zeitlin, F. (Princeton, 1991), 324Google Scholar; Nevett, L. C., House and Society in the Ancient Greek World (Cambridge, 1996), 7–8Google Scholar. Evidence for the growing importance of the oikos at this time comes from a variety of sources and is thus hard to dispute.

4 Sourvinou-Inwood 1995, 279–94; Scholl 1996, 89, 172.

5 Scholl 1996, 172; Bergemann 1997, 86.

6 On types in funerary imagery, see Berger 1970, 145, 160–2; Lohmann, H., Grabmäler auf unteritalischen Vasen (Berlin, 1979), 102–3Google Scholar; Zimmer, G., Römische Berufsdarstellungen (Berlin, 1982), 76, 79Google Scholar; Scholl 1990', 90.

7 An exception is formed by gravestones of men who died in the battlefield and women who died in childbirth. On such scenes, see Vedder, U., ‘Frauentod-Kriegertod im Spiegel der attischen Grabkunst des vierten Jahrhunderts v. Chr.’, AM 103 (1988), 161–91Google Scholar; Scholl 1996, 159–64.

8 For a general account of work-related ideologies in ancient Greece, see Mossé, C., The Ancient World at Work (London, 1969), 25–30Google Scholar. Arist. Pol. 1329a 1–2 recommends that citizens strive for leisure, which is necessary for their growth in arete and the pursuit of political activity. Cultivating the land was the only type of work considered worthy of a free man, besides activities like war and politics; cf. Xen. Oec. 4. 15; Arist. Pol. 1318b. See also Burford, A., Craftsmen in Greek and Roman Society (London, 1972), 29Google Scholar; Mossé, C., ‘The Economist’, in Vernant, J. P. (ed.), The Greeks (Chicago, 1995), 23–52, esp. 24Google Scholar.

9 Xen. Oec. 4. 2. 3.

10 Representations of professionals on funerary monuments were rare until Hellenistic times, for male and female dead alike; cf. Zimmer (n. 6), 79. Gravestones honouring professionals were introduced in the 6th c. BC and commemorated primarily poets, musicians, and doctors; cf. Berger 1970, 145–9, 155–8. In the Classical period, the portrayal of the deceased as professionals retained its marginal character, remaining rare in comparison to other iconographic types.

11 Zimmer (n. 6), 79.

12 Bibliography on the position of women in antiquity is extensive. Among the most interesting publications on the subject are Pomeroy, S., Goddesses, Wives, Whores and Slaves (New York, 1975Google Scholar); Schaps 1979; Just 1989; Fantham 1994; Blundell 1995; Stears 1995.

13 Xen. Oec. 7–10. Women were probably also responsible for managing the finances of the household, cf. Pl. Leg. 805 E; Ar. Lys. 492–7.

14 Pl. Leg. 781 C; Xen., Oec. 7. 30Google Scholar. Indicative of the popularity of this ideal is the belief that the mere naming of women in public could cause disgrace to the family; cf. Thuc. ii. 45; Schaps, D., ‘The woman least mentioned: etiquette and women's names,’ CQ n.s. 27 (1977), 323–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

15 Arist. Pol. 1300a. Fantham 1994, 106; Walker, S., ‘Women and housing in Classical Greece: the archaeological evidence,’ in Cameron, A. and Kuhrt, A. (eds), Images of Women in Antiquity (2nd edn; London, 1993), 81–91, esp. 81Google Scholar; Just 1989, 113; Blundell 1995, 138.

16 Gould 1980, esp. 48 = 133–4.

17 Dem. 57. 45; Fantham 1994, 109.

18 Lacey, W. K., The Family in Classical Greece (London, 1968), 171Google Scholar; Schaps 1979, 61. Women's right to conduct transactions was limited to markets where small sums of money were involved; female involvement in large-scale commerce was extremely rare.

19 Cf. pp. 300ff.

20 Herfst, P., La Travail de la femme dans la Grèce ancienne (Utrecht, 1922), 24–32Google Scholar.

21 Lefkowitz and Fant 1992, 219 nos. 322–3.

22 Blundell 1995, 145.

23 See e.g. an Athenian curse tablet mentioning a female gilder who decorated the helmets that her husband made; cf. SIG 3 1177, Schaps 1979, 20, 61.

24 See e.g. the red-figure hydria Milan, Collection Torno C 278, which shows a woman in a potter's workshop, painting a large pot next to a group of men; cf. ARV 2 571.73; Bron, C. and Lissarague, F., ‘Le vase à voir’, in Vernant, J. P. (ed.), La Cité des images (Paris, 1984), 7–17, esp. 7Google Scholar; fig. 1; Blundell 1995, 145; or the red-figure pelike, Bernisches Historisches Museum 12227, which represents a female perfume-seller of humble status, as suggested by her short, cap-like hair; cf. Fantham 1994, 111; fig. 3. 24.

25 See Blundell 1995, 146.

26 Occasionally, the use of a patronymic identifies such women working outside the home. In other instances it is the context that points to working women as being ἀσταί. For instance, the garland-seller in Ar. Thesm. 446–8, who had to support her family after her husband's death, is certainly an ἀστή. Lysistrata's married companions, who are designated as vendors in Ar. Lys. 456–8, are also of citizen status. On the term ἀστή, which denotes women of citizen status, see Gould 1980, 46 = 128–9 nn. 57–8; Blundell 1995, 128.

27 Schaps 1979, 19–20.

28 Xen., Mem. ii. 7. 6Google Scholar.

29 Dem. 57. 45.

30 Blundell 1995, 145.

31 Dem. 57. 45.

32 Ar. Thesm. 446–9.

33 Xen., Mem. ii. 7. 1–12Google Scholar.

34 Blundell 1995, 138.

35 Dem. 57. 45.

36 Schaps 1979, 62. In his plays, Aristophanes directs repeated insulting references to Euripides, alleging that his mother was a greengrocer; cf. Ar. Ach. 478; Thesm. 387, 456; Ran. 840–2. Although one does not know whether this was true or not, it was definitely intended as an insult.

37 See n. 33.

38 See Lacey (n. 18), 170–1; Schaps 1979, 19; Just 1989, 289 n. 12.

39 On the different, often mutually exclusive types of evidence that have been used in the study of women in antiquity, see Gould 1980, 39 = 115, 42 = 121.

40 On nurses and wet-nurses, see Herzog-Hauser, 1937; Rühfel 1988, 43–57; Der Neue Pauly, i. 595, s.v. Ammen (J. Wiesehöfer).

41 See Herzog-Hauser, 1937, 1491; Rühfel 1988, 43; Fragiadakis 1988, 135 n. 2.

42 On the problems with terminology, cf. Eust., in Il. 650. 21–5.

43 The term is used for Eurykleia, Odysseus' loyal nurse, as well as for other mythical attendants (cf. Hom, Od. ii. 361Google Scholar, ixx. 21). The inscription Θροϕός characterizes Ariadne's nurse on the neck of the Kleitias crater, Florence Museo Archeologico 4209; ABV 76.1; Para. 29–30; Addenda 7–8 no. 76. 1; Rühfel 1988, 43 fig. 1.

44 See e.g. Pl. Resp. 373 C.

45 Fragiadakis 1988, 135.

46 Eust., in Il. 650. 20–1; Rühfel 1988, 43.

47 For a list of such texts, see Rühfel 1988, 44 nn. 23–4.

48 According to the sources, the ideal wet-nurse was between the ages of 20 and 40, had given birth more than once, had a full, robust body, and was preferably Greek. Among the qualities a nurse should possess were frugality, a pleasant personality, gentleness, and cleanliness; cf. Herzog-Hauser 1937, 1494.

49 See Herzog-Hauser 1937, 1494; Rühfel 1988, 44 n. 23; Lefkowitz and Fant 1992, 270–2 no. 381.

50 Rühfel 1988, 44 n. 25.

51 Herzog-Hauser 1937, 1494; Rühfel 1988, 44.

52 Literary sources generally do not refer to the nurses' own children. One may think that when their mothers took on the task of breast-feeding they had been weaned, had died or, simply, were not important enough to be mentioned in the texts, cf. Rühfel 1988, 44. An exception is the mother of Euxitheos, who had two small children of her own; cf. Dem. 57. 42.

53 On the various tasks performed by nurses and child attendants, see Herzog-Hauser 1937. 1493–4; Rühfel 1988, 48 54.

54 One need only think of Eurykleia and the nurses of Medea. Phaedra and Alcestis. On the importance of nurses in Greek literature, cf. Pournara-Karydas, H., Eurykleia and her Successors: Female Figures of Authority in Greek Poetics (Lanham, 1998Google Scholar).

55 See e.g. Pl. Leg. 790 A; Anth. Pal. vii. 458. See also Herzog-Hauscr 1937, 1495; Fragiadakis 1988, 139; Rühfel 1988, 45.

56 This was the case with Eurykleia in the Odyssey; cf. Hom., Od. i. 430Google Scholar.

57 Ehrenberg 1951, 169; Garlan, Y., Slavery in Ancient Greece (Ithaca and London, 1988), 47–8Google Scholar.

58 See e.g. Lampito in Ar. Lys. 80–8; and Amykla, the nurse of Alkibiades (Plut. Lyc. 16; Alc. 1). The preference for Laconian nurses may be linked with the widespread Λακωνομανία noticeable in Athenian aristocratic circles in the 5th C; cf. Ar. Av. 1280; Herzog-Hauser 1937, 1495.

59 Plut., Alc. IGoogle Scholar; Danov, C. M., Alt-Thrakien (Berlin and New York, 1976), 165Google Scholar; Rühfel 1988, 45.

60 Hdt. v. 13.

61 Pl. Leg. 805 D E; Danov (n. 59), 17.

62 Plut. Lyc. 16; Dem. 57. 45: καὶ γάρ εἰ τατεινον ἠ τιτθη πολλά δουλικά πραγματα τούς ἐλευθέρους ή πενια βιαζεται ποιεῖν . . . ὠς γὰρ ε῀γωγ ἀκούω πολλαι και τιτθαι και ἐριθοι και τρυγήτριαι γεγόνας ἀπό τῶν τῆς πολεως . . . συμφορῶν . . .

63 Ps.-Plut., De lib. ed. 3 CGoogle Scholar; Dem. 57. 35, 45. See also Herzog-Hauser 1937, 1495.

64 Dem. 57. 43.

65 See e.g. Ath. vi. 226 D; Arist., Hist. An. vii. 11Google Scholar; Ar. Eq. 716–8; Pl. Resp. 373 C.

66 See e.g. the case of Chrysis in Men. Sam. 22–3.

67 Dem. xlvii. 55–9, 67–8.

68 Cf. the Attic red-figure hydria, Cambridge, Mass., Fogg Art Museum 1960.342 (formerly Baltimore, Robinson Collection); CVA Baltimore 2, III, J 31, pl. 43; Rühfel 1988, 46; fig; 3.

69 See e.g. the fragmentary Apulian crater, British Museum E 509.1; Zimmermann 1980, 192, no. 32; fig. 26; Rühfel 1988, 46; fig. 2.

70 See e.g. the moving mourning scene on the red-figure loutrophoros, Athens National Museum 1170; ARV 2 512.13; Para. 382; Zimmermann [980, 193–4 no. 34; fig. 28; Simon, E., Die griechischen Vasen (2nd edn. Munich, 1981), 125–6Google Scholar; pl. 174; Rühfel 1988, 46; fig. 4; or the mourning Thracian nurse on the fragment of the red-figure loutrophoros, Athens National Museum 17420; ARV 2 519.22; Zimmermann 1980, 194 no. 35; fig. 29.

71 On such scenes, see Vedder (n. 7).

72 Cf. the fragmentary stelai: Athens, National Museum 1135, Conze i. 67 no. 298; Karusu, S., ‘Der Grabnaiskos des Alexos’, AM 96 (1981), 179–200, esp. 194–200Google Scholar; fig. 2 a; pl. 59. 1–4; Pfisterer-Haas 1989, 31 no. II 27; fig. 32. 3; Clairmont 1993, iii. 393 no. 3. 459; Athens, National Museum 901, Clairmont 1993, ii. 641 no. 2. 590; and Athens, National Museum 2885, Pfisterer-Haas 1989, 30 no. II 28; figs. 34–5; Clairmont 1993, iii. 381–3 no. 3. 453.

73 On such statuettes, cf. Pfisterer-Haas 1989, 36–46.

74 Cf. Clairmont 1993, i. 220.

75 It is unlikely that the skyphos represented on the stele was used to feed the baby in the nurse's care, as has been suggested by Karouzou 1957, 314; and Pfisterer-Haas 1989, 36. If the artist wanted to show such a vase, he would have opted for a typical feeding-bottle; cf. Rühfel 1988, 48 n. 87.

76 Karouzou 1957; Simon 1963. On the Anthesteria, see Simon, E., Festivals of Attica (Madison, 1983), 92–9Google Scholar; Hamilton, R., Choes and Anthesteria: Athenian Iconography and Ritual (Ann Arbor, 1992), 5–62Google Scholar.

77 Simon 1963, 9; see also Deubner, L., Attische Feste (Berlin, 1932), 94–5Google Scholar; Callim. Aet. fr. 178.

78 Simon 1963, 10.

79 Karouzou 1957, 315; Simon 1963, 10.

80 Rühfel 1988, 48.

81 On such scenes in funerary imagery, see Scholl 1996, 149–59.

82 Thönges-Stringaris, R., ‘Das griechische Totenmahl’, AM 80 (1965), 1–99, esp. 64–5Google Scholar; Vierneisel-Schlörb 1988, 153, n. 9.

83 Scholl 1996, 155. The interpretation of such scenes as ‘idealized’, not actual reflections of the symposion, is supported by the fact that the women sitting by the reclining men are not the hetairai one would encounter at the symposion but instead the respectable wives of the dead men; cf. Scholl 1996, 158.

84 Cf. p. 290.

85 The juxtaposition of a nurse with a warrior recurs on the now lost funerary lekythos of Moschion, dated to the 4th c. BC. On that lekythos, an elderly nurse characterized simply as τίτθη is shown shaking hands with the warrior Moschion in the presence of his squire. Moschion's taller stature singles him out as the most important person and indicates that he was the primary deceased. On the lekythos, see Robinson, D. M., ‘New Greek inscriptions from Attica, Achaia, Lydia’, AJP 31 (1910), 377–403, esp. 393–4 no. 51Google Scholar; Fragiadakis 1988, 137 no. 26; Clairmont 1993, ii. 808–9 no. 2.936.

86 Clairmont 1970, 86 n. 50; Clairmont 1993, iii. 351 no. 3.429 a.

87 Interestingly, grave reliefs and vases depict nurses with their grown charges, whereas terracotta statuettes usually show them with infants and very young children.

88 Clairmont 1970, 96.

89 See e.g. the striking old nurse standing behind the protagonists on the fragmentary grave stele Athens, National Museum 2885 (n. 72); as well as the numerous nurses on non-grotesque terracotta statuettes, cf. Pfisterer-Haas 1989, 32.

90 This costume, belted at the waist, is also worn by the elderly nurse accompanying the dead on the fragmentary-stele of Alexos, Athens, National Museum 1135 (n. 72).

91 Cf. n. 68. The non-Greek character of her costume suggests that the nurse is a barbarian, while the ornate pattern of the fabric points to Thrace; indeed, Thracian nurses were singled out in iconography by their patterned garments and the adornment of their bodies with tattoos. On the appearance of Thracian nurses, see Wiesner, J., Die Thraker (Stuttgart, 1963), 38–40Google Scholar; Rühfel 1988, 46–7. On tattoos as a mark of Thracians, cf. Zimmermann 1980.

92 Athens, National Museum 901 (n. 72).

93 Ibid. 1170 (n. 70).

94 Westermann, W. L., ‘Sklaverei’ (RE Suppl. vi (1935), 923Google Scholar); Ehrenberg 1951, 185; Brockmeyer, N., Antike Sklaverei (Darmstadt, 1979), 129Google Scholar.

95 See Pfisterer-Haas 1989, 37–8.

96 Cf. Herakles' nurse Geropso, shown on a red-figure skyphos by the Pistoxenos Painter as a tattooed old woman with hooked nose and no teeth, her mantle thrown over her back to keep her warm. On the vase, Schwerin, Staatliche Mus. 708, cf. ARV 2 562. 30; Simon (n. 70), 128–9; pls. 180–1; Zimmermann 1980, 191–2 no. 31; fig. 27.

97 On such statuettes, see n. 89.

98 See e.g. the nurse on the loutrophoros, Athens National Museum 1170 (n. 70). On red hair as a mark of Thracians, see e.g. Wiesner (n. 91), 38–9.

99 See e.g. the old woman on the grave stele National Museum 2885 (n. 72). On this coiffure, see Pfisterer-Haas 1989, 31 and nos. 2. 46–63, 86–93. Burr-Thompson, D., ‘The origin of Tanagras’, AJA 70 (1966), 51–63, esp. 56CrossRefGoogle Scholar, considers this coiffure typical of slaves, identifying it with the κῆπος of the sources.

100 On this gesture, see e.g. Clairmont 1993 introductory volume, 86; Scholl 1996, 168–70.

101 Karouzou 1957, 315 compares it with the term τιττίον used instead of τιτθίον Ar. Thesm. 1185.

102 Raffeiner 1977, 13; Fragiadakis 1988, 137.

103 Clairmont 1970, 85, notes that Kythera changed hands several times in the fourth century and that early in the century it was under Athenian occupation. It is possible that Malicha was hired by Diogeites in these years and that she served in the same family for a long time.

104 On ἰσοτελεῖς, see Thalheim, G., ‘Isoteleis’, RE ix (1912), 2231–3Google Scholar; Whitehead, D., The Ideology of the Athenian Metic (Cambridge, 1977), 11–3Google Scholar; Scholl 1996, 174–5.

105 Pircher 1979, 43.

106 Möbius 1966, 156; Fragiadakis 1988, 138. Among other made-up names known for slaves, cf. Epimelcia, IG ii2 9148; Eubosia, IG ii211632; Storge, IG ii2 12653; and Kosmia IG ii2 11894. On the practice of giving new names to slaves, cf. Ehrenberg 1951, 171, 173; Garlan (n. 57), 22–3.

107 Karouzou 1957, 315; Simon 1963, 9. This is one of several names characterizing women with red hair, like Πύρρα, Πυρραλίς and πυρρίχη, probably slaves in their majority. Fragiadakis 1988, 138 argues that the name Pyraichme is reported in Athens for both free citizens and slaves, and that the dead nurse on the stele in question may be identified as a slave primarily on the basis of her attire.

108 Rühfel 1988, 48.

109 Raffeiner 1977, 26–8; Scholl 1996, 177–9.

110 Cf. Fragiadakis 1988, 135.

111 For additional examples, see Ibid. 137 nos. 21–8.

112 See e.g. Conze i. 17 no. 42; 41 no. 166; Möbius 1966, 167.

113 Among examples of non-sculpted, inscribed memorials for nurses, recording their personal name, profession, and, occasionally, a typical praise, cf. the gravestones of Philyra, IG ii2. 12996; Neara, IG ii2. 12242; Biote, IG ii2. 5592; Noumenis, IG ii2. 12330 and Synete, IG ii2. 12681/2.

114 Pircher 1979, 41. Epigrams for slaves became much more common in the Roman period.

115 Raffeiner 1977, 13.

116 The characterization of a nurse as δικαιοτάτη is unique, cf. Pircher 1979, 41. For the use of the epithet in other epigrams, not all funerary, see Peek 1955, 18 no. 46; 131 no. 540; Solon fr. 12.2d; Mimnermus fr. 8.2; Thgn. 314; IG ii2. 12034.

117 Raffeiner 1977, 13.

118 See Pircher 1977, 41; Raffeiner 1979, 3; Pfohl, G., ‘Untersuchungen über die attischen Grabinschriften’ (Ph.D. diss., Erlangen, 1953), 22Google Scholar.

119 See e.g. the plain marble stele of Artemisia, Athens, Epigraphical Museum 9324, IG ii2 10843; the stele of Neara, Ibid. 9414, IG ii2. 12242; or the columella for the τροϕός Pyrriche, IG ii2. 12563.

120 Cf. Westermann (n. 94), 923; Dem. 48. 58.

121 Dem. 48. 58; Vierneisel-Schlörb 1988, 21 n. 16.

122 On priests and priestesses in ancient Greece, cf. Martha, J., Les Sacerdoces Athéniens (Paris, 1882Google Scholar); Feaver, D. D., ‘Historical development in the priesthoods of Athens’, YCS 15 (1957), 123–58Google Scholar; Turner 1983; Garland 1984; Mantis 1990; Garland 1990.

123 See e.g. E. R. Dodds, ‘The religion of the ordinary man in Classical Greece,’ in id. (ed.), The Ancient Concept of Progress and Other Essays on Greek Literature and Belief (Oxford, 1973), 140–55, esp. 142; Vernant, J. P., Myth and Society in Ancient Greece (London, 1980), 88Google Scholar; Veggetti, M., ‘The Greeks and their gods,’ in Vernant, J. P. (ed.), The Greeks (Chicago, 1995), 254–84, esp. 255–8Google Scholar.

124 Garland 1990, 77, rightly states that priests and priestesses probably received some instruction from their predecessors.

125 Among the commonest prerequisites for serving a cult were family background, marital status, virginity, and age; see Turner 1983, 2, 232; Garland 1984, 84, 119.

126 Turner 1983, 15–51; Garland 1984, 83–4.

127 Originally a prerogative of the aristocracy, hereditary priesthoods continued after the democratic reforms of Solon and Kleisthenes, as tampering with conservative religious traditions was considered unwise. See [Arist.] Ath. Pol. 21.6; Turner 1983, 30; Garland 1984, 78.

128 Turner 1983, 52–119; Garland 1984, 84. This method was, according to the Greeks, closest to the gods' will; cf. Pl. Leg. iii. 690 C.

129 Turner 1983, 120–8.

130 Ibid. 129–40.

131 Ibid. 141–6. This practice, which is not attested in Attica, originated from economic necessity and gave the opportunity to the new rich to move upwards on the social ladder.

132 Feaver (n. 122), 123; Garland 1984, 76–8; Garland 1990, 78.

133 Cult restrictions were among the principal ἀτιμίαι of the metic status. Metics could not observe the polis cults, but could participate in certain ceremonies of their deme of residence. Nevertheless, despite their exclusion from the cults of the polis, metics participated in non-Greek cults that operated outside the framework of the deme and the city; cf. Whitehead (n. 104), 86–9; Mikalson, J. D., Athenian Popular Religion (Chapel Hill, 1983), 86, 97Google Scholar.

134 Turner 1983, 236.

135 Ibid. Conversely, the exclusion from priestly office was considered an insult to the whole family, cf. Feaver (n. 122), 134. This is illustrated by the incident with Harmodios' sister, who was rejected as a κανηϕόρος at the Panathenaia; cf. Turner 1983, 327.

136 On the various perquisites of priestesses, cf. Ibid. 384–7; Garland 1984, 85–6.

137 Turner 1983, 401–11.

138 Mantis 1990, 19.

139 See n. 74.

140 Mantis 1990, 28. The key is such a characteristic attribute of priestly office that on some grave monuments it stands alone as a signifier of the professional status of the deceased. See e.g. the columella of Abryllis, IG ii2 3477, as well as other examples listed in Mantis 1990, 44–5.

141 Ibid. 32–9. Among the goddesses shown as κλειδοῦχοι are Hera, Persephone, Athena, Artemis, and Kybele.

142 See Mantis 1990, 40; Scholl 1996, 138.

143 Staatliche Museen zu Berlin—Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Antikensammlung K 104; see Blümel, C., Die klassisch griechischen Skulpturen der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (Berlin, 1966), 79 no. 92Google Scholar; fig. 126; Mantis 1990, 41; pls. 12 a–b; Lawton, C. L., Attic Document Reliefs: Art and Politics in Ancient Athens (Oxford, 1995), 151–2, no. 164Google Scholar; pl. 86.

144 See e.g. Scholl 1996, 138.

145 Pl. HN xxxiv. 54, 77. On the two statues, see Palagia, O., Euphranor (Leiden, 1980), 40–1Google Scholar; Mantis 1990, 74–5.

146 On keys of Homeric type, see Mantis 1990, 29–30; pls. 49–53; Scholl 1996, 137.

147 Mantis 1990, 41 n. 138. Similar is the treatment of the key on the stele P2 from Rhamnous.

148 Vierneisel-Schlörb 1968, 102; Scholl 1996, 137.

149 Whereas on the stele of Polystrate the weight of the key is suggested by the slight bending of her carrying arm, on that of Choirine it is indicated by the flexed muscles of her extended forearm. This is paralleled on the Boeotian stele of the priestess Polyxena, who apparently held a large bronze key in her pierced right hand (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Antikensammlung K 26), see Blümel (n. 143), 17–8 no. 6; fig. 12; Mantis 1990, 45, 67; pl. 28 a.

150 Mantis 1990, 42 3.

151 Cf. pp. 296–7.

152 See e.g. Papastavrou 1976, 146; Freyer-Schauenburg 1989, 60. The only scholar who positively identifies her as a priestess is Scholl 1990, 138.

153 Freyer-Schauenburg 1989, 59, 60.

154 Exceptional are two funerary Panathenaic amphorae from Marathon, Marathon Museum BE 30 and BE 31, which show priests in multi-figured scenes; cf. Mantis 1990, 87 nos. 16–17; Clairmont 1993, iv. 144–5 nos 4. 781–2.

155 Mantis 1990, 40.

156 Clairmont 1993, iv. 70.

157 This object, first identified as a key by G. Despinis in a personal communication recorded by Clairmont 1970, 98 n. 82, had previously been interpreted as a torch; cf. Mantis 1990, 47.

158 Mantis 1990, 48. On the importance of the tympanon in the iconography of Kybele, see Naumann, F., Die Ikonographie der Kybele in der phrygischen und der griechischen Kunst (1st. Mitt., Beiheft 28, 1983), 136Google Scholar.

159 Scholl 1996, 140.

160 Clairmont 1970, 98. This plausible interpretation has been accepted by Mantis 1990, 48. On the epigram, cf. p. 298.

161 Without spelling out his reasoning, Clairmont 1993, ii. 377 no. 2.362 identifies the standing figure as the deceased, whom he takes to be a priestess of Kybele, and the seated woman as the deceased's mother, who in his view was a priestess of Kybele herself and was given the tympanon by her daughter. This interpretation is, in my opinion, unfounded. There is nothing to identify the standing woman as the deceased, while, on the contrary, there is a tendency in modern scholarship to associate the seated position with death. The tympanon, which is the sole attribute here, is too characteristic to have been held by someone other than the principal deceased. On the use of attributes to identify the deceased, see Schmaltz, B., Untersuchungen zu den attischen Marmorlekylhm (Berlin, 1970), 100–1Google Scholar; Bergemann 1997, 42.

162 Mantis 1990, 55; Scholl 1996, 140.

163 Mantis 1990, 49; Scholl 1996, 140.

164 Scholl 1996, 140.

165 Boardman, J., ‘Recent acquisitions by the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford’, JHS 81 (1961), AR 1960/61, 59Google Scholar.

166 See e.g. Mantis 1990, 49–50, who docs not consider the tympanon-holders as priestesses but rather as associates of the goddess, possibly members of a religious thiasos.

167 On the type of the xoanon-bearer, cf. Mantis 1990, 66–9. The best example of this type is the Boeotian grave stele of Polyxena, now in Berlin (n. 149).

168 Neumann, G., Gesten und Gebärden in der griechischen Kunst (Berlin, 1965CrossRefGoogle Scholar), 181 n. 161; Clairmont 1993, i. 320.

169 The identification of the figure as a priestess is questioned by Mantis 1990, 51–2.

170 Ibid. 40.

171 See e.g. Mantis 1990, 52, with bibliography.

172 On this costume, see Palagia (n. 145), 41.

173 On such shoes, see Morrow, K. D., Greek Footwear and the Dating of Sculpture (Madison, 1985), 64, 86Google Scholar.

174 On tainiai worn by priests and priestesses, see Krug, A., ‘Binden in der griechischen Kunst’ (Ph.D. diss., Mainz, 1968), 124–5Google Scholar; Blech, M., Studien zum Kranz bei den Griechen (Berlin and New York, 1982), 309CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

175 Mantis 1990, 41.

176 Freyer-Schauenburg 1989, 62. The name Choirine is also known from other Attic inscriptions of that time.

177 Schmaltz (n. 161), 104 and n. 184; Scholl 1996, 139.

178 Scholl 1996, 139.

179 See n. 176.

180 For other occurrences of this name, see Papastavrou 1976, 146 n. 2.

181 Mantis 1990, 47.

182 Cf. LSJ, s.v. πρόπολος.

183 On this formula, see Pircher 1979, 37.

184 On such examples, see Ibid.

185 Literary sources often speak in praise of priestesses who became old while in the service of the goddess, and South Italian vases occasionally depict priestesses as elderly women; cf. Mantis 1990, 47–8.

186 See e.g. Scholl 1996, 139.

187 See e.g. the representation of Hekabe in vase-painting, who is shown as a young woman although she has given birth to nineteen children; cf. Pfisterer-Haas 1989, 7; figs. 1–2.

188 Pfislerer-Haas 1989, 10, 14. Illuminating is the case of Ampharete, who is represented on her stele as a young woman although, according to her epigram, she holds her grandchild on her lap. On the stele, Athens, Kerameikos Museum p 695, I 221, cf. Clairmont 1970, 91–2 no. 23; pl. 11; Clairmont 1993, i. 404–6 no. 1.660.

189 Blundell 1995, 110.

190 Eur. Alc. 318.

191 Ar. Thesm. 526–34.

192 Ar. Lys. 746; Pl. Thl. 149–50; AnthPal. vii. 168. 3. On μαίαι see Krug, A., Heilkunst und Heilkult: Medizin in der Antike (Munich, 1993), 196–7Google Scholar. On additional meanings of the termμαῖα, see Pircher 1979, 44.

193 Pl. Theait. 149 A–151 C.

194 Robert, L. in Firatli, N., Les Stèles funéraires de Byzance gréco-romaine (Paris, 1964), 175–8Google Scholar.

195 On such treatises, see e.g. Reinach, S., ‘Medicus’, DA 3 (1904), 1683Google Scholar; Phillips, E. D., Greek Medicine (London, 1973), 113, 165–6Google Scholar.

196 Krug (n. 192), 196; fig. 87.

197 On such scenes, see Vedder (n. 7).

198 Ibid. 176.

199 Ibid. pl. 21. 1. On this marble vase, Paris, Louvre Museum 3115, cf. Clairmont 1993, iii. 244 5, no. 3.375.

200 Krug (n. 192), 196.

201 The two terms were later combined in the term ἰατρομαία cf. Robert in Firatli (n. 194), 176.

202 Pircher 1979, 44.

203 Clairmont 1970, 131; Berger 1970, 162.

204 Daux 1972, 554.

205 R. Norton, ‘Greek grave reliefs’, HSCPS (1897), 41–102, esp. 86; Scholl 1996, 124.

206 See e.g. the 2nd c. BC epigram for the midwife Ioulia, Peek 1955, 600 no. 1940; or that of the doctor Aineas, Peek 1955, 22 no. 57.

207 Pl. Theait. 149 Dallas, A. C., ‘The Significance of Costume on Classical Attic Grave Stelai: A Statistical Analysis’ (D.Phil, diss., Oxford, 1987), 124Google Scholar suggested that Phanostrate was a metic and that her gravestone was erected in the plot of her host family.

208 Clairmont 1970, 131.

209 Hom., Il. vi. 490–3Google Scholar; Xen., Oec. 7. 6Google Scholar; Fantham 1994, 103; Blundell 1995, 141; Reeder 1995, 200; Lovén, L. Larsson, ‘Lanam fecit: woolworking and female virtue’, in Lovén, L. Larsson and Strömberg, A. (eds), Aspects of Women in Antiquity (Jonsered, 1998), 85–95Google Scholar.

210 The procedure of textile making is described in Ar. Lys. 565–8. On the stages of woolworking, see also Ar. Eccl. 88–9, 215–18; Lys. 519–20.

211 Stears 1995, 123; Reeder 1995, 201.

212 Ar. Ran. 1346–9; Plut. Alc. 1; Pl. Lys. 208 D; Resp. v. 455 C. See also Herfst (n. 20), 103.

213 Barber, E. W., Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years (New York and London, 1995), 278Google Scholar.

214 Gomme, A. W., The Population of Athens in the 5th and 4th Centuries BC. (Oxford, 1933), 41–2Google Scholar; Barber (n. 213), 278; Schaps 1979, 19. Several ταλασιουργοί are also mentioned on a manumission inscription from the Athenian Agora, see Lewis, D. M., ‘Dedications of phialai at Athens’, Hesp. 37 (1968), 368–80, esp. 369–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar; pl. 110.

215 Barber (n. 213), 278.

216 On such scenes in vase-painting, see Killet, H., Zur Ikonographie der Fran auf attischen Vasen archaischer und klassischer Zeit (Berlin, 1994), 115–24Google Scholar.

217 One has to be cautious when interpreting such scenes, as not all spinning women are respectable; cf. Williams, D., ‘Women on Athenian vases: problems of interpretation,’ in Cameron, A. and Kuhrt, A. (eds), Images of Women in Antiquity (Detroit, 1983), 92–106, esp. 94–6Google Scholar; Nevett (n. 3), 16.

218 Killet (n. 216), 117.

219 Cf. Vierneisel-Schlörb 1988, 15–6; Scholl 1996, 95; Bergemann 1997, 83. Thimme, J., ‘Die Stele der Hegeso als Zeugnis des attischen Grabkults’, AK 7 (1964), 16–29Google Scholar; id., ‘Bilder, Inschriften und Opfer an attischen Gräbern’, AA 1967, 199–213, esp. 206–7 interpreted these attributes as references to funerary ritual and grave goods, but his theory was not well received.

220 See e.g. the stele Staatliche Museen zu Berlin—Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Antikensammlung K 61, Clairmont 1996, i. 489 no. 1.894; Scholl 1996, 319 no. 358; pl. 28.4; or a stele in the Peiraeus Museum, unknown inventory number, cf. Despinis, G., ‘Ein Grabrelief aus Oropos’, in Cain, H. U. et al. (eds), Festschrift für M Himmelmann (Mainz, 1989), 179–82Google Scholar; pl. 32. 4.

221 Salta, M., ‘Attische Grabstelen mil Inschriftcn’ (Ph.D. diss., Tübingen, 1991), 192Google Scholar has argued that kalathoi on gravestones characterize non-Athenian women. Nevertheless, the variety of contexts in which a kalathos is shown warns us against the interpetation of status on the basis of this criterion alone.

222 Cf. Blümel (n. 143), 24 no. 16.

223 Scholl 1996, 174.

224 See Clairmont 1993 introdnetory volume, 91–2; Scholl 1996, 96.

225 Cf. p. 294.

226 Pomeroy (n. 12), 60; Just 1989, 112.

227 Cf. Just 1989, 118; Cohen, D., Law, Sexuality and Society: The Enforcement of Morals in Classical Athens (Cambridge, 1991), 148–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

228 Leader 1997, 688.

229 Sourvinou-Inwood 1995, 116; Stears 1995, no; Leader 1997, 684–6.

230 Turner 1983, 390–401; Mantis 1990, 46; McClees, H., ‘A Study of Women in Attic Inscriptions’ (Ph.D. diss., New York, 1920), 5–16Google Scholar.

231 Turner 1983, 1, 397–403; Burkert, W., Greek Religion, Archaic and Classical (Oxford, 1995), 97Google Scholar.

232 Stears 1995, 124.

233 Cf. n. 133.

234 Feaver (n. 122), 123; Scholl 1996, 147.

235 Turner 1983, 383–4; 403, 407, 411–12.

236 Sourvinou-Inwood 1995, 112.

237 Paradoxically, although women sacrificed in public on behalf of the polis, they did not sacrifice in the oikos, as they could not represent it; cf. Sourvinou-Inwood 1995, 114.

238 Cf. an incident with the priestess of Athena Polias, the city's patron divinity, described in Hdt. viii. 41; Blundell 1995, 161.

239 Gould 1980, 50–1 = 39–41 nn. 92–9; Turner 1983, 17; Schuller, W., Frauen in der griechischen Geschichte (Konstanz, 1985), 25Google Scholar; Sourvinou-Inwood 1995, 112; Scholl 1996, 147.

240 Cf. the case of the priestess Lysimache; CEG ii. 757; Fantham 1994, 93–5; Sourvinou-Inwood 1995, 117 n. 55.

241 Cf. p. 289.

242 The sole example of a nurse shown on her memorial as an attendant is a stele from Mytilene dating from the first century BC: see Pfuhl, E. and Möbius., H.Die ostgriechischen Grabreliefs (Mainz am Rhein). i. 136Google Scholar no. 404; pl. 67.

243 Raffeiner 1977, 86.

244 The respect shown for nurses on gravestones of this period is paralleled by a change in their representation on contemporary terracotta statuettes, where they turn from ugly creatures with negative physiognomic traits into beautiful, lady-like figures; see Pfisterer-Haas 1989, 40–2.

245 Raffeiner 1977, 88–9.

246 Pfisterer-Haas 1989, 32.

247 Raffeiner 1977, 96–7, considers the picture emerging from slave epigrams to be idealized and distant from reality. In his review, Pleket, H. W., CR 29 (1979), 176Google Scholar argues that the exceptional honouring of certain slaves does not suggest idealization but is. rather, a realistic portrayal of the situation of a very small portion of the slave population.

248 Herfst (n. 20), 52–3, 78–9.

249 Zimmer (n. 6), 79.

250 Clairmont 1993, i. 329 writes that ‘Malicha may well lave held some object in her hands’; this statement is conjectural, given the scant remains of the figure.

251 Ibid., i. 511.

252 Clairmont, loc. cit., calls it a bird; Daux 1972, 535 identifies it as a doll or a flower.

253 Clairmont, loc. cit., states that the left hand may also have held something, though admitting that the relief surface there is too weathered to tell.

254 According to the label in the British Museum, the stele was made in Athens in the 4th c. BC and reused in the and c. BC. Clairmont, loc. cit., notes that if one takes together all the inscriptions on the stele, one ends up with three distinct references to the nurse, a fact that he finds unnecessary and unparalleled. His complicated explanation is that the stele originally honoured Melitta the nurse, daughter of the ἰσοτελής Apollodoros, and was later reused for a girl also named Melitta. During the second use, the name Melitta was inscribed over the girl's figure and the characterization of the nurse was erased. Clairmont argues that it was ‘a happy … coincidence’ that the second Melitta was also the daughter of some Apollodoros.

255 Some commentators, like Meritt and Bradeen, identify this figure as a youth.

256 Vierneisel-Schlörb 1968, 102 identifies it as a flower.

257 Freyer-Schauenburg 1989, 59; Clairmont 1993, i. 330.

258 Some scholars have advocated the restoration of the word γυνή at the end of this inscription, an element that would identify Chairestrate as the wife of Menekrates. However, this possibility is weakened by the limitations of the available space, thus, Menekrates is to be identified as Chairestrate's father; cf. Conze i. 27; Clairmont 1970, 97; Daux 1972, 535; Mantis 1990, 46.

259 The deciphering and restoration of the name inscriptions was a matter of dispute between Clairmont 1970 and Daux 1972. Clairmont 1970, 130, did not trace the name Antiphile. Instead, he restored the top inscription as Φανοστράτη μαῖα and hypothesized that Phanostrate ‘happened’ to be the name of both the midwife and the other female figure. He thus identified the seated figure as the patroness of the relief and the standing one as the midwife. The misinterpretation of the inscription was sharply criticized by Daux, as was Clairmont's overlooking of the fourth child, standing behind Phanostrate.