Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1940)

i68

The Arrhephoroi

To understand these honours and prerogatives we must, I think,
bear in mind the general similarity subsisting between the Thesmo-
phoriaand the Arrhephoria. The latter, like the former,appears to have
been a ceremony intended to promote fertility1. In the Thesmophoria
we have the worship of Demeter and Kore, the two Thesmophoro'2'.
The ArrhepMros at Eleusis3 and the Ersophoros at Mytilene4 were
at least connected with the cult of the same pair of deities. An
Athenian inscription of Roman date commemorates 'Aristokles'
daughter, who served as Errhephdros for Demeter and Kore5.' Seats
in the theatre at Athens were in imperial times reserved for two
Hersephdroi of Ge Themis (fig. 72)6 and, immediately behind them,

Fig. 72.

OrdoW.

(. pcH<fopoJcpciAferiAeNAr|fiAi

Fig- 73-

for two Hersephdroi of Eilithyia at Agrai (fig. 73)'. It would seem,
therefore, that Dew-bearers stood in some relation to Mother Earth;
and it is probable that they were regarded as fertilising agents.
This squares with the fact that their rite took place near the
sanctuary of Aphrodite in the Gardens8. The Thesmophoria too

1 Harrison Myth. Mon. Anc. Ath. p. xxxiv ff., ead. Prokg. Gk. Rel.1 p. 131 ft'., ead-
Themis pp. 266, 275, Mommsen Feste d. Stadt Athen p. 510.

2 Aristoph. thesm. 83, 282, 295 f., 1156, 1230.

3 Supra p. 167, n. 6 f.

4 Supra p. 167, n. 10.

5 Corp. inscr. Att. iii. 1 no. 919 \jriv deiva] 7 Xpi.aroK\4ov epp7}<popr]o'a<Tav AtJ^t/h kat
KSpyt. W. Larfeld Handlncch der griechischen Epigraphik Leipzig 1898 ii. I. 304 says:
'in Form einer Wfeihimg] an Demeter und Kore.' But, for the dative, cp. Moir. H1
p. 104 Pierson {supra p. 166, n. 3).

0 Corp. inscr. Att. iii. 1 no. 318 (with facsimile on pi. 1 = my fig. 72) epa-qQopois §
[V]rjs Oe^Sos in late careless script, W. Larfeld op. cit. ii. 1. 266 pi. 1.

' Corp. inscr. Att. iii. 1 no. 319 (with facsimile on pi. 1 = my fig. 73) epcri]<p6pois $
Et\i8vla[s] iv''A7pai[s] in late careless script, W. Larfeld op. cit. ii. t. 266 pi. 1.

s Supra p. 165. The precise route followed by the ArrhephSroi is a matter for con-
jecture. If they lived 'not far from the temple of the Polias' and 'lodged for a time with
the goddess' (Paus. 1. 27. 3), we may assume that their official quarters were in or near
the Pandroseion. On the occasion of the Arrhephoria they may, no doubt, have quitted