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)

172

The Arrhephoroi

probably included a visit to the goddesses of Cape Kolias, that is,
to Aphrodite and the Genetyllides1. Aphrodite in particular was the
maker of morning dew2; and her altar (figs. 84, 85)3 on Mount

Mantel luftenden Aphrodite'), S. Reinach 'La Venus drapee au Musee du Louvre' in the
Gaz. Arch. 1887 xii. 250—262, 271—285 pi. 30, A. Conze 'Zur sogenannten Venus
Genetrix' in the Ath. Mitth. 1889 xiv. 199—204 pi. 4, Miss C. G. Harcum 'A statue of
the type called the Venus Genetrix in the Royal Ontario Museum' in the Am. Journ. Arch.
1927 xxxi. 141—152 pi. 7 figs. 1—4).

Equally persistent, and hardly more encouraging, have been the attempts made to
discover representations of the Arrhephoroi. Many have identified them with the two
stool-bearing girls on the eastern frieze of the Parthenon [supra ii. 113 5 f. pi. xliv. So
J. Stuart—N. Revett The Antiquities of Athens London 1787 ii. 12 f. with ch. 1 pi. 24
(' The young figures are the two Arrephoroe, or Canephorce,' etc.), C. O. Mtiller Minervae
Poliadis sacra et aedem in arce Athenarum...Gottingae 1820 p. 14 ('Puellae sunt erse-
phoroe..., matrona sacerdos Poliadis'), E. Beule VAcropole dAthenes Paris 1854 ii. 142
('la grande pretresse recoit des deux vierges Errhephores les objets mysterieux' etc.),
E. Petersen Die Kunst des Pheidias am Parthenon nnd zu Olympia Berlin 1873 p. 304 f.
('Wofinden wir denn imathenischen Cultus uberhaupt und speciell in demjenigen Athenas,
an welchen hier jeder zu denken gehalten ist, halberwachsene Madchen, wie die beiden
Stuhltragerinnen offenbar sind, die bei hohem Feste eine so bevorzugte Rolle spielen
konnten? Es giebt keine ausser den Arrephoren. Auf diese aber passt alles;' etc.),
Preller—Robert Gr. Myth. i. 211 n. o (' Die beiden Errhephoren sind vielleicht auf dem
Ostfries des Parthenon dargestellt'). See further A. Michaelis Der Parthenon Leipzig 1871
p. 264). Others have seen them in the processional figures of the olive-tree pediment
(T. Wiegand Die archaische Poros-Architektnr der Akropolis zu Athen Cassel and Leipzig
1904 p. 197 ff. col. pi. 14, G. Dickins Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum Cambridge 1912
i. 69 ff. fig., E. Buschor 'Der Oelbaumgiebel' in the Ath. Mitth. 1922 xlvii. 81 ff. pi. 6-
So J. E. Harrison Primitive Athens as described by Tliucydides Cambridge 1906 p. 56 f.
fig. 20 ('We think instinctively of the Arrephoroi'), E. Petersen Die Burgtempel der
Athenaia Berlin 1907 p. 21 ff. fig. 2 (ib. p. 27 'die zwei gleich gekleideten, nicht gleich
geschmiickten Madchen mogen wir Kanephoren nennen, oder aber wegen ihrer Kleinheit
und unentwickelten Formen lieber Errephoren'), G. W. Elderkin Problems in Periclean
Buildings Princeton 1912 p. 13 f. (agrees with Petersen)). Others again have recognised
them in the Caryatids of the Erechtheion (E. Beule L'Acropole a?Athlnes Paris 1854 ii.
254 ('Sont-celes vierges errhephores...? Leurs tetes portent-elles le fardeau de l'architrave
en reminiscence du fardeau mysterieux que leur confiait la grande pretresse? Tout me le
ferait croire,' etc.), G. W. Elderkin Problems in Periclean Buildings Princeton 1912
p. 14 ff. ('The interpretation of the Caryatids as Arrephoroi is confirmed by a scene (Fig. 5)
on an archaic amphora' (sc. a Boeotian relief-vase from Thebes, now in a private English
collection, published in the Bull. Con: Hell. 1898 xxii. 458 ff. figs. 8—10 pis. 6 and 6 bis
by A. de Ridder, who ib. p. 468f. cp. 'les canephores, et peut-etre les arrhephores'))i
H. N. Fowler in J. M. Paton The Erechtheum Cambridge, Massachusetts 1927 p. 235
n. o (non-committal)).

Personally, I suspect that the ArrhephSroi in attendance on Athena were an extremely
ancient institution, dating back to 'Minoan' times and comparable with the two hand-
maidens of the 'Minoan' goddess (Sir A. J. Evans in the Journ. Hell. Stud. 1925 xlv.
11—14 figs. 11—IS)-

1 Mommsen Feste d. Stadt Athen p. 319 f. On Genetyllis and the Genetyllides in
relation to Aphrodite see W. H. Roscher in his Lex. Myth. ii. 1269—1273, O. Jessen in
Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. vii. ii5of., Preller—Robert Gr. Myth. i. 377, 513, Gilbert
Gr. Gbtterl. p. 394, Gruppe Gr. Myth. Pel. p. 1356 n. 6.

2 Pervig. Ven. 15 ff. ipsa roris lucidi, | noctis aura quern relinquit, spargit umentis
aquas. | gutta praeceps orbe parvo sustinet casus suos, | et micant lacrimae trementes de