‘working women’: Female professionals on classical attic gravestones

Annual of the British School at Athens

Volumn 96, Issue , 2001, Pages 281-319

  Kosmopoulou, Angeliki ^a  

^a American School of Classical Studies   (United States)

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EID: 85012544588     PISSN: 00682454     EISSN: 20452403     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S006824540000530X     Document Type: Article

References (237)

1. S. C. Humphreys, The Family, Women and Death: Comparative Studies (London, 1983), 58-88, 120 Bergemann 1997, 86-7, 123.
2. See e.g. M. M. Austin and P. Vidal-Naquet, Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece: An Introduction (Berkeley, 1977), 144 Humphreys (n. 2), 65-9, 104-7; B. Schmaltz, Griechische Grabreliefs (Darmstadt, 1983), 213-15; J. P. Vernant : Mortals and Immortals: Collected Essays, ed. F. Zeitlin (Princeton, 1991), 324 L. C. Nevett, House and Society in the Ancient Greek World (Cambridge, 1996), 7-8. Evidence for the growing importance of the oikos at this time comes from a variety of sources and is thus hard to dispute.
3. Sourvinou-Inwood 1995, 279-94; Scholl 1996, 89, 172.
4. Scholl 1996, 172; Bergemann 1997, 86.
5. On types in funerary imagery, see Berger 1970, 145, 160-2; H. Lohmann, Grabmäler auf unteritalischen Vasen (Berlin, 1979), 102-3; G. Zimmer, Römische Berufsdarstellungen (Berlin, 1982), 76, 79 Scholl 1990’, 90.
6. An exception is formed by gravestones of men who died in the battlefield and women who died in childbirth. On such scenes, see U. Vedder, ‘Frauentod-Kriegertod im Spiegel der attischen Grabkunst des vierten Jahrhunderts v. Chr.’, AM 103 (1988), 161-91; Scholl 1996, 159-64.
7. For a general account of work-related ideologies in ancient Greece, see C. Mossé, The Ancient World at Work (London, 1969), 25-30. 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 A. Burford, Craftsmen in Greek and Roman Society (London, 1972), 29 C. Mossé, ‘The Economist’, in J. P. Vernant (ed.), The Greeks (Chicago, 1995), 23-52, esp. 24.
8. Xen. Oec. 4. 2. 3.
9. 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.
10. Zimmer (n. 6), 79.
11. Bibliography on the position of women in antiquity is extensive. Among the most interesting publications on the subject are S. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Wives, Whores and Slaves (New York, 1975); Schaps 1979; Just 1989; Fantham 1994; Blundell 1995; Stears 1995.
12. 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.
13. Pl. Leg. 781 C; Xen. Oec. 7. 30. 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; D. Schaps, ‘The woman least mentioned: etiquette and women's names,’ CQ n.s. 27 (1977), 323-3010.1017/S0009838800035606.
14. Arist. Pol. 1300a. Fantham 1994, 106; S. Walker, ‘Women and housing in Classical Greece: the archaeological evidence,’ in A. Cameron and A. Kuhrt (eds), Images of Women in Antiquity (2nd edn; London, 1993), 81-91, esp. 81; Just 1989, 113; Blundell 1995, 138.
15. Gould 1980, esp. 48 = 133-4.
16. Dem. 57. 45; Fantham 1994, 109.
17. W. K. Lacey, The Family in Classical Greece (London, 1968), 171 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.
18. Cf. pp. 300ff.
19. P. Herfst, La Travail de la femme dans la Grèce ancienne (Utrecht, 1922), 24-32.
20. Lefkowitz and Fant 1992, 219 nos. 322-3.
21. Blundell 1995, 145.
22. 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.
23. 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; C. Bron and F. Lissarague, ‘Le vase à voir’, in J. P. Vernant (ed.), La Cité des images (Paris, 1984), 7-17, esp. 7; 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.
24. See Blundell 1995, 146.
25. Schaps 1979, 19-20.
26. Xen. Mem. ii. 7. 6.
27. Dem. 57. 45.
28. Blundell 1995, 145.
29. Dem. 57. 45.
30. Ar. Thesm. 446-9.
31. Xen. Mem. ii. 7. 1-12.
32. Blundell 1995, 138.
33. Dem. 57. 45.
34. 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.
35. See n. 33.
36. See Lacey (n. 18), 170-1; Schaps 1979, 19; Just 1989, 289 n. 12.
37. 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.
38. On nurses and wet-nurses, see Herzog-Hauser, 1937; Rühfel 1988, 43-57; Der Neue Pauly, i. 595, s.v. Ammen (J. Wiesehöfer).
39. See Herzog-Hauser, 1937, 1491; Rühfel 1988, 43; Fragiadakis 1988, 135 n. 2.
40. On the problems with terminology, cf. Eust., in Il. 650. 21-5.
41. See e.g. Pl. Resp. 373 C.
42. Fragiadakis 1988, 135.
43. Eust., in Il. 650. 20-1; Rühfel 1988, 43.
44. For a list of such texts, see Rühfel 1988, 44 nn. 23-4.
45. 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.
46. See Herzog-Hauser 1937, 1494; Rühfel 1988, 44 n. 23; Lefkowitz and Fant 1992, 270-2 no. 381.
47. Rühfel 1988, 44 n. 25.
48. Herzog-Hauser 1937, 1494; Rühfel 1988, 44.
49. 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.
50. On the various tasks performed by nurses and child attendants, see Herzog-Hauser 1937. 1493-4; Rühfel 1988, 48 54.
51. One need only think of Eurykleia and the nurses of Medea. Phaedra and Alcestis. On the importance of nurses in Greek literature, cf. H. Pournara-Karydas, Eurykleia and her Successors: Female Figures of Authority in Greek Poetics (Lanham, 1998).
52. See e.g. Pl. Leg. 790 A; Anth. Pal. vii. 458. See also Herzog-Hauscr 1937, 1495; Fragiadakis 1988, 139; Rühfel 1988, 45.
53. This was the case with Eurykleia in the Odyssey; cf. Hom. Od. i. 430.
54. Ehrenberg 1951, 169; Y. Garlan, Slavery in Ancient Greece (Ithaca and London, 1988), 47-8.
55. Plut. Alc. I C. M. Danov, Alt-Thrakien (Berlin and New York, 1976), 165 Rühfel 1988, 45.
56. Hdt. v. 13.
57. Pl. Leg. 805 D E; Danov (n. 59), 17.
58. Ps.-Plut. De lib. ed. 3 C Dem. 57. 35, 45. See also Herzog-Hauser 1937, 1495.
59. Dem. 57. 43.
60. See e.g. Ath. vi. 226 D; Arist. Hist. An. vii. 11 Ar. Eq. 716-8; Pl. Resp. 373 C.
61. See e.g. the case of Chrysis in Men. Sam. 22-3.
62. Dem. xlvii. 55-9, 67-8.
63. 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.
64. See e.g. the fragmentary Apulian crater, British Museum E 509.1; Zimmermann 1980, 192, no. 32; fig. 26; Rühfel 1988, 46; fig. 2.
65. 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; E. Simon, Die griechischen Vasen (2nd edn. Munich, 1981), 125-6; 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.
66. On such scenes, see Vedder (n. 7).
67. Cf. the fragmentary stelai: Athens, National Museum 1135, Conze i. 67 no. 298; S. Karusu, ‘Der Grabnaiskos des Alexos’, AM 96 (1981), 179-200, esp. 194-200 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.
68. On such statuettes, cf. Pfisterer-Haas 1989, 36-46.
69. Cf. Clairmont 1993, i. 220.
70. 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.
71. Karouzou 1957; Simon 1963. On the Anthesteria, see E. Simon, Festivals of Attica (Madison, 1983), 92-9; R. Hamilton, Choes and Anthesteria: Athenian Iconography and Ritual (Ann Arbor, 1992), 5-62.
72. Simon 1963, 9; see also L. Deubner, Attische Feste (Berlin, 1932), 94-5; Callim. Aet. fr. 178.
73. Simon 1963, 10.
74. Karouzou 1957, 315; Simon 1963, 10.
75. Rühfel 1988, 48.
76. On such scenes in funerary imagery, see Scholl 1996, 149-59.
77. R. Thönges-Stringaris, ‘Das griechische Totenmahl’, AM 80 (1965), 1-99, esp. 64-5; Vierneisel-Schlörb 1988, 153, n. 9.
78. 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.
79. Cf. p. 290.
80. Clairmont 1970, 86 n. 50; Clairmont 1993, iii. 351 no. 3.429 a.
81. Interestingly, grave reliefs and vases depict nurses with their grown charges, whereas terracotta statuettes usually show them with infants and very young children.
82. Clairmont 1970, 96.
83. 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.
84. 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).
85. 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 J. Wiesner, Die Thraker (Stuttgart, 1963), 38-40 Rühfel 1988, 46-7. On tattoos as a mark of Thracians, cf. Zimmermann 1980.
86. Athens, National Museum 901 (n. 72).
87. 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. 1170 (n. 70).
88. W. L. Westermann, ‘Sklaverei’ (RE Suppl. vi (1935), 923); Ehrenberg 1951, 185; N. Brockmeyer, Antike Sklaverei (Darmstadt, 1979), 129.
89. See Pfisterer-Haas 1989, 37-8.
90. 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.
91. On such statuettes, see n. 89.
92. 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.
93. On this gesture, see e.g. Clairmont 1993 introductory volume, 86; Scholl 1996, 168-70.
94. Raffeiner 1977, 13; Fragiadakis 1988, 137.
95. 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.
96. Pircher 1979, 43.
97. 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.
98. Rühfel 1988, 48.
99. Raffeiner 1977, 26-8; Scholl 1996, 177-9.
100. Cf. Fragiadakis 1988, 135.
101. For additional examples, see Rühfel. 137 nos. 21-8.
102. See e.g. Conze i. 17 no. 42; 41 no. 166; Möbius 1966, 167.
103. 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.
104. Pircher 1979, 41. Epigrams for slaves became much more common in the Roman period.
105. Raffeiner 1977, 13.
106. Raffeiner 1977, 13.
107. See Pircher 1977, 41; Raffeiner 1979, 3; G. Pfohl, ‘Untersuchungen über die attischen Grabinschriften’ (Ph.D. diss., Erlangen, 1953), 22.
108. Cf. Westermann (n. 94), 923; Dem. 48. 58.
109. Dem. 48. 58; Vierneisel-Schlörb 1988, 21 n. 16.
110. On priests and priestesses in ancient Greece, cf. J. Martha, Les Sacerdoces Athéniens (Paris, 1882); D. D. Feaver, ‘Historical development in the priesthoods of Athens’, YCS 15 (1957), 123-58; Turner 1983; Garland 1984; Mantis 1990; Garland 1990.
111. 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; J. P. Vernant, Myth and Society in Ancient Greece (London, 1980), 88 M. Veggetti, ‘The Greeks and their gods,’ in J. P. Vernant (ed.), The Greeks (Chicago, 1995), 254-84, esp. 255-8.
112. Garland 1990, 77, rightly states that priests and priestesses probably received some instruction from their predecessors.
113. 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.
114. Turner 1983, 15-51; Garland 1984, 83-4.
115. 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.
116. 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.
117. Turner 1983, 120-8.
118. 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. 129-40.
119. 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. 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.
120. Feaver (n. 122), 123; Garland 1984, 76-8; Garland 1990, 78.
121. Turner 1983, 236.
122. On the various perquisites of priestesses, cf. Feaver. 384-7; Garland 1984, 85-6.
123. Turner 1983, 401-11.
124. Mantis 1990, 19.
125. See n. 74.
126. 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.
127. See Mantis 1990, 40; Scholl 1996, 138.
128. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin―Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Antikensammlung K 104; see C. Blümel, Die klassisch griechischen Skulpturen der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (Berlin, 1966), 79 no. 92; fig. 126; Mantis 1990, 41; pls. 12 a-b; C. L. Lawton, Attic Document Reliefs: Art and Politics in Ancient Athens (Oxford, 1995), 151-2, no. 164; pl. 86.
129. See e.g. Scholl 1996, 138.
130. Pl. HN xxxiv. 54, 77. On the two statues, see O. Palagia, Euphranor (Leiden, 1980), 40-1; Mantis 1990, 74-5.
131. On keys of Homeric type, see Mantis 1990, 29-30; pls. 49-53; Scholl 1996, 137.
132. Mantis 1990, 41 n. 138. Similar is the treatment of the key on the stele P2 from Rhamnous.
133. Vierneisel-Schlörb 1968, 102; Scholl 1996, 137.
134. 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.
135. Mantis 1990, 42 3.
136. Cf. pp. 296-7.
137. See e.g. Papastavrou 1976, 146; Freyer-Schauenburg 1989, 60. The only scholar who positively identifies her as a priestess is Scholl 1990, 138.
138. Freyer-Schauenburg 1989, 59, 60.
139. 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.
140. Mantis 1990, 40.
141. Clairmont 1993, iv. 70.
142. 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.
143. Mantis 1990, 48. On the importance of the tympanon in the iconography of Kybele, see F. Naumann, Die Ikonographie der Kybele in der phrygischen und der griechischen Kunst (1st. Mitt., Beiheft 28, 1983), 136.
144. Scholl 1996, 140.
145. Clairmont 1970, 98. This plausible interpretation has been accepted by Mantis 1990, 48. On the epigram, cf. p. 298.
146. 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 B. Schmaltz, Untersuchungen zu den attischen Marmorlekylhm (Berlin, 1970), 100-1; Bergemann 1997, 42.
147. Mantis 1990, 55; Scholl 1996, 140.
148. Mantis 1990, 49; Scholl 1996, 140.
149. Scholl 1996, 140.
150. J. Boardman, ‘Recent acquisitions by the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford’, JHS 81 (1961), AR 1960/61, 59.
151. 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.
152. 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).
153. G. Neumann, Gesten und Gebärden in der griechischen Kunst (Berlin, 1965 10.1515/9783110856606), 181 n. 161; Clairmont 1993, i. 320.
154. The identification of the figure as a priestess is questioned by Mantis 1990, 51-2.
155. Mantis. 40.
156. See e.g. Mantis 1990, 52, with bibliography.
157. On this costume, see Palagia (n. 145), 41.
158. On such shoes, see K. D. Morrow, Greek Footwear and the Dating of Sculpture (Madison, 1985), 64, 86.
159. On tainiai worn by priests and priestesses, see A. Krug, ‘Binden in der griechischen Kunst’ (Ph.D. diss., Mainz, 1968), 124-5; M. Blech, Studien zum Kranz bei den Griechen (Berlin and New York, 1982), 309 10.1515/9783110839104.
160. Mantis 1990, 41.
161. Freyer-Schauenburg 1989, 62. The name Choirine is also known from other Attic inscriptions of that time.
162. Schmaltz (n. 161), 104 and n. 184; Scholl 1996, 139.
163. Scholl 1996, 139.
164. See n. 176.
165. For other occurrences of this name, see Papastavrou 1976, 146 n. 2.
166. Mantis 1990, 47.
167. On this formula, see Pircher 1979, 37.
168. On such examples, see On this formula.
169. 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.
170. See e.g. Scholl 1996, 139.
171. 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.
172. 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.
173. Blundell 1995, 110.
174. Eur. Alc. 318.
175. Ar. Thesm. 526-34.
176. Pl. Theait. 149 A-151 C.
177. L. Robert in N. Firatli, Les Stèles funéraires de Byzance gréco-romaine (Paris, 1964), 175-8.
178. On such treatises, see e.g. S. Reinach, ‘Medicus’, DA 3 (1904), 1683 E. D. Phillips, Greek Medicine (London, 1973), 113, 165-6.
179. Krug (n. 192), 196; fig. 87.
180. On such scenes, see Vedder (n. 7).
181. On such scenes. 176.
182. On such scenes. pl. 21. 1. On this marble vase, Paris, Louvre Museum 3115, cf. Clairmont 1993, iii. 244 5, no. 3.375.
183. Krug (n. 192), 196.
184. Pircher 1979, 44.
185. Clairmont 1970, 131; Berger 1970, 162.
186. Daux 1972, 554.
187. R. Norton, ‘Greek grave reliefs’, HSCPS (1897), 41-102, esp. 86; Scholl 1996, 124.
188. 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.
189. Pl. Theait. 149 A. C. Dallas, ‘The Significance of Costume on Classical Attic Grave Stelai: A Statistical Analysis’ (D.Phil, diss., Oxford, 1987), 124 suggested that Phanostrate was a metic and that her gravestone was erected in the plot of her host family.
190. Clairmont 1970, 131.
191. Hom. Il. vi. 490-3; Xen. Oec. 7. 6 Fantham 1994, 103; Blundell 1995, 141; Reeder 1995, 200; L. Larsson Lovén, ‘Lanam fecit: woolworking and female virtue’, in L. Larsson Lovén and A. Strömberg (eds), Aspects of Women in Antiquity (Jonsered, 1998), 85-95.
192. 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.
193. Stears 1995, 123; Reeder 1995, 201.
194. Ar. Ran. 1346-9; Plut. Alc. 1; Pl. Lys. 208 D; Resp. v. 455 C. See also Herfst (n. 20), 103.
195. E. W. Barber, Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years (New York and London, 1995), 278.
196. Barber (n. 213), 278.
197. On such scenes in vase-painting, see H. Killet, Zur Ikonographie der Fran auf attischen Vasen archaischer und klassischer Zeit (Berlin, 1994), 115-24.
198. One has to be cautious when interpreting such scenes, as not all spinning women are respectable; cf. D. Williams, ‘Women on Athenian vases: problems of interpretation,’ in A. Cameron and A. Kuhrt (eds), Images of Women in Antiquity (Detroit, 1983), 92-106, esp. 94-6; Nevett (n. 3), 16.
199. Killet (n. 216), 117.
200. Cf. Vierneisel-Schlörb 1988, 15-6; Scholl 1996, 95; Bergemann 1997, 83. J. Thimme, ‘Die Stele der Hegeso als Zeugnis des attischen Grabkults’, AK 7 (1964), 16-29 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.
201. 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. G. Despinis, ‘Ein Grabrelief aus Oropos’, in H. U. Cain (eds), Festschrift für M Himmelmann (Mainz, 1989), 179-82; pl. 32. 4.
202. M. Salta, ‘Attische Grabstelen mil Inschriftcn’ (Ph.D. diss., Tübingen, 1991), 192 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.
203. Cf. Blümel (n. 143), 24 no. 16.
204. Scholl 1996, 174.
205. See Clairmont 1993 introdnetory volume, 91-2; Scholl 1996, 96.
206. Cf. p. 294.
207. Pomeroy (n. 12), 60; Just 1989, 112.
208. Cf. Just 1989, 118; D. Cohen, Law, Sexuality and Society: The Enforcement of Morals in Classical Athens (Cambridge, 1991), 148-6310.1017/CBO9780511597381.
209. Leader 1997, 688.
210. Sourvinou-Inwood 1995, 116; Stears 1995, no; Leader 1997, 684-6.
211. Turner 1983, 390-401; Mantis 1990, 46; H. McClees, ‘A Study of Women in Attic Inscriptions’ (Ph.D. diss., New York, 1920), 5-16.
212. Turner 1983, 1, 397-403; W. Burkert, Greek Religion, Archaic and Classical (Oxford, 1995), 97.
213. Stears 1995, 124.
214. Cf. n. 133.
215. Feaver (n. 122), 123; Scholl 1996, 147.
216. Turner 1983, 383-4; 403, 407, 411-12.
217. Sourvinou-Inwood 1995, 112.
218. 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.
219. Cf. an incident with the priestess of Athena Polias, the city's patron divinity, described in Hdt. viii. 41; Blundell 1995, 161.
220. Gould 1980, 50-1 = 39-41 nn. 92-9; Turner 1983, 17; W. Schuller, Frauen in der griechischen Geschichte (Konstanz, 1985), 25 Sourvinou-Inwood 1995, 112; Scholl 1996, 147.
221. Cf. the case of the priestess Lysimache; CEG ii. 757; Fantham 1994, 93-5; Sourvinou-Inwood 1995, 117 n. 55.
222. Cf. p. 289.
223. 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 E. Pfuhl and H. Möbius. Die ostgriechischen Grabreliefs (Mainz am Rhein). i. 136 no. 404; pl. 67.
224. Raffeiner 1977, 86.
225. 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.
226. Raffeiner 1977, 88-9.
227. Pfisterer-Haas 1989, 32.
228. Raffeiner 1977, 96-7, considers the picture emerging from slave epigrams to be idealized and distant from reality. In his review, H. W. Pleket, CR 29 (1979), 176 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.
229. Herfst (n. 20), 52-3, 78-9.
230. Zimmer (n. 6), 79.
231. 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.
232. The sole example of a nurse shown on her memorial as an attendant is a stele from Mytilene dating from the first century BC., i. 511.
233. Clairmont, The sole example of a nurse shown on her memorial as an attendant is a stele from Mytilene dating from the first century BC., calls it a bird; Daux 1972, 535 identifies it as a doll or a flower.
234. Clairmont, Clairmont., states that the left hand may also have held something, though admitting that the relief surface there is too weathered to tell.
235. Some commentators, like Meritt and Bradeen, identify this figure as a youth.
236. Vierneisel-Schlörb 1968, 102 identifies it as a flower.
237. Freyer-Schauenburg 1989, 59; Clairmont 1993, i. 330.