The Female Athletic Costume at the Heraia and Prenuptial Initiation Rites

The Female Athletic Costume at the Heraia and Prenuptial Initiation Rites Author(s): Nancy Serwint Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 97, No. 3 (Jul., 1993), pp. 403-422 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/506363 Accessed: 02/02/2009 06:30 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aia. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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The Female Athletic Costume at the Heraia and Prenuptial Initiation Rites NANCY SERWINT Abstract

wears clothing regarded as typical of the other gender. The assumptionof traitsassociatedwith the opposite sex allows the initiate to return to the necessarystate of primordial totality,thus facilitatingthe passage from childhood to adulthood.*

The quadrennialfestivalof the Heraiaat Olympiaprovided one of the few attestedvenues for girlsto participate in athletic competitions in Greece during the Classical period. One of the most unusual features recorded for the Heraia was the athletic costume worn by the participants, a short chiton affixed to the left shoulder leaving the right shoulder and breast bared. Since the literary sources treating other contemporaryathletic festivalsdo not mention this garment, the dress was perhaps unique to the Heraiaritual.Previousexaminationsof this athletic costume have attributedits derivationto the dress worn by the Amazons,Artemis, and Atalanta.A closer investigation of the Heraia outfit, however, reveals that it was inspired by the Eodig;, a garmentworn by men engaged in strenuous activity.The appropriatenessof the E/oit;g as an iconographicsource for the Heraia running dress becomes clear if the festival of Hera is correctly interpreted as a prenuptialfemale initiationrite. Cross-cultural studies of social puberty rituals in premodern societies identifya common featureof such rites:the initiateadopts characteristicsof the opposite sex and, in many instances,

Within the last few decades, the influence of the feminist movement has spawned an abundant literature devoted to issues connected with women in antiquity. This trend in scholarship has had an impact on the world of the ancient Greeks even in that most powerful bastion of the male preserve-athletics and agonistic competition.' One of the aspects of culture regarded as distinctive to the Greeks was their pursuit of sport. Athletic competition, particularly at the major Panhellenic sites, was a means by which the Greeks promoted and celebrated their ethnic bonds.2 As important as athleticism was to the Greeks, participation was, never-

* This article derives from a chapter of my doctoral dissertationsubmittedto PrincetonUniversityin 1987. I am grateful for research grants from the College of Fine Arts and the School of Art at ArizonaState Universitythat made possiblecontinuedexplorationof this subject.It is a pleasure to record my gratitude to Thomas Scanlon who read a preliminarydraft and made manyimportantsuggestions;to the editors and anonymousAJA reviewerswho offered perceptive observations;and to Kevin Pettyand Jennifer Kratz who helped assembleresearchmaterials.I also wishto thank AndrewStewartfor providingthe photographof the Motya Charioteer/Youth(fig. 3). The followingabbreviationshave been used: G. Arrigoni, "Donnee sport nel mondo Arrigoni greco religione e societa,"in G. Arri-

previouslypaid to the subject.The most important,recent scholarshipincludesScanlon;T. Scanlon,"VirgineumGymnasium," in W.J. Raschke ed., The Archaeology of the Olympics

(Madison 1988) 185-216; Arrigoni; P.A. Bernardini, "Aspects ludiques,rituelset sportifsde la course feminine dans la Grece antique,"Stadion 11/12 (1986/1987) 17-26; and C. Berard, "L'impossiblefemme athlete,"Istituto Universitario Orientale. Annali, Sezione di archeologia e storia antica

8 (Naples 1986) 195-202. For a more general discussionof female athletes see S.G. Miller ed., Arete2(Berkeley 1991) 99-104; W. Sweet, Sport and Recreation in Ancient Greece

(New York 1987) 134-44; B. Spears, "A Perspectiveof the History of Women'sSport in Ancient Greece,"Journal of SportHistory 11 (1984) 32-47; M. Lammer,"Womenand Sport in AncientGreece,"Medicineand Sport14 (1981) 16-

goni ed., Le donne in Grecia (Bari

Boardmanand Arrigoni Eliade

Mallwitz

23; and H.A. Harris, GreekAthletes and Athletics (Blooming-

1985) 55-201. LIMC II.1 (1984) 940-50, s.v. Atalanta (J. Boardmanand G. Arrigoni).

ton 1966) 179-86. Earlierbibliographythat should be cited includes B. Schroder,Der Sportim Altertum(Leipzig 1927)

162-66; W.W. Hyde, Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek

AthleticArt (Washington,D.C. 1921) 48-50; E.N. Gardiner,

M. Eliade, Rites and Symbolsof Initiation,

trans.W.R.Trask (rev.ed., New York 1975). A. Mallwitz,"Cultand CompetitionLocations at Olympia,"in W.J. Raschke

Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals (London 1910) 47-48; L. Meyer, De virginum exercitationibus gymnicis apud veteres (Klausthal 1872); andJ. Krause, Die Gymnastikund Agonistik

derHellenen1 (Leipzig 1841; repr. Wiesbaden1971) 31-33. 2 In total for the Archaic and Classical periods alone, victorsat Olympiacame from 79 different citiesin the Greek world,from Akragasin the westto Magnesiaon the Meander in the east. The range of victors from such diverse Greek cities did much to reinforce notions of ethnic solidarity;see Harris(supran. 1) map 2.

ed., The Archaeology of the Olympics

(Madison1988) 79-109. T. Scanlon,"The Footraceof the Heraia at Olympia,"AncW9 (1984) 77-90. Specializedtreatmenton the subjectof female participation in Greek athleticsis a relativelyrecent phenomenon and marksa departurefrom the rathersuperficialattention Scanlon

American Journal of Archaeology 97 (1993)

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theless, open primarily to men and boys. Although females took part in athletic pursuits, that participation was limited. Ancient writers and epigraphic evidence attest that females participated in a variety of athletic events throughout later antiquity, especially during the Roman period; it appears, however, that the earliest competitions open to women and perhaps the only Panhellenic competition permitted them during the Classical period in Greece, aside from equestrian events, were running contests.3 Prior to the first century A.C., the quadrennial celebration of the Heraia at Olympia was the most renowned athletic festival in which females could compete in running events.4 Scholarly discussion of the Heraia has treated numerous important aspects of the festival including its relationship with the Olympic Games, cultic associations, and the date of its foundation.5 No discussion has yet addressed in any detail, however, one of the most visible manifestations of the Heraia agon-the athletic dress of its participants. Indeed, the iconography of the unusual athletic costume has been misunderstood and incorrectly attributed. An examination of what the female participants at the Heraia wore, and, more important, why they wore it, promises to illuminate questions involving the ritual nature of the festival. Pausanias preserves much of the little that is known of the Heraia festival and passes on information that is helpful in establishing the iconography of the female athlete: Everyfourth year there is woven for Hera a robe by the Sixteen Women, and the same also hold games called Heraea. The games consist of foot-races for maidens. These are not all of the same age. The first to run are the youngest;after them come the next in age, and the last to run are the oldest of the maidens. They run in the followingway:theirhairhangsdown,a tunicreaches

3 The ancientsources mention that Greek girls took part in running contests at several different sites throughout Greece;however,these contestsappear to have been purely local. The purpose of these races will be addressedlater in the text. When females participatedin equestrian events, they did so as owners of horses and chariotteams. 4 An important inscription found at Delphi dated ca. A.D. 45 records the athletic record of three sisters from Tralles who had success in athletic competition at various venues in Greece.The inscriptionindicatesthat by that time opportunitiesfor Panhelleniccompetition for females had greatlyexpanded. Sites where the sisterswon events include Delphi, Isthmia,Nemea, Sicyon,Athens, and Epidauros;see L. Morettied., Iscrizioniagonistichegreche(Rome 1953) 63 and SIG3(1924) 802. 5 See L. Weniger,"Das Hochfest des Zeus in Olympia," Klio 5 (1905) 1-38, esp. 22-28; RE 8 (1913) 407-18, s.v.

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to a little above the knee, and they bare the right shoulder as far as the breast. These too have the Olympic stadiumreservedfor their games, but the course of the stadiumis shortened for them by about one-sixth of its length. To the winning maidens they give crowns of olive and a portion of the cow sacrificedto Hera. They may also dedicate statues with their names inscribed upon them. Those who administerto the Sixteen are, like the presidentsof the games, marriedwomen. The games of the maidens too are traced back to ancient times; they say that, out of gratitude to Hera for her marriagewith Pelops, Hippodameiaassembledthe Sixteen Women,and with them inauguratedthe Heraea.6 Several points in Pausanias's description are key: at the Heraia, unmarried girls compete in running events; they wear a distinctive dress-a short tunic that leaves the legs below the knees exposed and the right shoulder and the right breast bare;7 the hair is unbound and hangs loose; the winners are given olive crowns and are allowed to dedicate images of themselves; and the games are old. THE DATE OF THE HERAIA

The stated antiquity of the Heraia festival has generated much discussion. In the present investigation, the date for the inception of the athletic competition is important in determining when the specific athletic dress worn by competitors may have been adopted. That date may also have implications for the few artistic representations that seem to reflect the running costume. One of the most vexing problems in dealing with the Heraia is that there is no secure date for the beginning of the festival. Regarding the institution of the games, Pausanias merely offers the tantalizing plum that they are agXaia. Because Pausanias (5.16.4) states that it was Hippodameia herself who assembled the Sixteen Women and inaugurated the games in thanksgiving for her

Heraia(K.Ziegler);O.-W.von Vacano,"UberMadchensport in Griechenland.Beilagezu: DasProblemdes alten Zeustempels in Olympia,"(Diss. Cologne 1939); and Scanlon. 6 Paus. 5.16.2-4. Translation by H.A. Ormerod, Loeb ClassicalLibrary.Omerod'stranslationof Etxovag as "statues" might be better rendered as "image"or "likeness"; eixovag can mean "statue"as well as "picture." 7 All commentatorson Pausanias'spassageon the athletic costumeat the Heraiahave assumedthat a&XQt TOVoTiTovS means "up to and including the breast."Thomas Scanlon has pointed out to me, however, that in at least two other in an exclusivesense passages,Pausaniasuses the word &XQL meaning "up to but not including"(5.8.5 and 5.13.10). It should be noted that athleticrepresentationsof female runners, when the right shoulderis bared, also expose the right breast.

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THE FEMALE ATHLETIC COSTUME AT THE HERAIA

marriage to Pelops, he intimates that cult activity existed already in the prehistoric period. Archaeological evidence should be brought to bear on determining the inception of ritual activity; however, resolution of the issue is clouded because that evidence has been variously interpreted. It has been argued that Olympia may already have been the locus of cult practice, perhaps as early as the Early or Middle Bronze Agewith worship being devoted to divinities associated with fertility-and possibly continuing into the Late Bronze Age.8 Hippodameia, arguably, was introduced into Olympia, along with Pelops, in the Late Mycenaean period and may have been grafted onto a preexisting female fertility cult.9 The archaeological evidence, however, has been reexamined and the early date of cult activity challenged.10 The earliest votives discovered at Olympia are Protogeometric terracottas, and their sporadic appearance might suggest that it was only by the 10th century B.C. that cult worship had been instituted." Moreover, these votives have been associated with the veneration of Zeus.'2 Material evidence for a cult of Hera at Olympia is slight for the pre-Archaic period. It is only around the time of the construction of the first temple to Hera that the quantity of votives associated with the goddess

8

This interpretationwas promoted by W. Dorpfeld and his colleagues on the basis of a row of stones that they believed to have surrounded a large tumulus. Dorpfeld termed the tumulus Pelopion I and dated it to the Mycenaean period; H.V. Herrmannclaimed the structurewas the oldest at Olympiaand backdatedit to the third millennium B.C. Another building phase at the site, which included the remains of apsidal structures as well as burial pithoi and pottery,was dated by Herrmann to the end of the EH III period;it has been suggested that fertilitydivinities(perhaps Gaia, Eileithyia, and Themis) as well as the pre-Hellenic Kronoswere worshippedby this time. See W.Dorpfeld,"Das Alter des Heiligtumsvon Olympia,"AM 31 (1906) 205-18; and Alt-Olympia:Untersuchungen und Ausgrabungen(Berlin 1935) 118, fig. 24; also H.V. Herrmann,Olympia:Heiligtum und Wettkampfstitte (Munich 1972)62-65 and the discussion by K. Herrmann, "Olympia:The Sanctuaryand the Contests,"in O. Tzachou-Alexandried., Mind and Body:Athletic Contestsin AncientGreece(Athens 1989) 47-68, esp. 48-50. 9 See H.V. Herrmann, "Zur altesten Geschichte von Olympia,"AM 77 (1962) 3-34. 10 Mallwitzdiscountsthe existence of a prehistoriccircuit wallsurroundinga tumulus, which Dorpfeld had associated with the worshipof Pelops.Although MiddleHelladichouse remainsand Mycenaeanalluvial-derivedsherdswere found, Mallwitzmaintainsthat there is no evidence for a sanctuary or cult practice at Olympia in the Mycenaean period or earlier. See Mallwitz;and A. Mallwitz,Olympiaund seine Bauten(Munich 1972) 133-37. 1 D. Heilmeyer,Friiheolympische Tonfiguren(OlForsch7, 1972) 11. 12

See Mallwitz 89.

405

increases, suggesting that a cult devoted to Hera was certainly in place by ca. 600 B.C.'3 Games in honor of the goddess may have been instituted by this time as well.14 An argument for dating the Heraia even earlier than the late seventh century is based on the correspondences between Hera's festival and certain features of the Olympic Games. The sacrifice of a heifer recalls the hecatomb sacred to Zeus; the olive wreath reward is common to both as is the honor of erecting victor memorials, be they statues or other types of images; and running events at the Heraia recall the early period of the Olympic festival when footraces were the only competition.'5 Although it cannot be determined whether the Heraia may have been influenced by the Olympic Games or vice versa, the parallels between the two festivals might suggest either contemporaneity or a derivation from an early, common source.16 Revisionist dating for the inception of the Olympic Games now challenges the traditional date of 776 B.C.'7 Archaeologically, there is nothing to support that date as the beginning of the Olympic agon. Indications for the first of the five stadia at Olympia go back to the mid-sixth century, although it is possible

13

C. Morgan,Athletesand Oracles:The Transformation of Olympiaand Delphi in the Eighth CenturyB.C. (Cambridge 1990) 42. Also see A. Mallwitz,"DasHeraion von Olympia und seine Vorganger,"JdI81 (1966) 310-76. 14 It is impossible to establish whether cult and games were instituted at the same time or whether games were added to earliercult activity.For a discussionof the relationship between agonistic competition and cult worship at Olympiasee Morgan(supran. 13) and Mallwitz. 15 The tradition of the early Olympic Games being devoted solely to running contests is preserved in Paus. 5.8.6. Pausaniasrecords that the unbroken run of the Olympic Gamesbegan in 776 B.C. with the stade race. This was the only event held until Olympiad 14 (724 B.C.) when the diaulos (the double-courserace) was added. The dolichos (long-distancerun) was added in 720 B.C. It was only in Olympiad 18 (708 B.C.) that other competitionswere introduced-the pentathlonand wrestling. 16 It has been argued that because the Olympiccompetition waslateralteredand expanded from a programdevoted exclusivelyto running events, whereasthe Heraia preserves only running competition, the games dedicated to Hera predate the OlympicGames;see Weniger (supra n. 5) 2528; L. Weniger,"VomUrsprunge der olympischenSpiele," RM 72 (1917-1918) 4-5; as well as Scanlon84. 17 Mallwitz98-103. The authenticityof the victor list as preservedby Hippiasof Elis,whichreckonsthe firstOlympic victoryas 776 B.C., has long been suspect.See J.P. Mahaffy, "Onthe Authenticityof the OlympicRegister,"JHS2 (1881) 164-78; and A. Korte,"DieEntstehungder Olympionikenlisten,"Hermes39 (1904) 224-43.

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that the running competitions that supposedly constitutedthe earliestgames were held elsewhere in the Altis prior to the construction of stadium I. Much more importantin establishingthe date for the Olympic Games is the existence of nearly 200 wells in the vicinity of the stadium.'8 The contents of their fill suggest that the wells servicedspectatorsand athletes. The earliest date for the wells has been given as the late eighth century B.C., and that would support a date of 704 B.C. rather than 776 B.C. for the institution of Olympiccompetition.19If, indeed, the Heraia festivaland running contest followed the Olympic model, they likely postdate the end of the eighth century. Thus far, the archaeologicalevidence, the institution of Hera's cult at Olympia,and affinitieswith the Olympic Games might argue for a date for the institution of the Heraia agon sometime between 700 and 600 B.C. An additionalproblemin establishinga date for the Heraia festival arises in a slightly later passage in Pausanias (5.16.5-6) in which he gives a different account of how the selection of the Sixteen Women was made. After the death of Damophon, the tyrant of Pisa who had ruled during the 580s B.C.,20 16 women were chosen from the villagesof Elis to settle the longstanding differences between the people of Pisa and Elis. Pausaniasgoes on to say that after the selection (&anoTroTov), the chosen women were entrusted with the management of the Heraia games. Thus, Pausanias in one instance associates the Sixteen Women with the establishment of the games by the mythological Hippodameia and later associates the selection of the same group of women with a historical

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as a reorganizationof an already existing festival devoted to Hera.21This would be in keeping with the reorganizationof the games at other Panhellenicfestivalsduring the early sixth century.22Whetheror not the reorganization of the Heraia is accepted as dating to the 580s, it is certain that the running contests that

constituted the games and, likewise, the other characteristicsof the festivalthat Pausaniasmentions were alreadyin place by the end of the first quarter of the sixth century. ARTISTIC REPRESENTATIONS

OF THE HERAIA

COSTUME

Artisticrepresentationsof female athletes are few and only two sculpturaldepictions have been associated with participantsat the Heraia festival. A relationship between these representations and female runners at Olympia has been based on close correspondences between their dress and the description of the Heraia costume offered by Pausanias. British Museum Statuette

A bronze statuette of a female runner from the BritishMuseum (fig. 1) preservesan athleticcostume identical to that mentioned by Pausanias.23 The short

chiton worn by the figure falls tojust above the knees. The chiton is pinned on the left shoulder and passes beneath the right arm leaving the right breast exposed. The figure holds up the bordered hem of the chiton skirtwithher left hand, presumablyto facilitate movement. The right elbow is slightly bent with the hand held forward.The extended strideconfirmsthe

occurrence sometime during the 580s. The seeming

figure as a runner. The left leg leads, whereas the right leg is drawn back with only the toes resting on the ground, and it is in that direction that the figure

inconsistency of Pausanias's comments may be reconciled if the historical selection of the Sixteen Women and their direction of the games are viewed

looks. The figure's hair is rolled over the forehead and cascadesdown onto the back,reminiscentof Pausanias'sstatementthat the Heraia runners wore their

18

Mallwitz 98-103.

19 This would corroborate the argument that Olympia served as a rural cult place for local chiefs and only developed into a major cult site during the eighth century; see Morgan(supra n. 13) 56. 20 Elsewhere (6.22.3) Pausaniasstatesthat in Olympiad48 (588 B.C.) Damophonwasking of Pisa.His death is accepted as occurringtowardthe latterpart of the decadewhereupon he was succeeded by his brother Pyrrhos;see R. Sealey,A Historyof theGreekCityStates,700-338 B.C. (Berkeley1976) 41 and A. Andrewes, The GreekTyrants(London 1966) 6263. N.G.L. Hammond discusses the subsequent disputes between Elis and Pisa to control Olympiain CAH III, 35253. 21

See Scanlon 84-88.

22 For a general discussionof the reorganizationof local festivalsat Delphi, Nemea, and the Isthmusinto Panhellenic competitions,see Gardiner(supran. 1) 62-68. 23 British Museum,inv. 208; ht. 0.11 m. Importantbibliography includes H.B. Walters, Catalogueof the Bronzes, Greek,Romanand Etruscanin the BritishMuseum(London Bild1899) 19, no. 208, pl. 3; E. Langlotz,Friihgriechische hauerschulen(Nuremberg 1917) 88, no. 41, pls. 48a, 53a;

U. Hafner, Das Kunstschaffen Lakoniens in archaischer Zeit

(Diss. Munich 1965) 144-45; W. Lamb,AncientGreekand Roman Bronzes2(Chicago 1969) 97-98, pl. 33a; and M. Herfort-Koch, Archaische Bronzeplastik Lakoniens (Minster

1986) 28-29, 94, cat. no. 50, pl. 6.6. A more complete bibliographyis cited by Arrigoni 157.

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THE FEMALEATHLETIC COSTUME AT THE HERAIA

407

B Fig. 1. Bronze statuetteof female runner. London, BritishMuseuminv. 208. (PhotoTrusteesof the BritishMuseum) hair loose. Her slender physique is rather delicate and almost belies the athleticism of the pose. A date for the statuette is not fixed, although ca. 560 B.C. is commonly accepted.24 The questionable attribution to a Laconian workshop and the reported provenance of the figure (museum records indicate Yugoslavia, whereas various scholars report Albania) have brought into question whether the figure can, in fact, be associated with the Heraia race. The stylistic characteristics of Laconian bronzes have long been argued and attributions of important pieces disputed. General features that may be attributed to Laconian workshops are slender bodies with sinewy legs, arched and swelling thighs, immature

chest development for female figures, and long faces with strongly marked features. The British Museum runner fits well within Laconian stylistic criteria. The fact that this statuette was found in the northwest need not obviate Laconian origins. Laconian bronzes were widely traded and have been found at various sites throughout the Mediterranean. Their existence at Olympia could easily reflect the presence of Laconian craftsmen at that site who produced figurines for a specialized clientele desiring a memento of the Heraia race.25 That a representation of this particular race was intended is guaranteed by the unique costume-it accords exactly with Pausanias's description of what was worn by runners at the games for Hera.

24 Langlotzand Lamb (supra n. 23) argue for a date of 560 B.C.; Herfort-Koch(supra n. 23) offers 540 B.C.; and Hafner (supran. 23) and Scanlon79 are comfortablewith a date in the second half of the sixth century. 25 On the basisof the numberof Laconianbronzesfound at Olympia,Morgan(supran. 13) 37 positsthe existenceof craftsmenfrom the environs of Spartaworkingat the Panhellenicsanctuaryand arguescloseinteractionamongartists. Lamb'sscenario(supran. 23) 85-that bronzevendorshail-

ing from variouslocaleswould eagerlypeddle their waresat Greek sanctuarysites like Olympiaand pander to the demands of the buyer-seems likely. For a discussionof Laconianworkshops,in general,see C. Praschniker,"Bronzene Spiegelstiitzein Wiener Hofmuseum,"OJh 15 (1912) 21952; Langlotz(supran. 23) 93-94; L.O.K.Congdon,Caryatid Mirrorsof AncientGreece(Mainz1981)46-50; and HerfortKoch(supran. 23).

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Vatican Runner The marble statue in the Galleria dei Candelabri of the Museo Pio-Clementino in the Vatican has long been thought to represent a runner in the Heraia festival (fig. 2).26 Like the British Museum statuette, the Vatican figure also wears a brief chiton, although one that is shorter and exposes most of the thighs. The chiton is knotted on the left shoulder but has slipped off the right, baring the right breast. A wide, flat girdle lies beneath the breast and is tied at the back, keeping the top of the chiton in place. In emphasizing the sheerness of the cloth and the light weight of the material, the sculptor also articulates the roundness of the left breast and the curve of the thighs. The hair is thick and loose, flows in deep waves covering most of the forehead, and falls onto the back of the shoulders; curiously, the strands on the nape of the neck are brushed forward unnaturally. The statue represents a girl in an active pose; the left leg is forward with the foot flat on the ground, while the right leg trails with the toes resting on an oval elevation. The head is slightly turned toward the left with the gaze held downward. A rectangular strut connects the outside of the mid-lower left leg with a tree stump support that carries a palm branch in relief on the front. The lower arms and hands are mannered, but this is due to the restoration. The right arm hangs loosely alongside the body, while the left upper arm is drawn back and bent at the elbow with the lower arm extending forward.27 Although the statue is commonly regarded as a representation of a female athlete, discussion of the figure type of the Vatican sculpture has not been without controversy. Whereas most scholars who discuss the statue describe it as representing a girl in the act of running, others have identified the figure as a dancer, drawing comparisons with the Kalathiskos

26 Vatican,inv. 2784; ht. 1.54 m. Formerlyin the Barberini Collection,the statuewasacquiredby the Vaticanin 1772 under ClementXIV and was restoredin 1783. Restorations include a large piece of the nose, both arms to the middle of the upper arm, the front of the firstfour toes of the right foot, the left smalltoe, part of the tree trunksupportwith a sectionof the plinth,and the backof the roundeddiscunder the rightfoot; the ancientplinth,whichexistsin three pieces, is set into a modern one. Importantbibliographyincludes: G. Lippold, Die Skulpturendes vaticanischenMuseums3.2 (Berlin 1956) 370-74, no. 222, pls. 161-62; Helbig4I, 44041, no. 558 (W. Fuchs);E.Q. Visconti,MuseePie-Clementin III (Milan1818) pl. 27; B. Schr6der,"DievaticanischeWettlauferin,"RM 24 (1909) 109-20, figs. 1-3; A. Della Seta, Ausonia8 (1915) 1-6, fig. 1; M.Ahrem,Das Weib "Atalanta," in derantikenKunst(Jena 1924)fig. 110;von Vacano(supra

Fig. 2. Statueof female runner.Vatican,MuseoPio-Clementino inv. 2784. (Photo VaticanMuseums)

n. 5); B.S. Ridgway, The Severe Style in Greek Sculpture

(Princeton1970) 136 n. 8, 143 n. 3; see Arrigoni 160 for completebibliography. 27 After examining the remains of the original supports for the arms on the Vaticanstatue, I would question the positionsof the restoredarms.On the right hip and behind the presentlevel of the wristare the remainsfor the support for the right hand; this suggests that the right lower arm may be too far forward.On the bottom edge of the girdle above the left hip is a square protuberancemarking the remains of a support for the left arm. Given the rather artificialfall of the chiton skirton top of the support,might the figure have originallyheld the hem of her chitoniskos with her left hand, much like the BritishMuseumstatuette? The manneredhand gesturesare, of course, dictatedby the contemporarytasteof the restorer.

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THE FEMALEATHLETIC COSTUME AT THE HERAIA

409

dancer reliefs in Berlin, which show young girls in similar poses.28 Both the Vatican statue and the Kalathiskos dancers wear short chitons that end well above the knee. The similarity ends there, however, for the chitons of the Kalathiskos dancers cover both breasts unlike that worn by the Vatican statue. Moreover, the position of the feet of the Vatican statue accords with that of a runner in mid-stride, although her step is a bit shorter than that of the British Museum statuette and a bronze statuette of a female runner in Athens (discussed below). The position of the feet of the Vatican statue is also comparable to the footing marks on the top of an inscribed statue base from Delphi that records victories in the stade race of the three daughters of Hermesianax of Tralles; the footing marks indicate that the forward foot of the dedicatory statues was the left, with the right trailing behind, and presumably the girls would have been depicted in a pose suitable to their athletic event.29 The date of the Vatican statue also has been contested. Many scholars accept the statue as representing a Roman copy after a Greek bronze original dating to ca. 460 B.C.30 An alternative date of the first century B.C. has also been proposed, however, with the suggestion that the statue represents an eclectic pastiche emanating from the studio of Pasiteles.31 Reservations about a Severe Style date for the original concern the long limbs of the statue, which are argued to be a hallmark of the Pasitelean school, the style of the drapery, the supposedly unprecedented costume, and the anomalous hairstyle. Even though attentuated limbs have been associated with Pasiteles, it should be remembered that Pasiteles and his circle were credited with making adaptations from figures of the Severe period, and their treatment of limbs may be in some debt to earlier styles. Many Severe-period works themselves reflect elongated arms and legs, such as the male figures from the east pediment of Olympia (particularly Zeus, Pelops, and Oinomaos), the Artemision Zeus, and the slightly earlier Tyrannicides. Sim-

Fig. 3. Charioteer/Youthof Motya.Motya,MuseoWhitaker. (PhotocourtesyAndrew Stewart)

28

See C. Blumel, Katalogder SammlungantikenSkulp-

turen 4: Riimische Kopien griechischen Skulpturen desfiinften

Jahrhundertsv. Chr. (Berlin 1931) pl. 77; and Schroder (supra n. 26) 117.

29 Supran. 4 and H. Pomtow,"NeuedelphischeInschriften,"Klio 15 (1918) 71-77, nos. 100, 101. 30 Lippoldand Ahrem (supran. 26) would date the work slightlyearlierto 470 B.C., whereasDella Seta (supran. 26) attributesit to Myronor a predecessor;von Vacano (supra n. 5) acceptsa fifth-centurydate for the original. 31 See Fuchsand Ridgway(supran. 26). Ridgwayfurther argues the point in "The Bronze Apollo from Piombinoin the Louvre,"AntP 8 (Berlin 1967) 60. The statue has also been associated with the circle of Stephanos, a pupil of Pasiteles;see M. Borda,La scuoladi Pasitele(Bari 1953) 8788.

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ilarly, Roman copies of original works dating to the end of the EarlyClassicalperiod, like the Tiber Apollo and the Apollo in Kassel,exhibit the same lengthening of limbs and broad, muscular upper torsos that may find some reflection in the rather masculine musculature of the Vaticanstatue. The unusual type of dress, which exposes the right breast,worn by the Vaticanstatuecan be documented earlierin the costumeof the BritishMuseumstatuette, indicating that already by the middle of the sixth century B.C. the garment type had found its way into the repertoire of apparel worn by female runners. Reservations about the Early Classical date of the originalof the Vaticanstatue based upon the supposedly anomalous treatment of the drapery can be countered by the close similarityto the draperyof the Charioteer/Youth of Motya (fig. 3).32 Both the Motya

figure and the Vatican statue wear sheer chitons revealing the form of the body beneath. Shallow,wavy furrows, which are similarly rendered on the two statues, suggest the texture of the linen cloth, and both chitons are held in place by a wide band tied around the upper chest. The MotyaYouth,commonly regarded as a Greek original, has been dated by most scholars between 470 and 460 B.C. Its date would indicate that by the Early Classicalperiod a parallel existed for the treatmentof the materialof the chiton seen on the Vatican statue. The Vatican Runner's coiffure with its fall of heavy fringe onto the forehead is not singularbut is mirroredby haircombed forward from the crown seen on several EarlyClassicalheads, certainlythe most notable being the Blond Boy in the Acropolis Museum.33

Troubling features of the Vaticanstatue, however, remain: the curious arrangement of strands on the nape is unusual and perhaps can only be explained as the taste of the copyist. Equally peculiar is the

32

The statue is now housed in the Museo Whitakerin Motya.For a discussionof the problematiciconographyof the statue, see V. Tusa, "Lastatua di Mozia,"PP 38 (1983) 445-56, figs. 1-7; A.S. Giammellaro,"Eine Marmorstatue aus Mozia (Sizilien),"AntW 16 (1985) 16-22; and V. Tusa, "The 'Youth of Motya',"in S. Moscatied., The Phoenicians (Venice 1988) 538-41, with figs. MostrecentlyMalcolmBell has argued that the statue, carved by a Greek sculptorearly in the second quarter of the fifth century, represents a charioteerfrom Akragas.Bell maintainsthat the statue was taken to Motya after the Carthaginianssacked Akragasin 406 B.C.: M. Bell III, "The Charioteerof Motya,"AJA 95 (1991) 298 (abstract). 33 Athens, AcropolisMuseum689; see M. Brouskari,The AcropolisMuseum:A DescriptiveCatalogue(Athens 1974)fig. 234. 34 Athens, National Museum, CarapanosCollection 24.

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elongated oval face with its delicatelytreated mouth. Although it is clear that the Vaticanstatue cannot be regarded as an exact copy of an original dating to the Early Classical period, stylistically the statue owes much to that period and may well be an adaptation of a work dating to 460 B.C. The costume of the Vatican Runner, like that of the British Museum statuette, bears a close correspondence to Pausanias's description of the dress worn by the female runners at the Heraia-the garment is

short, ending above the knee with the right shoulder and breast uncovered. In the case of the bronze statuette, its date would suggest that by the mid-sixth century, artistic representations already reflected the garment worn in the Heraia races. If the date of the statue from which the Vatican work was probably adapted is accepted as ca. 460 B.C., this would confirm that the iconography of the Heraia costume continued in vogue in the mid-fifth century. There is reason to believe that the Vatican Runner and the British Museum statuette do, indeed, reflect a specific athletic costume rather than generic running attire. Several other Archaic bronze statuettes of female runners have been recovered that show a slightly different dress. The well-known bronze statuette of a female runner in Athens is characteristic of the type (fig. 4).34 She wears a short chiton, securely belted at the waist. Like other figures of female runners, she holds up the hem of the chiton with her left hand, presumably to aid in running. What is different about her dress is that the bodice covers both shoulders as well as both breasts. This statuette and other similar examples are likely to reflect the running costume of girls at local agonistic festivals that are documented in ancient literature.35 Nowhere else where mention is made of females engaging in athletic activities is a dress that exposes the right breast recorded

See C. Carapanos,Dodoneet ses ruines(Paris 1878) 180, pl. 11.1; also S. Papaspiridi,Guidedu MuseeNational:Marbres, bronzeset vases (Athens 1923) 209, no. 24. The statuette is dated to ca. 560 B.C. 35 Other representationsof female runners are shown in a similarathleticcostume: Sparta, Museum 3305: ca. 570560 B.C.; C. Christou,ArchaiaSparti (1960) 112, fig. 33r; also Palermo,MuseoNazionale,inv. 8265: ca. 540-530 B.C.; the figure wears a longer garment, which is nonetheless hiked up with the right hand; P. Zancani Montuoro and U. Zanotti-Bianco,"Leucippidi,"in Heraionalla FocedelSele 2 (Rome 1964) 341-48 and Arrigoni 158-59. Also young girl runners who appear on the Brauron krateriskoivariously appear nude or wear a short chiton covering both breasts;see L. Kahil, "L'Artimisde Brauron: Rites et mystere,"AntK 20 (1977) pls. 18-19 and fig. 3. The Brauron race will be discussedfurther below.

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THE FEMALEATHLETIC COSTUME AT THE HERAIA

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Fig. 4. Bronze statuette of female runner. Athens, National Archaeological Museum, CarapanosCollection24. (Photo National ArchaeologicalMuseum, Athens) except in references to the races held in honor of Hera at Olympia.36 The Vatican Runner and the British Museum statuette depict a distinctive costume that refers to a unique competition-the Heraia.

Amazons

The Heraia costume, appearing in Greek art by 560 B.C. and documenting an athletic festival devoted to Hera, undoubtedly derives from a specific iconographic source. That source has been variously attributed.

The Heraia outfit has been termed "Amazon-style" and linked with a particular mode of dress that has been associated with the mythological race of warrior women.37 Ideally, an assimilation of characteristics associated with Amazons would be well suited to the female athlete. Like the Amazon, the Greek female athlete has seemingly forsaken traditional female roles. Unlike her contemporaries, the female athlete focuses on the outdoors rather than indoors, on movement rather than passivity, on being unclothed rather than clothed. The short chiton exposing the right

36 Pausanias (3.13.7) describesa band of young girls, the Dionysiades,dedicatedto Dionysos,who hold racesin honor of the god in Sparta. No mention is made as to what was worn during their ritual race. The notorious, suggestive dress of Spartan girls, the "thigh flashers,"whom Peleus chastises in Menelaus'spresence (Eur. Andr. 598), is describedas a loosened peplos thatbaredthe thighs.Elsewhere

(Plut.Vit.Lyc. 14.2, 4) Spartangirls are reportedas exercising nude with their male peers. Mentionis also made of an elite corpsof girlsin Spartawho attendedthe maiden Helen before her marriageto Menelausand raced with her along the banksof the Eurotas(Theoc. Id. 22-25). Whatthe girls did or did not wear is not stated. 37 Scanlon79-81 and Scanlon(supran. 1) 186.

ICONOGRAPHIC COSTUME

SOURCES FOR THE HERAIA

412

NANCY SERWINT

breast might aptly symbolize these antitheses.38 However tempting it may be to associate Amazons and female athletes, an examination of the various costumes worn by Amazons in Greek art shows that their dress cannot have been the source for that worn at the Heraia. Amazons begin to appear in artistic representations as early as the eighth century B.C.; they do not become popular, however, at least in Attic art, until the second quarter of the sixth century. Thereafter, they are frequent subject matter in the black-figure style, depicted as heavily armed hoplite warriors or else represented as wearing Oriental costume.39 Their dress as hoplites consists of short, short-sleeved chitons, cuirasses, and greaves. Eastern attire reflects dress derivative of Thracian and Scythian warriors. The short chiton, chlamys, boots, and the characteristic half-moon shield, the pelta, reflect a Thracian flavor, whereas the appearance of close-fitting jackets worn with patterned pants or trousers worn with short

38

Page DuBoisarguesthat the Amazonmythrepresented for the Greeks a necessary foil against which they could define what it meant to be Greek. Inherent in the figure of the Amazon was the contrastbetween foreigner and Greek as well as that betweenmale and female; such contrastswere exploited by the Greeks, especiallyduring the Classicalperiod, in pursuit of an ethnic identity;see Centaursand Amazons: Women in the Pre-History of the Great Chain of Being

(Ann Arbor 1982). Likewise, W.B. Tyrrell contends that Amazoncustomsrepresentedfor the Greeksthe reversalof the ideal by which men and women, particularlyin Athens,

were to live their lives; see Amazons: A Study in Athenian

Mythmaking(Baltimore 1984). That polarityand antithesis were requisite in Greek thinking is established by G.E.R. Lloyd in Polarity and Analogy (Cambridge 1966).

39 The earliest depiction of an Amazon in art is found on a terracottavotive shield from a bothros at Tiryns (Nauplia 4509). The crudely rendered Amazonomachyis difficult to read, but the Amazonsappearto be wearinglong, patterned skirtsbelted at the waist; it is uncertainwhether the torsos are bare or covered. See D. von Bothmer,Amazonsin Greek Art (Oxford 1957) 1, no. 1, pl. I.la-b; this volume still remains the standard work on artistic representationsof Amazons.See von Bothmer (supra)6 for a discussionof the sudden arrivalof Amazons in the Athenian artisticrepertoire beginning ca. 575 B.C. 40 See H.A. Shapiro, "Amazons,Thracians and Scythians," GRBS 24 (1983) 105-15. Shapiro argues that the introduction of Thracian and Scythian iconography for depictionsof Amazons in Attic vase painting owes its inspiration to historicalcircumstancesassociatedwith Peisistratos. The introductionof Thraciandress may reflectPeisistratos's hiring of Thracianmercenariesduring the 540s. The inspiration for Scythian dress in Attic vase painting possibly derivesfrom PeisistratosemployingScythianmercenariesto form a corps of archersin his army.

[AJA 97

chitons on top are indicative of Scythian dress.40 Similar iconography is to be found in red-figure vase painting. Sculptural representations from the Archaic and Early Classical periods typically depict Amazons in short chitons, sometimes with a corselet and Oriental dress.41 Important mural paintings of Amazonomachies, especially those in the Theseion and the Stoa Poikile, appear to have rendered Amazons in the standard iconography typical for the time.42 The iconography of the Amazon changes during the Classical period-depictions begin to show the exposure of a breast. Representations of Amazons portrayed this way consistently appear in sculpture rather than vase painting.43 Well-known reflections of the new iconography are to be seen in several figures of Amazons having one or both breasts bared, which have been associated with the sculptural contest at Ephesos.44 One might like to think that such an illustrious competition, supposedly involving several of

41 Depictionsare abundantlycited in von Bothmer (supra n. 39). Relevantexamples include fragments from a terracotta pediment at Corinth (von Bothmer 116 and pl. 66.1); the marblemetopes and acroteriafrom the Athenian Treasury at Delphi (P. de la Coste Messeliere,FdD 4.4 [Paris 1957] pls. 37-48); the marble pedimental figures from the Temple of Apollo Daphnephorosat Eretria(G. Lippold,Die griechischePlastik[Berlin 1950] 72-73, pl. 20.3-4); and one of the metopes from Temple E at Selinus (O. Benndorf, Die

Metopen von Selinut [Berlin 1873] pl. 7).

42 Paus. 1.17.2-3 mentions the paintingsin the Theseion and the Stoa Poikile (1.15.1-3). Because the painted decorationfrom the two monumentswasliberallyquoted in Attic red-figurevases, one must look to vase painting for indicationsof how Amazonshad been depictedin the battlescenes. TypicallyAmazonsweara varietyof costumes-short-belted chitons;long-sleeved,tight-fittingjackets with either matching trousersor pantsdecoratedin checkeredpatterns;peploi belted with sashes worn over ornamentedleggings. See J.P. Barron,"NewLight on Old Walls,"JHS92 (1972) 20-45 as well as the discussionin LIMCI.1 (1981) 586-653, esp. 72833 and 739-70, s.v. Amazones(P. Devambez). 43 To my knowledge, there is only one example of an Amazonwithexposed rightbreastin vase paintingthatdates early in the Classical period. A red-figure volute krater attributedto the Painterof the Wooly Satyrs,ca. 450 B.C., shows an Amazonomachy with the female combatants dressedin the variedAmazoncostumeof trousers,leggings, and short tunics alreadyestablishedduring the Archaicperiod; a single Amazon wears a short tunic held at the left shoulder exposing the right breast.See G.M.A.Richterand

L.F. Hall, Red-Figured Athenian Vases in the Metropolitan

Museumof Art (New Haven 1936) 126-29, cat. no. 98, pls. 97, 98, and 171. 44 For the reference to the sculpturalcontest at Ephesos, see PlinyHN 34.53. Of those sculpted replicasof Amazons

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THE FEMALEATHLETIC COSTUME AT THE HERAIA

413

the great names of Greek sculpture, was the vehicle whereby a novel depiction of the Amazon was introduced. The many problems associated with the contest's historicity are well known, however, and most scholars regard Pliny's reference to the competition and the sculptors involved as spurious.45 Consequently, the sculptural prototype for the Amazon with bared right breast might well be sought elsewhere. The west metopes of the Parthenon are known to have carried an Amazonomachy; unfortunately, they are among the worst-preserved metopes on the temple and illustrate nothing of the costume of the Amazons.46 Ancient sources record that an Amazonomachy also decorated the outside of the shield of the Athena Parthenos.47 On those copies of the shield that preserve the battle, the Amazons are consistently depicted as wearing short chitons with the right breast exposed.48 The Parthenon building accounts date the Parthenos statue to 438 B.C. Because the cult statue of Athena stood in the very innovative Parthenon temple, is it possible that the depictions of Amazons on the shield of Athena may have introduced a new iconography for Amazons? Even though the iconography for Amazons had changed by the time of the construction of the Parthenon and the first documented sculptural appearance of the new type ap-

pears on the shield of the cult statue, it is fair to raise the question why this was so. Literary testimonia do not record specifics of Amazon dress, but many sources relate in detail a consistent Amazonian feature: the absence of the right breast.49 The projection of the breasts was thought to hinder Amazons in their pursuit of warfare; the removal of the right breast would presumably facilitate throwing the javelin and drawing the bow. The mutilation of the right breast arrested its growth, and its bulk and strength were then diverted to the right shoulder and arm. Although the left breast was retained for nursing, the removal of the right breast supposedly freed the Amazon from maternal attachments. Nowhere in vase painting or in sculptural depictions, however, is there a representation of a single-breasted Amazon. It appears that the convention that developed, at least in sculpture, of undraping one breast may refer symbolically to the mutilation of the breast but does not actually record it.50 Interestingly, the first mention in literature of Amazons removing the right breast is contained in a fragment of Hellanicus.51 The Ionian historiographer from Lesbos records in the first published history of Athens an elaboration of the Amazon myth-the warrior women removed their right breasts by cauterization.

associated with the contest, the Mattei, Landsdowne (or Sciarra),and Capitoline(or Sosikles)typesall haveone breast exposed; however,it is only the Capitolinetype that exposes the right breast (the Matteiexposes the left whereasin the Landsdownetype, the entire left breastand only part of the right are uncovered).This may be significantbecauseit has been argued that only the Capitolineis a true fifth-century type and formed the core of the original monument at Ephesos. The date commonly given to the original of the CapitolineAmazon is 440-430 B.C. See B.S. Ridgway,"A Story of Five Amazons,"AJA 78 (1974) 1-17, pl. 1 and A. Stewart,GreekSculpture(New Haven 1990) 162-63, figs. 388-90. 45 The literatureon the competition,as well as the problems associatedwith attributionsof the so-called Ephesian Amazons, is vast. See Ridgway(supra n. 44) for the more important bibliographyand her concise discussion of the difficultiesinvolved in substantiatingthe contest. 46 See the discussion in F. Brommer, Die Metopendes Parthenon(Mainz 1967) and the synopsis in von Bothmer (supran. 39) 208-209. 47 Plut. Vit. Per. 31.2-5 discusses the trial and death of Phidiasand includesthe damninganecdotethat the sculptor had crafted likenesses of himself and Pericles among the Greeks and Amazons on the Parthenos shield. Dio Chrys. 12.6e also mentions the story of the portraits. Pliny HN 36.18 refers to the Amazonomachyin his discussionof the cult statue of Athena. 48 The StrangfordShield (London, British Museum,inv. 302), the fragmentin the MuseoChiaramontiin the Vatican

(inv. 1738), the Lenormant Shield (Athens, National Museum, inv. 128), and the Patras fragment all clearly show Amazons in short chitons that have slipped off the right shoulder.The Conservatorifragment(Rome, Museo Nuovo Capitolino, inv. 916) is too badly worn and damaged to permit an examinationof the iconography.For discussion of the iconographyof the Parthenosshield, critiquesof the variouscopies, and inclusionof majorbibliographysee most importantlyE.B. Harrison,"The Compositionof the Amazonomachyon the Shieldof Athena Parthenos,"Hesperia35 (1966) 107-33; N. Leipen, AthenaParthenos:A Reconstruction (Toronto 1971); and V.M. Strocka,"DasSchildreliefZum Stand der Forschung,"in E. Berger ed., ParthenonKongrefiBasel: Referateund Berichte4. bis 8. April 1982 1 (Mainz1984) 188-96. The motif of the exposed right breast is also preserved on Piraeus reliefs I and II in the Piraeus Museum;see V.M.Strocka,PirdusreliefsundParthenonschild (Bochum 1967) esp. figs. 8 and 10. 49 Diod. Sic. 2.45.3 and 3.53.1-3; Apollod. Bibl. 2.5.9; Strab. 11.51; Arr.Anab. 7.13.2; andJust. Epit. 2.4.9-10. 50 I very much agree with Ridgway'sobservationthat the Greeks, especially during the Classicalperiod, had an abhorrence for depicting graphic scenes of mutilationor the gore associatedwith fatal wounds: "Steeped in symbolism and idealizing tradition, the Greek sculptor could not express the final degradationof a human being through mutilation and horror."See B.S. Ridgway,"WoundedFigures in Greek Sculpture,"Archaeology18 (1965) 47-54, esp. 54. 51 Hellanicusfrs. 16-17 (FGrHist3 B, 45-46).

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Hellanicus's history is likely to date to the last decade of the fifth century;52 it is plausible, however, that he derived his information on this most unique Amazon custom from an earlier fifth-century source, the Hippocratic treatise Airs, Waters, Places, which also mentions the Amazonian mutilation of the breast.53 Might Hellanicus's account of the Amazon practice have appeared in Periclean literary circles prior to its publication or, at the very least, might the Hippocratic treatise have been known to the same literary circle and subsequently influenced the iconography of Amazons as depicted on the Parthenon?54 If the Parthenon depictions, and more specifically, those representations of Amazons on the outside of Athena's shield, introduced a new iconography for Amazons, the new motif did not become rigidly fixed because already on the west and east sides of the Bassae frieze only some, but not all, of the Amazons are depicted in a short chiton that has fallen off the right shoulder.55 Although there is a close correspondence between the dress associated with female runners at the Heraia and the iconography established for Amazons in the Classical period, the iconography of the Amazon wearing a short chiton pinned on the left shoulder and exposing the right shoulder and breast appears to have evolved too late to have served as the prototype for the costume of the Heraia. If the date of the original of the Vatican statue is accepted as ca. 460 B.C., it still antedates the appearance of similarly 52 Jacoby holds that Hellanicus'shistory of Athens was not published before 407/6 B.C. and probablysoon after 404/3 B.C.; for a discussionof the date see F.Jacoby,Atthis: TheLocalChroniclesof AncientAthens(Oxford 1949) 1. 53 Hippoc.Airs, Waters,Places 17. See also Tyrrell (supra n. 38) 21. One can continue to speculate whether mythographersoriginatedthe story of the Amazoncauterizationof the right breast in the fifth century or whether mention of the practicein Hellanicus and the Hippocratictreatise derives from some earlier lost source. Certainlyan epic poem that promoted the exploits of the Athenian hero Theseus and his confrontationswith the Amazons would be appropriate. That such a poem had once existed is suggested by the reference in Arist. Poet. 8 to a single work dealing with Theseus. Likewise,Plut. Vit. Thes.28 refers to an author of the Theseid.For a discussion of the epic tradition of the Theseus legend see G.L. Huxley, GreekEpic Poetryfrom Eumelosto Panyassis(Cambridge,Mass. 1969) 116-18. 54 Tyrrell (supra n. 38) argues that during the fifth century the Amazon myth was deliberatelyfostered to relieve tensions concerning women, marriage, and sexuality that had developedin Athens. The embellishmentof the Amazon myth to include the practiceof the mutilationof the breast would have powerful symbolicvalue and would surelyserve to reinforce the proper roles of wife and mother for Athenianwomen.

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dressed Amazons on the shield of Athena by two decades. The problem is compounded by the bronze statuette of a female runner in the British Museum, which is shown in the same costume and is dated to 560 B.C. Artemis The goddess Artemis has also been suggested as a model for the Heraia costume.56 Because of the associations of Artemis with Amazons, the outdoors, and youth, depictions of the goddess might have influenced the iconography of the female athlete at the Heraia. The relationship of Artemis with Amazons is close; several sources credit the Amazons with the foundation of the sanctuary of Ephesian Artemis.57 Closer still is Artemis's relationship with youth. In antiquity she was conceived of as a nurturer of children. In Homer, Artemis cares for the orphaned daughters of Pandarus;58 she is called xovQoTQO(og because of her knowledge of how to heal young children;59 an epigram of the Hellenistic poet Phaedemus records a prayer to Artemis in thanksgiving for an easy delivery and a prayer for the delivered child;60 the Tithinidia (festival of nurses) was celebrated in her honor in Laconia; and children's hair was dedicated to Artemis at the Apaturia in Athens.61 Artemis was also associated with the athletic exercises of youth. Pausanias records that an image of Artemis stood in the gymnasium at Sicyon;62 at Elis there was a sanctuary of hers near the gymnasium; and she was called Philomeirax (friend/lover of youth).63 55

Those blocks that preserve this motif are H12-537, H14-531, H15-534, H16-535, H20-532, and H23-539. See C. Hofkes-Brukker,Der Bassai-Fries(Munich 1975). 56 Harris (supra n. 1) 180 posits that Artemis may have been the inspirationfor the Heraia dress because he claims she wearsa similaroutfit while hunting. 57 Paus. 7.2.6-7; Callim.Dian. 237; and Hyg. Fab. 223 and 225. 58 Hom. Od. 20.71. In Aesch. Supp. 676 Artemis-Hecate is invoked to watch over childbirth. Artemis is also worshipped by the title Locheia(Childbirth)and is regarded as a birth goddess who brings release from the agony of labor (Eur.Hipp. 161). In Aesch. Ag. 133-37, she is credited with caring for all young things. For a more complete discussion of the goddess'sspheres of influence, see W. Burkert,Greek Religion,trans.J. Raffan (Cambridge,Mass. 1985) 149-52, 218-21 and W.F.Otto, The HomericGods,trans. M. Hadas (London 1954) 80-90. 59 Diod. Sic. 5.73. 60 Anth. Pal. 6.271.

For a discussionof the Apaturiaand the cutting of the hair of youths (Koureotis)that occurredon the third day of the festival,see H.W.Parke,Festivalsof theAthenians(Ithaca 1977) 88-92. 61

62 Paus. 2.10.7. 63 Paus. 6.23.8.

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Given Artemis's close connection with youth and athletic pursuits, one might expect her dress to serve as an influential source for the Heraia costume; however, the evidence from vase painting and sculpture indicates the contrary. In the corpus of red-figure depictions of the goddess, only in a few cases is she depicted in a short chiton, sometimes embellished with a draped fawn skin.64 Otherwise, Artemis's usual dress in vase painting is a long chiton (sometimes a peplos), often worn with a diagonal himation or an animal pelt.65 Nowhere in sculptural depictions is Artemis represented as having the right breast bared.66 Artemis is sometimes depicted in sculpture wearing a chiton that slips off her left shoulder. The most obvious examples are the Artemis from the east frieze of the Parthenon and the Artemis of Gabii in the Louvre. The motif of exposed breasts and shoulders has symbolic significance and the baring of the left side connotes motherhood, care of the young, and fertility.67 Clearly, Artemis's dress had no effect on the iconography of the female costume of the Heraia festival since her varied costume in the Archaic and Classical

64 A lekythos in Cambridge (Cambridge 147) attributed to the Klugmann Painter shows Artemis in a short chiton; see ARV2 1198.5; CVA Cambridge 1, pl. 29.8. Also see a calyx-kraterin a privatecollectionin Switzerlandattributed to the BarclayPainter;ARV2 1681. In both depictions Artemis also wears a fawn skin on top of the chiton and in neither case is the right breast exposed. Thomas Scanlon has alertedme to two other instancesof Artemisrepresented in a short chiton: a krateriskosof the Brauroniantype in a Swiss private collection (Kahil [supra n. 35] pl. 20); and a volute krater by the Karneia Painter, Tarentum, National Museum 165 (see E. Simon, Gotterder Griechen[Munich 1969] pl. 148). 65 See LIMC II.1 (1984) 618-753, s.v. Artemis(L. Kahil). 66 There are only two instancesin sculpturethat I know of in which Artemis is depicted wearing a short chiton that has fallen off the right shoulder: a marble statuetteof disputed date in the BritishMuseum(A.H. Murray,A Catalogue of Sculpturein theDepartmentof Greekand RomanAntiquities in the BritishMuseum3 [London 1904] 21, no. 1559) and a votive relief from Tyndaris, Sicily, dedicated to Artemis EvntQafia (L.R. Farnell, The Cults of the GreekStates 2 [Oxford 1896] 535, pl. 32.1). Farnell 531 makes reference to the votive relief but cites no bibliography. 67 See E.B. Harrison, "Two Pheidian Heads: Nike and Amazon,"in D. Kurtz ed., The Eye of Greece(Cambridge 1982) 53-88 and esp. 86-87 for a discussionof the slipping chiton motif; also see I.S. Mark, "The Gods on the East Frieze of the Parthenon," Hesperia 53 (1984) 289-342, esp. 293-94. If the identificationof Artemis on the Parthenon frieze is based on cult and allusionsto the goddess's associationwith fertility,then the parallelwith the Artemis Gabii is apt because the statue is thought to have been the

415

periods never shows her depicted with the right breast exposed. Atalanta Atalanta and her association with hunting and athletic activities has suggested her to some scholars as a model for the Heraia costume.68 As was the case with the Amazons and Artemis, a close look at artistic depictions of Atalanta will reveal that this is not the case. Representations of Atalanta in vase painting and sculpture from the Archaic and Classical periods never show her in a costume that exposes only the right breast.69 In depictions showing Atalanta participating in the Calydonian boar hunt, she is dressed as a huntress wearing a short chiton, sometimes with an added animal pelt.70 As a runner racing against her suitor Hippomenes (or Meilanion/Hippomedon) Atalanta is clothed in a long chiton that covers both breasts.71 During the sixth and fifth centuries, representations of Atalanta wrestling with Peleus as part of the games for Pelias become popular. In this activity she is most often represented wearing trunks, a short chiton, or the perizoma, the brief girdle around the

cult representationof the goddess in the Brauroniaon the Acropolis. 68 See RSGR III (Paris 1920) 94, no. 2 for associationof the BritishMuseumstatuettewith Atalanta.For a discussion of the VaticanRunner and a possible relationshipwith the mythologicalAtalanta,see C. Seltman,"Atalanta,"TheCornhill Magazine983 (1950) 303-304. Also see Arrigoni59-60, 157; and A. Ley, "Atalante-Von der Athletin zur Liebhaberin:Ein Beitragzum Rezeptionswandeleines mythologischesThemas auf Vasendes 6.-4 Jhs. v. Chr.,"Nikephoros 3 (1990) 31-72. 69 See Boardmanand Arrigoni. On a late Athenian redfigure pelike (Leningrad,HermitageB4528) from Benghazi dated to ca. 370 B.C., Atalanta is depicted kneeling and drawingher bow,wearinga pointed Orientalcap, boots, and a chitoniskosthat falls over the torso in such a way as to reveal bothbreasts;see Boardmanand Arrigoni 941 no. 9. 70 One of the earliestdepictionsof the mythologicalhunt is seen on the FrancoisVase (Florence,MuseoArcheologico, 4209; Boardmanand Arrigoni941, no. 2; ABV 76.1). Here Atalantais represented wearing a short peplos. Elsewhere she wearsa knee-lengthdress or a short chiton, for example on a black-figureCaeretan hydria (Copenhagen, National Museum, 13567; dated to the last quarterof the sixth century; Boardmanand Arrigoni941, no. 12). 71 On an Attic white-groundlekythos(ClevelandMuseum of Art 66.114), ca. 500-490 B.C., attributedto Douris, Atalanta wearsa long chiton and a himation;she is pursued by Eros who carriesa whip and a wreath, so the race in which Atalantabecomes the love prize of Hippomenes/Meilanion/ Hippomedonis presumed.See Boardmanand Arrigoni947, no. 90; CVACleveland 1, pls. 32-34.

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loins.72 In the fifth century Atalanta is shown wearing a scant bikini costume, and beginning in the fifth and continuing into the fourth century, Atalanta may appear nude.73 Surveying the representations of Amazons, Artemis, and Atalanta, it appears that the female athletic costume at the Heraia has no foundation in the iconography of mythological figures who might be regarded as having an affinity with female athletes. The derivation for the dress must lie elsewhere.

[AJA 97

The Male Et~wiS An examination of a particular article of male dress will reveal a possible source for the garment worn by female athletes at the Heraia. The chiton was one of the principal garments of both men and women in the Greek world.74 The short version of the chiton could be worn by Greek women as an undergarment, and it also appears as the costume of servants and on

females in action.75 The typical undergarment for men was a short chiton, sewn up the sides with openings for the head and arms. The short chiton could also be worn as an outer garment for men and was regularly adopted by figures engaged in strenuous activity, especially soldiers.76 A variation of the short chiton, termed the /eotig (fig. 5), was fastened only on the left shoulder and reached mid-thigh length.77 The garment left the right shoulder uncovered, freeing the arm for ease of action. It was the dress par excellence for workers and is so referred to in literature.78 As such, it appears to have been the characteristic costume of Hephaistos, the patron god of craftsmen. The /?ciLg was also worn by slaves, laborers, soldiers, sailors, and artisans and was the dress of apobatai, which confirms it as a military garment.79 It is seen on the Parthenon sculptures and is postulated as the dress of the cult statue of Hephaistos in the Hephaisteion in Athens.80 The eot?gi also appears

72 ForAtalanta wearingtrunks,see the black-figurehydria from Veii attributed to the Atalanta Group, ca. 550 B.C. (ManchesterMuseum, III, H, 5; ABV 91.3; Boardmanand Arrigoni945, no. 63) and a later black-figureneck amphora from Nola attributedto the Diosphos Painterand dated to the early fifth century (Berlin, Staatliche Museum, 1837; ABV 509; Boardman and Arrigoni 945, no. 71). Atalanta faces Peleus,ready to grapple and wearinga short tunic;see the black-figuredinos fragmentsfrom Athens, ca. 560 B.C. (Athens,NationalMuseum 15466, Acr. 590; Boardmanand Arrigoni945, no. 62). Atalantawearsthe perizomaon a blackfigure skyphos attributed to the Krokotos Group, ca. 500 B.C. (London, British Museum, 1925.12-17.10; A.D. Ure, JHS 75 [1955] 94, figs. 2-3; Boardman and Arrigoni 945, no. 69). 73 The best-known representationof Atalantain a brief bikini outfit is the Attic red-figure cup from Kerch in the Louvre (Paris,Louvre CA 2259), ca. 450-440 B.C.; Boardman and Arrigoni 945, no. 60; and ARV2797.137. Atalanta holds a pick while wearing a bra and trunks as well as an exercise cap. Atalantaappears as a nude athlete on a now lost Etruscanscarabthat had been dated to the first half of the fifth century B.C. (Boardmanand Arrigoni945, no. 61; A. Furtwangler,Die antikenGemmenII [Leipzig 1900] 77.3, 183, fig. 125, pl. 16.21; J. Boardman,ArchaicGreekGems [London 1968] 111-12, pl. 24, no. 339). A later example of a nude Atalantain the presence of Peleus includes a redfigure cup from Vulciby the Jena Painter(Paris,Cabinetde Medailles, 818), dated to the early fourth century (ARV2 1512.23; Boardmanand Arrigoni 947, no. 87). For a brief discussionof femaleswearingthe perizomaand the abbreviatedbikini-likesport costume, see L. Bonfante, EtruscanDress(Baltimore1975) 21. 74 A large numberof studieson ancientcostumeand dress are available.The most helpful for this discussionare the extensive entry in RE 3 (1899) 2309-35, s.v. XTiwv (W. Amelung); F. Studniczka,Beitrdge zur Geschichteder altgriechischenTracht 6 (Abhandlungendes archdologisch-epigraphischenSeminaresder Universitit Wien, Vienna 1886); M. Bieber, GriechischeKleidung (Berlin 1928); M. Bieber,

desgriechischenTracht(Berlin 1934); Entwicklungsgeschichte L. Heuzey, Histoiredu costumeantique (Paris 1922); E.M. Evans, Chapterson GreekDress (London 1893); E.B. Abrahams, GreekDress(London 1947); M. Johnson ed., Ancient GreekDress (Chicago 1964), which is an illustratededition combiningEvans'sChapterson GreekDressand Abrahams's GreekDress;A.W. Barker, "A Classificationof the Chitons Worn by Greek Women as Shown in Worksof Art," (Diss. Univ. of Pennsylvania1923), reprintedin the Proceedingsof theDelawareCountyInstituteof Science9:3; and E. Gullberg and P. Astr6m, The Threadof Ariadne:A Studyof Ancient GreekDress(SIMA21, Goteborg 1970). 75 Examplesof females wearing the short chiton are numerous: the various depictions of Amazons, Artemis, and Atalantanoted above; figure N from the west pediment of the Parthenon(F. Brommer,Die Skulpturender ParthenonGiebel[Mainz 1963] pl. 3); some of the pedimental figures from the Temple of Asklepios at Epidauros (J.F. Crome, Die Skulpturendes Asklepiostempels von Epidauros[Berlin 1951] no. 9, pls. 13-15); and many of the Amazons decoratingthe friezesat Bassaeand Halikarnassos(Hofkes-Brukker [supran. 55]; R. Lulliesand M. Hirmer,GreekSculpture2 [New York 1960] pls. 201-207; and B. Ashmole, Architect and Sculptorin ClassicalGreece[New York 1972] 147-220, figs. 168-200). 76 Relevantexamplesare numerousbut, in particular,see severalyouthson the Parthenonfrieze: North XXXI, North XLII, and WestXII; F. Brommer,Die Parthenonfries(Mainz 1977). 77 'EcopCd literallymeans "off the shoulder"and is derived from ?t and dliog. 78 Ar. Eccl. 267; Lys. 662, 1021. The same associationof the EoCtgiS with a workinggarmentis made still laterin Plut. Vit. CatoMaj. 3.2; Plutarchrecords that Cato would wear the FCd?giS while he workedon his farm in the winter. 79 Xen. Mem. 2.7.5 associatesthe garment with artisans. Hesychius,s.v.EoitCg,saysthe garmentis a chiton for slaves. 80 See Parthenon frieze West IV, West VIII, and North XVII. For a discussionof the cult statues in the Hephaisteion, see E.B. Harrison, "Alkamenes'Sculptures for the

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was so typical of active males, there is no reason to doubt that the ewtoiSgwas worn earlier in the Archaic period, certainlynear the end of the first half of the sixth century when the Heraia was already in existence and by the time the EotCig costume appears on the British Museum statuette of ca. 560 B.C.82 The fcoiSg as a garment was readily visible, was worn

extensively by men, and was, above all, functional. Giventhe fact that, in some sense, female athleteswho participatedin the Heraia were engaging in athletic exercises normallyreserved for males, it seems plausiblethat the garmentadopted for female athleticparticipantsat the Heraia should be that worn by men. THE E_QMIXAS RITUAL DRESS

Fig. 5. Warriorwearing ecopiSg;.(From L. Heuzey, Histoire du costume antique [Paris 1922] fig. 24)

frequently on painted vases depicting laborers and active males throughout the fifth century.81 Depictions of the e'c0o g appear in Archaic and Classical art and predate the Vatican Runner, who wears the e'1otig, as well as the earliest depictions of Amazons wearing this costume. Because the garment

Hephaisteion:PartI, The Cult Statues,"AJA81 (1977) 13778; Harrison argues that the statue of Hephaistoswore an 81 Depictionsinclude a red-figurecup from the Athenian Acropolisattributedto Euphroniosthat depictsthe wedding of Peleus and Thetis (Athens, Acropolis 176; ARV2 17.18); two red-figurecalyx-kratersby the AltamuraPaintershowing Hephaistos's return to Olympos (Vienna 985, ARV2 591.20; and Naples, Stg. 701, ARV2 581.21); a red-figure bell-kraterby the KomarisPainter,a contemporaryof Polygnotos, showing a potter at work (Oxford 526; ARV2 1064.3);and a red-figurepelike by the Pan Paintershowing a fisherman wearing the E'o.ig (Vienna 3727; ARV2 555.88). The ?ot[iSg also appears on an Attic red-figure pyxis by the Wedding Painter, ca. 450 B.C., illustratinga scene from Aeschylus'sDikktyoulkoi (Princeton,C. Clairmont Collection; ARV2 924.35; and A.D. Trendall and T.B.L.

Webster, Illustrations of GreekDrama [London 1971] 31, cat.

II, 3; ill. II, 3, p. 30). For other examplesof representations of the mythof Danaeand Perseuson Seriphosdated to 460450 B.C., which show fishermen wearing the etoptig, see J. Oakley, "Danaeand Perseus on Seriphos,"AJA 86 (1982) 111-15. 82 The antiquityof the apobatescontestwould suggestthat by the mid-sixthcentury the eF/OgiSwas alreadyassociated with this military/athleticevent. For a discussionof the contest, see N. Reed, "A Chariot Race for Athens' Finest:The

During the Archaic and Classicalperiods, female participationin athleticcompetitionwasthe exception rather than the rule. Unlike males who were able to compete in a varietyof athleticevents at many different locations throughout the Greek world, females were restricted to running events held at a limited numberof sites.Whereasthe originalpurpose of male participationin athletic contests may have been religious and tied to the rites performed for the benefit of a deceased hero at the great Panhelleniccenters,83 by the Classicalperiod male athleticprowesscertainly had taken on a functional aspect and was intimately linked with militarytrainingand the abilityto defend one's city.84 Female participation in athletics was, for

ApobatesContestRe-Examined,"Journal of SportHistory17 (1990) 306-17. 83 See N. Yalouris ed., The OlympicGames in Ancient Greece(Athens 1976) 36-37 for a brief discussion of the connection between the institution of Panhellenic athletic competitionand the commemorationof dead heroes. For a more critical examination of the origin of Greek sport in religiousritual,see D. Sansome,GreekAthleticsand the Genesis of Sport(Berkeley 1988) esp. 21-23. L. Roller also addresses the question of athleticcontests honoring the dead in "FuneralGamesfor HistoricalPersons,"Stadion7 (1981) 1-18. 84 The associationbetween athletic and militarytraining was strong by the Classical period. As oblique praise of Athenian athleticability,Herodotus (6.112) comments that the Athenianswere the firstGreekswho were able to charge the enemy at a run as they did against the Persians at Marathon.Criticismruns high throughout the Classicalperiod of the new athletic training regimen that made men unfit for militaryservice. Several authors pointedly decry the divorce of athletic prowess from the ability to defend one's country; see Eur. Autolycus, fr. 282, Nauck; P1. Resp. 404a-b; and Arist. Pol. 4.16; 5.4. For a discussionof the relationshipbetweenmilitaryconsiderationsand ancient combatsports,see M. Poliakoff,CombatSportsin theAncient World(New Haven 1987) 94-103.

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[AJA 97

the most part, not imbued with the same associations of practicality and instead remained linked to religious observance and cult ritual.85 The limited range of sites where female running contests were held during the Archaic and Classical periods and the connection with religious practice suggest something very specific about the nature of female running events. At the festival of the Heraia held at Olympia, unmarried girls competed in races that commemorated the institution of the games by Hippodameia in thanksgiving for her marriage to Pelops.86 Because the competition was restricted to virgins who participated in a ritual race celebrating Hippodameia's marriage, it has been argued that the Heraia races served as a prenuptial initiatory rite.87 The Heraia was not the only festival devoted to marking the transition from childhood to a state that signaled readiness for marriage and adult sexual life.88

Other contemporary parallels exist for the association of female races with prenuptial initiatory ordeals. In Sparta there is evidence that girls raced as part of a festival devoted to Dionysos. Pausanias describes a rite held for Dionysos Kolonatas that involved a footrace staged by 11 girls called the Dionysiades (Daughters of Dionysos).89 The custom of the race was imported from Delphi.90 That the race was part of a prenuptial initiation is suggested by the fact that, at the shrine of Dionysos, the Dionysiades as well as girls called the Leucippides offer sacrifice to the god.91 The connection with sexuality and marriage is strong because of the Leucippides' association with the myth of the abduction of the daughters of Leucippus by the Dioscuri and the resulting issue of sons from the rape.92 In addition to being the god of wine, Dionysos was also associated with vegetation and moisture and, hence, fertility.93 The annual marriage between Dio-

85 The one exception, of course, was Sparta.The institution of female participationin athletics was attributed to Lycurgusand was promoted for eugenic purposes-the desired result was to produce strong women who could more easily endure the rigors of childbirthand produce healthy and robust Spartan babies; see Plut. Vit. Lyc. 14.1, 3-4; Moralia 227d; Xen. Const.Lac. 1.2; Philostr.Gym.27; and Cic. Tusc.2.15. Plato takes up the issue of the practicalityof athletictraining for women and advocatesathleticexercises for the female guardiansof the state; see Leg. 7.804c-805a and 8.833a-834d; Resp. 5.451d-452e. See also the discussion of female athletics and ritual activity in Bernardini (supran. 1).

acteristicsof both types of rites, see A. van Gennep, The Ritesof Passage,trans. M.B. Vizedom and G.L. Caffee (Chicago 1960) 65-70. 89 Paus. 3.13.7. Hesychius, s.v. AlovuvoLtag, says that these were maidens at Sparta who ran a footrace at the festivalof Dionysos. 90 That the race held in Spartawas importedfrom Delphi is telling and probablyalludes to an extremely early cult of the god in Phocisthat waslatertransplantedto Laconia.The existence of early worship of Dionysos at Delphi predating that of Apollo has been argued by W.F.Otto, Dionysus:Myth and Cult, trans. R.B. Palmer (Bloomington 1965) 53; see also Burkert(supran. 58) 161; and M.P. Nilsson, A History of GreekReligion2(Oxford 1949) 208-209. The connection between Dionysosand Apollo is understandablein light of the fact that Dionysoswas regarded as a prophet god (Eur. Bacch.297-300) and his associationwith prophecywas particularlystrong in Phocis (Paus. 10.33.5). Both Apollo and Dionysos received the worship of the Thyiades, a sacred band of women who scaled the heights of Parnassusabove the CorycianCave and went mad in the service of the two gods (Paus. 10.37.5). Tradition holds that after the Titans dismemberedDionysos (Nonnus Dion. 6.155-205), his remains were either interred near the oracle of Apollo (Plut. Mor. 364e-f, De Is. et Os. 35) or buried on Parnassusat the commandof Zeus (Clem. Al. Protr.2.18). Remembranceof an early cult of Dionysosis preservedon the west pediment of the Temple of Apollo, which depicts Dionysos and the Thyiades. 91 For the prenuptialcharacterof the race see C. Calame, Les choeursdejeunesfilles en Grecearchaique1 (Rome 1977) 333; Scanlon 89-90; Scanlon (supra n. 1) 198-202; and Arrigoni65-95, esp. 76-84. 92 Apollod.Bibl. 3.2.2; Hyg. Fab. 80. 93 Diod. Sic. (4.4) states that Dionysos-Sabazioswas the firstto yoke oxen and perfectthe sowingof crops.Vegetative epithets of the god include Dendrites(Plut. Quaest. conv. 675f) and Endendros(Hesychiuss.v. A6OVUoo0EVBotLTic). The god's connectionwith moistureis discussedby Plutarch (Mor.364d, De Is. et Os. 34) in termsof Dionysos'slink with

86 Paus. 5.16.2-4.

87

Scanlon, esp. 87-89. See also the earlier discussionin H. Jeanmaire,Couroiet Couretes(1939; repr. ed., New York 1975)413-18 as well as that by A. Brelich,Paidese Parthenoi 1 (Rome 1969) 241-90. 88 Many general accountsdealing with rites of transition often mistakenlyequate puberty rites with social initiation rites. In many cultures there is a clear distinctionbetween physicalpuberty and social puberty,and this certainlywas the case in ancient Greece. Physicalpuberty is marked by the appearanceof characteristicphysicalfeatures that indicate the physicalmaturationof the individual:for boys, the appearanceof pubic hair and the growth of a beard and, for girls, the onset of the first menses. Rites associatedwith the physicalmaturationof a youth markthe transitionfrom childhood to adolescence. Social puberty is quite different and indicatesthe readinessof the individualto be incorporatedinto adultstatuswithinthe community.Typically,social pubertyritesmarkthe transitionfrom the asexualchildhood state to the world of sexualityof adults. Mostoften there are no physicalmarkersto indicatethe individual'sreadinessto advanceto adult status.Rather,the rites themselvessymbolize the movement from the state of childhood to adulthood and often involve physicalseparationfrom the community for a limited period as well as instructionin the established sexual mores of that community.The Heraiafestivaltypifies social pubertyrites. For an excellent discussionof the char-

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nysos and the wife of the archon basileus in Athens as part of the Anthesteria festival confirms the role of the god in fertility and procreation.94 That a prenuptial rite for girls should be directed to Dionysos is suggested by the strong attraction of women to the cult.95 It is interesting to note that Pausanias mentions that near the place where the girls run for Dionysos in Sparta was the starting place of the race run by the suitors of Penelope; perhaps this refers to a comparable rite involving a footrace for male youths.96 No source attests whether the girls who raced for Dionysos wore a specific outfit. The link between Dionysos and female prenuptial initiation rites may also be traced to Olympia. Pausanias reports in his discussion of the Heraia festival that the Sixteen Women who administer the games are also responsible for arranging choral dances-one in commemoration of Hippodameia and the other for a woman named Physcoa.97 As a maiden, Physcoa came from Elis Koile, and once Dionysos had arrived in the region, he mated with the girl and she produced a son, Narcaeus. Pausanias states that Physcoa and Narcaeus were the first to worship Dionysos in the area. Hence, the duties of the Sixteen Women are several: they organize games and a choral dance for Hippodameia in observance of her marriage to Pelops and a second choral dance to commemorate Physcoa's marriage to Dionysos and the inception of local Dionysiac ritual.98The jurisdiction of the Sixteen Women over cults that are associated with mythological marriages would suggest that the Heraia race represents an important component of a prenuptial ritual.

Elsewhere in Greece young girls participated in running activities that can be linked with local prenuptial rites. The Arkteia cult rituals celebrated for Artemis at Brauron and Munychia are clear parallels; the representations of young girls who appear nude as well as dressed in short chitons running on the Arkteia krateriskoi have been interpreted as participants in an Attic prenuptial ceremonial observance.99 That running contests for girls might have been held on the island of Lesbos has been suggested from Sappho's reference to a "fleet-footed maiden" who was one of her pupils.100 Pausanias also records that at the stadium of Nemean Zeus, games were held in honor of Hera. It is pure speculation whether the Nemean games for Hera involved girls. If such games did exist on Lesbos and at Nemea, it is possible that they incorporated a prenuptial ritual element as at Olympia, Sparta, Brauron, and Munychia. Initiation rituals in the Greek world appear to have been exclusively local activities involving participants from nearby communities. Such was the case with the races at Brauron, Munychia, and Sparta. The Heraia might also fit this pattern. If the festival of Hera follows the model of Olympia as the site of local athletic and ritual activity prior to the end of the eighth century,'?0 early cult activity to Hera might also have been local. The reorganization of the Heraia in the 580s B.C. might signal a change to Panhellenic status in keeping with the trend in male agonistic festivals at Delphi, Nemea, and the Isthmus.102 Given the nature of initiation rituals, several features of the Heraia festival, including the ecowisg cos-

the EgyptianOsirisas a god of moisture,regeneration,and the cyclicalbounty of the earth. The influenceof the cult of Osirison Dionysiacworshipbecomesapparentin the Greek world as early as the seventh century;see Burkert(supran. 58) 163 and W. Burkert,AncientMysteryCults(Cambridge, Mass. 1987) 6. 94 Arist.Ath. Pol. 3.5; Dem. 59.73. 95 Although the cult of Dionysosattractedboth sexes, the appeal to women was particularlystrong as attested to by the existence of groups of votaries who were exclusively women like the Dionysiadesin Spartaand the Thyiades at Delphi. The priesthood of Dionysos Ovk.o.o6Qog on Kos was in the hands of women, and on Mt. Taygetos there was a temple to the god that was open only to women (Paus. 3.20.3). For a discussionof the female votariesof Dionysos, see L.R.Farnell,TheCultsof theGreekStates5 (Oxford 1909) 160. 96 Paus. 3.13.6. 97 Paus. 5.16.6-7. 98 For further discussionof the myth of Dionysos'sarrival in Elis, see C. Ker6nyi,Dionysos,trans. R. Manheim(Princeton 1976) 181-83. 99 For bibliographyon the Arkteia, see the following by L. Kahil: "Autor de l'Art6misattique,"AntK 8 (1965) 20-

32; "Art6misattique,"CRAI 1976, 126-30; "L'Art6misde Brauron:riteset mystere,"AntK20 (1977) 86-98; "Lad6esse Art6mis:mythologie et iconographie,"in J.N. Coldstream and M.A.R. Colledge eds., Greeceand Italy in the Classical World(London 1979) 73-87; "Le'craterisque'd'Art6miset le Brauronionde l'Acropole,"Hesperia50 (1981) 253-63; and "The MythologicalRepertoireof Brauron,"in W. Moon ed., AncientGreekArtand Iconography(Madison1983) 23144. See also T. Scanlon, "Raceor Chase at the Arkteia of Attica,"Nikephoros3 (1990) 73-120; R. Hamilton,"Alcman and the AthenianArkteia,"Hesperia58 (1989) 253-63; and Parke(supran. 61) 137-40. 100 Sappho, fr. 73 (71 Bergk). See Harris(supran. 1) 182. 101

Supra n. 19.

102 Paus. 5.16.4 names

Chloris,the daughter of Amphion of Thebes and Niobe, the sisterof Pelops, as the first victrix in the footrace establishedby Hippodameia. Even though Chloriswas from Thebes and outside the local circle of Elis and Pisa, her participationin the games might be justified becauseshe was the niece of Hippodameia.One might consider, however,whether the legend of Chloris was deliberately fostered to validatethe later Panhelleniccharacterof the Heraiacontest.

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tume, are appropriate for a prenuptial rite. Crossculturalstudies of initiationceremonies have isolated phenomena that occur consistently in contemporary primitivesocieties and that have been documented in premodern societies as well.103The purpose of initiation rites is to produce a radicaltransformationin the individual so that the initiate emerges as a totally different being-an adult member of the community.104In the case of female initiation rites, the desired transformationis one that results in girls ready to assume the socially mandated roles of wife and mother.

Mostinitiationrites begin with the initiateseparated from the mother,sometimesviolentlyso. Symbolically, this represents a break with childhood and with a world that is regarded as maternal and asexual.'05 Candidatesfor initiationoften participatein ritesheld in a specially prepared place, a "sacred ground," which further isolates the initiates from the community. At Olympia, we are told that the girls who participatein the Heraiamake use of a prescribedlocusthe Olympic stadium whose enclosed confines certainlylimit the runners from contactwith the outside, secularworld. Along with separation from the mother, throughout the duration of the initiation rite, the candidate is usually placed under the care of a guardian whose purpose is not only to care for the physicalneeds of the initiate but also to instruct the candidate in the traditional myths and legends of the community.'06 The guardian is always the same sex as the initiate, and in the case of the initiation of girls, the mentorguardians are almost always older females who instruct the candidates in the secrets of fertility and

103 The literature on initiation ceremonies and rites of passageis vast. Mostimportantlysee Eliade(rev.ed. of Birth and Rebirth,New York 1958); M. Eliade, The Quest:History andMeaningin Religion(Chicago1969);van Gennep (supra n. 88); P. Radin, PrimitiveReligion (New York 1937);J. La Fontaine, Initiation (New York 1985); and J.G. Frazer's multivolume The GoldenBough (1913; repr. ed., London 1980). A propos of the Greeks see J.E. Harrison,Prolegomenato theStudyof GreekReligion(1922; repr.ed., Princeton 1991);Brelich(supran. 87);Jeanmaire(supran. 87); Calame (supran. 91); and Burkert (supra n. 58). 104 Eliade 1969 (supra n. 103) 112. 105 Eliade4, 7-10. Burkert (supra n. 58) 263 notes that in the Greekworld, initiationceremoniesfor young girlsoblige the candidatesto be separatedfrom the home of their parents; consequently,the rites are held in sanctuariesthat exist physicallybeyond the confines of the secularcommunity.

106

107

Eliade 7.

Paus. 5.16.6. Paus. 6.24.10 later mentions that in the agora of Elis there was a specialbuildingwhere the weaving took place. 108 Paus. 5.16.3 terms the Sixteen "yvvatixe;."Elsewhere

[AJA 97

sexuality and teach the accepted responsibilitiesof women. At the Heraia rites, the Sixteen Women perform this function: they administer the games; they arrange for the choral dances for Hippodameia and Physcoa;and they weave a special peplos for Hera.'07 Because the Sixteen Women are married,108well versed in the cults and legends connected with the marriages of both Hippodameia and Physcoa, and manuallycraft the peplos for the patron goddess of the rites, they are apt instructorsfor the Heraia girls in mythologicallegends devoted to sexualityand marriage as well as the domestic arts. Initiationordeals are never open to the community at large but insteadinvolverestrictionsthatbar certain members of society from observing the rites.'09In male initiationrites, female membersof societyas well as boys who are not yet of an age to participatein the ceremonyare prevented from being present. In many cultures, female secret societies and religious associations assume characteristicsof male confraternities and likewise ban attendance by members of the opposite sex. Remnants of prohibitions placed on attendance are to be seen in the exclusion of women from Olympiafor the durationof the OlympicGames, suggesting the ritual nature of male athletic competition at the site."?0Although Pausaniasdoes not specifically say so, it is likely that men and boys were prevented from watchingthe Heraia contests. A common feature in initiatoryrituals is a special costume that is obligatory for the candidates of the rites. Although the costume can take many forms, frequently it entails either a garment appropriate to the opposite sex or else complete nudity."' In the course of initiation rites, novices are regularly sub-

he uses the term to mean married women as opposed to virgins(JtaQ0evol). 109 Secrecyis importantin initiationrites and insures that the informationdivulged to the novices is not shared with the non-initiated.The knowledge of the sacred rites allows candidatesto participatein the mystic realm, and it is the wisdom impartedby the guardian tutors that serves as the bridge between the profane and the sacred. See Eliade4. 110Pausaniasis clear in stating that married women were banned from viewingthe games under punishmentof being thrown from Mt. Typaeum (5.6.7). In a later passage (6.20.9), Pausaniasstates that the priestessof Demeter Chamyne sits on a marble altar opposite the umpires in the stadiumand watchesthe proceedings;he goes on to say that unwed girls (JaQoOevol) are not barred from looking at the games. "11For a discussion of costume and nudity in initiatory ordeals, see Eliade 26 and 32; and Brelich (supra n. 87) 31 passim.An importanttreatmentof ritualnudityin the Greek world is that by L. Bonfante, "Nudity as a Costume in ClassicalArt,"AJA 93 (1989) 543-70.

1993]

THE FEMALE ATHLETIC COSTUME AT THE HERAIA

mitted to symbolic death-they leave the world of the child and are born again into the world of the adult. Symbolic death can be achieved in a number of ways: circumcision and/or other mutilation of the body, torture, and dietary taboos and prohibitions are quite common."12 The nudity of the candidate is also symbolic of death. The nude state signifies detachment from the material world and separation from the norms imposed by society. Especially in rites marking the social puberty of the initiate, the nude state is evidence of the novice's asexuality; she or he is neither female nor male but exists in an embryonic state in preparation for emergence into the adult world after a new birth.' 3 Athletic nudity in the Greek world has been variously interpreted but is likely to represent the sanctioned "costume" of males who participate in agonistic events that formed part of initiation rites. Hence, athletic nudity might be regarded as ritual 14 The nude state of athletes participating nudity. in Panhellenic competition whose traditions were grounded in religious rites as well as the nudity of young girls who participate in the Arkteia should be seen in this light."15 In initiation rites, the law of symmetrical inversion demands that initiates adopt the opposite state so that the individual becomes a whole or a total human being

112

Eliade esp. 13-14 and 30-39.

Eliade 26. The shedding of clothes in male initiation rites has also been interpreted as the divestingof status. In order to achieve a higher state, the initiate must first free himself from a lower state before moving on to the higher. The removal of clothes signifies this transition.See B. Lincoln, Emergingfrom the Chrysalis:Studiesin Ritualsof Women'sInitiation(Cambridge1981) 103. 114 See Bonfante (supra n. 111) 551-52. 115 Besides the athletic nudity of the participantsin the games at the various Panhellenicsites, ritual nudity is also attested at several religious festivalswhere men exclusively took part. In Sparta, the festival of the Gymnopaidiairequired the nudity of participantsand involved strenuous competition.The festival is likely to have commemorateda militaryevent-either the Spartanvictoryat Thyrea or the Argive defeat of the Spartansover Hysiai in 669 B.C. It is interesting that Plut. Mor. 227f notes that unmarriedmen were barred from looking on at the festival, perhaps suggesting that the rites had some associationwith passinginto the married state. See also Xen. Hell. 6.14.6 and PI. Leg. 633b-c as well as H.T. Wade-Gery,"A Note on the Origin of the SpartanGymnopaidiai,"CQ 43 (1949) 79-81. On Crete, the ritual nudity of boys was required in the festival known as the Ekdysia.The festival, attested in inscriptionalevidence (IC I.ix. 1[Dreros]; IC I.xix.1.18 [Mallia]), was celebrated in honor of the goddess Lato Phytia who, accordingto myth, allowed a girl to change her sex in order to marrya young girl she had fallen in love with (Ov. Met. 9.666). The Ekdysiawas the final stage of the initiation of male adolescentsinto manhood and involvedlayingaside boyhood garments before assuming the dress of a warrior. 113

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in society.116Accordingly, often novices are required to wear a costume that is typically worn by the opposite sex. Boys wear girls' clothing and girls wear garments appropriate to young boys. The transition for a novice to the adult state is perilous, and the novice has a better chance of becoming what she or he is intended to be (an adult woman or man) if first a totality of existence is achieved. Consequently, donning the dress of the other sex is symbolic of a return to a primordial state that implies totality and perfection. 17 There are plentiful examples in the Greek world of the adoption of dress of the opposite sex, and in most instances, an association can be made with religious rites. At the Ekdysia on Crete, the younger boys who participated in the festival were required to wear girls' clothes."18 During the Oschophoriain Athens, the festival that commemorated Theseus's return from Crete after the Minotaur was slain, two young boys led the procession dressed as girls."19At Argos, women wore false beards when they married.'20 And the custom of Spartan brides having their hair cut short and lying on a pallet in a darkened room wearing men's clothes while awaiting their new husbands is well known.'12 In female puberty rites when a young novice assumes the dress of a male, she also assumes the "otherness" of male and leaves behind the realm of girlhood,

The younger boys who observed the rites but did not take part in the actualritualwere requiredto wear girls'clothes. For further discussionon the festival see R.F. Willets,AristocraticSocietyin AncientCrete(London 1955) 120-21; and Willets,CretanCultsand Festivals(New York 1962) 175-78, 306-307. 116 P. Vidal-Naquet,The BlackHunter,trans. A. SzegedyMaszak(Baltimore1986) 116-17. 117 Eliade26. 118 See supra n. 115 and Burkert(supran. 58) 261. 119The requirementof female dress may be due to either mythologicalor historical associations.Plut. Vit. Thes. 23 recordsthat two of the seven maidensTheseus took to Crete with him were actuallymale youths disguised as girls. The terminatedon the processionstaged during the Oschophoria island of Salamis,and it has been argued that the festival also commemoratedthe Athenian seizure of the island; see Vidal-Naquet(supran. 116) 115. Plut. Vit. Sol. 8-9 remarks thatAthens had originallytaken Salamisby havingbeardless young men disguise themselvesas women. For a more complete discussionof the festival,see Parke (supra n. 61) 7780. 120 Plut. Mor. 245f, De mul. vir. 4. Plutarch also records that-in remembranceof the Argive women who successfully repelled an attackon their city made by the Spartan kings Cleomenesand Demaratus-an annuallyheld festival called the 'YP3torrtx (Festivalof Impudence) requiredthe women to wear male dress (chitonsand himations)and the men to wear the female peplos; Plut. Mor. 245e-f. 121 Plut. Vit. Lyc. 15. For a discussion of the custom see Brelich (supra n. 87) 157-66 and Vidal-Naquet (supra n. 116) 150.

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N. SERWINT, THE FEMALE ATHLETIC COSTUME AT THE HERAIA

partakingfor a limited time in the "divinetotality"of the primordial state. This is exactly what happens during the course of the Heraia festival. The young girls who race for Hera in commemorationof Hippodameia'smarriagesymbolicallypreparethemselves for their own marriages.They leave behind the asexual state of girlhood and ready themselves as adult women for reception into a communitythat demands their participationas wedded sexual partners. The donning of maledress during the courseof the festival

is a requisite act. The eFc0is, which the female run-

ners wear at the Heraia, is the most appropriategarment for the initiates because more than any other articleof clothing worn by the Greeks,it is characteristically male. The Heraia runner dons the male Cotwisbecause she must-it is the only way for her to bridge the gap between girl and woman. SCHOOL OF ART ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY TEMPE, ARIZONA

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