PERLMAN, PAULA, Plato "Laws" 833c-834D and the Bears of Brauron , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:2 (1983:Summer) p.115 Plato Laws 833C-834D and the Bears of Brauron Paula Perlman f , ,,, ,..., , E1TTa I-'E v ET'Y1 'YE'ywo- EV(J-rx; TJpp'Y1cpOpovv· "', '\ ''''~ , EtT anETptr; 'Y1 uEKEnr; '" , , ovo-a TapX'Y1'YEn· """ , ,,, "'B ' KC!T Exovo-a TOV KPOKWTOV apKTOr; 'Y1 pavpwvwtr;· '".I...}., ,J9I""'", KaKav'Y1'fA'povv 1TOT ovo-a 1Tatr; KaA'Y1 XOVO- , '~ .. ' (J' topowall Ravenna, KPOKWTOll i}~(jJJ.ElIa~ Suda. If the Ravenna scholium is correct in calling it a himation, then the girls on the krateriskoi are not wearing the krokotos. PERLMAN, PAULA, Plato "Laws" 833c-834D and the Bears of Brauron , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:2 (1983:Summer) p.115 PAULA PERLMAN 119 XEovua) where one might expect a present participle followed by an aorist, and it does so without a connective (TapXrrYETt must be crasis for rfllTi! aPX1}'YETt); the unbalanced juxtaposition of short and long sentences is extremely awkward; and KaTaXEw is used of disrobing, a sense not otherwise attested in Aristophanes (although it occurs in Homer, II. 5.734), who commonly employs f.Kfrvw for the removal of clothing (including four instances in Lys., 662, 686, 920, 925). Moreover, would the Athenian audience have associated the title aPX1}'YETtr; with any goddess but Athena? Epigraphic and literary evidence suggests not,20 and we now know that .q 'ApX'Y1'YETtr; could designate Athena Po lias in official usage.21 In fact Athena's role in the playas an agent provocateur of marital abstinence seems as compelling as Artemis' if we keep in mind who the Athenian ringleaders are.22 For as Lewis persuasively argued, Lysistrata was modeled after the contemporary priestess of Athena Polias, Lysimache,23 thus adding weight to Papademetriou's suggestion that Myrrhine too can be iden­ tified with a real Myrrhine, the first priestess of Athena Nike.24 These two 'portrait' characters would have served to remind the audience, if such a reminder was necessary, of this virgin goddess' importance to the Athenian polis. Stinton recognized that the attribution of the epithet to Artemis was problematic, despite the scholium gloss rfi 8EU7TOivn 'APTE/-LL8t Tj 1l,.q,.f:'1TPt, and proposed at 645 an emendation for which there is no manuscript support (Kai for K~T') and a differ­ ent punctuation:25 EZT' aAETpir; ~ 8EKETtr; ovua TapX1}'YETt '\, '\ ,,, '" B ' Kat XEOVo-a TOV KPOKWTOV apKTor; 'Y1 pavpwvwtr;. Then at the age of ten I was an aletris for the Archegetis (Athena), and [at age ten] shedding the saffron I was a bear at the Brauronia. 20 See Stinton (supra n.18) 12. 21 T. L. Shear, Hesperia Suppl. 17 (1978) 3 line 65 with p.36; cf John H. Kroll, Hesperia Suppl. 20 (1982) 69. 22 I should like to thank the anonymous reader of GRBS for bringing this important point to my attention. On Artemis' role as exemplary virgin in Lys. see M. B. Wal­ bank, CQ N.S. 31 (1981) 281. 23 D. M. Lewis, BSA 50 (1955) 1-12. 24 Known to us from a funerary inscription from Zographos, SEG XII 80; J. Papade­ metriou, ArchEph 1948-49, 146-53. C. W. Clairmont, "The Lekythos of Myrrhine," Studies in Classical Art and Archaeology: Festschrift P. H. von Blankenhagen (Locust Valley 1979) 103-10, argues that IG IJ2 12196 (most recently SEG XXIX 262), a grave leky­ thos found near Syntagma Square in Athens, belongs to the grave of this same Myrrhine. 26 Stinton (supra n.18) 13. Walbank (supra n.22) 277, 279, adopted Sourvinou's text and extended Brauronian Artemis' patronage to each of the four titles (arrephoros, aletris, arktos, and kanephoros) , without successfully defending the association of the epith,et apX'rrYETL~ with Artemis. PERLMAN, PAULA, Plato "Laws" 833c-834D and the Bears of Brauron , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:2 (1983:Summer) p.115 120 THE BEARS OF BRAURON There is, however, another solution, which does not require that we tamper with the generally preferred text of Lysistrata 641-47. Brauron was not the only sanctuary where Athenian girls acted the she-bear in service to Artemis before their marriage. A festival simi­ lar to the Brauronian Arkteia was celebrated in honor of Artemis at her sanctuary overlooking Mounichia harbor.26 The foundation leg­ ends for the two festivals are strikingly similar in outline:27 BRAuRoN: A she-bear comes to Brauron and is tamed. One day, the bear scratches a maiden with whom she is playing. The maid­ en's brother(s) becomes incensed and kills the bear. A plague falls upon Athens. The oracle at Delphi is consulted and Apollo orders that Athenian maidens must henceforth act the she-bear. And so they do. MOUNICHIA: A she-bear appears in the Peiraieus and harms many people. Certain Athenians kill the bear. A plague falls upon Ath­ ens. The oracle at Delphi is consulted and Apollo replies that an Athenian maiden must be sacrificed by her father to Artemis. An Athenian, Embaros, consents and appears to do so, but instead sacrifices a goat. Athenian maidens thereafter act the she-bear in honor of Artemis Mounichia. In detail the two accounts differ as to location (Brauron, Peiraieus) and bear-killer (brother, Athenians). Furthermore, the Mounichian legend clearly seeks to explain the origin of the dictum "EI-'{3apo~ e4u (probably tracing the genealogy of Artemis Mounichia's priesthood)28 and of the sacrifice of a goat dressed in girl's clothing. Sale examined the foundation legends of the Arkteia, Brauronian and Mounichian, and determined that the scholia for the Brauronian Arkteia are an amalgamation of legends belonging to several tradi­ tions, including the local cult at Brauron, the Arkteia at Mounichia, and the Iphigeneia legend (and cult at Aulis?).29 He noted that the 26 Harp. s. v. 'ApKTEwaL, schol. Ar. Lys. 645 (Leiden). For excavations at the sus­ pected location of the sanctuary see 1. Threpsiades, Praktika 1935, 159-95; H. Megaw, JHS 56 (1936) 142. Cf Xen. Hell. 2.4.l1, Paus. l.l.4. Krateriskoi have been found in the vicinity (supra n.3). 27 Brauron: schol. Ar. Lys. 645 (see supra n.2). Mounichia: Leutsch/Schneidewin, Paroem. Gr. I 402 s. v. "EIL{3aPO<; El/J-L; Suda s. v. "EIL{3apO<; El/J-L; Eust. II. 2.732; Apostol. 8.19 s. v. "EIL{3apo<; Ei/J-L; Anecd.Bekk. I 444-45 s. v. 'ApKTEwaL. 28 Paroem. Gr. I 402, 0 "EIL{3apo<; TOLVVV Ei<; aILOLf3T,V TT,v iEpwulwr/V rij<; BEOU eav-r4' Kat TOL<; EyyOVOL<;; cf Eust. and Apostol. (supra n.27). 29 Sale (supra n.2). P. Clement, AntCi 3 (934) 393-409, suggested that the legend of Iphigeneia might have grown out of a ritual nebreia in the cult of Artemis at Aulis. Cf A. Henrichs, "Human Sacrifice in Greek Religion," in Le sacrifice dans I'antiquite (Entr.Hardt 27 [Geneva 1981)) 198-208, on the sacrifice of parthenoi to Artemis in myth (esp. Iphigeneia and Kallisto) and on the Brauron/Mounichia legends. PERLMAN, PAULA, Plato "Laws" 833c-834D and the Bears of Brauron , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:2 (1983:Summer) p.115 PAULA PERLMAN 121 Leiden scholium for 643-45 opens with a self-contained aUion which "may show signs of Munychian influence, for it attributes the Arkteia to Munychia as well as Brauron, and we shall see that one of our sources for Munychian legend agrees ... in making the Athenians the killers of the bear." 30 It is within this aition that we find the troublesome age limits ("not older than ten years or younger than five").31 The Suda scholium gives an abbreviated version of the Leiden Mounichian aition, including the age limits for the arktoi.32 The Ravenna scholium preserves neither any elements which Sale could attribute to Mounichian tradition nor the age limits. Can it be that the age limits preserved in the scholia for Aristophanes' Brau­ ronia belong rather to the Mounichian rites? That the other sources for the Mounichian Arkteia do not include mention of the age limits is admittedly an objection. There is, how­ ever, evidence thus far overlooked in discussions of the problem which suggests that Brauron hosted an older group of arktoi. In Plato's Laws, when the discussion of how the new polis might best educate its youth begins to consider the celebration of festivals, the Athenian suggests that girls, who have since the age of seven (f.LETCt 8E TOll E~ET"1) received training in gymnastics, horsemanship, archery, javelin and discus throwing, and slinging,33 take part also in contests in the foot race, fencing, and, if they so desire, as jockeys in the horse races (833c-834D). The Athenian goes into some detail con­ cerning the girls' footraces (O"Ta:8toll, 8iavAo~, EcP{,1T"7TtO~, 80ALXO~). Two age groups are distinguished: prepubescent girls are to compete in the nude, while girls between the ages of thirteen and twenty (or the time of their marriage) compete dressed in proper attire (7Tpe- 7TOVcrn O"TOA'fi). Although Plato may not always have been echoing actual practices in his Laws, it has been taken for granted that he here followed Spartan custom, both as to the training of the girls and as to their attire or lack of it.34 30 Sale (supra n.2) 271 and n.S. 31 apKTOv I-UJ-LOVlLEvaL TO JLVU",qpwv E{ET~AOVV. ai apKnVOlLEvaL Se Tfj (JECfJ KPOKWTOV 7}1J4>t~vvvvTO Kat a-vverEAovv TT,V (JvU"iav Tfj Bpavpwv«.t 'APTEI-UBt Kat Tfj Movvvx«.t, E7TtAE'YOlLEvat 7Tap(J~vOL OWE 7TPEU"{3VTEpat B~Ka hwv OWE EA(hTOV~ 7T~VTE. E7TET~AOVV Se TT,V (JvU"iav ai KOpat EKlLEtALU"U"OILEVaL TT,V (JEOV, E7TELST, ALJLCfJ 7TEpL7TE7TTWKaU"Lv Ot 'A(JTJ­ vawt, apKTOv T]JLEpaV (ll'7lPTJKOTE<; Tfj (JEt!. 32 S. v. "APKTO~ ~ BpaVpWVI.oL~· apKTEVOILEVat yvva'i:KE~ Tfj 'APT~I-USL EOpTT,V ET~AOVV, K,?OKWT?V 7}J.J4>tEU"~vat, OWE 7TpEU"{3vnSE<; t' ETWV OWE EA(hTOV~ E', U7TOJLELALu"(J()ILEVat TTl v (JEO V. 33 Leg. 794c, 804D-805A, 813D-SI4c; cf Resp. 452A-D. 34 G. R. Morrow, Plato's Cretan City (Princeton 1960) 382-83. We have evidence of two sorts for the athletic training and competition of Spartan girls: somewhat program­ matic accounts of the Lykourgan legislation emphasizing the eugenic concerns of physi- PERLMAN, PAULA, Plato "Laws" 833c-834D and the Bears of Brauron , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:2 (1983:Summer) p.115 122 THE BEARS OFBRAURON Before the excavations at Brauron and Kahil's publication of the krateriskoi, evidence for girls' athletic training and competition in Attica was meager. Plutarch mentions a 'ball-court of the arrephoroi' on the Akropolis; here presumably girls took their exercise while serving Athena and Aphrodite.35 Ball-playing seems to have had a particular (ritual?) association, at times erotic, with youths and maid­ ens. As early as the Odyssey (6.99-109) we find Nausikaa, the par­ thenos par excellence, playing ball with her attendants. South Italian vases depict young women playing ball with winged Erotes.36 Balls were among the emblems of youth dedicated by maidens to Artemis on the eve of marriage (A nth. Pal. 6.280) and by young men to Her­ mes apparently upon graduation from the ephebic corps (A nth. Pal. 6.282). At Sparta the term ac/>atpEV<; was applied to males who had just made the transition EK nov ECPr,{3wv E~ av8pa~, the title probably deriving from some competitive ball game that formed an important element of their training.37 More to the point is an Attic black-figure lekythos found on Salamis, dated ca 490-470 and attributed by Has­ pels to the Beldam painter's workshop.38 The lekythos depicts three girls, dressed in short chitons, racing around (or away from?) a volute altar. The scene is clearly modeled after a race similar or identical to that on the krateriskoi.39 With the evidence provided by the krateriskoi, it is now reasonable to consider that Plato's thoughts on girls' athletics may not have been without Attic precedent, at least for the foot races and perhaps cal conditioning (PI. Leg. 805E-806A; Plut. Mor. 227D-E, Lye. 14.2, 15.1; Xen. Lac. 1.4; Suda s.v. AVKOVP')'O~); and occasional references to athletic activities, mostly races run in a religious context Gumping exercise or bibasis, Ar. Lys. 82-83 and schol., Poll. 4.102; running, Lys. 1303-21, Theoc. 18.22-25, Hesych. s.vv. I1WIIVCTu:lBE~ and Ell BPL­ wlla~, Paus. 3.13.7). It is possible that AIkman's Partheneion (esp. 45-51 and 58-59) alludes to girls' races; c/ D. L. Page, Aleman, The Partheneion (Oxford 1951) 55-57. Spartan women may have driven horses on occasion (Xen. Ages. 8.7, Ath. 139F), but only the Roman poets attest to their riding horses (Prop. 3.14.1 0-11, Verg. Aen. 1.314-20). That Spartan girls appeared scantily clad or nude in public was a topic of great interest in antiquity: P. Cartledge, CQ N.S. 31 (1981) 91-92; but c/ G. M. A. Richter, AlA 42 (938) 342-43, arguing that they appeared scantily clad but not totally nude, and Eur. Andr. 595-601. 35 Plut. Mor. 839c, c/ Paus. 1.27.3-4. Whether these arrephoroi should be identified with those of Ar. Lys. 642 has been questioned by Walbank (supra n.22) 276-78. 36 E.g. Altenburg CVA 12 Germany 19 pp.24-25 pI. 104.1-3 (red-figure Apulian oino­ choe of the mid-fourth century B.C.). C/ Anac. 13 Page. 37/G V.I 674-88, Paus. 3.14.6, and M. N. Tod, "Teams of Ball-players at Sparta," BSA 10 (1903/4) 63-77. 38 National Museum 548; C. H. E. Haspels, Athenian Black~figured Lekythoi (Paris 1936) 179 pI. 54. la-b. 39 Plutarch (Sol. 10.2) provides a mythological link between Salamis and Brauron. For the worship of Artemis on Salamis see Paus. 1.36.1. PERLMAN, PAULA, Plato "Laws" 833c-834D and the Bears of Brauron , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:2 (1983:Summer) p.115 PAULA PERLMAN 123 training in gymnastics. Many krateriskoi depict girls engaged either in stately, rhythmic dances or in foot races. They are either nude or dressed in a short, mid-thigh length chiton. The setting for these per­ formances has been identified as one of Artemis' sanctuaries (prob­ ably Brauron) by the presence of Artemis' tree, the palm, in conjunc­ tion with a volute altar.40 Their ritual use (as libation vessels, thymia­ feria, or merely commemoratives) and their connection with the celebration of the Arkteia at Brauron have not been disputed.41 The girls are arktoi and the dances and foot races were performed during the celebration of the Arkteia. Plato's recommendations in the Laws suggest that we might recog­ nize two age groups in the vase paintings. If the parallel with Plato may be followed precisely, we see on the krateriskoi arktoi below the age of thirteen competing nude while those older than thirteen are 'properly dressed' in short chitons.42 An age group for the arktoi which includes thirteen-year-olds is thus indicated.43 Can we deter­ mine the upper and lower age limits of the group? Lysistrata 643-45 indicates that the approximate age of ten, either the tenth year of life or from the tenth birthday, should be regarded as one of the termini.44 If, to pursue the parallel in the Laws, our arktoi now include thirteen-year-olds, we may identify ten as the 40 Kahil 1977, 87. For the distribution of krateriskoi see supra n.3. 41 Cf Kahil 1965, 24-25; 1977, 88. Analysis of the clay will be necessary before the production centers of these vessels can be identified. 42 Kahil 1977, 86 proposed that the girls on the krateriskoi appeared to be between eight and thirteen years old. Two fragmentary red-figure kraters of the same shape as those from Brauron but of Athenian workmanship (special commissions?), dating ca 425 B.C., have been connected with the Arkteia. One shows girls racing in the nude (Kahil 1977 fig. B, pI. 19), the other girls racing dressed in short chitons (fig. A, pI. 18), Although Kahil 0976, 128) noted that the nude girls appear to be older than the clothed on the red-figure vases, it is at best difficult to determine the ages of children in Greek art with any degree of accuracy beyond the broad categories of infant, child, and adolescent. It is at least certain that the nude girls on the red-figure vase are not all of the same age. Of the eight surviving figures seven are of the same height (and pre­ sumably the same approximate age) while one is substantially shorter (and last in the race, as might be expected of the youngest in the group). Enough survives of six of the older girls to show that they have three distinct hair styles, while the shortest/ youngest seems to have a fourth. I suggest that the artist was attempting to depict arktoi of age ten to thirteen-a time of rapid development for girls: while a ten-year-old might still appear a child, a thirteen-year-old can look very grown-up indeed. 43 That is, the fourteenth year of life, commonly reckoned as the time of menarche: Tazelaar (supra n.5) 129 n.5. 44 The verb /)EKam.iHIJ was applied to the Arkteia. The lexicographers explained this: (1) the arktoi were ten years old (Harp. and Hesych. s. v. OE:Ka'TEVHV; A need. Bekk. 1234 s. v. /)EKa'TEVOIJ'TE~) or (2) Greeks customarily dedicated to the gods a tithe of what was most excellent (Harp., Aneed.Bekk.). The first usage (to indicate age) is otherwise unattested and probably derives from Ar. Lys. 645. On the second usage ef infra 128. PERLMAN, PAULA, Plato "Laws" 833c-834D and the Bears of Brauron , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:2 (1983:Summer) p.115 124 THE BEARS OF BRAURON lower age limit. Although I think we should reckon from the tenth birthday (i.e., "from my ninth to my tenth birthday I was an aletris, from my tenth birthday I was an arktos"), I do not believe the evi­ dence allows us to determine the matter so finely. Plato advised that the girls compete up to the age of twenty or until their marriage at no younger than eighteen. The arktoi are to celebrate the Arkteia before their marriage. As we have seen, there is reason to think that Athenian law allowed epikleroi to marry at age fourteen, and we know of Athenian girls who married at that age. An upper age limit for the arktoi of fourteen or fifteen seems likely. Plato's more advanced upper age limit was perhaps occasioned by his opinions concerning the ideal marriage age for girls. We should note finally that while a four-year age span would allow every girl one opportunity to participate in the penteteric Arkteia, a five-year span (such as that reported by the scholia for Mounichian Artemis) would give every girl a second chance should she be unable to participate at her first opportunity. If the arktoi were between the ages of ten and fourteen or fifteen, Aristophanes sacrificed neither rhetorical balance nor ritual correctness in his composition of verses 64lff.45 Their organization is straightfor­ ward. At the age of seven the chorine was an arrephoros; then (ElTa) at ten she was an aletris; thereafter (ElTa) she was an arktos. Aristopha­ nes did not fix the age of the arktos more precisely because the chorine could have served at any time between the ages of ten and fourteen or fifteen. The age and ritual service of the kanephoros are problematic.46 That Aristophanes did have a specific ritual in mind is indicated by iuxuOOJv op/-W80<;.47 What it was remains uncertain, but it seems likely that the service took place between acting the bear at the Brauronian Arkteia and the girl's marriage.48 Recognition of two age groups in the nude and clothed figures on the krateriskoi accords well with known Greek practice, for athletic and choral competition was frequently by age group. At the Heraia at Olympia, our closest parallel for the competitions at Brauron, the celebrants were divided into three age groups: ai vEWTaTat, ai rfi 45 Stinton (supra n.18) 12. 46 Cf Brelich (supra n.4) 279-90; Sourvinou, CQ (supra n.4) 342; Walbank (supra n.22) 279-80. 47 Walbank's suggestion (supra n.22) 279-80 that the kanephoroi depicted on fourth­ century reliefs from Brauron are to be identified with Aristophanes' kanephoroi seems to me unlikely: the kanephoroi in the reliefs are clearly adults. For these see J. D. Kondis, De/tion 22 (1967) pI. 104a, b, 105a; cf I. Krauskopf, AA 1977, 13-37 (cylin­ drical bridal trousseau baskets). 48 Cf Theoc. 2.66-67 with schol. PERLMAN, PAULA, Plato "Laws" 833c-834D and the Bears of Brauron , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:2 (1983:Summer) p.115 PAULA PERLMAN 125 ..qA.tK~ BelJTEpat, ai 7TpEu{3vTaTat T(;W 7TapfJEvwv. Clad in knee-reveal­ ing chitons, the girls competed within their groupS.49 Nudity, which was the law for both athletes and their trainers at the Olympic games, seems not to have been a feature of the Heraia.50 Why did the arktoi of age ten to thirteen compete nude?51 That menarche was felt likely to occur in the fourteenth year of life suggests that nudity was ritually preferable but for reasons of modesty girls who had reached that age covered up. Two factors may lie behind the nude competition. Before marriage Greek girls seem customarily to have dedicated childhood clothing and toys to the goddesses of marriage and childbirth.52 The thinking may have been 'off with the old, on with the new' at Brauron.53 This might help explain why at Mounichia the sacrificial goat was dressed in girl's clothing. Perhaps the krokotos was mentioned by Aristophanes because it marked for his audience the fact that the arktoi were marriageable and had ex­ changed their girlish garb for that of an adult. Pollux (7.55-56) re­ cords that parthenoi wore short chi tons (XtTWvtuKOL) while married women wore the KPOKWTOV iJUlTLov. That the saffron-colored EvBvJUl or iJUlTLOV was typical of Athenian matrons is made clear in Aristoph­ anes where the krokotos is donned or doffed accordingly as the actor wants to be taken for a woman or not.54 Our krokotos-clad bride of legend, Iphigeneia, illustrates that the color had hymenaeal associa- 49 Paus. 5.16.2-8. Hera may have been associated with the race also at Sikyon (Paus. 2.11.2, Hera Prodromia) and at Thera (IG XII.3 513, dedication to Hera Dromia, time of Augustus or Tiberius). Calame (supra n.4) 213-20 compared Hera's and Artemis' interest in girls on the verge of marriage. 50 Paus. 5.6.7-8. J. A. Arieti's suggestion, "Nudity in Greek Athletics," CW 68 (1975) 431-36, that nudity was the rule for male competitors in order to expose their sexual sophrosyne is probably inapplicable to girls. 51 Kahil 1965, 30 and n.80 (but cf 1977, 97), stressed the possible funereal connec­ tion with the worship of Iphigeneia at Brauron, since depictions of nude women in a ritual context are rare apart from the nude mourners on geometric funerary vases and the tradition of honoring the dead with funeral games often appears in the foundation legends of public games. Cf I. Chirassi, Miti e cutti arcaici di Artemis net Petoponneso e Grecia centrale (Trieste 1964) 28 n.75. 52 Anth.Pal. 6.280, snood, maiden's clothing (or doll's clothing?), ball, and cymbal to Artemis Limnatis 1rPO ya~w; IG V.l 225-26, bronze cymbals to (Artemis) Limnatis at Sparta; Archil. fr.18 &(rgk, veil to Hera; Anth.Pal. 6.276, snood to Artemis; Paus. 2.33.1, girdles of Troizenian maidens to Athena Apatouria 1rPO ya~v. 53 P. Vidal-Naquet, PCPhS N.S. 14 (1968) 59, has suggested that, "In Crete cere­ monies of initiation to the virile class appear to have been held at both Mana and Dreros, including nudity rites which preceded the conferring of hoplite arms," invoking I.Cret. I ix l.llf 1rUVa'W(TToL, 99f fYOVOJ,Uvow;; I xix 1.18 fUOVOJ,Uvuv; Hesych. s. v. a,wuTO~. Cf H. van Effenterre, BCH 61 (1937) 327-32; R. F. Willetts, Cretan Cults and Festivals (London 1962) 175-78. 54 Thesm. 939-42, 945-46, Eccl. 331-32. PERLMAN, PAULA, Plato "Laws" 833c-834D and the Bears of Brauron , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:2 (1983:Summer) p.115 126 THE BEARS OF BRAURON tions.55 Indeed, saffron-colored fabrics are still frequently used in tra­ ditional Greek bridal costumes.56 Finally, in the fourth century Athe­ nian wives dedicated the krokotos to Artemis Brauronia.57 Second, there may have been an element of exhibitionism in the ritual nudity of the arktoi. Apart from their participation in public religious celebrations, Greek girls seldom had the opportunity to see and be seen by prospective suitors.58 Plato envisioned public dances for the youths and maidens of his new city so that they could view one another "each of them naked, within the limits of sober mod­ esty" (Leg. 771E-772A). This custom seems to have belonged to the traditions of Chios and Sparta, where girls are said to have under­ taken athletic training unattired.59 If we are to believe Xenophon of Ephesos, matches were commonly made during the procession and festival in honor of Artemis Daitis at Ephesos.6o Girls in myth were frequently raped ('married') while celebrating festivals of Artemis, the mythological topos perhaps arising from the custom of initiating matches during public festivals.61 The literary testimonia suggest that part, probably the central part, of the Arkteia was participation in a mystery rite of intiatory character.62 Nonetheless, the possibility that while parts of the Arkteia perhaps were to be seen by initiates alone, other parts, as at Eleusis, were less restricted is indicated by the 55 Cf L. Bodson, 'IEpa Zww, Contribution a I'etude de 10 place de I'animal dans 10 religion greeque aneienne (Brussels 1975) 133. 1. Peradotto, Phoenix 23 (1969) 245-46, has suggested that Iphigeneia's sacrifice, as recounted by Aeschylus, is the ritual re­ versal of the sacrifice at the Mounichian Arkteia. Iphigeneia, who has worn the kro­ kotos on her supposed wedding day (a conflation of wearing the krokotos = service as an arktos which in turn anticipated marriage), is compared to a she-goat as she is raised above the altar (Ag. 232). However we interpret Ag. 239, mention of the krokotos would remind the mostly Athenian audience that fate did not hold marriage in store for this arktos. 56 Benaki Museum nos. 95 and 96 (Astypalaia), 112 (Nisyros). 57/G 112 1514.60-62, 1516.35-38. At 1514.58-59, KpOK[OJT{)V xtTwviCTKJO[vJ 1TUtfJWV lHypu1cPov, T. Linders, Studies in the Treasure Records of Artemis Brauronia (SkrSvensk InstAth 4.19 [I972]) 19-20, suggests KpOK[WTOV. TUPUVT,v1o[vJ 1TutMov a[ypuJcPov on the basis of a (duplicate?) stele from Brauron; cf infra. 58 Lacey (supra n.7) 158-63; 1. P. Gould, JHS 100 (1980) 46-51. 59 Ath. 566E, Plut. Mor. 249D-E (Chios); Plut. Lye. 14.2-15.1 (Sparta). 60 1.2.2; ef Calame (supra n.4) 181-82. 61 E.g. Plut. Thes. 31.2 (Helen, dancing at the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia); Hom. II. 16.179-83 (Polymela, dancing in honor of Artemis); PI. Phdr. 229B-C, Ap. Rhod. 1.211-15 (Orythia, celebrating Artemis' rites); Hdt. 4.145, 6.138, Philoch. FGrHist 328F 100-01 (kanephoroi parthenoi or gynaikes at Brauron). That the girls' families were not present to protect them might foreshadow the marriage situation. Cf Calame (supra n.4) 261-62. 62 Hesych. s. v. 'APKTELa'';' TOW a.PKTEVO~VWV 1TUp(JEVWV TEAErr/; schol. AT. Lys. 645 (Leiden), O(JEV ILVCTrr/PWV ayovCTtV [the arkto;) uvrfi [Iphigeneia); schol. Theoc. 2.66- 67, Ta ILVCTrr/PW: TUWU 'A(JTWT/CTL 1TOAtTEVOVTUt. PERLMAN, PAULA, Plato "Laws" 833c-834D and the Bears of Brauron , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:2 (1983:Summer) p.115 PAULA PERLMAN 127 depiction of scenes from the festival on the widely distributed kra­ teriskoi. Aristophanes (Pax 872-76) implies that men were present at one penteteric procession from Athens to Brauron, although we can­ not be sure whether the participants were arktoi on their way to cele­ brate the Arkteia.63 Finally, Pamphila's troubles in Menander's Epitre­ pontes began at the festival of Artemis Tauropolos at nearby Halai Araphenides.64 The question remains whether Plato could have modeled his pro­ gram on a contemporary ritual practice at Brauron, or had he to resurrect a tradition from the past? The kraters range from the late sixth century to possibly as late as the late fifth,65 at best nearly half a century before Plato wrote the Laws. There is evidence that the sanctuary at Brauron suffered serious flood damage at some time during the fourth century B.C.66 Exactly when this occurred and whether the damage proved to be the deathblow to the sanctuary are unclear. The inventories of Artemis Brauronia found on the Akrop­ olis date from 353/2 to 334/3 and record, as Linders has shown, offerings dedicated and stored at Brauron; this suggests that the temple was at least staffed with annual boards of epistatai and was open for dedications in the middle of the fourth century.67 The mud left by the receding waters was never removed from the great stoa. An unpublished law of the nomothetai, dated by letter forms to the third century B.C., orders an inspection and inventory of the sanctu­ ary so that necessary repairs can be made. Papademetriou concluded that this law addressed the flood damage.68 Edmonson has suggested that the earliest phase of the Brauronion on the Akropolis dates to the fourth century and was intended as a replacement for the temple 63 See supra n.13. The scholiast associated the procession with a festival of Dionysos. On the value of this gloss see B. B. Rogers, The Comedies of Aristophanes III (London 1913) 108-09. 64 451-53, 517-19 Sandbach. This sanctuary at Loutsa was closely connected with that at Brauron; c1 Eur. IT 1449-57. J. Travlos in Neue Forschungen in griechischen Heiligtiimern (TUbingen 1976) 197-205, argues that Artemis' association with a chtho­ nic Iphigeneia at Aulis, Halai, and Brauron explains the adyta, associated with chthonic ritual, at the three temples; followed by Kahil 1977, 95-97. See contra M. B. B. Hol­ linshead, Legend. Cult and Architecture at Three Sanctuaries of Artemis (Diss. Bryn Mawr 1979), arguing that a cult of Iphigeneia at Aulis and Halai is not certain and that the adyta were not related to cult but were used for storage. 65 Fragments found in a well of the late fifth century in the agora: Kahil 1965, 22-23; R. Holloway, Hesperia 35 (I966) 83 pis. 27f. 661. Papademetriou, Ergon 1957,38; CJ 58 (1962/3) 70-71; Scientific American 208.6 (1963) 120; c1 BCH 83 (959) 596; 84 (1960) 669. 67 IG 112 1514-25, 1528-31; SEG XXI 553-57; Linders (supra n.57) 70-73. 68 Papademetriou, Scientific American (supra n.66) 118, 120; cf Ergon 1961, 25; J. and L. Robert, Bull.epigr. 1963, 91. PERLMAN, PAULA, Plato "Laws" 833c-834D and the Bears of Brauron , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:2 (1983:Summer) p.115 128 THEBEARSOFBRAURON at Brauron.69 This need not mean, of course, that Artemis did not occupy that land on the Akropolis before then, merely that the archi­ tectural improvements date to the fourth century.70 Athena Nike's history on the Akropolis would have been somewhat similar. In short, we cannot say with certainty whether the temple at Brauron was functioning as a ritual center throughout the fourth century, although private dedications, most notably votive portrait statues of boys and girls, continued to be offered there down into the third century B.C.7l Didymos' commentary on Demosthenes preserves what may be considered the latest reference to the Arkteia by a classical author. According to the grammarian, what Demosthenes called 8EKaTEVUat in his speech against Medon was the same as what Lysias called apKTEVUat in his speech on behalf of Phrynichos' daughter.72 If Didy­ mos' equation is correct, Demosthenes' reference to 8EKaTEVUat im­ plies that an Arkteia (Mounichian or Brauronian?) was celebrated in the first half of the fourth century.73 If not, Lysias is our last classical author to mention the festival. There are passages in Plato which suggest that a contemporary Athenian model was lacking.74 Apart from the mention of ETrt'AeYO/Mvat 1Tap8evot in the Leiden scholium, the testimonia for the Arkteia are unanimous that partici­ pation was required of every Athenian maiden.75 A penteteric festival celebrated by all girls before their marriage suggests the possibility 69 C. N. Edmonson, AlA 72 (968) 164-65. 70 Cf Kahil 1981; G. P. Stevens, Hesperia 5 (1936) 459-70; R. F. Rhodes and 1.1. Dobbins, Hesperia 48 (1979) 325-41. 71 Kondis (supra n.47) 190,203. 72 Harp. s. v. 8EKaTEVEtIl' a"f//.LOU(JEIIOVf; 8' Ell 1'41 Kant MEOOIlTO~ 1t'Epi TtIlO~ 1Tap(JEIIOV AE'YOIITO~ oilTW<; "ov 8EKUTEWUt TalJ'TTIII ov8~ IJ..vijUUt," Ai8v/.LO<; 0 'YpUIJ..IJ..UTtKO~ 1t'EPL 1'01hov fM3ALoil 'Yp(h/Ja~ cf>TJUtll OTt TO 8EKa1'ElXTat Avuia~ Ell 1'41 1t'Epi Ti/~ Cl>pvvixov (Jv'YaTpo~ apK1'ElXTat ELp"f/KEIl. We learn from Poll. 8.53 that Demosthenes' speech in­ volved a marriageable epikleros. Was 8EKU1'EWm raised in connection with her mar­ riageability? 73 Elsewhere Demosthenes employs the verb to mean a tithe (22. 77, 24.185); cf supra n.44. 74 Leg. 794D, 805D-E; Resp. 451E-452B. 75 Variously 1t'aua 1t'ap(JEllo~, ui Kopm, ai EaVTwll 1t'ap(JEIIOt. Kondis (supra n.47) 182-83 believed that the Leiden statement reflected a gradual change in cult practice whereby participation came to be restricted to girls of aristocratic or religiously con­ servative familes. Cf leanmaire (supra n.4) 259-60 and Walbank (supra n.22) 277. The restriction, however, probably belongs to the Mounichian festival. Certainly par­ ticipants had to be children of citizens, as did ephebes (Arist. Ath.Pol. 42). 8EKaTEVEtil applied to the arktoi need not mean a tithe of maidens in the strict sense of one in ten (cf Kondis 183 n.90): they were selected to the extent that they had to meet certain requirements (age and citizenship) and the celebrants were dedicated or regarded as sacred to the goddess. Cf C. Montepaone, SSR 3 (I979) 356. PERLMAN, PAULA, Plato "Laws" 833c-834D and the Bears of Brauron , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:2 (1983:Summer) p.115 PAULA PERLMAN 129 that a system of age grades for girls may once have been operative in Attica. Could Lysistrata 641ft' reflect an Attic age grade, outlining the ritual possibilities for girls belonging to a group aged seven to four­ teen or fifteen ?76 In a treatise of Hippokrates or rather of his school, human physical development is organized into periods of seven years~ the second group, aged seven to fourteen, are called 1Ta'i8E~.77 Aristo­ phanes began his strophe with a seven-year-old arrephoros and closed with a kanephoros who describes herself as a 1Ta'i~ Ka'A.r,. Tazelaar identified two age-grouping classifications for boys at Spar­ ta. One, clearly 'hebdomadic' (ages 0-7, 7-14, 14-20), reflected physical development while the other (0-7, 7-12, 12-18, 18-20) fol­ lowed legal lines, state education beginning at the age of seven.78 The literary testimonia suggest that some type of organization, possibly by age grades, functioned for Spartan girls as well. AIkman's chorinai describe themselves as aVEljJtai (52), mirroring the term applied to members of a Spartan age/a.79 Pindar referred to a choir of Spartan maidens as an age/a.80 The chorinai of Theokritos 18, twelve Spartan maidens, characterize themselves as Helen's age-mates «(J"lJvo~'A./'­ KE~, 22), four-times-sixty maidens, a female corps of youth (TETpaK/'~ ifYlKovTa KOpat, (Jr,'A.v~ vEo'A.aw., 24). If, as has been proposed,81 a course of training parallel to that of Spartan boys was provided girls, we might suggest that girls, like boys, were organized into 'hebdo­ madic' age grades.82 Plato advised that formal education should begin for boys and girls after the age of six (Leg. 793E-794c) and that pupils of grammatistai and paidotribai should begin their studies at the age of seven (Ax. 366D). Aristotle (Pol. 1336a23-b36) would begin a child's education at home at age five and send him away to school at age seven. Xeno­ phon observed that in contrast to most cities, where a boy was no 76 I do not mean to suggest that the four functions represent the four age grades of an Attic system of initiation for girls, as Brelich (supra n.4) 229-311 thought. Rather, as a member of the group aged seven to fourteen, an Athenian girl could, provided she met all the other qualifications, serve as arrephoros, aletriS, arktos, and kanephoros. 77 TIt:pt ~{3S0~&JJ1J 5.1-35. 78 Tazelaar (supra n.5) 146-47. 79 Hesych. s. v. Kauwl' oi ~K Tile; avri/e; aYEAT]e; aSEA¢oi TE Kat alJEtjJwi. Kat ~1Tt OT]­ AEuVlJ OVTW<; £AeYOIJ AaKWIJEC;. 80 Fr.112. Cf Page (supra n.34) 67-68; Calame (supra n.4) II 84-85. 81 H. Jeanmaire, REG 26 (I913) 134-35; M. P. Nilsson, Opuscula Selecta II (Lund 1952) 848; P. Vidal-Naquet, Faire de I'histoire III (Paris 1974) 160; Cartledge (supra n.34) 91-93. 82 Calame (supra n.4) 350-57 sought to explain the organization of Spartan girls in terms of a complex rite de passage consisting of several ritual celebrations which ad­ vanced the girl from childhood through adolescence and on to marriage. PERLMAN, PAULA, Plato "Laws" 833c-834D and the Bears of Brauron , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:2 (1983:Summer) p.115 130 THE BEARS OFBRAURON longer obliged to attend school when he ceased to be a 1Tat~, in Sparta under the Lykourgan system youths were subjected to a con­ tinuous course of work (Lac. 3.1). Plato confirms this, applying the term f..'El.paKWV to the age group exempt from school attendance (Lach. 179 A). The pseudo-Hippokratic treatise On Sevens uses f..'El,pa­ KI.OV of a group aged fifteen to twenty-one. Apparently at both Sparta and Athens a boy's formal education traditionally began at the age of seven and, at least in Athens, ended at the age of fifteen.83 Aristophanes Lysistrata 641ft' may well preserve for us the traces of a tradition which substituted ritual participation for the formal educa­ tion of Attic girls aged seven to fourteen. In turn, the rhetorical balance and symmetry of this passage are clarified by what Plato adds to our understanding and interpretation of the scenes on the krateris­ koi. We see the arktoi, Athenian girls aged ten to fourteen or fifteen, as they perform one part of the celebration of the Arkteia at Brauron. Divided into two age groups, they compete in foot races and in choral performances, garbed as befits their age. Their wedding day looms before them, their marriageable status perhaps marked by the as­ sumption of the krokotos. 84 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY April, 1983 83 C[. F. A. G. Beck, Greek Education, 450-350 B.C. (London 1964) 94-95. The age at which a boy completed his education should not be confused with the age of major­ ity. On the latter at Athens see M. Golden, Phoenix 33 (1979) 25-38. 84 I should like to thank R. S. Stroud, J. K. Anderson, and M. Griffith for their valuable suggestions during the preparation of this paper, and H. Lloyd-Jones for his helpful comments on my M.A. thesis, from which the paper derives, and for his kind­ ness in sharing with me his as yet unpublished article on Artemis and Iphigeneia. I have also benefited greatly from the very helpful comments of the anonymous reader for GRBS. Their assistance, for which I am greatly indebted, in no way implies respon­ sibility for the defects that remain.