When we speak of rites of passage in the Greek world we often think of young males: ephebes, hoplites, athletes. But girls also passed through precise ritual stages. The most unusual took place in the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron, on the east coast of Attica, where Athenian girls served the goddess as arktoi, "bears".
The sanctuary
Brauron lies in a small valley near the sea, close to a spring and a cave. Excavations, begun by the Greek archaeologist Ioannis Papadimitriou in the mid-twentieth century, uncovered the temple of Artemis, a large stoa with banqueting rooms and a huge quantity of offerings: mirrors, jewellery, spindles, statuettes of girls and boys.
In Athens, on the Acropolis, there was also a precinct of Artemis Brauronia. Some inscriptions list the garments dedicated to the goddess by women, with descriptions of the fabric and colour: precious testimony to the bond between the cult and women's lives.
The lines of Aristophanes
The most famous literary source is a passage from Aristophanes' Lysistrata, a comedy staged in 411 BC. The chorus of women lists the stages of its religious service, from childhood to youth:
- at seven she was an arrephoros, in the service of Athena on the Acropolis;
- at ten she ground grain for the patron goddess;
- then, shedding the saffron robe, she was a "bear" at the Brauronia;
- finally, now a beautiful maiden, she carried the sacred basket wearing a necklace of dried figs.
The passage raises problems of interpretation, both in its text and in the sequence of ages, but it clearly shows that for Athenian girls there was a ritual path, and that service at Brauron was one of its most important stages. Not all girls took part, but the gesture held symbolic value for the whole female community.
The founding myth
Later sources, such as the scholia to the Lysistrata, preserve the myth that explained the rite. A she-bear lived in the sanctuary and had become tame. One day, while a little girl was playing with it, the animal scratched her; the girl's brothers, enraged, killed the bear. Artemis then sent a plague. An oracle revealed that, to appease the goddess, Athenian girls would have to "play the bear" before marriage.
The myth unites Artemis's typical themes: wild nature, protection of the young, retribution for a violation. The girl who "becomes a bear" gives back to the goddess what was taken from her.
The krateriskoi
At Brauron and in other sanctuaries of Artemis in Attica, numerous small vessels shaped like miniature kraters, called krateriskoi, have been found. Many are painted with girls running or dancing, some wearing a short tunic, others naked, near an altar or a palm tree. On a famous fragment there are figures that seem to wear bear masks.
These images are the most direct evidence of the rite. They suggest races, dances and processions, perhaps with a change from one garment to another as a sign of transformation.
The meaning of the passage
The most widely shared interpretation sees the arkteia as a rite of passage from childhood to the condition of a maiden destined for marriage. The symbolic sequence can be read this way:
- the girl, still "wild", is entrusted to Artemis, mistress of untamed creatures;
- during the time of service she lives a special, secluded and sacred condition;
- on leaving it, she lays aside the saffron robe and prepares to become a bride and, one day, a mother.
Artemis, the virgin goddess, thus accompanied girls right up to the threshold of married life, and then let them go.
Iphigenia at Brauron
The sanctuary was also linked to the figure of Iphigenia, Agamemnon's daughter destined for sacrifice at Aulis. In Euripides' Iphigenia among the Taurians, the goddess Athena announces that Iphigenia will be priestess of Artemis at Brauron and will be buried there, receiving as offerings the garments of women who died in childbirth. The cult of Brauron thus gathered the whole arc of female life: childhood, marriage, motherhood and its dangers.
In short
- At Brauron, in Attica, Athenian girls served Artemis as "bears".
- Aristophanes' Lysistrata places the arkteia within a female ritual path by age.
- The myth of the slain bear explained the rite as reparation to the goddess.
- The krateriskoi show races and dances of girls, direct evidence of the rite.
- The arkteia marked the passage from childhood to the condition of future bride.
