Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece »

Joan Breton Connelly is Professor of Classics and Art History at New York University. She is the author of "Votive Sculpture of Hellenistic Cyprus". A field archaeologist, she has worked in Greece, Kuwait, and Cyprus, where she is Director of the NYU Yeronisos Island Excavations. She is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of her work on Greek art, myth, and religion, including her reinterpretation of the Parthenon frieze.

"Joan Connelly . . . has produced a fascinating book on the central role of priestesses in ancient Greek society. Her survey is fully documented and beautifully illustrated. One cannot but admire her enthusiasm for the subject and her deft handling of the evidence."--Colin Austin, University of Cambridge, coeditor of Aristophanes Thesmophoriazusae

"There was a great need for a book of this kind. Through direct observation of artifacts, the author offers many original ideas, and even manages to correct some long-held erroneous readings of ancient texts. Her emphasis on the important role played by some women in classical antiquity is a welcome corrective to the stereotype of the subordinate female in the Greek world. The remarkably wide-ranging material will be of great interest not only to archaeologists but also to scholars in various fields."--Brunilde S. Ridgway, Professor Emerita, Bryn Mawr College, author of Prayers in Stone: Greek Architectural Sculpture (c. 600-100 B.C.E.)

"This is the first full presentation in English or in any language of the female priest in the ancient Greek world. Connelly adduces evidence that women all over the Greek world had, as priestesses, positions of great public influence in their communities. I predict this study will have a wide readership by general classicists as well as those interested in ancient religion, ancient society, and women in ancient Greece, not to mention by art historians. This promises to be a landmark study."--Stephen V. Tracy, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, author of Athens and Macedon: Attic Letter-Cutters of 300 to 229 B.C.

"There has long been a need for a book devoted to the role of the priestess in ancient Greece. After reading Connelly, no one could fail to be persuaded that priestesses could play an important role in society or that they were given significant honors. This book will do much to improve and extend our understanding of the role of Greek women both in religion and in society."--Mary Lefkowitz, Wellesley College, author of Greek Gods, Human Lives: What We Can Learn from Myths

The New York Times - Steve Coates

These are just some of the influential women visible through the cracks of conventional history in Joan Breton Connelly s eye-opening Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece. Her portrait is not in fact that of an individual priestess, but of a formidable class of women scattered over the Greek world and across a thousand years of history, down to the day in A.D. 393 when the Christian emperor Theodosius banned the polytheistic cults. It is remarkable, in this age of gender studies, that this is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject, especially since, as Connelly persuasively argues, religious office was, exceptionally, an arena in which Greek women assumed roles equal ... to those of men. Roman society could make no such boast, nor can ours.

Acknowledgments ix List of Abbreviations xiii

Chapter 1: Introduction: Time, Space, Source Material, and Methods 1
Chapter 2: Paths to Priesthood: Preparation, Requirements, and Acquisition 27
Chapter 3: Priesthoods of Prominence: Athena Polias at Athens, Demeter and Kore at Eleusis, Hera at Argos, and Apollo at Delphi 57
Chapter 4: Dressing the Part: Costume, Attribute, and Mimesis 85
Chapter 5: The Priestess in the Sanctuary: Implements, Portraits, and Patronage 117
Chapter 6: The Priestess in Action: Procession, Sacrifice, and Benefaction 165
Chapter 7: Priestly Privilege: Perquisites, Honors, and Authority 197
Chapter 8: Death of the Priestess: Grave Monuments, Epitaphs, and Public Burial 223
Chapter 9: The End of the Line: The Coming of Christianity 259
Chapter 10: Conclusions 275

Notes 283
Bibliography 365
Index of Monuments 383
Index of Inscriptions 387
Index of Priestesses 393
General Index 399