High Priestess of Athena Polias

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Procession, believed to show the procession of Athena; the woman in the middle has sometimes been identified with the High Priestess of Athena Polias.

The High Priestess of Athena Polias held the highest religious office in Ancient Athens.

She enjoyed great prestige and played an official role which was otherwise uncommon in Ancient Athens. Several occasions are mentioned when she made her influence known in historical events of importance, and she is known to have influenced offices by recommendation.

She supervised the city cult of Athena based in the

Priestess of Athena Nike
.

The most known individual official of this position was Lysimache I, whose name may have inspired the character of Lysistrata in Aristophanes's play.[2] The actual Lysimche I served in the positions for 64 years in the early 4th century BCE.[3] The priesthood was an inherited and eponymous position for married women, and lasted for life.[4]

The office could not have survived the ban of all non-Christian priesthoods during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.

See also

References