ABSTRACT
For many aristocratic girls, particularly at Athens and perhaps elsewhere, the last religious role before marriage will have been to act as a kanephoros; an adolescent girl’s thoughts must then have turned to marriage, if this was already not a matter of concern. Much more is known about the religious roles of adolescent girls from Sparta, where thanks to the poetry of Alkman and the interest of the ancient sources, it is clear that groups of girls in their adolescent years, largely from aristocratic families, worshipped their gods in very prominent roles before marriage and the acquisition of a husband. After marriage, pregnancy, childbirth and their attendant difficulties found many wives at the altars of various gods, through their own desire for assistance, but also, at least at Cyrene and Kos, because they were required by specific legislation to observe various rites in their new societal roles.
