A lifelong service?
Lycrophon 1151-1155
ὑμεῖς ἐμῶν ἕκατι δυσσεβῶν γάμωνποινὰς Γυγαίᾳ τίσετ᾽ Ἀγρίσκᾳ θεᾷ,
τὸν χιλίωρον τὰς ἀνυμφεύτους χρόνον
πάλου βραβείαις γηροβοσκοῦσαι κόρας.
you all for the sake of impious marriage,
paying the penalty to the goddess Gugaia Agriska,
for a thousand years your unwed daughters
becoming old by lot
Apollodorus 6.20
Λοκροὶ δὲ μόλις τὴν ἑαυτῶν καταλαβόντες, ἐπεὶ μετὰ τρίτον ἔτος τὴν Λοκρίδα κατέσχε φθορά, δέχονται χρησμὸν ἐξιλάσασθαι τὴ νἐν Ἰλίῳ Ἀθηνᾶν καὶ δύο παρθένους πέμπειν ἱκέτιδας ἐπὶ ἔτη χίλια.The Locrians retaking the the city as their own, since after three years the plague held the Locrians, they received an oracle to propitiate Athena in Ilium and to send two maidens suppliants for a thousand years.
Plutarch, De Sera, 557d
καὶ μὴν οὐ πολὺς χρόνος, ἀφ᾽ οὗ Λοκροὶ πέμποντες εἰς Τροίαν πέπαυνται τὰς παρθένους,
αἳ καὶ ἀναμπέχονοι γυμνοῖς ποσὶν ἠύτε δοῦλαιδιὰ τὴν Αἴαντος ἀκολασίαν. ποῦ δὴ ταῦτα τὸ εὔλογον ἴσχει καὶ δίκαιον; οὐδὲ γὰρ Θρᾷκας ἐπαινοῦμεν, ὅτι στίζουσιν ἄχρι νῦν,τιμωροῦντες Ὀρφεῖ, τὰς αὑτῶν γυναῖκας: οὐδὲ τοὺς περὶ Ἠριδανὸν βαρβάρους, μελανοφοροῦντας ἐπὶ πένθει τοῦ Φαέθοντος,
ἠοῖαι σαίρεσκον Ἀθηναίης περὶ βωμόν,
νόσφι κρηδέμνοιο, καὶ εἰ βαρὺ γῆρας ἱκάνοι,
And not for a long time, the Locrians did not stop sending virgin maidens to Troy,
Those who do not wear upper garments are like slaves to the naked spouse,
In the morning they sweep around the altar of Athena,
without headdress, and if sufficiently heavy of old age,
according to the intemperance of Ajax. How did these things restrain reason and justice? For we can neither applaud the Thracians, as they tattooed until now, helping Orpheus, their women: nor concerning the barbaric Eridanon, wearing black with lament of Phaethon,
An annual service?
In comparison, works by Callimachus, Strabo, Aelian, Servius, and Aeneas Tacitus indicate that the maidens were employed for one year before returning to Locris. Aeneas Tacitus states that the maidens serve a short term, being replaced "year after year" by another pair of young women in service to the goddess. Similarly, Servius and Strabo state that a new pair of maidens are sent "each year".
Callimachus fr. 35
Artemis, who gave Phileratis this glory in this way: you accepted, queen, to save her.
Strabo 13.1.40
λέγουσι δ᾽ οἱ νῦν Ἰλιεῖς καὶ τοῦτο ὡς οὐδὲ τελέως ἠφανίσθαισυνέβαινεν τὴν πόλιν κατὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν ὑπὸ [p. 841] τῶν Ἀχαιῶν,οὐδ᾽ ἐξελείφθη οὐδέποτε. αἱ γοῦν Λοκρίδες παρθένοι μικρὸνὕστερον ἀρξάμεναι ἐπέμποντο κατ᾽ ἔτος:
The present Ilienses affirm that the city was not entirely demolished when it was taken by the Achæans, nor at any time deserted. The Locrian virgins began to be sent there, as was the custom every year, a short time afterwards.
The present Ilienses affirm that the city was not entirely demolished when it was taken by the Achæans, nor at any time deserted. The Locrian virgins began to be sent there, as was the custom every year, a short time afterwards.
Ael. fr 47
It is possible that the conflict over the duration of the maiden's service comes from the context in which the sources were written. Authors who espouse a lifelong service wrote during the Hellenistic Period, between the fourth and second century B.C. The one exception is Plutarch, who may be recalling the epic poet Arctinus whose works do not survive. At the end of the Phocian War in the fourth century Lycrophon states that the Locrians ceased sending maidens to Troy. For, they had fulfilled their obligation to Athena by sending maidens for a thousand years in retribution for Ajax's sins. The practice was reinstated a century later by the Delphic oracle and King Antigonos who was instructed that a plague was caused because the Locrians had discontinued the practice. It is possible that the Hellenistic authors, seeing that the maidens were not replaced during this period, concluded that the service must be lifelong. Therefore, it is likely that the practice was not always annual, but, only in particular circumstances became a lifetime service.
