Lament and Death instead of Marriage: The Iconography of Deceased Maidens on Attic Grave Reliefs of the Classical Period

Abstract

This article examines the iconography of Athenian maidens (parthenoi) from Classical-period funerary reliefs. By challenging the long-standing loutrophoros theory that this vessel is a symbol of untimely death before marriage, it becomes apparent that this meaning applies only when it is used in specific iconographic configurations in scenes on grave stelai or when it appears on top of a stele. The consideration of additional iconography exclusively characteristic of maiden figures on funerary reliefs, in conjunction with the iconography of prepubescent girls and young married women, leads to the conclusion that the Attic peplos and the shoulder-pinned back-mantle prove to be the most useful iconographical features for the identification of maidens.