women, duly appointed, wove a robe for the goddess and
conducted games called the Heraea, participated in by the maidens of Elis
and surrounding districts. Pausanias thus describes the spectacle: "The
games consist of a race between virgins. The virgins are not all of the
same age; but the youngest run first, the next in age run next, and the
eldest virgins run last of all. They run thus: their hair hangs down,
they wear a shirt that reaches to a little above the knee, the right
shoulder is bare to the breast. The course assigned to them for the
contest is the Olympic stadium; but the course is shortened by about
one-sixth of the stadium. The winners receive crowns of olive and a
share of the cow which is sacrificed to Hera; moreover, they are allowed
to dedicate statues of themselves, with their names engraved on them."

From a consideration of woman's part in the religious ceremonials at the
national centres of Greece,--Delphi and Olympia,--we must now turn to
Athens, with whose festive calendar we are much better acquainted. The
Athenians were rightly characterized by the Apostle Paul as being very
religious. In all parts of the city were temples and statues; according
to one writer, it was easier to find there a god than a man. More than
eighty days out of each year were given up to religious festivities.
Pallas Athena, daughter of Zeus, was the patron goddess of Athens, and
the Acropolis was her sacred precinct; but other deities were
worshipped, even on the Acropolis, and throughout the city there were
shrines to numberless gods and goddesses.

From earliest times, women were intimately associated with the worship
of Athena. Varro preserves a tradition which records that it was women's
votes that determined the choice of Athena over Poseidon as patron deity
of Athens. Originally, women took part in the public councils with men
and had a voice therein, and when the weighty question of the rivalry of
the two divinities came up they outvoted the men by a majority of one in
favor of the goddess. Poseidon was angered, and submerged the land of
Attica. To appease the god, the citizens deprived the women of the right
to vote and forbade them in future to transmit their names to their
children and to be called Athenians. But though their political rights
were thus sadly infringed and they were relegated to ignorance and
obscurity, they retained their part in the exercises of religion,
especially in the worship of their pa