Previously in Part 1, Hara writes about young Arsinoe growing into a woman of remarkable talents at the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron. But longing for freedom, she begins to plan her escape.
Arsinoe took longer each day to return from her herb-gathering and she ventured further and further into the open countryside and the vineyards. She knew that these pilgrimages took place every four years, starting with a procession from the Temple of Artemis at Brauron in the Acropolis of Athens to the sanctuary at Brauron, and back again to Athens.
What kind of an Ironist are You?
One late summer afternoon, after her participation in the mysteries of the Goddess, she decided to stay out in the fields, and join a poor family of pilgrims who were going to the Temple of Artemis at Brauron in Athens.
Arsinoe thought that she would be safer if she followed them at a distance. Eventually, after a week’s hardship of hunger and sleeping in the open countryside, Arsinoe arrived at the great city of Athens, to be dazzled by the beautiful temples on the Acropolis hill.
At the same time, she was confused by so many people milling about that she did not know where to turn. After a moment’s hesitation, she tugged at the sleeve of an old lady who was selling pottery carrying it in a basket and asked the way to the potters’ quarters in the city. The old lady, seeing Arsinoe’s state of hunger, offered her a piece of bread and cheese and then took her by the hand and led her to the outskirts of Athens. As it happened, she was the mother of a famous young sculptor, who was very devoted to his mother. Arsinoe was surprised to find a large marble statue, chiseled in honor of the old lady, exposed in the courtyard of their house! But Arsinoe would have more surprises!
When Arsinoe mentioned the name of her father, no one seemed to know his whereabouts. Eventually, she found out that her father had left Athens and taken a boat to Miletus, a very prosperous city on the Ionian coast.
In the beginning, she thought of joining him, but the poor girl did not have any money to pay her fare. So, Arsinoe offered her services to the old lady to help with selling her wares to keep herself from starvation.
She was so good at singing the merits of the pots and vases that she attracted numerous customers and the old lady was more than pleased to have Arsinoe as her helper.
Arsinoe, then, stayed with the old lady and her son for a year. She also applied herself to pottery, learning the trade of her father. The young sculptor taught her how to knead and prepare the clay, how to turn the potter’s wheel, and most of all, how to bake and glaze her pottery in a big kiln at the back of the house. Arsinoe was happy for a while and her melodious singing filled the neighborhood!
One day, as she was singing her wares at the marketplace, a man stopped to listen to her. He was so bewitched by her voice, that he asked her, where she had learned to sing so beautifully. Did she know how to play the double flute, as well?
Arsinoe was taken aback and a bit afraid to share her secret, but then seeing that the man did not mean any harm, she told him of her training at the Brauron Sanctuary.
Next day, the man appeared in the market place accompanied by a beautiful lady. They asked Arsinoe, if she wanted to come and stay with them and become a musician. She only had to sing and play the flute to the guests at the banquets. She would earn more money than selling pots and pans in the market place. Arsinoe considered their offer for a while and then accepted it.
From then on, Arsinoe became very famous for her beauty, charm and talents. Many people sought her out to entertain their guests at feasts and in no time, she became very prosperous.
Arsinoe was not ungrateful to the old lady and her sculptor son, and she often visited them with gifts of fruits and sweets. She had introduced a dance in a peplum, which created lovely folds around the body, and asked her sculptor friend if he wanted to make a statue of her. So, they started an enterprise and both of them began to create little terracotta figurines of dancers, and ladies wrapped in mantles with hats and fans. And thus, they became the famous Tanagra idols!
Editorial Note
Thus concludes our serialized tale of Arsinoe—a story that reveals itself as a creation myth for one of the ancient world’s most beloved artistic traditions. The Tanagra figurines that Arsinoe and her collaborators produce within the narrative are, of course, real historical artifacts. Excavated in the necropolis near the village of Tanagra in the late nineteenth century, these terracotta figures genuinely date from the Hellenistic period (approximately fourth to first centuries BCE) and represent a remarkable tradition of small-scale domestic sculpture.
