115
Κανηφόρος (Kanephoros)
(‘Kanephoros’)
Discussion Grotius 1626. 638-9; Meineke 1839 1.371; 1840 III.171; 1847. 579;
Bothe 1855. 422; Kock 1884 11.143; Edmonds 1959 11.54-55; Webster 1970. 77;
Kassel-Austin 1991 11.248; Sanchis Llopis et al. 2007. 250
Title Menander also wrote a Κανηφόρος and Turpilius a Canephorus, seeming-
ly based on Menander’s play (see Ribbeck 1897 ad loc.\, cf. Ephippus Ομοιοι ή
Όβελιαφόροι; Menander Άρρηφόρος ή Αύλητρίς; Menander and Apollodorus
Carystius Ιέρεια.
The kanephoros in public festivals was a girl of good family, at least at the
Panathenaia (e. g. ZREr Ar. Ach. 242 αί εύγενεϊς παρθένοι έκανηφόρουν; Ar.
Lys. 646 κάκανηφόρουν ποτ’ ούσα παϊς καλή; Th. 6.56.1; Arist. Ath. 18.2 with
Rhodes 1981 ad Zoc.), who carried the κάνουν, or ritual basket, containing offer-
ings (Σκκι Ar. Ach. 242) and/or the sacrificial knife, garlands, and barley (Σκν Ar.
Pax 948). For general accounts, including the festivals for which kanephoroi are
attested, see Roccos 1995; Schelp 1975, esp. 15-21; Mittelhaus 1919; Humberg
1924. Sparkes 1975. 131 and pl. 15 a-c offers a brief discussion with illustration
of the κάνουν.
Content of the comedy The one fragment represents little more than a
commonplace religious sentiment. Most likely the kanephoros in question was
the object of a young man’s affection (cf. test. 1), and a festival is a possible
setting for at least part of the play; for festivals as a standard place for meeting
girls and the stereotypical location for one-night stands, e.g. E. Ion 545-54;
Men. Epitr. 451-4; Sam. 38-49; cf. Lys. 1.20. Fr. 22 may offer limited support
for this notion; cf. ad loc. This play might therefore be one of those concerning
παρθένων φθοράς; see Introduction.
Date Unknown.
fr. 22 K.-A. (21 K.)
άπαντές έσμεν προς τα θεϊ’ αβέλτεροι,
κούκ ϊσμεν ούδέν
Άναξανδρίδ L: Άλεξανδρίδου Ρ: Άλεξανδρίδης F Κανηφόρω om. L
1 θεία βέλτεροι L
We are all fools before the divine,
and we know nothing