sanctuary is in a position to make loans totaling up to 56,000 drachmas (IGi^3 248).
This increase in the sanctuary’s wealth was almost certainly due to a perception that
Nemesis had been instrumental in the defeat of the Persians, an idea much alluded to
in connection with the cult statue made by Phidias’ pupil Agorakritos and installed ca.
430–420 BC. Pausanias (1.33.2–3) records a tradition that the statue was made out
of a block of stone which the Persians had brought with them for making a trophy
when they landed at Marathon in 490 BC, ‘‘thinking contemptuously that nothing
could stop them from taking Athens.’’ However unreliable this tale may be, frag-
ments of the actual statue show that the scene on its base alluded to the destruction of
Troy, a mythological theme employed elsewhere to symbolize the Greeks’ historical
victory over the Persians. The sanctuary’s fifth-century association with Nemesis,
then, is well documented, and inscriptions from the late fourth and third centuries
attest a festival called the Great Nemesia celebrated on 19 Hecatombaeon (June/
July), which included athletic contests for the young men stationed at the fort at
Rhamnous as part of their military training. Two dedications of the same period attest
separate offices for priestesses of Nemesis and Themis, held on an annual basis; both
inscriptions employ the phrase ‘‘in the priestesshood of [woman’s name],’’ which
sounds like a dating formula, suggesting that the positions were highly regarded in
the community.
A sixth-century date for Themis’ introduction to Rhamnous might be supported
by the importance of the concept she embodies to late archaic Attic society, and by
some evidence for her cult in archaic Athens. There is a small sanctuary on the south
slope of the Acropolis which probably belonged to the Athenian Themis, and a
priestess of Themis made a small dedication in the neighboring sanctuary of Asclepius
around 250 BC (IGii^2 1534.252). The earliest attestation, however, is a line from
Nicomachus’ calendar of sacrifices, set up in the Royal Stoa ca. 401 BC to record
revisions of regulations established by Solon in the early sixth century (LSS10). This
specifies the expenditure of 12 drachmas on ‘‘a ewe for Themis’’ in the month
Metageitnion (July–August), indicating a very modest sacrifice. We cannot be certain
that the sacrifice to Themis was on Solon’s original list, but there is some support for
a late archaic date in the form of personal names derived from Themis, which begin to
appear in Attica towards the end of the sixth century, the earliest example being the
famous general Themistocles, born ca. 525 BC. As Parker (2000a) argues, such
theophoric names are suggestive of the particular deity’s local significance, and we
see Themis-related names again in epigraphic evidence from Thessaly, where the names
Themistion, Themison, Themistocles, Themistogenes, and Pasithemis are attested.
Themis does indeed seems to have an important place in the Thessalian pantheon,
even replacing Hera as Zeus’ consort (Miller 1974). Evidence for her standing includes
inscriptions attesting a local month name ‘‘Themistios’’ which, by analogy with what
we know of the Athenian calendar (cf. Chapter 13), is likely to have been named after
an ancient festival celebrated during that month in Themis’ honor.
Classical Personification: The Fifth Century
Fifth-century literature continues to present us with personification at all levels, and it
can sometimes be difficult to tell where to draw the line between rhetorical device and
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