Sixteen Women

Pausanias, in his Description of Greece (c. 175 CE), refers to "the Sixteen Women", who wove a robe for Hera every four years as part of the Heraean Games. Pausanias offers two stories to explain the origin of the Sixteen: firstly that they were assembled "out of gratitude to Hera for her marriage with Pelops" by Hippodamia; and secondly that they were originally representatives of the sixteen cities of Elis who were chosen to mediate between Pisa and Elis following the death of the Pisan tyrant Damophon.[1]

References

  1. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 5.16.4-5


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