Acropolis - House of Arrhephoroi

The House of Arrhephoroi, a rectangular structure built against the north wall of the Acropolis with a porch and a courtyard to the left, was occupied by four girls between the ages of seven and eleven from the noblest families in Athens who assisted the priestess of Athena in serving the goddess.

One of their duties was to make the new peplos worn by Athena at each four-yearly celebration of the Panathenaic festival.

From the courtyard a flight of steps led down through a gate in the outer wall of the Acropolis and a rock-cut passage to the sanctuary of Eros and the Cave of Aglauros, from which the Arrhephoroi had to fetch some secret cult objects (hence their name, "bearers of holy things").

A structure farther to the west along the north wall is believed to have been the house of the priestess of Apollo.