Parthenos: The Patron Deity of Neapolis par’ Antisaran (Νεάπολις παρ’ Ἀντισάραν). A Suggestion regarding her Identity

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This paper approaches the question of the identity of Parthenos, patron deity of Neapolis, through a new perspective based on Pausanias’s description of Polygnotos’s Nekyia, the painted composition that decorated the Lesche of the Knidians at Delphi. This painting depicted, among other heroes and heroines of the ancient Greek pantheon, the Parian priestess Κleoboia carrying the cult objects of Demeter to Thasos. It is argued here that this Kleoboia, a maiden (parthenos) according to the traveller, could be the deified heroine that lies behind the name of Parthenos, the elusive deity worshipped at the Thasian colony of Neapolis.