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upright=1.3|thumb|The Basilinna with Dionysus and [[Tyche in the Bema of Phaidros, 3rd century, Athens Greece.]]

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Instance of
human
Gender
female
Citizenship
Greece
Occupation
priest
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upright=1.3|thumb|The Basilinna with Dionysus and [[Tyche in the Bema of Phaidros, 3rd century, Athens Greece.]]

The basilinna () or basilissa (), both titles meaning "queen", was a ceremonial position in the religion of ancient Athens, held by the wife of the archon basileus. The role dated to the time when Athens was ruled by kings, and their wives acted as priestesses (Hiereiai). The duties of the basilinna are described in the pseudo-Demosthenic speech Against Neaira, which is the main source of evidence about the position.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Basilinna” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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