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Skeuophoros

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A skeuophoros (Greek: Σκευοφόρος "Βaggage carrier") was a slave or servant who carried baggage in Ancient Greece. Herodotus records that every hoplite was followed on campaign by a servant as a skeuophoros.[1] In Aristophanes' play The Frogs, Xanthias, the slave of Dionysus, acts as his skeuophoros:[2]

Διόνυσος ἴθι νυν ἐπειδὴ ληματίας κἀνδρεῖος εἶ,
σὺ μὲν γενοῦ 'γὼ τὸ ῥόπαλον τουτὶ λαβὼν
καὶ τὴν λεοντῆν, εἴπερ ἀφοβόσπλαγχνος εἶ:
ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἔσομαί σοι σκευοφόρος ἐν τῷ μέρει.

References

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  1. ^ Herodotus, Histories, 7.40
  2. ^ Aristophanes, Frogs, lines 494-498