Canephora redirects here. For the species of coffee, see Coffea canephora.

Canephorae (From the Greek for basket, and to carry), also Canephori or basket-bearers, is a title given of old to Athenian maidens of noble family, annually chosen to carry on their heads baskets with sacrificial implements and apparatus at the Panathenaic and other festivals.

The term is applied in architecture to figures of either sex carrying on their heads baskets, containing edibles or material for sacrifices, such as the Caryatide figures of the Erechtheum. Those represented in the Panathenaic frieze of the Parthenon carry vases on their shoulders.

See also

• Canephoria