Apulian red-figured goblet krater

Helen of Troy as a young girl, holding a ball in her hands, sits on her mother Leda's lap, surrounded by suitors. On the eve of their weddings, as part of the rites of passage that marked their departure from the world of childhood, young girls offered their dolls to gods such as Artemis or Aphrodite, sometimes in association with a lock of hair, a ball or musical instruments.