Antigone and Her Mirror: A Plataian Woman's Dedication from Ca. 386-370 BCE?

In 1895, Juan de Dios de la Rada first published an inscribed bronze mirror cover (MAN-Madrid, inv. no. 9832) that he had acquired in Athens in the early 1870s. Over the next decades, doubts were raised on the inscription’s authenticity and the mirror itself was soon almost forgotten. However, we argue that the inscription is likely authentic, while most of its peculiarities are due to the uncommon background of the dedicator, Antigone, a woman from Plataiai married to a Spartan man. Thanks to a close analysis, this inscription now stands out as an interesting source on the years of the so-called Theban Hegemony as well as on the vicissitudes of Antigone and her family.