Courtesy and enthusiasm are high on the list of attributes that make a good Olympic volunteer. But what about long, raven-black hair, a permanently straight face and the ability to summon the divine light of the sun god Apollo?

The job of Olympic priestess is one of the more unusual volunteer roles at the Summer and Winter Games but anyone still thinking of applying in time for Athens will be disappointed -- all the posts are full.

High priestess Thaleia Prokopiou already has her 22 acolytes -- apparently the ideal number for lighting the Olympic flame in the ceremony at the temple of Hera that launches the torch relay once every two years.

Hera, wife of Zeus and among the most important deities in the pantheon of Greek gods, is not an equal opportunities employer and only attractive young women get to dance in her temple on the ancient site of Olympia.

"The girls must embody the traditional Greek beauty...they must be beautiful girls with all that natural beauty has to offer," says George Halkidis, president of the Olympic torch relay.

But looks alone are not enough to earn the cream-coloured robes and a booking at the seventh century BC birthplace of the Olympics.

"The girls are carefully chosen from actresses and dancers, they must be educated, literate and have a natural sensitivity for the arts," Halkidis added. And one last thing" This last requirement does not present too much of a challenge for the high priestess herself. Prokopiou, a 31-year-old graduate of Greece's national drama school, has never regarded the pleated dress and sandals as just another costume, or the prayer to Apollo as just another script.

"I've had the chance to play important roles on stage but this is totally different," she said.

PEACE MESSAGE

Few who have witnessed the priestesses kneel to the gods or march from the ruins of the temple to dance before Zeus to the beat of a drum, could disagree.

"At the moment when the flame lights I am the priestess or at least that's what I'm trying to feel," said Prokopiou, who is expected to light the flame for the Athens torch in May.

"The symbolism of the lighting of the flame is tremendously important and the priestesses are a conduit for a message of peace and fraternity to the whole world."

For the first time next year, the Olympic torch will go to every continent on a 35-day relay, visiting all the cities that have hosted an Olympic Games.

The final stretch of its journey will take it through Greece to Athens for the Games opening ceremony on August 13.

While the current priestesses stress their links to the ancient acolytes pictured on Hellenistic pottery, the ceremony was revived for the modern Games only in 1936, under the direction of Nazi-sponsored Olympic official Carl Diem.

Diem, the man Adolf Hitler chose to choreograph the Berlin Olympics, worked with Greek John Ketseas to put the cult of Hera and the lighting ceremony back at centrestage.

The result is a starkly simple pagan ceremony that Halkidis believes closely mirrors the practices of 3,000 years ago.

"It's not exactly religious but we are encouraged to have complete faith in the reality of what we are doing," said Prokopiou.

CLOUD COVER

Faith is not always enough by itself to spark the flame though. At her first ceremony, ahead of the Sydney Games in 2000, Prokopiou's pleas to Apollo went unheard and stubborn cloud cover scuppered the ceremony.

A flame ignited during a practice session had to be used to light the torch.

At the ancient Olympics full-time devotees of Hera would use a "skaphia", a type of crucible, positioned to face the sun. The device magnified the rays from the sun and set fire to dry grass.

These days the skaphia has given way to a parabolic mirror but a cloudy day still means no sacred light for the flame. Fortunately the priestesses, unlike modern athletes, do not work on performance bonuses.

In fact, the cult has resisted the professionalism of the rest of the Olympic movement and Olympia's "beautiful girls" remain unpaid volunteers.

"We have to turn down work elsewhere and the rehearsals last for weeks. But as one of the other girls said to me 'I've waited all my life for this moment'," said Prokopiou.

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