CsapWil 266-9 Decree of Thorikos about <I>choregoi</i>

Decree of Thorikos about choregoi

Csapo and Wilson II, 266-9 Date: ca. 420-400 (409?) BC

. . . . . . . . . [in] comedy . . . ^[1] . . . served as theatrical sponsors (echorēgēsan) . . . theatrical sponsorships (chorēgiai) [for the] Tho[rikians] (5) . . . time, both in comedies [and in] tragedies and the secretaries (anagrapheas) shall inscribe (anagrapsai) a record (anagraphēn) . . . . . . Ameipsias son of Mnes-. The following men have served as theatrical sponsors (kechorēgēkasi): (10)- son of -lides, Mnes- son of -, -os son of Dorokles.

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Greek text

References:

Csapo and Wilson II, 266-9 (Translated text) (AIO)

IG I³ 258bis (IG Online) (PHI)

SEG 40.128 (PHI)

SEG 56.200

SEG 63.41

Russo, Ripartizioni, D103

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Matthew Hewitt

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (deme Thorikos)

Findspot: Thorikos (south of retaining wall of theatre orchestra) (Laurion Museum 594=85.105)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This fragmentary decree is from Thorikos in the south-east of the Attic peninsula. It stands in close relation to the other extant decree of Thorikos, SEG 34.107 (for links to other inscriptions and discussions of Thorikos on AIO see the notes to that inscription). Both decrees relate to theatrical sponsorships (choregiai), and both are datable on the basis of their script to ca. 420-400 BC (for the possible dating to ca. 409 BC see AIO 847, with n. 1). Moreover the three choregiai which SEG 34.107 apparently provides should be sold to the highest bidder are echoed in the listing of three sponsors at the end of our decree. It is difficult to say much more for certain about the content of this decree, except that it also confirms that both tragedies and comedies were performed at the Rural Dionysia at Thorikos (for this see also IG II³ 4, 512) and that SEG 40.167 perhaps contains a continuation of the list of choregoi mandated in this decree. For further speculation about the content of the decree see Csapo and Wilson. K. Takeuchi, Horos 22-25, 2010-2013 [2014], 102-5, no. 10 = SEG 63.41 notes that Ameipsias (l. 8) shares his unusual name with a well-known comic poet of this period (PCG 2, pp. 197 ff.), but whether the two are identical is uncertain. He also argues that this decree can be identified as the earliest honorific decree of a deme. There is indeed perhaps an honorific intentionality in listing the choregoi. However, the decree does not have the form of an honorific decree, with award of crowns and privileges, formulae of praise etc., and the listing of the choregoi can also be interpreted in the context of accountability, which was a more characteristic feature of the epigraphic habit of the demes at this period. The earliest honorific decrees of demes stricto sensu date to the 350s BC: see RO 46 and IG II² 1180, with notes. [SDL]

Added: 19 Jul 2022
Updated: 17 Sep 2024
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