IGII34 537 Dedication by the competition-director, Praxiteles (?)

Dedication by the competition-director, Praxiteles (?)

IG II³ 4 537 Date: ca. 200-150 BC

If anyone of previous generations performed sacrifices to Hermes Enagonios Gifts of this sort are also appropriate for Nike Whom as companion to Bromios in the renowned competitions of the theatrical artists Praxiteles set up under twin tripods.^[1]

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References:

IG II³ 4 537 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 3089 + Add. p. 349 (PHI)

SEG 51.195

DNO 2026

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Dedication (competition-director (agonothetes)?), Dedication (Nike)

Original location: in situ?

Findspot: Athens, theatre of Dionysos (Athens Ephoria NK 2097)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This base, inscribed with two elegiac couplets, was found together with IG II² 4572 = IG II³ 4, 1344, a iv BC dedication to Hermes Enagonios by Lykinos of Pallene. Hermes Enagonios (“of competition”) was a deity to whom competitors might make offerings before a contest (cf. also IG II³ 4, 431). If previous generations made offerings to Hermes Enagonios, ll. 1-2 assert (referring, it seems, to the dediction by Lykinos), offerings were also appropriate for Nike, goddess of Victory. The second couplet may imply that Praxiteles was a competition director (agonothetes) at the City Dionysia (on this office see IG II³ 4, 518, with notes) who had made a joint dedication to Nike and Dionysos (= Bromios). There is a slot in the top of the base to take a stele, which would in this case perhaps have carried a relief depicting Nike and Dionysos (unless there was a separate monument to the latter). Alternatively the couplet may allude to a statue of Nike and Dionysos by the 4th-cent. BC sculptor, Praxiteles: since Praxiteles had once made such a statue, the verse implies, it was appropriate for this (anonymous) dedicator also to make a joint dedication. The base of Praxiteles’ statue has been thought to be NM 1463, a triangular base from the theatre of Dionysos with depictions in relief of Dionysos on the front and Nikai on the sides (cf. K. Vierneisel and A. Scholl, Münchner Jhb. der bildenden Kunst 53, 2002, 7-27).

Added: 23 Jul 2020
Updated: 18 Oct 2021
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ID: AIO_2025