AIO 2682 List of victors in the second Hellenistic <i>Pythais</i> at Delphi, 128/7 BC

List of victors in the second Hellenistic Pythais at Delphi, 128/7 BC

AIO 2682 Date: 128/7 BC (and perhaps 106/5 BC ?)

F.Delphes Ⅲ 2 34

(1)God. For Good Fortune. In the archonship of Pyrrhos at Delphi, in Athens of Dionysios after Lykiskos (128/7),^[1] having won among the tribal cavalry commanders (phularchōn), first^[2] of those who escorted the Pythais with the cavalry commander (hipparchou) Diokles and his fellow officials, when Diokles son of Diokles of Athens held the contest:

col. 1

crown to the left of the text (5)From the tribal cavalry commanders; Double-length race (diaulon) with a war horse: Hagias son of (10)Boulon of Athens.

col. 2

crown to the left of the text (5)From the cavalry: Double-length race with a war horse: Hagias son of Boulon of Athens.

F.Delphes Ⅲ 2 42

(1)From all: straight race (akampion) with horse: Straton son of Boulon of Athens.^[3] crown below

F.Delphes Ⅲ 2 36

(1)Double-length race with a war horse: Hermon son of Antiphon.^[4] crown below

F.Delphes Ⅲ 2 37

col. 1

(1)Byttakos son of Byttakos, [straight race]. crown below

col. 2

(1)Zoilos son of Timokrates of Athens, from the cavalry, «javelin throw (akontizōn)» ⟦with a Tarantine war horse⟧ ⟦double-length race⟧.^[5] crown below

col. 3

(1)Kallistratos son of Kallistratos of Athens, double-length race from the Tarantine cavalry, (5)with a war horse. crown below

F.Delphes Ⅲ 2 38

col. 1

(1)Kallitheos son of Lysaiades «double-length race» ⟦straight race⟧. crown below

col. 2

(1)Pyrrhos son of Pyrrhos straight race.^[6] (crown below)

F.Delphes Ⅲ 2 35

(1)In the archonship of Pyrrhos at Delphi, in Athens of Dionysios (128/7) after Lykiskos, the following won among the cavalry and the tribal cavalry commanders who escorted the Pythais, while [the cavalry commander Diokles son of Diokles] held [the contest], the leaders of the Tarantine (tarantinarchountōn) cavalry being Diogenes [son of Aropos and Lyson son of Demokrates], the tribal cavalry commanders being Hermon (5)son of Dionysios, [Hagios son of Boulon, Charikles son of] Theodoros, Xenokles son of Demetrios.

col. 1

(7) . . . . . . . . . (crown below)

col. 2

(6)[From the tribal caval]ry commanders: [double-length race] with a war [horse in] armour: [Hermon son of Dionysios] of Athens (10)[by birth son of] Antiphon. crown below

col. 3

(6)Double-length race with a war horse: Hagias son of Boulon. crown below

F.Delphes Ⅲ 2 39

col. 1

(1)[Straight race]: Charikles son of Theodoros. crown below

col. 2

(1)Straight race: Xenokles son of Demetrios of Athens. crown below

col. 3

(1)[From all: double-length] [race with a] war [horse]: Hagias [son of Boulon] crown below

F.Delphes Ⅲ 2 40

col. 1

(1)Double-length race with horse: Sotion son of Nikanor crown below

col. 2

(1)Straight race: Charinos son of Lykinos crown below

col. 3

(1)From all: double-length race with a war [horse]: Dio- son of Diodotos of Athens.^[7] crown below

F.Delphes Ⅲ 2 41

col. 1

(1)Theopeithes son of Theophilos double-length race. crown below

col. 2

(1)Diokles son of Diokles straight race crown below

col. 3

(1)Timokles son of Hipparchos of Athens, from the cavalry, straight race.^[8] crown below

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Greek text

References:

AIO 2682 (Translated text) (AIO)

F.Delphes III 2 34-42 + Add. p. 290–1 (PHI) (PHI) (PHI) (PHI) (PHI) (PHI) (PHI) (PHI) (PHI)

Syll.³ 697h+i

Tracy, Pythaïs Inscriptions p. 194

Tracy, ALC 170f

Kühn, Pythais-Prozession pp. 325-6

Translation by: Banban Wang

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Block (Wall)

Inscription type: List of names (victors)

no. 34 - Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, front face of south anta, in situ) (Delphi Museum 1412)
no. 35 - Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 2109)
no. 35 - Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 1466)
no. 36 - Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 151)
no. 37 - Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 3928)
no. 37 - Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 680)
no. 38 - Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 1474)
no. 39 - Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 588)
no. 40 - Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 1504)
no. 41 - Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 65)
no. 42 - Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, inner face of south anta, in situ) (Delphi Museum 1412)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual Note. AIO includes col. 1 in F.Delphes III 2, 37 from F.Delphes III 2, Add. pp. 290-1. For F.Delphes III 2, 37, col. 2, the space which bears the word ἀκοντίζων ('javelin throw') has traces of erased letters, and F.Delphes III 2, p. 42 reads these as ταραντίνων ἵππωι ('with Tarantine horse'). Analysis of the squeezes at IG by BW indicates that a third line in col. 2 reads πολεμιστῆι δίαυλον ('double race with war-'), which was almost entirely erased. The text spans a number of blocks and F.Delphes III 2 gives each group an individual number in an attempt to attribute one unique number to each block, but it is more appropriate to treat all nine inscriptions together. We order these inscriptions according to their locations, see below.

This dossier honours twenty-two victors at equestrian contests during the Hellenistic Pythais to Delphi. It was inscribed on various connected blocks on the southern wall of the Athenian Treasury, as well as on the front and inner faces of the Treasury's south anta (on the Pythais and the Treasury, see F.Delphes III 2, 3 with notes, and on Attic inscriptions at Delphi, see IG II³ 4, 17 with notes). The victors' names were engraved with a crown beneath them (or, in F.Delphes III 2, 34, to the left), with two or three columns grouped together on individual blocks of the Treasury wall. Most of these inscriptions derive from the second Pythais in 128/7 BC, although F.Delphes III 2, 43-44 derive from the third Pythais in 106/5 and F.Delphes III 2, 45 from the fourth in 97/6 BC. Most of the texts give only the victor's name and the contest, meaning that they can only be dated on prosopographic grounds (most of the names appear also in the list of cavalrymen for the second Pythais: F.Delphes III 2, 27). The equestrian contests of the Pythais, like the tribal contests at the Panathenaia (IG II² 2316-2317) and Theseia (IG II² 956-958), were organized into separate divisions: tribal cavalry commanders, members of the Tarantine cavalry, and all Athenian cavalrymen (named simply as 'of all'). As in the Panathenaia and unlike at the Olympics and other Panhellenic games, the contestants rode their own horses in the contests (cf. J. Shear, Serving Athena, 2021, 193-94 and table 5.14 on the Panathenaia). The contests include a javelin-throw from horseback (akontizon), a straight race (akampios, i.e. from one end of the stadium to the other), a double-length race (diaulos, i.e. from one end of the stadium to the other and back), a double-length race with a war horse (hippo polemiste diaulos), and a double race with a war horse in armour (hippo polemiste diaulos en hoplois). On equestrian contests in the Hellenistic world generally, see C. Chandezon in J.-C. Moretti and P. Valavanis, Les hippodromes et les concours hippiques, 2020; on equestrian contests at Delphi, see S. Kühn, Pythais-Prozession, 2018, 168-72. There were also musical contests during the Pythais, on which see the Delphic honorific decrees for the Dionysiac artists (F.Delphes III 2.47–49) and S. Kühn, Pythais-Prozession, 2018, 172-76. [2] The subject of this clause is Hagias, who is named in the crowns below. The expression 'first' may mean that Hagias took the leading position among the tribal cavalry commanders during the Pythais procession. According to the surviving texts, Hagias was the most successful contestant as he won four crowns, all in the double race with war horse against different opponents (tribal cavalry commanders and the cavalry in F.Delphes III 2, 34; all cavalrymen in F.Delphes III 2, 39, and an unspecified division in F.Delphes III 2, 35). This indicates that some contestants were able to compete in multiple categories. The 'fellow officials' (synarchontes) may refer to the other generals and commanders mentioned in F.Delphes III 2, 24, ll. 3-8. [3] F.Delphes III 2, 42 was inscribed on the inner side of the south anta, on the same block as F.Delphes III 2, 34. The letters of the text are significantly smaller (ca. 7mm) than other texts in the dossier (ca. 9–10mm), but comparable to F.Delphes III 2, 43 (also ca. 7mm), dated to the third Pythais in 106/5 BC. This might indicate that it also belongs to the third Pythais. Although he is not otherwise attested, Straton was probably a relative of Hagias, given their identical patronym. [4] F.Delphes III 2, 36-38 were inscribed on three horizontally adjoining blocks in one course of the southern wall, with very similar top margins. [5] On the Tarantine cavalry, see SEG 46.167 with note. The two columns of F.Delphes III 2, 37 were inscribed by the same hand, using the same guidelines, which were incised in advance. On the erasure, see the textual note. [6] Both columns of F.Delphes III 2, 38 were inscribed by the same hand and connected with the same guidelines. The word diaulon ('double-length race') in col. 1, l. 3 was inscribed over an earlier text, which read akampion ('straight race'). [7] F.Delphes III 2, 40, col. 1 and col. 2 were inscribed by the same hand and connected with the same guidelines. However, col. 3 is not on the same guidelines and not even aligned with the other two texts. The lost name may be Diodotos son of Diodotos of Sypalettos, who was manager (epimeletes) of the island of Delos in 106/5 BC (I Délos 2234) and a relative of (or identical with) one of the cavalryman in the third Pythais of 106/5 BC (F.Delphes III 2, 28, col. 2, l. 30; P. Roussel, Délos colonie athénienne, 1916, 109-110). [8] F.Delphes III 2, 35, 39, 40, and 41 were inscribed on four blocks next to one another with the same design, i.e. three crowns on each block (the crown from col. 1 of F.Delphes III 2, 35 is lost). Col. 3 of F.Delphes III 2, 41 is significantly higher than the other two and the victor there named, Timokrates son of Hipparchos, does not appear in the surviving cavalry list of the second Pythais (F.Delphes III 2, 27), so, unlike the other victors, it is not certain that his victory occurred in 128/7 BC.

Added: 3 Dec 2023
Updated: 9 Feb 2024
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ID: AIO_2682