AIUK42 no. 10 Honorific decree

Honorific decree

AIUK 4.2 (BM, Decrees of Council and Assembly) no. 10 Date: Ca. 350-325 BC

Ἀ̣θ[ηνᾶ] on epistyle

Relief

θ [ε ο ί] on moulding - - - - - -

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Translated text

References:

AIUK 4.2 (BM, Decrees of Council and Assembly) no. 10 (Translated text) (AIUK) (AIO)

IG II³ 1 395 (PHI) (IG Online)

Lawton 137

Lawton 131

Lawton 124

IALD 171 no. 127, 404

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

AIO Images: 1 2 3

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Council/People)

Findspot: Unknown (BM 1973,0330.3)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This relief (see image 1), like two other reliefs in the BM's collection on which there is no text preserved (images 2 and 3), was most likely among the monuments acquired in Athens by Lord Elgin; cf. AIUK 4.1, no. 2; AIUK 4.2 (BM, Decrees of the Council and Assembly), sect. 1.

From the second half of the fifth century to the beginning of the third century BC, inscribed decrees (and other types of inscribed document) were sometimes decorated with relief sculpture. At one level these reliefs clearly functioned as visual signals, complementing the text. There is lively discussion, however, about what exactly the reliefs signified and their relationship to the inscribed texts (see most recently W. Mack, ABSA 113, 2018, 365-98). This last issue cannot be addressed in any detail with this example, since in common with the two other Athenian document reliefs in the British Museum (images 2 and 3) and many other such document reliefs in European Museums, they have become separated from the inscribed body of the stele to which they once belonged. Sometimes the relief preserves a bit of the inscribed text at the top of the stele; but not infrequently, as with these three examples, none of the main text survives.

This relief depicts a standing Athena, named on the epistyle above, crowning a male human figure, characteristically depicted in much smaller scale. From this it can be inferred that the relief is from the top of an Athenian Assembly decree honouring at least one man; parallels would suggest he was a foreigner. It is clear that in some sense Athena in such scenes represents, or personifies, the city of Athens, though, like the heading, “gods”, which also occurred on this inscription, such depictions clearly also go beyond mere symbolism, asserting divine agency in the honorific process (cf. Mack). The religious character of most of the reliefs is also consonant with the typical location of inscribed decrees in religious sanctuaries. Other honorands and/or divine figures were probably depicted in the lost part of the relief to the right. The relief can be dated stylistically to the third quarter of the fourth century BC (Lawton).

The scenes on the other two document reliefs in the Elgin collection, neither of which preserves any inscribed labels or other text, are rather similar. In fact in its design BM 1816,0610.371 = Lawton 131, also of the third quarter of the fourth century, is a mirror image of our relief, depicting Athena (to the right) crowning a male (image 2); while BM 1816,0610.375 = Lawton 124, of the mid-to-third-quarter of the fourth century BC, depicts Athena (to the right) and another divine figure, perhaps a patron deity or hero of the honorand’s city, crowning a male (image 3). For another decree relief in a UK collection of the same period see AIUK 3 (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), no. 2. For more detailed discussion see AIUK 4.2 (BM, Decrees of the Council and Assembly), no. 10.

Added: 10 Dec 2012
Updated: 11 Apr 2020
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