AIUK45 no. 12 Dedication to [Men?], Pan and the Nymphs

Dedication to [Men?], Pan and the Nymphs

AIUK 4.5 (BM, Dedications) no. 12 Date: 2nd century BC

Relief . . . to Men (?), Pan, the Nymphs.^[1]

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Greek text

References:

AIUK 4.5 (BM, Dedications) no. 12 (Translated text) (AIUK) (AIO)

IG II² 4875 (PHI)

IG II³ 4 1468 (IG Online)

GIBM IV 945

Translation by: Peter Liddel, Polly Low

AIO Images: 1 2

Monument type: Plaque

Inscription type: Dedication ([Men?], Pan and Nymphs)

Findspot: Athens (BM 1895,1029.10)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This relief with inscription was acquired in Athens by Jean P. Lambros and purchased by the British Museum in 1895. The relief depicts three nymphs dancing in a cave; a square altar is visible on the left edge of the scene; a head or mask of Acheloös on the right. Both the iconography and inscription of this monument suggest that it is a dedication to Pan and the Nymphs.

As we have noted elsewhere (AIUK 9 (Brocklesby Park), Appendix), dedications to Pan and the Nymphs are well known in Athens (and in other parts of in the Greek world). There is no obvious mythological link between Pan and the Nymphs, but both were associated with (and worshipped in) cave sites. In Menander’s Dyskolos, Pan refers to the Nymphs who “share my shrine” (l. 37), and at least nine caves in Attica can be linked with worship of Pan and the Nymphs (see Wickens, “The Archaeology and History of Cave Use in Attica, Greece, from Prehistoric through Late Roman Times”, PhD Indiana (1986), I 169). This spatial connection explains why they might also share votive offerings; it also reinforces and is reinforced by a belief that Pan and the Nymphs were united in their concern for rural and uncultivated spaces.

The bearded, disembodied, head on the far right of the scene is identified (on typological grounds) as the river-god Acheloös, the father of the Nymphs. It is possible (as Edwards, “Greek Votive Reliefs to Pan and the Nymphs”, PhD New York University (1985), 66-67 argues) that both the depiction and the placement of the Acheloos mask are intended to signify his apotropaic power, keeping the nymphs’ cave sanctuary safe from harm.

Our tentative reading of letter traces on the inscription would imply that Pan and the Nymphs were joined as recipients by Men, a deity associated with the moon, agricultural fertility, the protection of tombs and the Underworld. Men is attested as a recipient of votive reliefs in Athens and Attica from the fourth century BC onwards (IG II³ 4, 1339, 1340, 1341, 1343, 1344). The association of Men with Pan and the Nymphs has a parallel from the third century AD in the shape of an inscribed invocation reading “ὁ Παν, ὁ Μήν, χαίρετε Νύνφαι καλαί” ("Pan, Men, greetings beautiful Nymphs", IG II³ 4, 1771 l. 1). Men, depicted often with a Phrygian cap and alongside a crescent moon, does not appear in the preserved part of the relief on the BM plaque.

Many of the votives to Pan and the Nymphs (including this one) have no known findspot. Of the examples which do have findspots, however, several can very plausibly be associated with caves of Pan and the Nymphs. It therefore seems likey that our relief originally stood in, or just outside, one of the many caves of Pan and the Nymphs in Attica.

For fuller discussion of this inscription see AIUK 4.5 (BM, Dedications), no. 12.

Added: 15 Mar 2022
Updated: 15 Mar 2022
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