AIUK45 no. 7 Dedication commemorating victory in a torch-race

Dedication commemorating victory in a torch-race

AIUK 4.5 (BM, Dedications) no. 7 Date: 2nd cent. AD

Relief [ἆ]θ̣λα τὰ τῆς νίκης Ὡράριος Ἡρα̣[⏑ — ⏑] [λα]μπάδας Ἑρμείαι θῆκε καὶ Ἡρακ̣[λέϊ].

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Translated text

References:

AIUK 4.5 (BM, Dedications) no. 7 (Translated text) (AIUK) (AIO)

IG II² 3164 (PHI)

IG II³ 4 423 (IG Online)

SEG 38.176a

GIBM I 42

Translation by: Peter Liddel, Chris de Lisle, Polly Low, Sjoukje M. Kamphorst

AIO Images: 1

Monument type: Relief

Inscription type: Dedication (ephebic?), Dedication (Hermes), Dedication (Herakles)

Findspot: Athens (BM 1816,0610.298)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription was part of the Elgin Collection (cf. AIUK 4.1, no. 2). It is quite plausible that, like the majority of the inscriptions in that collection, it derives from Athens, but this is not absolutely certain.

The monument consists of an inscribed base and a relief; most of the relief has been lost, and only the feet of one figure are preserved.

[2] The dedication is an elegiac couplet. The name of the dedicator, Horarios, is the Greek form of the Roman nomen, Horarius, which is attested among the Roman and Italian negotiatores based in Delos in the first century BC (I Délos 1764, l. 12). After Delos’ decline, these traders settled elsewhere in the province of Achaia and their descendants are found among the elites of several Greek cities in the imperial period. It is possible, therefore, that our Horarios is the descendant of one of those Republican negotiatores (or of one of their freedmen), and that he had settled in Athens or another Greek city. In that case, it is also likely that the partially-preserved name in line 1 is a Greek personal name used as a cognomen (perhaps, e.g., "Herakleides").

[3] Although the inscription does not provide any explicit information on Horarios' role or status, the gods to whom the monument is dedicated suggest an ephebic context for his victory; cf. IG II³ 4, 372. On the ephebic dedications of the Hellenistic and Roman periods see IG II³ 4, 357 with n. 1. For a general discussion of the ephebate in Roman Athens see AIO Papers 12.

[4] The nature of the prizes dedicated suggest that Horarios had been victorious in a torch-race. Such races are attested at several festivals in Athens and Attica in the Hellenistic and Roman periods (see, e.g., IG II³ 4, 377, commemorating victory in a torch-race at the Theseia; IG II³ 4, 317 , from Rhamnous). Such races are also held outside Athens in this period (e.g. I Didyma 187-90). However, this inscription provides no information about the festival in which the race was held. Nor is it clear from the inscription what Horarios' role was: victory dedications can be set up by gymnasiarchs (e.g. AIUK 4.5, no. 4) or by members of the winning team (e.g. IG II³ 4, 405). It is possible that the monument's relief would have clarified the context of the victory, and/or Horarios' role in it.

For fuller discussion of this inscription see AIUK 4.5 (BM, Dedications), no. 7.

Added: 21 Oct 2019
Updated: 3 Nov 2023
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ID: AIO_1902