IGII34 460 Choregic monument of Lysikrates, 335/4 BC

Choregic monument of Lysikrates, 335/4 BC

IG II³ 4 460 Date: 335/4 BC

Lysikrates son of Lysitheides of Kikynna was sponsor (echorēgei),^[1] Akamantis was victorious in the boys’ competition, Theon was pipe-player, Lysiades of Athens directed,^[2] Euainetos was archon (335/4).^[3]

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References:

IG II³ 4 460 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 3042 (PHI)

Syll.³ 1087

Agelidis, Weihgeschenke 22

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Dedication (choregic)

Original location: Athens (Odos Tripodon)

Findspot: Athens (Odos Tripodon) (In situ)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] One of the public duties or “liturgies” that might be undertaken by the wealthiest in classical Athens was the sponsorship of a performance at one of the great choral or dramatic festivals (choregia). The City Dionysia and the Lenaia are best known to us as context for the plays by the great 5th-century tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and the comedian, Aristophanes, but victories in the competitions in tragedy and comedy at those festivals were not organised by tribes, or rewarded with durable prizes which were suitable for monumental commemoration (perishable forms of commemoration are, however, attested in literary sources, e.g. paintings, Ar. Pol. 1341a, cf. Theophrastos who has one of his satirical characters, “the Avaricious Man”, dedicate a mere piece of wood with his name on to commemorate a victory in tragedy, Char. 22.1-2; for dedications from Attic localities ("Rural Dionysia") relating to dramatic performances see IG II³ 4, 498; for a dedication by the basileus commemorating victories in tragedy and comedy at the Lenaia, IG II³ 4, 41; for an agonothetic monument commemorating victories in tragedy and comedy, IG II³ 4, 518). The competition in the dithyramb (a type of ecstatic choral hymn) at the City Dionysia (and also at the Thargelia, on which see IG II³ 4, 475) was organised by tribes (in the case of the Thargelia the tribes were paired), with separate competitions for men and boys. The sponsor (choregos) would bear the costs of preparing the choirs (including their nourishment, rehearsal and costume; for vivid insights into what the choregia in the boys' dithyramb might entail see Antiphon 6, a case involving the poisoning of one of the boys in the chorus). The prize for the victorious sponsor was a tripod, and it became common practice from the later 5th century for the sponsor to commemorate his victory by setting up the tripod on a stone base. In the case of the Dionysia the monuments were located in the area of the theatre of Dionysos and the “Street of the Tripods” close by (for illustrations of the tripods on vases see P. Amandry, BCH Suppl. I, 1973, 38-39). Some of these dedications were simple stone bases carrying the tripod (as e.g. the late-fifth century example in the British School at Athens, AIUK 2 no. 3), but in the later 4^th century there was a tendency for sponsors to erect more magnificent monuments. The two latest surviving, those of Nikias (IG II³ 4, 467) and Thrasyllos (468), are among the most sumptuous and were set up after the end of the classical democracy (320/19 BC). Shortly after this the choregia was abolished, most likely by Demetrios of Phaleron (317-307 BC) along with other liturgies (cf. IG II³ 4, 518). Choregic monuments were revived in the 1st century AD, IG II³ 4, 558.

This, the monument of Lysikrates, was set up some years earlier and is the most famous of all choregic monuments. Still in situ at the end of the “Street of the Tripods”, and commemorating a victory in the boys' dithyramb at the City Dionysia in 335/4, it owes its almost complete preservation to later use as a monastic library. It is a roofed cylindrical structure, ca. 12 m. high, set on a rectangular base, decorated with six Corinthian columns (the earliest use of such columns on the exterior of a building anywhere). Above the columns is an epistyle, inscribed on its eastern side, and decorated with a relief frieze depicting Etruscan pirates being harried by Dionysos and his satyrs and turned into dolphins. This will have reflected the subject matter of the dithyramb. It also had contemporary resonance. There was an expedition against pirates by the general Diotimos supported by Lykourgos in this same year, IG II³ 1, 336, cf. the colonising expedition to the Adriatic of 325/4, explicitly to protect against Etruscan pirates, IG II³ 1, 370, with n. 3. The tripod will have been on the top of the monument, its feet set either on the crowning akanthos decoration at the very top of the monument or on the roof below. Lysikrates is otherwise known as trierarch (another liturgy, cf. IG I³ 236a) in 325/4 (IG II² 1629 ll. 45-46), the year of the Adriatic expedition, and as owner of land near Laureion in the mining region of southern Attica (Agora XIX P13 l. 47); cf. Davies, Athenian Propertied Families (1971), 356-57. For an extensive bibliography of this monument see IG II³ 4 p. 177; for a brief recent discussion with photographs, H. R. Goette, in P. Wilson ed., The Greek Theatre and Festivals (2007), 132-33. [2] As well as training the chorus, Lysiades will also have been the poet who composed the dithyramb. Like most dithyrambic poets of this period he is largely unknown, but he is also attested (IG II³ 4, 445) as poet for the victorious chorus for Oineis at the boys competition at the City Dionysia of 352/1, when the choregos was the orator Apollodoros son of Pasion, author of several speeches ascribed to Demosthenes (also an active trierarch, [Dem.] 53.5, cf. Dem. 36, [Dem.] 50 etc.; Davies 440-42; J. Trevett, Apollodoros the Son of Pasion, 1992). It is unusual for an Athenian to be referred to at Athens by his ethnic (“Athenian”) rather than by his demotic (e.g. as Lysikrates, “of Kikynna”). Possible explanations include that Lysiades resided outside Attica, or was a foreigner made an Athenian citizen by decree, but more likely it simply served to distinguish him as Athenian in contrast to musicians and poets named on monuments of this type who were often non-Athenians. Cf. IG II³ 4, 534 and IG II³ 4, 539. In any case this feature emphasises the international context for performance competitions in Athens at this period, both in the intended "viewership" for the competitions and their commemorative monuments, and in that many non-Athenians were involved in the productions. This is also a notable feature of the agonothetic monuments after 307/6 BC, cf. IG II³ 4, 522, with notes. [3] As well as dating the monument, the eponymous archon was also relevant because he was responsible for assigning choregoi for the City Dionysia (Ath. Pol. 56.3-4).

Added: 9 Mar 2017
Updated: 25 Sep 2022
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