AgoraXV 278 Honours for the prytany treasurer of Hippothontis, 47/6 or 45/4 BC

Honours for the prytany treasurer of Hippothontis, 47/6 or 45/4 BC

Agora XV 278 Date: 47/6 or 45/4 BC

The prytaneis (crown) the treasurer of the tribe, in crown Diophanes (5) son of Apollonios of Azenia.^[1] Since the prytaneis of Hippothontis (10)and those with perpetual dining rights (aeisitoi) in the archonship of Diokles of Azenia (47/6 or 45/4) ^[2] declare to the Council that the treasurer, whom they chose from among themselves, Diophanes son of Apollonios of Azenia, has made the sacrifices [from his own resources] and has taken care of everything else (15)with love of goodness (philagathōs), and for this they call on the Council to allow them to crown him with a foliage crown, for good fortune, the Council shall decide to praise [the] treasurer of the prytaneis of Hippothontis, [Diophanes] son of Apollonios of Azenia, and to crown [him with a foliage] (20)crown, with which it is traditional to crown [good] men, and the secretary of the prytany shall inscribe [the decree] on [a stone stele] and dedicate it in the Council chamber.

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Azenia: (25)Diophanes son of Apollonios Lysimachos son of Polykritos^[3] Dikaios (son of Dikaios) Zenon son of Theophrastos Apollonios (son of Apollonios) (30)Eraton son of Isidoros Leukios (son of?) Eraton Aristonikos son of Protogenes Philostratos son of Polykritos Dioskourides son of Demeas (35)Dionysios (son of Dionysios) the younger Dionysodoros son of Diogenes Theophilos son of Heliodoros Aischines son of Leukios Nymphokles [(son of Nymphokles)] (40)Leukios son of - uninscribed space

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[deme? ]: Arist- Ari- De- (45)Tim- Ari- Ph- N- Di- (50)G- D- Hy- G- E- uninscribed space

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References:

Agora XV 278 (Translated text) (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Agora Excavations - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Council)

Original location: Agora (Council chamber)

Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 3231)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is a prytany decree of the post-Sullan type, in which the Council permits the prytany and the aeisitoi ("those with perpetual dining rights," various magistrates and priests entitled ex officio to dine in the tholos every night) to make a dedication honouring their treasurer for successful completion of sacrifices on behalf of the community (see SEG 28.95 with notes). The treasurer, Diophanes, is probably identical with the Diophanes son of Apollonios of Azenia who was priest of Asklepios (IG II³ 4, 782–786) in 67/6, 55/4, 43/2, or 31/0 BC. Diophanes is specifically said to have paid for the sacrifices from his own pocket, something that begins to be emphasised in the mid-first century BC (E. Muñiz Grijalvo in E. Muñiz Grijalvo, J. M. Cortés Copete, and F. Lozano, Empire and Religion, 2017, 21–44). Despite this, he receives only a foliage crown and not the painted image of himself on a gilt shield which was a normal part of the honours for the prytany treasurer in the first century BC; it is unclear why. The same thing occurs in Agora XV 279 and 293. The pediment is preserved; ll. 1–3 appear above it and ll. 4–8 in a crown inside it. A later prytany of Hippothontis inscribed Agora XV 336, a prytany list of the Imperial type, on the back of the stele in 152/3 or 153/4 AD. See SEG 28.92 for other examples of this. [2] There were four archons called Diokles in the mid-first century BC, serving in 57/6, 47/6, 45/4, and ca. 39/8 BC. The disambiguator "of Azenia" indicates that the archon of this inscription was the second or third of these. [3] Lysimachos and Philostratos (ll. 26, 33) are brothers; Eraton and Leukios (ll. 30–31) are probably father and son; and Apollonios (l. 29) might be a brother of Diophanes the treasurer (A. Raubitschek, Hesperia 12, 1943, 59). Family members also serve together in the same prytany in other first-century BC decrees (Agora XV 273, 275, 286, 293), a practice which becomes ubiquitous in the Roman Imperial period (e.g. Agora XV 370). This is part of the increasing importance of the family in Athenian public life in the Roman period and probably indicates that the members of the Council were no longer being selected by lot as they had been in Classical and Hellenistic times (on the role of election and lottery in post-Sullan Athens, see Agora XVI 333).

Added: 24 Sep 2023
Updated: 24 Sep 2023
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