AIO 1240 Decree honouring Sthorys of Thasos, 394/3 BC

Decree honouring Sthorys of Thasos, 394/3 BC

AIO 1240 Date: 394/3 BC

Decree 1 The Council decided.^[1] Aigeis was in prytany. Aristokrates was secretary (394/3). Ameipsias was chairman. - proposed: to praise Sthorys^[2] [the seer? because he is keen] to do whatever good he can . . . (5) the city of the Athenians. . . . since his ancestors were [proxenoi and] benefactors of the city of the Athenians, and the Athenians made [him] a citizen, the secretary of the Council [shall inscribe] . . . (10) what the People have voted [about Sthorys on two stone stelai] on the acropolis and in the Pythion;^[3] and to invite Sthorys also to dinner tomorrow in the city hall (prutaneion).

End of decree 1 or beginning of decree 2 Aristokrates son of Aischines of Kephale was secretary. Euboulides of Eleusis was archon (394/3). In the prytany (15) [of Aigeis]. At least 3 lines uninscribed

Decree 2 (20) . . . . . . proposed: . . . voted . . . and the . . . since previously (25) . . . for the Athenians [and] because he predicted (?) (pro[eipe?]) . . . what happened (?) ([ta genom]ena) concerning the sea battle [divining from?] the inaugural sacrifices (eisitētēriōn) . . . and in other respects is a good man concerning [the city] of the Athenians, and his ancestors (30) before him, and he shall be an Athenian; and he shall be enrolled in the tribe and deme that he wishes; and the generals there shall pay him his salary, the same as he received last year; and the secretary of the Council shall inscribe this decree at the expense of Sthorys (35) on a stone stele where the previous decrees for him have been inscribed; and if anyone makes these things invalid, he shall owe a thousand drachmas, sacred to Athena and another thousand to Apollo Pythios;^[3] and these things shall also apply to the descendants of Sthorys; and to invite him to dinner (40) in the city hall (prutaneion) tomorrow.

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Greek text

References:

AIO 1240 (Translated text) (AIO)

IG II² 17 (PHI)

Syll.³ 127

Walbank, Proxenies, 78

Osborne, Naturalization, D8

Agora XVI 36/2 (PHI)

Agora XVI 36/1 (PHI)

Tracy, Athenian Lettering, 153

IALD II 146 no. 7

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Images: Agora Excavations - (1)
Aleshire - (1, 2, 3)
Krateros - (1, 2)
Ohio - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree 1 (Council), Decree 2 (People)

Original location: Acropolis , Pythion

Fragment a - Findspot: Agora (EM 6900b)
Fragment b - Findspot: Unknown (National Museum, Copenhagen AB b 254)
Fragment c - Findspot: Acropolis (north slope) (EM 6900)
Fragment f - Findspot: Unknown (EM 6900a)
Fragment g - Findspot: Unknown (EM 390)
Fragment h - Findspot: Acropolis (north slope) (Ag. I 4633)
Fragments d-e - Findspot: Unknown (EM 6900)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] These decrees honour the seer, Sthorys of Thasos, awarding him the Athenian citizenship for his services in a "sea-battle" (l. 27), which, in the year 394/3 BC (ll. 1-2 and 14) can scarcely be other than the decisive battle of Knidos (August 394), at which Sthorys presumably served on the staff of the Athenian commander, Konon (cf. RO 9a, RO 10, RO 11). The dating of the decrees within the year can not be further determined. The relationship to eachother of the three sections of the text, ll. 1-12, 13-15 and 25-40, is somewhat obscure (cf. P. Gauthier, REG 99, 1986, 123), but it seems likely that decree 1, of the Council, was passed shortly after and was intended to supplement the Assembly decree, decree 2, mainly to clarify that two copies of decree 2 were to be inscribed rather than the one apparently implied in l. 35 (Osborne, see also M. Osborne, ABSA 65, 1970, 151-74). Ll. 13-15 will in that case either be an (odd) repetition at the end of decree 1 of the dating information given in the prescript, adding just the archon's name (thus Osborne), or the beginning of the prescript of decree 2, which will in that case have been passed earlier in the same prytany (same secretary). The vacant space after l. 15 is a puzzle, but might originally have been filled with a painting. L. 34 indicates that the inscription was paid for by Sthorys himself, and there are several other peculiarities in the format (though cut by an Athenian mason, like other decrees from Sthorys’ homeland, Thasos, it is inscribed within the frame of a raised band) and drafting (e.g. the omission of the usual provision for a citizen by decree to be assigned to a phratry as well as a deme and tribe, l. 31). In the circumstances restoration of the text is especially hazardous, and ours is more cautious than those adopted by previous editors. [2] Sthorys is known also from the later decree of ca. 388/7, IG II² 24 = Osborne II p. 49, to have been a seer (mantis). He was sent officially on that occasion to his native Thasos, most likely at the request of the Thasians themselves (Osborne II p. 47). The decree shows that seers might receive an official salary (ll. 32-33, for later attestations of seers to generals see e.g. IG II² 1708 and W. Peek, Ath. Mitt. 67, 1942, 23 l. 10). Sthorys had apparently made an augury, presumably to the effect that Konon would be successful, on the basis of eisitētēria (l. 27), a term denoting sacrifices made at the beginning of some endeavour, usually a term of office or service, here perhaps sacrifices on Konon's entry into office as commander (though at Knidos he was formally in service to the Persians, not an Athenian general), or sacrifices immediately before the battle (though the term eisitētēria is not normally used in such a context). Cf. W. K. Pritchett, Greek State at War III (1979), 63-67; and in general most recently K. Trampedach, Politische Mantik (2015), 490. On Sthorys in the context of other seers in military contexts, including IG I³ 1147, with n. 3, and SEG 16.193 (funerary monument with epigram for the seer Kleoboulos, identifiable as uncle of Aischines and said by him, 2.78, to have assisted at another naval defeat of the Spartans apparently at about the same period) see J. Dillery, in S. I. Johnston et al. eds., Mantikē. Studies in Ancient Divination (2005), 201-4. He notes that Xenophon reports an eclipse of the sun at the same time as the battle of Knidos (Hell. 4.3.10, Aug. 14 394 BC), interpreted by the historian as sign of the Spartan "eclipse", and wonders whether this may also have been among the omens interpreted by Sthorys (see also M. A. Flower, The Seer in Ancient Greece, 103, cf. 122-23, 141). Also notable is the heroic death of the seer (name unknown) who fought with Thrasyboulos and the democrats from Phyle at the battle of Mounichia in 403 BC, Xen. Hell. 2.4.18-19, allegedly sacrificing his life in fulfilment of his own prophecy (discussed, Dillery, 204; for these events cf. RO 4, AIO 1190). This will have strengthened the connection in the minds of Athenians at this period between the service of seers and "freedom and democracy." [3] The connection with Delphian Apollo Pythios is appropriate to Sthorys’ profession as a seer. On the famous seer of the previous generation, Lampon, cf. OR 141 nn. 9 and 10. See also IG I³ 131 with n. 6. The Pythion was located south of the Olympieion (see IG II³ 4 fasc. 1, pp. 182-83).

Added: 12 Jul 2017
Updated: 16 Apr 2024
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ID: AIO_1240