IEleus 87 Decree of the Kerykes honouring Xenokles of Sphettos

Decree of the Kerykes honouring Xenokles of Sphettos

I Eleusis 87 Date: 332-324 BC (?)

. . . s proposed: the Kerykes^[1] shall decide: since Xenokles son of Xeinis of Sphettos^[2] is a good man (5) towards the genos of the Kerykes, always doing what good he can, and having been appointed in charge of the financial administration of the city (epi tēi dioikēsei tēs poleōs),^[3] distributed (emerisen) well and (10) piously (money) for the sacrifices of the genos of the Kerykes on behalf of the Athenian People and the genos of the (15) Kerykes; to praise him and crown him with a gold crown of 1000 drachmas; and he [shall have access (prosodon) to (20) the genos] of the Kerykes . . .

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References:

I Eleusis 87 (Translated text) (PHI)

SEG 19.119

Agora XVI 77 (PHI)

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Nicolai Futás

Images: Agora Excavations - (1, 2)
Ohio - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Genos Kerykes)

Original location: [City Eleusinion?]

Fr. a - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 6804)
Fr. b - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 4439)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] On the Kerykes, who with the Eumolpidai were were one of the two major Eleusinian genē which supplied the leading male officiants for the Eleusinian Mysteries, see I Eleusis 19 n. 8. On the genē in general see RO 37. This is one of six decrees of these two Eleusinian genē (separately or jointly) in I Eleusis. From its findspot it can be inferred that the decree was probably erected originally in the City Eleusinion. The others are: I Eleusis 93 (Eumolpidai), 100 (Kerykes), 201 (Kerykes and Eumolpidai), 221 (Kerykes and Eumolpidai), 233 and 234(?) (Eumolpidai?). [2] Xenokles was a leading figure in Lykourgan Athens. See below note 3 and IG II³ 4, 212 with notes. [3] This office was probably established in 336 (cf. D. M. Lewis, in P. J. Rhodes ed., Selected Papers, 1997, 212-29, IG II³ 1, 445, with note 1) and first held by Lykourgos, under whom it became the most important financial office in Athens, with overall responsibility for the merismos, the allocation of budgets to spending authorities. See P. J. Rhodes, Chiron, 32, 2007, 349-62; Greece and Rome 60, 2013, 203-31; Lambert, AIO Papers 6, 8-9. Tenure of the office being limited to a four-year term, Lykourgos maintained effective control until his death in 325 or 324 through the appointment to it of “friends” ([Plut.] Mor. 841 B–C; 848 F), one of whom seems from this inscription to have been Xenokles. There is also an apparent reference to Xenokles’ tenure of this office in I Eleusis 95, ll. 23-26.

Added: 26 Jul 2018
Updated: 14 Dec 2022
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ID: AIO_1645