IGI3 522 Dedication of a Spartan shield

Dedication of a Spartan shield

IG I³ 522 Date: 425 BC

The Athenians (dedicated this, having taken it) from the Laked- aimonians at Pylos.^[1]

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References:

IG I³ 522 (Translated text) (IG Online) (PHI)

Agora XVIII A2

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Agora Excavations - (1)

Monument type: Shield

Inscription type: Dedication (Athenians)

Original location: Agora (Stoa Poikile)?

Findspot: Agora (cistern, near Temple of Hephaistos) (Ag. B 262)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is one of the 120 shields taken from the Spartiates at Pylos in 425 BC after they surrendered (Thucydides 4.36-40, Aristophanes Knights, 843-59). The victory was a heavy blow to the myth of Spartan invincibility and was extensively memorialised by the Athenians. Pausanias (1.15.4) reports that the shields were displayed in the Stoa Poikile, placing the victory on a par with the Battle of Marathon and legendary victories over the Amazons and Trojans. However, this shield was deposited in a cistern, apparently as a lid, before 300 BC, so it was not among those that Pausanias saw in the Stoa. The cistern is some distance from the north side of the agora, where the Stoa Poikile is believed to have been located (though this location is disputed). M. Lippman et al. AJA 110 (2006), 551-63 argue that 120 shields would not have fitted into the Stoa Poikile, as usually reconstructed, and propose that some of the shields, possibly including this one, were dedicated on the Nike temple bastion on the Acropolis and perhaps in other locations. On "unconverted" dedications of this type see IG I³ 517 with notes. On the character of the agency inherent in the inscription on this dedication see J. Whitley, in S. D. Lambert ed., Sociable Man. Essays ... Nick Fisher (2011), 166-68. For a marble shield in the British Museum commemorating the service of the young men of the city as ephebes at around the time of Pausanias see AIUK 4.3B (BM, Ephebic Monuments) no. 5.

Added: 13 Mar 2018
Updated: 10 Aug 2021
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ID: AIO_1430