IGI3 776 Dedication by a herald to Hermes

Dedication by a herald to Hermes

IG I³ 776 Date: ca. 500-480 BC

To Hermes this statue [was given] in thanks [here], erected by Oin- (5) the herald, on account of his remembrance of him.^[1]

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References:

IG I³ 776 (Translated text) (IG Online) (PHI)

Raubitschek, Dedications 295 (PHI)

CEG 1, 234

Kaczko, Attic Dedicatory Epigrams, 54

Translation by: Edmund Stewart

Monument type: Pillar?, Herm?

Inscription type: Dedication (private, Hermes), Metrical (elegiac couplet)

Findspot: Acropolis (EM 6358)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription is a verse epigram consisting of one elegiac couplet, preserved on a fragment of a pillar or herm. The right hand side of the text is missing and has been plausibly reconstructed. A herald here has dedicated an offering appropriately to Hermes, the herald of the gods, as patron divinity of his occupation. This work thus belongs to the general category of thank offerings by craftsmen and professionals, for which see IG I³ 546. On the skill (techne) of professional heralds, see e.g. Herodotus 6.60; Euripides Suppliants 381-2. There may have been a cult of Hermes on the Acropolis at this period. Pausanias knew of a statue to Hermes at the Propylaia for Hermes Propylaios (1.22.8), not far from where this stone was found, and another in the Erechtheion (1.27.1), which he believed to be very ancient. For later dedications by heralds (all of the Roman Imperial period), see IG II³ 4, 612, 624, 629, and 833.

Added: 19 Aug 2025
Updated: 19 Aug 2025
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ID: AIO_3445