IGI3 953 Dedication of two crowns in the City Eleusinion by the priestess Lysistrate

Dedication of two crowns in the City Eleusinion by the priestess Lysistrate

IG I³ 953 Date: Ca. 450-425 BC?

Attendant of your secret ceremony, Mistress Deo,^[1] and your daughter’s, Lysistrate^[2] set up this pleasing gift, two crowns,^[3] an adornment for your porch, and she does not spare her possessions, but to the gods she is unstinting to the extent of her ability.

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References:

IG I³ 953 (Translated text) (IG Online) (PHI)

CEG 1, no. 317

Kaczko, Attic Dedicatory Epigrams, 134

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Feyo Schuddeboom

Images: Agora Excavations - (1)
Aleshire - (1)

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Dedication (priestess), Dedication (Demeter and Kore), Metrical (elegaic couplets)

Original location: Agora ([City Eleusinion])

Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 5484)

Transliterations on No places

[1] = Demeter. Her daughter was Persephone, known in Attica as Korē, "the Girl". The "secret ceremony" is the Eleusinian Mysteries. This inscription is conventionally dated ca. 450 BC, but is in the Ionic alphabet (formally adopted for public documents in 403 BC, but in practice becoming quite popular earlier) and like many datings of 5th-century inscriptions in IG I³, that date may be too high. [2] = J. Blok and S. D. Lambert, ZPE 169, 2009, 119, priestess of Demeter no. 1. This priestess may have been alluded to by Aristophanes in the eponymous heroine of his play, Lysistrata, produced in 411 BC. He may also, however, be alluding to the long-serving priestess of Athena Polias, Lysimache [= J. Blok and S. D. Lambert, ZPE 169, 2009, 105 priestess of Athena no. 1, and cf. IG II² 3453]. See also IG I³ 1330. [3] The poetic language here is not straightforward to interpret. It has been suggested that "stephanō" was the title of the dedicator (priestly functionaries known as kosmō and trapezō are also attested). It would seem to make more sense, however, to understand stephanō as the dual, meaning "two crowns" (for this interpretation see now also Kaczko), to understand Lysistrate as priestess of Demeter and Kore, and to interpret the inscription as implying that she has received two crowns (crowns were not infrequently awarded to the same individual by different bodies, e.g. the Council, and the People) in recognition of her personal service (financial contributions are implied by l. 4), which, in a manner characteristic of honorands, she has proceeded to dedicate to the gods. It was not unknown for private individuals to hang crowns at the entrances to their houses; it would be appropriate that a priestess, as "keyholder" of the gods' "house", should dedicate crowns awarded to her at the sanctuary entrance. For a photograph, and on the two crowns, perhaps attached to a pillar inserted in the base, see W. K. Pritchett, Hesp. 9, 1940, 97-101 no. 18. For a good discussion of the language and scholarly history of this monument see now Kaczko no. 134.

Added: 20 Sep 2015
Updated: 18 Mar 2025
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ID: AIO_923