IGII34 545 Victory dedication (Panathenaia and Thargelia)

Victory dedication (Panathenaia and Thargelia)

IG II³ 4 545 Date: Mid-4th cent. BC

. . . . . . in the torch race (?) (lampadi) and the competition in manly excellence (?) (euandriai) at the Panathenaia, in the boys' competition at the Thargelia. Uninscribed space Someone giving such examples (5)of his own to the boys induces them the more to strive for excellence.^[1]

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References:

IG II³ 4 545 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 3022 + Add. p. 348 (PHI)

CEG 2, no. 768

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Plaque

Inscription type: Dedication (choregic?)

Findspot: Acropolis (EM 8727)
Findspot: Acropolis (EM 8728)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] It is unclear whether this is a dedication by a victorious sponsor (choregos), or, as the reference to examples "of his own" (l. 5) might suggest, a competitor. In either case the dedication (perhaps set up to honour a victor rather than by the victor himself) commemorates victories in the Panathenaia, apparently (the words are not fully preserved) in the torch-race (cf. IG II³ 4, 331 and 426, with notes; J. L. Shear, Serving Athena, 2021, 198-99) and the competition in manly excellence (euandria, Shear, 197-98); and at the Thargelia in the boys' competition, i.e. apparently the boys' dithyramb (cf. IG II³ 4, 475, with notes). The verse couplet which follows (ll. 4-7) expresses the "hortatory intention" which was an important component of the Greek culture of commemorating in stone athletic and other competitive victories, as it was of inscribing honorific decrees. See in general M. Domingo Gygax, Benefaction and Rewards in the Ancient Greek City (2016).

Added: 14 Mar 2022
Updated: 14 Dec 2022
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