CGRN 103 Decree concerning Eleusinian cults at Phrearrhioi

Decree concerning Eleusinian cults at Phrearrhioi

CGRN 103 Date: ca. 335-250 BC

. . . ^[1] . . . of the religious officials (hieropoiōn) . . . [for Demeter] Thesmophoros, a sow . . . . . . they shall set before . . . . . . the torch-holder (5) priestly dues (hiereōsuna), a thigh, a flank, a haunch . . . [the religious officials] and the herald shall have a feast . . . . . . they shall sacrifice a ram to Plouton . . . (for?) the demesmen with the others and . . . the altar in the Eleusinion . . . (10) of the acolytes (akolouthōm) the religious official shall release the . . . after the priestesses have made . . . of the Phrearrhians, they shall sacrifice to Demeter . . . . . . and to Kore a male bovine . . . and anything else they may wish . . . (15) is customary. And on the altars . . . thighs, pieces of the shoulders, half a head . . . thighs, pieces of the shoulders, half a head . . . on the altar in the Eleusinion . . . for the altar of Plouton priestly dues (hiereōsuna) . . . , (20) at the altars of the two goddesses for the priestess and . . . a flank, a haunch, three obols, of the victim (?) . . . provide wood for the pot . . . in the court of the Eleusinion . . . . . . a torch and of the . . . (25) they shall give a torch . . . . . . and of Iakchos . . . . . . on the seventh or seventeenth . . . . . . and of music . . . . . . the altar . . . (30) . . . . . . . . .

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References:

CGRN 103 (Translated text) (CGRN)

SEG 63.110

SEG 65.152

SEG 36.206 (PHI)

SEG 35.113 (PHI)

Threatte II, 463

Lupu, NGSL 3

Bultrighini, Demi della Paralia, 164-76

Humphreys, Kinship, 946-50

Russo, Ripartizioni, D70

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Feyo Schuddeboom

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (deme Phrearrhioi?)

Findspot: Olympos, near Anavyssos (EM 13384)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription is probably the only extant decree of the deme Phrearrhioi (l. 12 for the deme name). It cannot be wholly ruled out, however, that it is the product of another group based in the area (there are no obvious candidates, cf. Humphreys). To judge by the nine councillors it supplied in the 4th cent. BC, it was much the largest deme of Leontis (cf. Humphreys, 921. 9 councillors: probably already in ca. 410 BC, AIO 2776; IG II³ 4, 53, deme name convincingly restored in l. 1; IG II³ 4, 25; etc.). The findspot at Olympos in southern Attica was probably in the area of the deme, though this is some distance north of the other main deme of the coastal trittys of Leontis, Sounion (IG II² 1180), which was apparently separated from Phrearrhioi by the demes of the coastal trittys of Antiochis. The decree perhaps originates from the deme's Eleusinion (see below), which might, however, have been outside the main settlement site(s) of the deme (cf. Humphreys). For discussion of this deme see Bultrighini, 145-76 (on this inscription, 164-76 = SEG 65.152) and most recently Humphreys, 946-50. Its most famous member was Themistokles, who was also a member of the genos Lykomidai, which, however, appears not to have been based in the area of Phrearrhioi, but at Phlya (see IG II² 2670). On demes in general, RO 46.

The inscription makes provisions for Eleusinian rites. As is clear from many inscriptions from Attic localities the cult of Demeter and associated deities (Kore, "the Girl", as commonly in Attic inscriptions, is Demeter's daughter, Persephone; Plouton and Iakchos also belong to the Eleusinian group) was widespread (another example in IG I³ 250, Paiania). It commonly reflected the pre-eminence of Eleusis in the cult of these deities; notably, however, Demeter is not referred to by that name in the calendar of the Tetrapolis, but by epithets or alternative names, of which "Eleusinia" is only one (IG II² 1358). Apart from the cult buildings at Eleusis itself and the City Eleusinion, it is clear that demes might have their own local sanctuaries called "Eleusinion" and/or, as in the case of Piraeus (IG II² 1177), Thesmophorion, location for women's rites of Demeter, especially the Thesmophoria (cf. for a local Eleusinion, IG II² 1358). The first lines of this inscription too concerned Demeter "Thesmophoros", though whether, as in Piraeus, there was a "Thesmophorion" in this deme, is unclear. Probably the references to an Eleusinion in our inscription are to a local sanctuary, though it can not be ruled out that the City Eleusinion is meant (on "Eleusinia" in the city and elsewhere Search "Eleusinion"). The reference to a torch in this context (light was a feature of Eleusinian religion) is paralleled in the arrangements for the Thesmophoria in Cholargos, IG II² 1184, ll.15-16. For further discussion see CGRN 103. For other inscriptions relating to the Thesmophoria see IG II² 1177 (Piraeus); IG I³ 231, ll. 59-67 (City Eleusinion); IG II² 1363, ll. 2-7 (Eleusis); AIO 2841 (Melite/City Eleusinion). The date is early Hellenistic, but the imperative forms in this decree which have been used as a basis for an early-third century dating are found occasionally from ca. 350 BC on (cf. L. Threatte, The Grammar of Attic Inscriptions II, 463), and it cannot be ruled out that this decree is another example of the intense attention to religious observance that characterised the Lykourgan period, cf. IG II³ 1, 447, with notes. There are certainly better parallels for this type of deme inscription in the 5th and 4th centuries BC than in the 3rd century. For a recent detailed discussion accepting the early-3rd cent. date see S. M. Wijma, ZPE 187, 2013, 199-205 (= SEG 63.110). [SDL].

Textual note. Our translation is based on the Greek text of CGRN, which is itself based largely on the text of Lupu.

Added: 3 Jan 2018
Updated: 16 Oct 2024
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