AIUK46 no. 7 Grave stele of Asklepiodoros and Epikydes of Olynthos

Grave stele of Asklepiodoros and Epikydes of Olynthos

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 7 Date: mid-iv BC

Asklepiodoros (son) of Thrason of Olynthos. Epikydes (son) of Asklepiodoros of Olynthos.^[1]

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Greek text

References:

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 7 (Translated text) (AIUK) (AIO)

IG II² 10019 (PHI)

GIBM I 106

Conze III no. 1579

Ginestí Rosell no. 170

Translation by: Robert Pitt

AIO Images: 1 2

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Funerary

Findspot: Athens (BM 1816,0610.258)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This monument was among the inscriptions acquired in Athens by Lord Elgin (cf. AIUK 4.1, no. 2). It commemorates two Olynthians, father and son, who may have been depicted in a painted scene below the inscription. They may not, however, have been the people for whom the stone was first erected, as traces of letter strokes and/or a cutting-back of the inscribed surface suggests this is a reinscription over an erased text. The surviving lettering is scrappy and poorly planned, in contrast to the finely worked palmette decoration, but it is not diagnostic enough to suggest a wide difference in date.

There are 37 known Olynthian residents at Athens, some of whom were exiles from this northern Greek city following its capture by Philip of Macedon in 348 BC. We do not know whether our two Olynthians were among these exiles. A Thrason is mentioned by Demosthenes as a member of the pro-Macedonian party at Olynthos (18.137), but Thrason is quite a common name and the identification with ours is uncertain, raising as it does the political problem of why a family with such associations would settle in Athens. A further Olynthian Epikydes is found as a governor of Teucheira in 322 BC (Arrian, Events after Alexander, FGrH 156 F9, 17). For more detailed discussion of this inscription see AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments), no. 7.

Added: 6 Apr 2022
Updated: 6 Apr 2022
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ID: AIO_2168