SEG 36.186 Decree of Aixone honouring the <i>choregoi</i>, Auteas and Philoxenides, 340/339 BC (?)

Decree of Aixone honouring the choregoi, Auteas and Philoxenides, 340/339 BC (?)

SEG 36.186 Date: 340/339 BC (?)

Architrave depicting 5 comic masks in shallow relief Relief Gods. Glaukides son of Sosippos proposed:^[1] since the choral sponsors (chorēgoi) Auteas son of Autokles and Philoxenides son of Philippos sponsored choruses well and with love of honour (philotimōs), the demesmen shall decide, (5) to crown them with a gold crown of 100 drachmas each in the theatre at the comedies following the archonship of Theophrastos (340/39?), so that others intending to serve as choral sponsors may also show love of honour (philotimōntai); and the demarch Hegesileos and the treasurers (10)shall give them also for a sacrifice ten drachmas; and the treasurers shall inscribe this decree on a stone stele and stand it in the theatre, so that the Aixoneans may always celebrate the Dionysia as finely as possible. Crown Crown

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References:

SEG 36.186 (Translated text) (PHI)

Lawton 154

Ackermann, Aixone, 119-126 no. 4

Csapo and Wilson II, 71-73

Russo, Ripartizioni, D18

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Deme Aixone)

Original location: Aixone (theatre)

Findspot: Glyphada (EM 13262)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] On the deme Aixone and its inscriptions see Ackermann no. 1, with notes.

This decree, like Ackermann no. 2 and no. 3, honoured two choregoi who had sponsored performances at the local Dionysia. On the character of the performances sponsored, implied by the decoration on this decree to be comedies, see the note to Ackermann no. 2. This decree was passed at the same time as no. 5, honouring two men, which has the same archon, demarch, and proposer, possibly, but not necessarily at the same deme meeting. Like nos. 1, 2, 3, and 5, it was erected in the theatre at Aixone, the precise location of which is not known.

The inscription is notable largely for its depiction, unique on a deme decree, of 5 comic masks on the architrave of the stele. They represent stock comic characters, including (first two from left) an Old Man and an Old Woman, followed by Young Women (third and fifth), and a Young Man (fourth). For detailed discussion of the masks see Ackermann, 123-26. In a series of publications (listed by Ackermann, 120, most recently in Monuments Illustrating Old and New Comedy³ (1978), 118 no. AS 2), T. B. L. Webster has argued that they represent protagonists of Middle Comedy. The relief below this depicts a youthful Dionysos, seated to the right, and holding a kantharos, being approached by a satyr preparing to pour wine for Dionysos from an oinochoe, a gesture "se situant entre le service du vin et la libation" (Ackermann, 122).

There were archons named Theophrastos in both 340/39 and 313/2 BC and the date of this decree is determined primarily by the date of Ackermann no. 5, i.e. most likely 340/39 BC. The dating of the style of the masks to the period of Middle rather than New Comedy is a supplementary argument for the earlier date, albeit an inconclusive one (Ackermann, 126).

The honorands are both members of known propertied families. Auteas was lessee with his father Autokles of the estate known as Phelleis in 345/4 BC, Ackermann no. 7, which is also most comfortable on the earlier dating of this decree. Philoxenides was perhaps son of the Philippos of Aixone who was a creditor for a loan of a talent in Ackermann no. 11 = IG II² 2752, and brother of the Kallistomache daughter of Philippos of Aixone who was married to Lykophron, eldest son of the politician Lykourgos and priest of Poseidon Erechtheus (Davies, APF 14384; on the order of Lykourgos' sons and the succession to the priesthood see Blok and Lambert, ZPE 169, 2009, 109-14).

The low sums of money earmarked for expenditure on honours in this decree are notable. Gold crowns in deme decrees are usually of 500 or, less commonly, 1000 dr. (D. Whitehead, Demes of Attica, 1986, 163; 500 dr. in the otherwise comparable, but probably rather later, Ackermann no. 3, and apparently normally in this deme); here they are only 100 dr. (for this sum cf. I Eleusis 85, ll. 10-14). We can only speculate on the reasons for this, e.g. economy drive in the deme?, deliberately modest claims by the honorands?, etc.. Ackermann, 119, notes that no. 5 was passed in the same year and may have drained the financial resources available in the deme for this purpose. It may not be coincidental in this context that that decree gives more than usual attention to the financial mechanisms for funding the 500 dr. crowns awarded. See also her general discussion of the value of honours awarded in this deme and others, 98-99, where she contrasts the 10 dr. awarded for sacrifice in this decree with the 100 dr. awarded the Theban Damasias for this purpose by the Eleusinians, I Eleusis 70, l. 35 (note also the 1,000 dr. crown value in that decree).

Added: 19 Jul 2022
Updated: 26 Nov 2023
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