FDIII2 32 Record of the tripod-bearer, Amphikrates, in the fourth Hellenistic <i>Pythais</i> at Delphi, 97/6 BC

Record of the tripod-bearer, Amphikrates, in the fourth Hellenistic Pythais at Delphi, 97/6 BC

F.Delphes III 2 32 Date: 97/6 BC

For the Good Fortune of the Council and the People of the Athenians. In the archonship of Mentor at Delphi and in Athens of Argeios (97/6), (the one who) took the sacred tripod from Delphi and carried it away, and led the fire-bearer (purphoron) (was) Amphikrates (5)son of Epistratos of Athens.^[1]

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References:

F.Delphes III 2 32 (Translated text) (PHI)

Translation by: Banban Wang

Monument type: Block (Wall)

Inscription type: Honorific (?)

Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 216 (266?))

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This text, inscribed on the southern wall of the Athenian Treasury at Delphi, records the tripod-bearer for the fourth Hellenistic Pythais in 97/6 BC. According to Gaston Colin, it was engraved directly below the list of officials who organised this Pythais (F.Delphes III 2, 6) and near the lists of its other participants (F.Delphes III 2, 2, 6, 10, 16, 17, 26, 31, 45). Stephen Tracy, however, could not find the fragment and found that the inventory numbers appeared to be incorrect (Tracy, The Lettering of an Athenian Mason, 1975, 58–59). On the Pythais in the Hellenistic period and the Treasury, see F.Delphes III 2, 3, on Attic inscriptions at Delphi, see IG II³ 4, 17 with notes.

After the procession arrived at Delphi, the Athenian participants acquired the sacred fire and a tripod. A man was appointed as tripod-bearer to carry the tripod back to Athens, and a woman as fire-bearer (pyrphoros, l. 4) to take the fire. The tripod-bearer for the second Pythais in 128/7 BC is honoured by the Delphians in a decree (F.Delphes III 2, 33), and a pyrphoros is named in the list of officials and pythaists of the third Pythais in 106/5 BC (F.Delphes III 2, 13, ll. 1–2) but not in lists from the other Pythaides. On the ritual, see S. Kühn, Pythaïs-Prozession, 128–130. The tripod appears in the Athenian hymns about Delphi: Pöhlmann and West, Greek Music no. 20, l. 21 and Pöhlmann and West, Greek Music no. 21, l. 22.

Amphikrates participated in the third Pythais in 106/5 BC as the offeror of the first fruits (epi tas aparchas, F.Delphes III 2, 13, l. 20) and inscribed the donors of the first fruits for the fourth Pythais (SEG 32.218, ll. 1-4).

Added: 3 Dec 2023
Updated: 10 Aug 2024
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