FDIII2 8 List of sacred delegates (<i>theoroi</i>) participating in the second Hellenistic <i>Pythais</i> at Delphi, 128/7 BC

List of sacred delegates (theoroi) participating in the second Hellenistic Pythais at Delphi, 128/7 BC

F.Delphes III 2 8 Date: 128/7 BC

col. 1

For Good Fortune, in the archonship of Pyrrhos at Delphi, and of Dionysios after Lykiskos in Athens (128/7), the following were dispatched as sacred delegates (theōroi) by the People of the Athenians to help conduct (5)the Pythais.^[1] uninscribed space Demainetos son of Demeas Eudemos son of Sarapion, by birth son of Gorgippos^[2] -anos son of Gorgippos Chares son of Chares, the younger^[3] (10)Ptolemaios son of Euboulos Euboulos son of Euboulos, Dionysios son of Euboulos Rhadamanthys son of Attinas Sostratos son of Alexandros Xenon son of Philanthes (15)Lysias son of Pyrrhos. uninscribed space

col. 2

(2)Sacred delegates from the Tetrapolis:^[4] Metrodoros son of Kallistratos Damokritos son of Damokritos (5)Heniochides son of Euphiletos from Pyrrhakidai:^[5] Timanax son of Eukles of Phlya.

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References:

F.Delphes III 2 8 (Translated text) (PHI)

Syll.³ 697b

Tracy, Pythaïs Inscriptions p. 190

Tracy, ALC 170b

Kühn, Pythais-Prozession 321b

Translation by: Banban Wang

Monument type: Block (Wall)

Inscription type: List of names (Pythais)

Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 145)
Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 202)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This list of the sacred delegates (theoroi) from the second Pythais at Delphi, which took place in 128/7 BC, was inscribed on a single block in the southern wall of the Athenian Treasury, immediately below the list of sacred delegates from the first Pythais of 138/7 BC (on the Hellenistic Pythais and the Treasury, see F.Delphes III 2, 3 and on Attic inscriptions at Delphi, see IG II³ 4, 17 with notes). Theoroi were a kind of official envoy sent by city-states for matters relating to ritual affairs: city-states dispatched theoroi to offer sacrifices on their behalf at panhellenic festivals, to announce their own festivals to other communities, and to supervise processions and other rituals abroad – in this case, the Pythais (on theōroi in general, see IG II³ 1, 1390 with note and I. Rutherford, State Pilgrims and Sacred Observers in Ancient Greece, 2014). In this inscription, there are eleven theoroi from Athens, three from the Marathonian Tetrapolis (see n. 4) and one from the genos of the Pyrrhakidai (see n. 5). In the other three Pythaides, there were one or three archetheoroi ("chief sacred delegates") who preceded various sub-delegations (F.Delphes III 2, 7 for the first Pythais, F.Delphes III 2, 9 for the third, and F.Delphes III 2, 10 for the fourth); this position is not present in the second Pythais. The association of Athenian artists (technitai) also sent an archetheoros and theoroi to supervise musical performances and contests during the second Pythais (F.Delphes III 2, 47-49), who were independent of the theoroi dispatched by the city of Athens (see S. Aneziri, Die Vereine der dionysischen Techniten, 2003, 140-41 and 155-58, and IG II² 1320 with notes on the artists generally).

In col. 1, the first five lines were inscribed with slightly larger letters and thicker strokes. Line 5, which has only three letters and is followed by an uninscribed space, serves as a visual break between the prescript (ll. 1-5) and the list of names (ll. 6-15), inscribed in slightly smaller letters. Col. 2 was inscribed to the right of col. 1, with its first line standing between ll. 2-3 of col. 1, and below col. 2 of F.Delphes III 2, 7 (138/7 BC), which contains a list of theoroi from the Marathonian Tetrapolis. Since there is uninscribed space on the block below col. 1, the layout seems to have been deliberately arranged to place the list of theoroi from the Tetrapolis directly below the one in F.Delphes III 2, 7. [After consultation of the squeezes at IG, it seems that col. 1, ll. 6-15 of F.Delphes III 2, 8 should be attributed to the stonecutter of F.Delphes III 2, 12 (given their consistant usage of non-rounded Φ, Π with uneven legs, and more rounded Ω) and I am unsure whether Tracy's identification of the lettercutters of the first two Pythaides is correct – BW]. [2] For this formula indicating the natural father, see AIUK 4.5 (BM dedications), p. 59. This Eudemos reappears in the list of cavalry (F.Delphes III 2, 27, col. 2, l. 14, as does Rhadamanthys, col. 2, l. 28, see the note there), and may belong to the family of Sarapion of Melite, which would appear frequently in the third and fourth Pythaides. Such family connections between participants in the Pythais (theoroi, Pythaists, ephebes) are common, and are part of a growing elitism in Athenian public activities from the second half of the second century onwards (on this, see K. Karila-Cohen in J.-Ch. Couvenhes and S. Milanezi eds., Individus, groupes et politique à Athènes de Solon à Mithridate, 2007, 365-384). [3] The term "the younger" (neoteros) distinguished this Chares (II) from his homonymous father Chares (I); his son Chares (III) also participated in this Pythais as ephebe (F.Delphes III 2, 24, col. 1, l. 19). This disambiguator was not used consistently. In Athenian name lists, it is usually abbreviated to ne (e.g., IG II² 1335, ll. 19 and 35, together with the abbreviated "the elder", ll. 21 and 43); here it was written out in full. [4] The Tetrapolis was an association of four Attic demes: Marathon, Probalinthos, Trikorynthos, and Oinoe (see AIO 2618 with notes). The community maintained a special connection with Delphi independently from Athens, even when the sanctuary of Apollo was under Aitolian control: Delphi honoured the Tetrapolis for remembering their ‘very close kinship to the god and the city’ and granted them both priority access to the oracle (promanteia) and the right to sacrifice at the altars immediately after the Delphians, in F.Delphes III 2, 18 (mid-third century BC), F.Delphes III 2, 19 (late third century decree, re-inscribed in the second century BC), and F.Delphes III 2, 20 (178/7 BC), all three of which were inscribed on the same anta on the east face of the Treasury, as well as in the fragmentary F.Delphes III 2, 21 (third century BC). Theoroi from the Tetrapolis also appear in F.Delphes III 2, 7 from the first Pythais (138/7 BC). One Pythaist from the Tetrapolis is known from the third Pythais (F.Delphes III 2, 13, 106/5 BC). In the fourth Pythais (97/6 BC), the Tetrapolis had one archetheōros, three theōroi, and one Pythaist (F.Delphes III 2, 10). On the Tetrapolis' relationship with Delphi, see K. Karila-Cohen in M.-F. Baslez and F. Prevot eds., Prosopographie et histoire religieuse, 2005, 76–80. The sixth letter of the word ‘Tetrapolis’ is carved with a three-legged pi, rather than the normal two-legged pi (Π), probably a mistake by the lettercutter. [5] The Pyrrhakidai were an Athenian genos that may have emerged in the late second century BC, although two inscriptions dating to ca. 400 BC on Delos record two names as ‘of Pyrrhakidai’ (I Délos 66 and 67), which might indicate an earlier connection to Delos. The Pyrrhakidai sent one Eukles son of Timanax as theoros for the first Pythais (F.Delphes III 2, 7), who must be a relative (father?) of the Timanax appearing here. Later, in the third Pythais, one Pythaist came from the Pyrrhakidai (F.Delphes III 2, 13, col. 1), and in the fourth Pythais there were three Pythaists from the Pyrrhakidai, two of whom were also relatives of Timanax (F.Delphes III 2, 10, col. 2). The persistent involvement of this family in the Pythaides suggests that they had a special role in proceedings, perhaps related to their connection with Delos. On the Pyrrhakidai in general, see Agora XIX P5 with notes, N. Papazarkadas, Sacred and Public Land, 2012, Appendix V; and S. Humphreys, Kinship in Ancient Athens, 2018, 680, 716.

Added: 3 Dec 2023
Updated: 3 Dec 2023
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