IGI3 1017 Dedication to Herakles

Dedication to Herakles

IG I³ 1017 Date: ca. 500–480?

traces^[1] traces traces [dedicated] to Herakles this small (figure of a) (5)servant (propolon) of the god.^[2]

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References:

IG I³ 1017 (Translated text) (IG Online)

CEG 1, 309

Translation by: Liubov Eliseeva

Monument type: Pillar, or base

Inscription type: Dedication (private, Herakles), Metrical (elegiac couplet)

Findspot: Brahmi village (near Phaleron) (Lost)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note: H. von Prott and E. Ziebarth, who copied this inscription (see below), observed traces of letters that were not apparent on the squeeze available to later editors (e.g., H. von Gaertringen in IG I²).

This pillar or base made of poros-stone was found near Brahami village, modern Agios Dimitrios (inland from ancient Phaleron; cf. IG I³ 1016). The inscription, an elegiac distich, was carved on the abacus of the pillar. The stone appears to have been seen by Hans von Prott and Erich Ziebarth in 1898. In IG I² it is explicitly said that it was preserved in the village where it had been found. However, the inscription is now lost; a squeeze and a sketch are preserved in the Berlin Academy. The inscription was dated on the basis of letter forms.

Hiller von Gaertringen in IG I² suggested that the dedicator may have dedicated the figurine of himself, perhaps shown carrying a sheep, in the same place where he herded his flock. One of Herakles' functions was the protection of herd animals (M. W. Padilla, The Myths of Herakles in Ancient Greece, 1998, 17, 24), and this may be the earliest epigraphic representation of these functions (C. Tsagalis, Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica 139/1, 2011, 50, no. 3). It is interesting that Herakles is explicitly called a god. In local cults of Herakles in Athens the focus shifted from his heroic aspect to the divine one, as seen, e.g., on vase paintings; see Padilla 1998, 14–15; Tsagalis 2011, 50, no. 3. [2] The dedicator labelled the dedicated figurine as a small "person that goes in front" (propolos). In general, this word can have a sacred and ritual meaning, e.g. "a servant of a sanctuary" or "a holy attendant of a god"; cf. IG I³ 953; IG II² 3411. However, it also occurs with a secular meaning (for instance, Eur. Hipp. 200). See also M. Lazzarini, Le formule delle dediche votive nella Grecia arcaica (1976), 105.

Added: 24 Jul 2026
Updated: 24 Jul 2026
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