AIUK41 no. 2 Sacrificial calendar

Sacrificial calendar

AIUK 4.1 (BM, Cult Provisions) no. 2 Date: 470-450 BC

Face A (front)

. . . . . . . . . . . . (5) . . . . . . if . . . men . . . . . .

Face B (right)

. . . cups (?). Three half-cups (10) of honey, firewood, shall be for the priest. (15) For the Trito- patreis a full-grown animal . . .

Face C (back)

. . . [The officials?] shall give to the priest (20) . . . [three?] half-cups of -, firewood. On the sixth of Thargelion, for the heroines [of -?] a full-grown animal; . . . (25) half as much as for the hero and firewood (?). At the Plynteria for Athena a sheep. In Skirophorion . . . . . .

Face D (left)

. . . For Hermes (30) two choinikes of wheat, three spits. For the two heroes (35) in the plain, a full-grown animal for each . . . ^[1]

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Greek text

References:

AIUK 4.1 (BM, Cult Provisions) no. 2 (Translated text) (AIO) (AIUK)

IG I³ 246 (IG Online) (PHI)

GIBM I 73

Sokolowski, LSCG 2

CGRN 20 (CGRN)

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Feyo Schuddeboom

AIO Images: 1 2 3 4

Monument type: Thick stele or "post" inscribed on 4 sides

Inscription type: Sacrificial Calendar

Findspot: Unknown (BM 1816,0610.272)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is one of numerous inscriptions acquired in Athens for Thomas Bruce, seventh Earl of Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Porte at Constantinople from 1799 to 1803, and, with the Parthenon marbles, purchased by the UK Parliament and transferred to the British Museum in 1816. Elgin operated through agents in Athens, principally Giovanni Battista Lusieri, who collected most of the inscriptions later acquired by the BM in the years 1801-1807, though some were obtained later. In most cases detailed information about findspots and other circumstances of acquisition of the inscriptions in Elgin's collection was not recorded. Elgin also acquired some inscriptions from places other than Attica; and a few of the Attic inscriptions he acquired are not in the BM, but at the Elgin family home, Broomhall in Fife. For more detail about Elgin's collection of inscriptions see the introductions to AIUK 4.1 (BM, Cult Provisions) and to the other parts of AIUK 4, together with the introduction to AIUK 8 (Broomhall).

Like two other inscriptions in the Museum, fr. c of IG I³ 232 and 244, it is an early (early 5th cent. BC) example of an inscription making cult provisions, known as a "sacrificial calendar". It was most likely set up in a sanctuary, but we do not know where. As with nearly all the inscriptions acquired for Elgin, its findspot is not recorded. The small scale of the offerings and other indications point to its being set up by a local group, perhaps a deme. One festival provided for and known from other sources is the Plynteria, "Washing" (ll. 26-28), which marked at Athens the ritual cleansing of the old wooden statue of Athena kept on the Acropolis. Apart from the central observance of the festival (SEG 52.48A, n. 7) and this inscription, it is also attested in the south-east Attic deme of Thorikos, OR 146, l. 53. The offering to Hermes at ll. 29-33 perhaps represented a kind of end-of-year party by youthful gymnasium users who supplied their own animal(s) for sacrifice and roasting on spits (obeloi). For "Hermaia" cf. IG II³ 1, 1281 with n. 6. For a more detailed analysis of the inscription see AIUK 4.1 (BM, Cult Provisions) no. 2. For a video discussing this and the other two 5th cent. inscriptions in the BM making cult provisions see the AIO Youtube channel. For other Attic and non-Attic examples of the sacrificial calendar see IG I³ 232 with n. 1.

Added: 3 Jan 2018
Updated: 30 Mar 2022
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