DAA 86 Dedication by the kitharode Opsi[ades]

Dedication by the kitharode Opsi[ades]

Raubitschek, Dedications 86 Date: ca. 500-480 BC

Opsi[ades] the kitharode dedicated me to Athena.

Previous - IG I³ 666 Next - IG I³ 776

References:

Raubitschek, Dedications 86 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG I³ 754 (IG Online) (PHI)

Translation by: Edmund Stewart

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Dedications (private, Athena), Metrical (dactylic hexameter)?

Original location: Acropolis

Fr. a - Findspot: Acropolis (EM 6346b)
Fr. b - Findspot: Acropolis (EM 6257c)
Fr. c - Findspot: Acropolis (EM 6257d)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note: Only the first four letters of the dedicator’s name are preserved. Raubitschek restored the name of the dedicant as Ὀφσι[άδες (Opsiades), which would make this a metrical inscription consisting of one hexameter. IG I³ has Ὄφσι[ος (Opsios).

Four fragments of this inscription survive from a marble statue base. On dedications by kitharodes (lyre-players), cf. IG I³ 666. Raubitschek suspected that these fragments came from the same monument as fragments of a signature by the sculptor Kallon of Aegina (IG I³ 753), which was carved by the same hand. If the restoration of the name Opsiades is correct, he may also be identical with the dedicator of a column base and statue by the sculptors Endoios and Philergos (IG I³ 763) and a column base from the temple of Artemis Brauronia, offered jointly with a certain Heortios (IG I³ 740). Raubitschek (Dedications p. 43) suggests that Heortios may also have been a kitharode, on account of his name (heorte means 'festival'), and if so the ‘first fruits’ (aparche) mentioned in that inscription could have derived from prizes in musical contests. On dedications including occupational titles see IG I³ 546.

Added: 19 Aug 2025
Updated: 19 Aug 2025
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ID: AIO_3444