IGII2 1215 Decree of a deme

Decree of a deme

IG II² 1215 Date: ca. 320-280 BC

. . . ^[1] [since . . . of the] (1)sacred or sanctuaries (hierōn) and . . . of the construction (oikodomias) . . . of the appointed demesmen (?) . . . and has taken care of the common property (koinōn) for the demesmen . . . (5)and always takes care of those things for which the demesmen make him responsible and constantly says and does what is best in regard both to matters that are sacred (hierōn) and to those that are divinely sanctioned (hosiōn)^[2] incorruptibly and declares that (10)he will repair (exoikodomēsein) the rest of the sanctuaries and will make dedications in the sanctuaries paying the demesmen in advance from his own funds on the basis of (i.e. in expectation of reimbursement from) the contributions which the demesmen (15)make from the office which each is allotted towards the construction of the sanctuaries and the dedications that they may make and for the establishment (hidrusin) of the rites or sanctuaries (hierōn) for the sake of their own health and the preservation [of the People?] . . .

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References:

IG II² 1215 (Translated text) (PHI)

Humphreys, Kinship, 851-2

Russo, Ripartizioni, D39

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, S. Douglas Olson, Kazuhiro Takeuchi

Images: Krateros - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Deme)

Findspot: Kypseli, not far from Patissia, in a well in a private garden (EM 7733)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual Note. K. Takeuchi reports minor adjustments to the text from autopsy, not impacting on the sense.

In this inscription a deme honours a benefactor for his contribution to reconstruction and renovation works. It was found in Kypseli to the north-east of the modern city centre of Athens, "in 1839 not far from Patissia, in the location called Gypseli [= Kypseli], in the garden of Michael Bouzikē", P. Eustratiadis, Epigraphai anekdotoi, fasc. 3 (1855), 19 n. 2 (Takeuchi; Pittakis reported the additional detail that the inscription was found in a well). The decree was tentatively attributed to Erikeia, a small deme of the city (?) trittys of Aigeis (bouleutic quota 1 in the 4th century BC, IG II³ 4, 76, 46-7, Agora XV 42, 106-7) by Traill, Political Organization (1975), p. 39 (cf. Erikeia?). Since, however, the main evidence for a deme-centre at Kypseli is this inscription, which gives no indication of the identity of its deme, this can be little more than a guess.

The dating of the decree is of considerable interest, since on the current early-3rd cent. date (Kirchner in IG II²) it would be one of the few deme decrees outside the garrisons of Eleusis and Rhamnous, and not found within the ancient city of Athens, datable to the 3rd century BC (on this see the notes to RO 46). Kirchner's date was based on the letter forms (notably it seems the inaccurate lettering with occasional serifs), but late fourth century and early third century inscriptions cannot be dated more precisely within that range on the basis of stylistic judgements of lettering, especially when applied to non-state documents. Unless the Cutter of an inscription is identified by Tracy, such judgements asserted by earlier scholars should be abandoned (Lambert). As often Koehler's remarks (in IG¹, repeated also in IG²) are more credible: "... the date of the inscription is clearly indeterminable (de aetate tituli plane non constet); but it seems we might probably think (probabiliter cogitari posse videtur) of the evils of war (de malis belli) which plagued Athens at the end of the fourth and the beginning of the third century". While the restorative character of the honorand's services is clearly consistent with a date in the unsettled period ca. 320-280 BC (which was characterised by internal civic unrest as well as "enemy" incursions), it is notable that there is no allusion to "enemy" action or other human agency, and Humphreys remarks that "destruction by enemy action so close to Athens seems unlikely" and suggests rather "fire or earthquake". As she notes, the benefactor had promised "to pay out of his own pocket for the works, on the understanding that the deme will repay him from the contributions required of officials appointed to building commissions ... rather than demonstrating the continuation of vigorous deme life, [this] indicates the dominant position of the benefactor, who uses the deme emergency to put pressure on the other members of the deme to make contributions." This unabashed expression of dependence of the collective on the financial beneficence of a single individual is certainly post-Classical in flavour, and is consistent with (if it does not necessarily imply) a date after 321 BC, albeit that there remains a collective aspect to the arrangements, with anonymous officials of the deme undertaking to repay the honorand in due course. (The precise source of the financial contributions which these officials are to make to pay off the honorand is unclear; they might perhaps accrue e.g. from chasing down arrears of rent on deme property or interest on loans by the deme, cf. Dem. 57, discussed in the note to SEG 2.7 (Halimous) and IG II² 1196 (Aixone), or they may entail personal contributions by the office holders themselves). The notable degree of specificity about the honorand's services (including, if the last lines of the decree are correctly understood and restored, to Athens more broadly) is also consistent with a date after 321 BC (for reference to a law requiring such specificity in a decree of 321/0 or 318/7 BC see I Eleusis 95). As Humphreys also notes, the honorand was not necessarily a member of the deme (though the wording at ll. 5-6 perhaps suggests that). She further speculates (cf. p. 607 n. 153) that he might have been the prominent man whose dedication, commemorating honours awarded by the demos, the Council, the cavalry (?), and the phratry Medontidai, was found built into the wall of a church at Kypseli, IG II² 1233 = Lambert, Phratries, T9. [2] Hiera kai hosia is a stock phrase expressing the things that group-members characteristically share in and which make up the public sphere (usually at polis level, but here at deme level), and is conventionally translated "sacred and profane" or "sacred and secular" (as e.g. by Humphreys; see also Papazarkadas, Sacred and Public Land, 148). J. Blok and S. Peels, however, argue that the phrase means rather something like, "things belonging to the divine sphere (hiera)" and "things belonging to the human sphere but conducted in accordance with divine will (hosia)" (see further, RO 88, ll. 8-9, with note). It is notable that most of the instances of the phrase listed at Blok, Citizenship in Classical Athens (2017), 57 n. 44, are in literary and epigraphical sources of the 4th cent. BC and that no other Attic occurrence of the phrase is datable later than 321 BC.

Added: 28 Jul 2023
Updated: 17 Oct 2024
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