IGII2 1560 Summary of law (?) about dedications followed by list of manumissions in court and dedicatory bowls

Summary of law (?) about dedications followed by list of manumissions in court and dedicatory bowls

IG II² 1560 Date: ca. 336/5 - 322/1 BC

Face A

^[1] . . . let him dedicate (anatithētai)^[2] . . . . . . set free (aphiemenou el-)^[3] . . . . . . dedication (anathēma)^[4] . . . . . . the jurymen (5) . . . to inscribe the names . . . as the law orders . . . . . . and the weight . . . of the descendants of the . . . . . . ? (10) . . . set up . . . . . . of the prytaneis. uninscribed space^[5] . . . living in - . . . . . . (15) . . .

Face B

Hedylion living in -, textile worker, acquitted in a prosecution by (apophugousa) Megakleides^[6] of Leukonoion; (5) libation bowl (phialēn), weight: 100 dr. Soteris living in -, textile worker, acquitted in a prosecution by (apophugousa) Kephisodoros^[7] of Acharnai; (10) libation bowl (phialēn), weight: 100 dr. Menon living in -, acquitted in a prosecution by (apophugōn) Opsios . . .

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References:

IG II² 1560 (Translated text) (PHI)

Meyer, Metics, no. 10

Translation by: Mills McArthur

Images: Aleshire - (1)
Krateros - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: List

Findspot: Acropolis (EM 5274)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] For an introduction to this set of inscribed records see Meyer, Metics, no. 1 with notes. The present inscription is generally seen as one of the earliest in the series (Lewis, Attic Manumissions, p. 235; Meyer, Metics, p. 143; McArthur, Kittos, p. 283). But it is not necessarily the earliest: Lewis’s view that this stele was the first to include phialai dedications, while those that lack phialai represent an earlier stage of the procedure of manumission in court, has much to recommend it (Lewis, Attic Manumissions, pp. 235-37; McArthur, Kittos, p. 281; stelai lacking phialai include Meyer, Metics, no. 26; Meyer, Metics, no. 27; Meyer, Metics, no. 28; IG II² 1578). Isaios’s reference to manumission in court shows that this form of manumission probably predates the beginning of Lykourgos' first term in charge of the Athenian financial administration (Isaios fr. 18 Loeb = Dion. Hal., Isaios 5). Lykourgos’s innovation would thus have been to add “compulsory dedication of phialai to the previously existing manumission institution” (Lewis, Dedications, p. 376). [2] This is the longest surviving heading on any of the phialai inscriptions. Meyer (Metics, p. 106) urges that there is not room for the 11-line heading of this stele to contain the full text of a law or decree. She further suggests, on the basis of the reference to a law at Face A, line 6, that this heading is not the law itself, but rather a “summary of things done ‘as the law ordered.’” [3] This line provides a key piece of evidence supporting the manumission interpretation of the phialai inscriptions. Past editors read this line as [ἀ]φιεμένο̣υ̣ Ε[-], a phrase reminiscent of aphiēmi eleutheron (“I set free”), a standard manumission expression (e.g. Xen. Ath. Pol. 1.11, [Demosthenes] 47.55, Diogenes Laertius 3.42). More recently, Francesca Rocca ("IG II² 1560 e la pratica della manomissione ad Atene: alcune osservazioni", Historika 1.1 [2011], 247-68) has provided further evidence to support this view. Rocca adds a dotted lambda to line 3, reading ἀ̣φιεμένου ἐλ̣[–]. [4] Or the plural “dedications” (ἀνα̣θήματ̣α), according to Meyer’s reading. [5] The uninscribed space marks the end of the heading. On the following line commence the usual entries of manumissions and dedicatory phialai. [6] There is room for a patronym following the name, but the end of the line is lost. Meyer tentatively restores “son of Megakleides” (Μεγακλείδου). [7] There is room for a patronym following the name, but the end of the line is lost.

Added: 9 Apr 2020
Updated: 7 Jan 2024
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ID: AIO_1983