IGII34 810 Dedication to Asklepios by funder of the Epidauria

Dedication to Asklepios by funder of the Epidauria

IG II³ 4 810 Date: End of the 1st century AD

Demetrios son of Chares of Gargettos, [having paid for?] both the reception (hupodochēn) and the initiation (muēsin) of Asklepios at personal cost, (dedicated this) to the god and the fatherland.^[1]

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References:

IG II³ 4 810 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 3195 (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Plaque

Inscription type: Dedication (private, Asklepios)

a - Findspot: Asklepieion (EM 2323)
b - Findspot: Asklepieion (EM 2283)
cfg - Findspot: Asklepieion (EM 8615)
d - Findspot: Asklepieion (EM 8403)
e - Findspot: Asklepieion (Lost)
h - Findspot: Asklepieion (Lost)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This plaque was dedicated in the Asklepieion on the south slope of the Acropolis (on which see IG II³ 4, 665 with notes). There is a large blank area above the text, which probably originally bore a painting. The dedication commemorates Demetrios’ funding of the Epidauria festival, which took place on 17 Boedromion as part of the Eleusinian Mysteries, in which the cult statue of Asklepios was carried in a procession to the City Eleusinion. There, the cult statue was initiated into the Mysteries (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 56.4, Paus. 2.26.8; Philostr. Vit. Ap. 4.18; K Clinton in R. Hägg, ed., Ancient Greek Cult Practice, 1994, 25-27). This commemorated the introduction of the cult of Asklepios to Athens from Epidauros, when this ritual had first taken place and the Eleusinian cult personnel had played a role - both supportive and combative - in establishing the Asklepieion (IG II³ 4, 665, ll. 9-12, 20-23 with R. van Wijk in H. Beck and S. Scharff, Beyond Mysteries, 2025, 165-90). The festival is first attested in the official Athenian religious calendar published between 410/9 and 405/4 (AIO 1185 col. 2, l. 15).

The relationship between the Eleusinian cult and the worship of Asklepios remained close. There may have been a small sanctuary for Asklepios within the City Eleusinion (IG II³ 4, 869-870, SEG 44.79 with C. L. Lawton, in M. M. Miles, Autopsy in Athens, 2015, 25-36) and there was certainly one at Eleusis (IG II³ 4, 891-898), where a statue was erected of him as an initiate (IG II³ 4, 1051). IG II³ 4, 712 depicts Asklepios with Demeter and Kore. By the second century AD, the Eleusinian goddesses had been incorporated into the worship of Asklepios at Epidauros itself (IG IV² 1 126, l. 14). Demetrios himself is not otherwise attested, but various descendants are known and indicate a date in the late first century AD (Aleshire, Asklepios 101-103).

Added: 15 May 2025
Updated: 11 Jul 2025
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ID: AIO_3257