IEleus 229 Decrees of Athenian Assembly and deme Eleusis honouring Pamphilos of Eleusis, the demarch

Decrees of Athenian Assembly and deme Eleusis honouring Pamphilos of Eleusis, the demarch

I Eleusis 229 Date: 150/49 BC ?

Decree 1 (Assembly)

In the archonship of Pelops,^[1] in the twelfth prytany, of Ptolemais, for which Dionysikles son of Dionysios of Hekale was secretary; on the sixteenth of Skirophorion, the sixteenth of the prytany; Assembly in the theatre; of the presiding committee Rhexion son of Damatrios of Thorai was putting to the (5) vote and his fellow presiding committee members. The Council and People decided. Archippos son of Archias of Bate proposed: about the report which the demarch of the Eleusinians makes concerning the sacrifices which he made at the Haloa^[2] and the Chloia^[3] to both Demeter and the Girl (Korei) and the other gods to whom it was traditional, and performed the sacrifice of the Kalamaia^[4] and despatched the procession according to tradition with (10) the hierophant and the priestesses, ^[5] having expended on all these things not a little from his own resources, and reported that the rites turned out fine and salutary; for good fortune, the Council shall decide that those allotted to preside at the forthcoming Assembly shall put these matters on the agenda, and submit the opinion of the Council to the People that it seems good to the Council to (15) accept the good outcome of the rites which he performed for the health and preservation of both the Council and the People and the children and women and the friends and allies; and to praise the demarch of the Eleusinians, Pamphilos son of Archon of Eleusis and crown him with a myrtle crown, which is traditional, for his piety towards the gods; and the prytany (20) secretary shall inscribe this decree on a stone stele and stand it in the courtyard of the sanctuary at Eleusis; and the treasurer of the military fund shall allocate for the inscribing and setting up of the stele the expenditure accruing.

col. 1

The Council (crowned) (25) Pamphilos son of Archon of Eleusis, having been demarch.

col. 2

(24) The deme of Eleusis (crowned) Pamphilos son of Archon of Eleusis, having been demarch.

col. 3

(24) The People (crowned) Pamphilos son of Archon of Eleusis, having been demarch.

Decree 2 (deme Eleusis) (30) Xenokrates son of Xenokrates of Eleusis^[6] proposed: since Pamphilos son of Archon, having been appointed demarch in the year of Pelops’ archonship, sacrificed at the Dionysia to Dionysos and despatched the procession and . . . . . . , and put on the competition in the theatre, to which the Eleusinians contributed or which the Eleusinians joined in celebrating (su[ntelousin]), falling in no way short in his enthusiasm and love of honour (philotimias),^[7] and sacrificed [at the Haloa] (35) [and the Chloia] to Demeter and the Girl, supplying the sacrifices [from his own resources] and jointly managed the sacrifice of the Kalamaia [with the hierophant] [and the priestesses] . . . having expended on it . . . . . . . . .

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References:

I Eleusis 229 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 949 (PHI)

Syll.³ 661

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Images: Cornell - (1)
Krateros - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree 1 (Council and People), Decree 2 (Deme Eleusis)

Original location: Eleusis (Courtyard of sanctuary)

Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 1138)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] The conventional date for Pelops’ archonship is 165/4 BC, but John Morgan (pers. comm.) notes that 165/4 should have been intercalary according to the Metonic cycle, whereas from its calendrical information (ll. 2-3) we can infer that this decree was passed in an ordinary year. Accordingly, he prefers to date Pelops to 150/49 BC. He notes also that the expression, ”the children and women and the friends and allies” (ll. 16-17) otherwise first appears in 155/4 BC on Agora XV 225.

For the deme Eleusis and its decrees see I Eleusis 68. I Eleusis 196, of ca. 234 BC, is inscribed with separate decrees of the deme Eleusis and soldiers, Athenian and foreign, stationed there, but this is the only inscription which carries a decree of the Athenian Assembly and the deme Eleusis, and the latter is the only extant decree of the deme post-dating 229 BC (I Eleusis 197, of 229-203 BC, includes Athenians resident at Eleusis, but not the deme). Decree 2 is one of the two latest extant decrees of an Attic deme altogether (cf. Whitehead, The Demes of Attica, 1986, xxvii; the other second-century decree is AIO 2841, of Melite), and the two decrees on this stone (like the Melite decree) are best interpreted as part of the revival of religious rites and institutions that is well documented in the years following the re-establishment of Athenian control over Delos in 166 BC, and the consequent improvement in the economic conditions of the city (cf. e.g. [Aleshire] and Lambert, in J. H. Richardson and F. Santangelo eds., Priests and State in the Roman World, 2011, 553-75 at 557-59; I Eleusis 233. On the period in general see J. D. Mikalson, Religion in Hellenistic Athens, 1998, 269-74. An example of the revival in another context is the Pythais, F.Delphes III 2, 3). The honorand is not otherwise known. [2] The Haloa is a little-known winter festival at Eleusis of Demeter and Kore ("the Girl", i.e. her daughter Persephone), also involving Dionysos and Poseidon, which took place on Posideon 26 (and 27?). According to a scholium on Lucian p. 280.12-281.1 (translated by Parker, Polytheism, p. 167), it was the occasion for licentious talk and behaviour by (married?) women. Cf. Parker, 167, 199-201, 279, 283, 329, 471. It was also the occasion at which decrees of soldiers stationed at Eleusis awarding honours were commonly announced (e.g. I Eleusis 211, l. 47). In I Eleusis 196, of ca. 234 BC, the honorand, a general, is praised for undertaking the expense of the festival (see notes thereto). [3] The Chloia (connoting "green-shoots") is another little-known festival of Demeter, attested in several demes, including Thorikos (AIO 847, l. 38 with notes), and Paiania (AIO 1320, l. 26). See also IG II³ 4, 229, CGRN 57, l. 16, and SEG 50.168, l. 49, with Lambert, in van den Eijnde, Blok and Strootman, Feasting and Polis Institutions, 2018, p. 154. Cf. Parker, 195 n. 10, 465. [4] The Kalamaia (connoting grain stalks) is another little-known festival, attested also in the Piraeus, IG II² 1177, l. 9; cf. Parker, 195, 474. [5] The most prominent Eleusinian priestess was the priestess of Demeter and Kore, on whom see Blok and Lambert, ZPE 169, 2009, 119-20 (cf. IG I³ 953; AIUK 4.2, no. 1, with notes). Cf. provision for "the hierophant and the priestesses from Eleusis" in the context of the Pyanopsia at I Eleusis 175, ll. 15-16, "for the perquisites for the priestess" in the context of the Thesmophoria at l. 23 of the same calendar, and "for the priestess of Plouton" at l. 24 (note also AIO 2841, for the priestess of the Thesmophoroi in Melite; and the priestesses in the Eleusinian Endowment, I Eleusis 489, ll. 55-56, albeit that the list includes non-Eleusinian priests and priestesses). [6] Xenokrates son of Xenokrates of Eleusis, perhaps identical with this man, also proposed two Assembly decrees: IG II³ 1, 1333, l. 6, of 169/8 BC, and Agora XV 180, of mid-ii BC? (archon Pleistainos, cf. Tracy, ALC, 141 f., but also J. S. Traill, Hesp. 103. 1994, 109-114; John Morgan, pers. comm. suggests 160/59 BC, with secretary from tribe 10). [7] This is the latest evidence for the celebration of the Rural Dionysia at Eleusis. On this festival at Eleusis see I Eleusis 53, with notes. For discussion in the context of other evidence for the festival and theatre (or theatres?) of Dionysos at Eleusis see Csapo and Wilson II, pp. 89-90. The language used in ll. 33-34 may imply that the Eleusinians supported this celebration of the Rural Dionysia financially (Whitehead, Demes, 172, suggests an epidosis). The fact that the deme’s Dionysia is not also mentioned in the Assembly’s decree confirms that the Eleusinian Dionysia was not a polis festival, but was wholly under the aegis of the deme (unlike the Dionysia in the Piraeus, on which see AIUK 4.3A, pp. 10-15, 29-32; on the distinction between polis and other festivals in Attica see Lambert, Historia 59, 2010, 143-75).

Added: 14 Apr 2021
Updated: 21 Jan 2024
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