IGII25 13252 Taurobolic inscription

Taurobolic inscription

IG II² 5 13252 Date: 361-387 AD

The rival (ephamillos) of his ancestors, who elevated his great family even more by his own actions, Archeleos, knew gratitude (charin) in return for the rite of the taurobolium, having set up an altar of Attis and Rhea. (5) He is the pride of the Kekropian city;^[1] he dwells in Argos living a mystic life well, for there he is keyholder (kleidouchos) of Queen Hera, and in Lerna he received the torches that solemnize the Mysteries (mustipolous).

As dadouch of Kore, carrying the sacred keys of Queen Hera’s shrine (sēkōn), (10) Archeleos dedicated me, this altar, to Rhea, having engraved hidden (krupta) tokens (sunthēmata) of the taurobolium rite (teletēs), performed here for the first time.^[2]

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References:

IG II² 5 13252 (Translated text) (IG Online) (PHI)

IG II² 4841 (PHI)

Translation by: Feyo Schuddeboom

Monument type: Altar (Taurobolic)

Inscription type: Dedication (torch-bearer (dadouch))

Findspot: Chalandri (NM 1746)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Athens, of which Kekrops was a mythical king. [2] This inscription, in verse, is on one of two inscribed taurobolic altars from Athens (see also IG II² 13253; brief description and photos of both altars in N. Kaltsas, Sculpture in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens (2002), 368-369, no. 784). The taurobolium ("bull-slaying") was a special rite in the cult of the great Mother of the gods, Cybele (here identified with Rhea). It reportedly involved a sort of baptism in blood, in which the participant, or tauroboliate, was drenched in the bull's blood. Keyholder of Hera: i.e. priest. In the Classical period the term was usually applied to priestesses, who were typically portrayed holding a key e.g. in funerary monuments. Cf. AIUK 4.6, no. 23 with image. For the continued vitality of traditional Athenian religion through the fourth century AD, see AIUK 11 (Ashmolean), no. 3, IG II² 5, 13273, and 13281 with notes.

Added: 15 Sep 2017
Updated: 28 Jul 2023
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ID: AIO_939