IGII34 1084 Dedication to Artemis and Dionysos from Halai Araphenides (?)

Dedication to Artemis and Dionysos from Halai Araphenides (?)

IG II³ 4 1084 Date: mid-4th cent. BC

Relief

. . . -is

Athenais^[1]

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References:

IG II³ 4 1084 (Translated text) (IG Online)

SEG 61.175

Csapo and Wilson II, 129-32

Translation by: Claudio Huayna Avila

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Relief

Inscription type: Dedication (Artemis), Dedication (Dionysos)

Findspot: Unknown (Glyptothek 552)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This enigmatic relief, discussed recently by Csapo and Wilson, depicts a group of worshippers approaching two larger figures to the left, identifiable as divinities. One of them is a crown-wearing beardless male sitting on a rock, holding what appears to be a thyrsus (a wand or a staff covered with ivy vines and leaves) and stroking a panther. He can confidently be identified as Dionysos. Standing behind him is a female divinity, most likely Artemis. The group of worshippers consists of nine persons (five adults and four children), of which one adult and one child have been largely obliterated, accompanying a deer, an animal commonly linked with Artemis in Attic iconography (cf. G. Jurriaans-Helle, in H. A. G. Brijder, A. A. Drukker and C. W. Neeft, Enthousiasmos, 1986, 111-20). Leading the human group is an adult male of advanced years, holding a pipe (aulos). Behind him stands a female figure who has been almost entirely removed and is labelled below as Athenais (on whom see below). Above the worshippers to the right, are five comic masks (datable stylistically to the transition between Old/Middle and New Comedy, J. R. Green), which further confirm the identification of the male deity as Dionysos. Based on stylistic features of the relief, it can be dated to ca. mid-fourth cent. BC (cf. K. Vierneisel and A. Scholl, Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst 53, 2002, 7-9; and G. I. Despinis, AM 119, 2004, 310).

Vierneisel and Scholl (2002, 8) suggest that the name inscribed below the goddess, of which only the ending is preserved, must have been [Artem]is. However, there does not appear to be enough space to accommodate this name, one of several puzzling features of this relief. Lack of information about the findspot of the relief exacerbates problems of interpretation. Based on the presence of Artemis and Dionysos, Vierneisel and Scholl postulate that the relief is from Brauron (the local deme for which was Philaidai), primarily a centre for the worship of Artemis, but there is also (albeit relatively slight) epigraphic evidence for worship there of Dionysos as a guest divinity: a decorated altar with a relief showing Artemis and Dionysos among other divinities, IG I³ 1407bis = SEG 54.330; and a fragment of a marble comic mask, Vierneisel and Scholl, 2002, n. 232; cf. the dedications made by a woman, noted below; and note also schol. Ar. Peace 874 (attesting to a Dionysia in the deme Philaidai). However, Despinis (2004, 310-12) argues that a stronger case can be made that the relief originated from Halai Araphenides. SEG 46.153 implies the existence there of a theatre and celebration of the Rural Dionysia, as well as the presence of a sanctuary of Dionysos; while SEG 34.103 and SEG 55.252 both attest a sanctuary of Artemis Tauropolos there.

The presence of Dionysos, comic masks and a pipe-player might suggest that the context of the relief's dedication was a dramatic competition, such as the Dionysia (on which see IG II³ 4, 460 for the City Dionysia and IG II³ 4, 498 for the Rural Dionysia). Accordingly, Vierneisel and Scholl (2002, 37) suggest that this is a dedication by or for the pipe-player following a victory at a Dionysia. However, pipe-players are not attested as winning competitions at these events in their own right. Another option is to suppose that the relief represents a family celebrating the career of a senior family member as a pipe-player, a dedication in which Athenais (wife or daughter of the piper?) took the initiative. There is epigraphical evidence of a woman named Athenais making dedications to Artemis at Brauron in form of a frog-green garment (batrachis) and a colourful throw (enkyklos poikilos), IG II² 1514, l. 48; 1516, l. 26; 1517, l. 155 of 345/4 BC (all recording the same dedication). It is possible that the latter dedicant can be identified with our Athenais, but this cannot be determined with certainty.

Added: 12 Dec 2022
Updated: 12 Dec 2022
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