IGII34 1132 Council decree on cult of Isis at Teithras and dedication of lattices

Council decree on cult of Isis at Teithras and dedication of lattices

IG II³ 4 1132 Date: A: Late i BC; B: mid-i AD?

Inscription A . . . to Isis and not . . . ^[1] . . . let them erect near . . . . . . contrary to these things . . . . . . and similarly not in . . . (5) . . . but if they should not owe . . . . . . and they shall be liable (enochoi) for sacrilege (asebēa) . . . . . . and it shall not be allowed to serve as temple attendant (zakoreuin) . . . ^[2] . . . But if anyone should act contrary to these things or with violence, an [indictment (endeixis)] may be (submitted) to the Council and the King (10) by any Athenian who wishes (boulomenō), of those for whom it is permitted.^[3] They shall also prevent any of those who have transgressed [these things], whom they recognise . . . . . . of the gods. Likewise, also, those who dedicate? . . . . . . without asking the [Council?] which has authority (kurian) over everything.^[4] The men who brought forward this decree (dogma) shall inscribe it (15) on the column of the entranceway (parastadi) of the stoa or wherever seems to them to be convenient so that the decision of the Council endures for all time,^[5] and (they shall write) the same (decree) also on a whitened board (sanidi leleukōmenē) and they shall hand it over to the priest to be displayed each day in front of the temple,^[6] so that, when these things have been accomplished, (20) it shall be clear that the Council gives the greatest consideration (pronoian) to piety (eusebeias) to the goddess.

Inscription B Demophilos son of Dionysios of Sounion, also called Daphnos, (5) who bears the leader (hēgemona), dedicated the latticed partitions (kankellous) to Isis.^[7]

Previous - IG II³ 4 1131 Next - IG II³ 4 1133

References:

IG II³ 4 1132 (Translated text) (IG Online)

SEG 22.114 (PHI)

SEG 23.77 (PHI)

SEG 30.97

SEG 22.167 (PHI)

Sokolowski, LSCG 50 (PHI)

Bricault 101/0402

Bricault 101/0401

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Column

Inscription type: Decree (Council), Dedication (priest), Dedication (Isis)

Original location: Teithras, Sanctuary of Isis

Findspot: Pikermi (Teithras) (EM 13342)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This column bears two inscriptions relating to a sanctuary of Isis, probably in the deme of Teithras (modern Pikermi), where it was found incorporated into a church along with other architectural fragments from the same stoa. This inscription is the only evidence for a sanctuary of Isis at Teithras, but Isis was worshipped in Athens already in the 330s BC (IG II³ 1, 337, ll. 43-45) and the cult of Isis, Sarapis, and other Egyptian gods was popular in Athens from the first century BC onwards, with sanctuaries attested on the south slope of the Acropolis (AIUK 4.5 (BM, Dedications), no. 8), at Rhamnous (I Rhamnous 59, ll. 14-15), and at Marathon (L. A. Mazurek, AJA 122, 2018, 611-44). Attic inscriptions relating to Isis are collected in Bricault Recueil, no. 101. For the cult of Isis and the Egyptian gods at Athens, see IG II³ 4, 1113 and E. Muñiz Grijalvo in C. Bonnet, V. Pirenne-Delforge, and D. Praet, Les "religions orientales" dans le monde grec et romain, 2009, 325–341). [2] Inscription A is a Council decree, setting down regulations for the sanctuary, apparently in the context of a conflict over control and access to it (see n. 4-5), perhaps exacerbated by Athens’ alliance with M. Antonius and Cleopatra "the New Isis" in the 30s BC (see P. Martzavou in L. Bricault and M. J. Versluys, Power, Politics and the Cults of Isis, 2014, 173-76). IG II³ 4 dates this inscription to the end of the first century BC; J. Pollitt to the 30s BC, based on some features of orthography and the similarity of the letter forms to IG II² 1043 (Hesperia 34, 1965, 125-30 = SEG 22.114) and J. H. Oliver to ca. 37 BC (GRBS 5, 1965, 291-94 = SEG 23.77). The fragmentary text in ll. 1-5 seems to regulate dedications and service as a temple attendant (zakoros, an office responsible for the day-to-day operation of some sanctuaries, especially those of "foreign" deities). On decrees of the Council and People in the period between the Sullan sack in 86 BC and the death of Augustus in AD 14, see I Rhamnous 423 with notes. [3] The legal mechanisms and phrases here show continuity with earlier periods in Athenian history. Impiety cases were heard by the court presided over by the King Archon in the Classical period (Ath. Pol. 57.2). The phrase "whoever of the Athenians wishes of those for whom it is permitted" was a typical formula of the Classical democracy (cf. IG II² 1013 with note). [4] Those who breach the regulations are to be prevented from doing something, perhaps entering the sanctuary (Pollitt, cf. n. 6). They (or all people) are also banned from making dedications (or specific types of dedication?) without permission (ll. 2, 12-13). The restoration “Council” in l. 13 is very likely (cf. Oliver, p. 292; J. and L. Robert, REG 79, 1966, 363-65 no. 167; Sokolowski). The declaration of its authority “over everything” is striking and may be part of a wider assertion of the Council’s control over sanctuaries in the first century BC (cf. ll. 19-21 below). Other surviving first-century BC decrees of the Council also claim authority over sanctuaries: IG II² 1046 and I Rhamnous 179. [5] The “men who brought forward the decree” are likely administrators of the sanctuary who had brought whatever issue this decree dealt with to the Council's attention (cf. I Rhamnous 179). [6] Displaying notices on wooden boards whitened with gypsum was a common practice in the Classical democracy (e.g. Demosth. 20.97, Ath. Pol. 47.4, 48.2). Placing these boards in front of the temple and inscribing the decree on one of the columns flanking the entranceway of the stoa (parastas: LSJ) might be linked to the restrictions on access in ll. 10-12. [7] Inscription B is a dedication, inscribed on the same column below the decree. Letter forms suggest a date in the mid-first century AD, as does the dedicant's double name (Pollitt). "The Leader" may be the god Anubis, who bears the epithet "leader" in some inscriptions (e.g. IG XI 4, 1253). Demophilos would be responsible for carrying an image or wearing a mask of the god in processions (cf. Anubis in an Isiac procession in Apuleius, Metamorphosis 11.11). The latticed partitions that Demophilos has dedicated were probably a balustrade between the columns of the stoa. The Latin term cancelli was loaned into Greek in the Imperial period and is common in place of the Greek kinklides from the first century AD onwards is common (E. Dickey, Latin Loanwords in Ancient Greek, 2023, 160-61). Lattices also formed part of a dedication in the sanctuary of Isis on the Acropolis (AIUK 4.5 (BM, Dedications), no. 8). On possible relationships between inscriptions A and B, see P. Martzavou in Bricault and Versluys, Power, Politics and the Cults of Isis, 2014, 175-76.

Added: 12 Dec 2022
Updated: 7 Jun 2023
Feedback

ID: AIO_2419