IGII34 124 Dedication of measuring vessel by city guardians (<i>astynomoi</i>)

Dedication of measuring vessel by city guardians (astynomoi)

IG II³ 4 124 Date: early i AD

Fragment ab

Krates son of Aristonikos^[1] of Phlya and Demetrios uninscribed space B A ＜ M M M son of Kineas of Kydathenaion, but by birth son of Themison of (5) Anaphlystos,^[2] having been city guardians (astunomēsantes),^[3] uninscribed space dedicated (this).

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References:

IG II³ 4 124 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 3939 (PHI)

IG II² 2878 (PHI)

SEG 55.291

Translation by: David Weidgenannt

Monument type: Measuring vessel

Inscription type: Dedication (City guardians (astynomoi))

Fr. a - Findspot: Unknown (EM 4361)
Fr. b - Findspot: Unknown (EM 10325)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscribed stone vessel was used as a standard measure (sēkōma) to calculate quantities in the marketplace. Such measures were set up in the tholos (cf. IG II³ 1, 1300), the Piraeus, Eleusis and on the acropolis (cf. SEG 66.125; Agora XVI 322, ll. 8-9). For a measure discovered near the library of Hadrian see Arch. Delt. 54, 1999, B 1 [2005], 65-66 (ph.). It is agreed that the M stands for medimnos or metretes, the standard measure of capacity. A. Wilhelm, Beiträge zur griechischen Inschriftenkunde, 1909, 83, argued that the characters B, A, < stand for 2, 1 and 1/2 respectively. D. Peppas Delmousou, e.g. in S. Follet ed., L’Hellénisme d’époque romaine, esp. 125-27 (cf. SEG 55.291), recently showed that the vessel, with a capacity of one medimnos, could be divided into three compartments, two marked by the signs < and B, which in her opinion indicate 1/4 or 3/4 of a medimnos (the smaller and larger compartments), while the letter “A” signifies amphoreus, i.e. half of a medimnos. Three holes at the front and one hole at the right side of the vessel could be used to empty it. [2] Demetrios served as prytany member around 20 BC (see Agora XV 293, l. 64) and court president (thesmothetes) in the year 9/8 BC (see IG II² 1722, l. 11). It became common in the hellenistic period for adopted children to refer in their nomenclature to their natural parents as well as their adopted ones. [3] For a dedication by the market inspectors (agoranomoi) of measures after the end of their term see IG II³ 4, 127. In this case the dedicants are the astynomoi, “city guardians”, by this period apparently a different set of officials from that referred to in Ath. Pol. 50.2.

Added: 4 May 2018
Updated: 21 Sep 2022
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ID: AIO_1474