IGII34 1244 Dedication to Zeus Hypsistos(?) by Spendousa

Dedication to Zeus Hypsistos(?) by Spendousa

IG II³ 4 1244 Date: 1st - 2nd cent. AD

Relief Spendousa. ^[1]

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References:

IG II³ 4 1244 (Translated text) (IG Online)

Agora XVIII 572

Translation by: Peter Liddel

Images: Agora Excavations - (1)

Monument type: Plaque

Inscription type: Dedication (private, Hypsistos?)

Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 3727)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is one of a number of imperial period dedications to Zeus Hypsistos (“Zeus The All High”) deriving possibly from the former site of the Athenian Assembly on the Pnyx. For other such dedications see AIUK 4.5 no. 13, with notes. Many of them take the form of anatomical votives. In this case, a single breast is carved in relief above the inscription. Votive breasts are a common form of dedication, and several examples are known from this sanctuary (see AIUK 4.5 no. 13). They must have some connection with female health, although we need not necessarily assume that the dedicant was suffering from a disease directly afflicting the breast. A connection with breast-feeding, or fertility more generally, is also possible.

This example lacks the name of the deity to whom the dedication was made, and so it is possible alternatively that it was a dedication to another deity associated with healing, such as Asklepios (for inscribed breasts dedicated at the Asklepieion, see, e.g. IG II³ 4, 844, 906).

Added: 15 Mar 2022
Updated: 28 Mar 2024
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ID: AIO_2258