IGII34 1877 Boundary marker of precinct of Artemis Amarysia at Athmonon

Boundary marker of precinct of Artemis Amarysia at Athmonon

IG II³ 4 1877 Date: 2nd cent. AD

Marker of the precinct of Artemis Amarysia.^[1]

Previous - IG II³ 4 1876 Next - IG II³ 4 1901

References:

IG II³ 4 1877 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG I² 865B (PHI)

IG I³ p. 972

SEG 46.225

SEG 48.12

SEG 42.150 (PHI)

SEG 41.125

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Images: Aleshire - (1)

Monument type: Horos

Inscription type: Boundary marker

Findspot: Marousi (= ancient Athmonon), church of Agios Nikolaos (Chomatianou-Logothete) (In situ)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] On the deme Athmonon and its sanctuary and festival of Artemis Amarysia in the 4th cent. BC see IG II² 1203, with notes. This is one of two horoi of the precinct (temenos) of Artemis Amarysia there inscribed in archaising (5th century Attic) script in the (mid-?)2nd cent. AD. The other is IG II³ 4, 1876. Writing at about the time these horoi were inscribed, Pausanias 1.31.5 reports that, while his guides knew nothing of the origins of the cult, there was likely a connection with the Amarysia worshipped at Amarynthos in Euboea, "while the festival of the Amarysia which the Athenians celebrate is no less splendid than the Euboean". I. A. Pikoulas, Horos 10-12, 1992-1998, 205-14 (SEG 46.225) suggests that the precinct was located in the vicinity of the surviving church of Agios Ioannes on the low hill of Pelikas. 1877 is now built into the west wall of the church of Agios Nikolaos Logothetes (cf. SEG 42.150, 41.125). For a discussion of the Attic and Euboean cults of Artemis Amarysia and the connection between them see now I. Bultrighini, in G. Woolf et al. eds., Sanctuaries and Experience, 2024, 193-218.

Marousi is not far from Kephisia, an area in which Herodes Atticus had a villa, and several tombs and commemorative monuments have been found, including one for Herodes' wife, Regilla, IG II² 13200, "found in the remains of an old temple, where now are the remains of a church, beween Kephisia and Marousi". Since inscriptions in an archaising style similar to that used for this horos are found on monuments associated with Herodes Atticus, it has been suggested that he might have been responsible for erecting these horoi (see Langdon ap. Pikoulas, 212-4; J. Tobin, Herodes Atticus (1997), 237-8 = SEG 48.12).

Also from Marousi is a fragmentary inscription of a private association (eranos) dated to 52/1 BC (archon Lysandros), SEG 37.103.

Added: 30 Sep 2022
Updated: 12 Jan 2024
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ID: AIO_2546