IGII34 225 Dedication (Tetrakomoi)

Dedication (Tetrakomoi)

IG II³ 4 225 Date: mid 4th cent. BC

The managers (dedicated this), - son of -okrates of -,

col. 1

Aristomachos son of Aristaios (5) of Piraeus

col. 2

. . . . . . . . .

col. 3

Sosikrates (10) son of Arkesilas of Thymaitadai.^[1]

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References:

IG II³ 4 225 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 2830 (PHI)

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Julian Schneider

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Dedication (managers (epimeletai) of the Tetrakomoi festival)

Findspot: Piraeus (Vari Kaminia by the church of Zōodochou Pēgēs) (At one time in a house by the church)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This triangular base is a dedication by the managers (epimeletai) of the festival of the Tetrakomoi, an association consisting of the four “villages” (komai) Peiraieis, Phalereis, Xypetaiones and Thymaitadai (Pollux 4.99, 105), apparent survivals of a pre-Cleisthenic social structure, like the Marathonian Tetrapolis (for which see IG II² 1358). The Tetrakomoi are also attested in the records of land sales by Attic associations ca. 340-325 (Lambert, Rationes, F9B 1-22, where the component villages are listed as "territorial groups", i.e. analogous to a deme). From that inscription it is apparent that, unlike the components of the Tetrapolis (Marathon, Oinoe, Trikorynthos, Probalinthos), the “four villages” maintained an institutional existence separate from the Cleisthenic demes such that a member of a particular “village” was not necessarily a member of the like-named deme (cf. Lambert, Rationes, pp. 190, 220). The festival of the Tetrakomoi took place at the sanctuary of Herakles Tetrakomos (Steph. Byz. e 181 Billerbeck s.v. Echelidai) and included a distinctive type of dance, the tetrakomos orchesis (Poll. 4.99, 105). Each village supplied one manager, and it may be that the first listed represented the winning village. There are cuttings in the top of the base, apparently for a tripod. See also the other dedications by the Tetrakomoi, IG II³ 4, 226, 227 and 228.

In the Cleisthenic system Thymaitadai was a small deme (bouleutic quota 2?, Agora XV 11, 1-3, with notes, cf. IG II³ 4, 46) in the city trittys of Hippothontis, the largest member of which was the deme Piraeus (on which see AIUK 4.3A, no. 1). There are no extant public inscriptions of Thymaitadai except those connected with its associated phratry and with the Tetrakomoi. On the deme, its location (on the coast north-west of Peiraieis; in myth, Theseus assembled his fleet there for his attack on Crete, Kleidemos FGrH 323 F17, cf. Philochoros FGrH 328 F11) and members, see Humphreys, Kinship, 1108. Its most famous member was the politically active Atthidographer (FGrH 325) and contemporary of Lykourgos, Phanodemos son of Diyllos, whose activities are among the best documented of any citizen in the epigraphical record of the period. On demes in general see RO 46. Thymaitadai was also the base of the "Thymaitian" phratry (see Lambert, Phratries, T13 and T14, with notes).

On the deme Phaleron see IG II³ 4, 227, with notes. On the deme Xypete, IG II³ 4, 228, with notes.

Added: 28 Jun 2018
Updated: 26 Oct 2024
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ID: AIO_1492