IGII34 467 Choregic monument of Nikias, 320/19 BC

Choregic monument of Nikias, 320/19 BC

IG II³ 4 467 Date: 320/19 BC

Nikias son of Nikodemos of Xypete dedicated (this) having been victorious sponsor (choregōn) for Kekropis in the boys’ competition.^[1] Pantaleon of Sikyon was the pipe-player. Song: The Elpenor of Timotheos.^[2] Neaichmos was archon (320/19).

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References:

IG II³ 4 467 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 3055 (PHI)

SEG 50.193

Syll.³ 1088

Agelidis, Weihgeschenke 27

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Epistyle

Inscription type: Dedication (choregic)

Original location: West of theatre of Dionysos, south-east of the stoa of Eumenes

Findspot: Acropolis, reused in construction of Beulé gate (In situ)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] On the choregia in Classical Athens see IG II³ 4, 460, with notes. This monument of Nikias and IG II³ 4, 468, the monument of Thrasyllos, both date to 320/19 BC, during the oligarchy imposed on Athens by Antipater after Athens’ defeat in the Lamian War. The latest dated choregic monuments commemorating victories in the dithyramb at the City Dionysia before the choregia was abolished (cf. IG II³ 4, 518), they are among the most sumptuous and were set up in more prominent locations than their predecessors in the street of the tripods. The wording on them also differs from earlier choregic monuments in using the verb "dedicated" (anethēke(n)) and in describing the choregos as victorious rather than his tribe. This monument is in the form of a Doric temple, with inscribed epistyle. Its original foundations have been discovered to the west of the theatre of Dionysos, almost abutting the south-east corner of the Stoa of Eumenes (see W. B. Dinsmoor, AJA 14, 1910, 459-84; cf. H. R. Goette, in The Greek Theatre and Festivals, 2007, 135). The monument itself was reused in the 3rd cent. AD in constructing the Beulé gate of the Acropolis. Much of the facade of the original monument was reconstructed in that context. Nikias was member of a propertied family, and is probably identifiable with the Nikias son of Nikodemos or son of Nikomedes, a distinguished Athenian painter (DNO 2805-2827), who according to Pliny NH 35.132, was very wealthy (identification doubted by O. Gengler, ZPE 130, 2000, 143-46 = SEG 50.193). Plut. Nikias 3.3 confuses the choregos of this monument with the famous Athenian general of the Peloponnesian War. [2] Elpenor was the title of a dithyramb composed by Timotheos of Miletos (= Poetae Melici Graeci Timotheus 779). Elpenor was a companion of Odysseus, who fell to his death from Circe's roof (Od. 11.552 ff.). His ghost meets Odysseus in Hades (11.50-80), and he is subsquently buried in accordance with its request (12.8-15). This is the only evidence for the poem. For discussion, including of visual representations of Elpenor on vases etc., see J. H. Hordern, The Fragments of Timotheus of Miletus (2002), pp. 104-106. Timotheos was most likely not named as “director” because he was deceased by this time (on Timotheos' life see Hordern, pp. 3-9).

Added: 23 Jul 2020
Updated: 4 Mar 2022
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