IGII34 497 Choregic dedication from Ikarion

Choregic dedication from Ikarion

IG II³ 4 497 Date: 400-375 BC

Archippos^[1] son of Archede-,^[2] having been victorious, dedicated (this) to Dionysos, Nikostratos was director (edidaske).^[3]

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References:

IG II³ 4 497 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 3094 (PHI)

Agelidis, Weihgeschenke 57

Csapo and Wilson II, 162-64

Translation by: Edmund Stewart

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Dedication (choregic), Dedication (Dionysos)

Findspot: Ikarion (EM 13316)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription was discovered in north-east Attica on the north slope of Mt Pentelikon, on the site of the ancient deme of Ikarion, on the abundant epigraphical record for which see IG I³ 1015, with notes. Three holes in the top, one rectangular and two round, appear to have fixed this stone to a wall or other object and may be the result of reuse in later building works.

On choregic dedications commemorating victories in competitions staged at deme festivals of Dionysos ("Rural Dionysia") see IG II³ 4, 498, with notes. Ikarion claimed Thespis, supposedly the first tragedian (TrGF 1, pp. 61-6), as its son and a later tragic competition at the deme is well attested from around 450 BC until the end of the fourth century BC. A theatre was uncovered in excavations undertaken by the American School at Athens in 1888, during the course of which this inscription was also discovered (first published by C. D. Buck, Papers of the American School 5, 1886-1890, 86-87; on the theatre see also W. R. Biers and T. D. Boyd, Hesperia 51, 1982, 1-18, and most recently Csapo and Wilson II, 139-44). In the vicinity were found the temple of Pythian Apollo (identified by IG II³ 4, 1866) and another building that may be the Dionysion referred to in an honorary decree issued by the deme (SEG 22.117, l. 8). The sixth-century origins of the sanctuary are demonstrated by a surviving archaic statue of Dionysos and associated inscription (IG I³ 1015).

Archippos, the choregos or theatrical sponsor, is otherwise unknown. Csapo and Wilson note (p. 163) that the form of this inscription as an explicit dedication to the god is a feature of Rural Dionysia dedications unknown in the choregic inscriptions of the City Dionysia (on which cf. IG II³ 4, 460, with notes). A fifth-century inscription (IG I³ 254, ll. 3-7) provides for the appointment of two choregoi for the Ikarian Dionysia, who could be either demesmen or residents of Ikarion, as well as an antidosis procedure (by which an individual chosen as choregos could appeal the decision). [2] Might be restored as Archedemos or Archedektes. [3] The poet named here might be the fourth-century comic poet Nikostratos (PCG VII, T2), perhaps a son of Aristophanes. Another possible candidate is the dithyrambic poet Nikostratos mentioned in a choregic dedication from the City Dionysia dating to the second half of the fifth century (IG I³ 961). However, neither choral nor comic competitions are definitely attested at Ikarion (but cf. IG II³ 4, 505) and the name is not uncommon.

For other inscribed choregic dedications from Ikarion see IG II³ 4, 501, 505, 506, 508 and note also the uninscribed two-sided relief, depicting deities (including Herakles) and a chorus (?) with a goat (which features in the mythology of Ikarios), ca. 330 BC, Csapo and Wilson 178-82, Mxi = Agelidis no. 58.

Added: 9 May 2022
Updated: 25 Aug 2022
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