IGII34 578 Dedication by a victor in <i>apobates</i> race at the Panathenaia

Dedication by a victor in apobates race at the Panathenaia

IG II³ 4 578 Date: ca. 400 BC

Krates son of Heortios of Piraeus.^[1] Relief

Previous - IG II³ 4 577 Next - IG II³ 4 579

References:

IG II³ 4 578 (Translated text) (IG Online)

SEG 53.203

SEG 21.695 (PHI)

SEG 57.180

Agora XIV 121

Kyle, Athletics 63, 205 (A37)

Agora XVIII 195

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, David Weidgenannt

Images: Agora Excavations - (1)

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Dedication (athlete)

Findspot: Agora (Ag. S 399)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] The relief depicts a racing four-horse chariot, with charioteer and a leaping shield-bearer. From this can be inferred that this base commemorates Krates’ victory in the apobates race, in which the armed contestant had to mount and dismount from a moving chariot (cf. N. B. Crowther, JHS 111, 1991, 174-76 and Athletika, 2004, 345-50). Most likely the context was the (quadrennial) Panathenaic Games, in which the race took place on the Panathenaic Way in the Agora; it is possible that the monument was originally set up in close proximity to the racecourse. There are three sockets in the top of the base for insertion of votives. The monument is datable by the letter forms, the form of the genitive in –o, and the style of the relief.

This is the first in the series designated in IG II³ 4, "dedications by athletes" (dedicationes athletarum), IG II³ 4, 578–630, which include dedications commemorating victories by competitors in both athletic and cultural events at international festivals, in Attica and elsewhere. Attic festivals commemorated include the Panathenaia (this inscription, IG II³ 4, 581, 584, 587, 588, 587, 589?, 594, 596, 597, 599, 610, 611, 614, 616, 624, 627, 628, 629), the Eleusinia (see IG II³ 4, 579), the Theseia (after 200 BC, IG II³ 4, 598), the Delia (after 166 BC, IG II³ 4, 599, 604), the Olymp(i)eia (after ca. 130 AD, IG II³ 4, 612, 613, 616, 627), the Panhellenia (after ca. 130 AD, IG II³ 4, 613, 614, 628, 629, 630). Not included in this series are victories in the great Athenian dramatic festivals (IG II³ 4, 436-577, see IG II³ 4, 460 with notes), or dedications by Athenians in a public capacity (e.g. ephebes, on which see IG II³ 4, 329–425). For athletic dedications from before 400 BC, see IG I³ 597, 757, 823, 826, 847, 880, 893, 983, 988, 991, 1022, 1393-1398, 1469, 1473; SEG 55.71, 65.56, and perhaps IG I³ 752 and 863.

Added: 21 Oct 2019
Updated: 19 May 2024
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ID: AIO_1905