IGII34 781 Dedication of structures in the Asklepieion, 51/0 BC

Dedication of structures in the Asklepieion, 51/0 BC

IG II³ 4 781 Date: 51/50 BC

[Diokles son of Diokles] of Kephisia^I, having become priest in the year of the archonship of L[ysia]des (51/0), dedicated . . . the adjacent building (oikon) and the exedra to Asklepios and Hygieia.^[1]

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References:

IG II³ 4 781 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 3174 (PHI)

SEG 39.212 (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Epistyle

Inscription type: Dedication (Priest), Dedication (Asklepios), Dedication (Hygieia)

a - Findspot: Acropolis (South slope) (EM 9559)
b - Findspot: Theatre of Dionysos (EM 4304)
c - Findspot: Library of Hadrian (EM 3992)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscribed epistyle is part of a series of inscriptions recording repairs to the Sanctuary of Asklepios on the south slope of the Acropolis by the priests of Asklepios in the first century BC (cf. IG II³ 4, 779-780, 787), also attested by archaeological evidence (M. Melfi, I santuari di Asclepio in Grecia, 2007, 358-64). A Council decree, IG II² 1046, authorises Diokles son of Diokles of Kephisia, priest of Asklepios in the archonship of Lysiades, to replace the doors and back part of the roof of the sanctuary’s gateway, to repair the temple, and to set up inscriptions recording those repairs. S. Follet restored the name of the priest and archon to make this one of those inscriptions (in Greek Renaissance in the Roman Empire, 1989, 41-44 = SEG 39.212). The priests of Asklepios were assigned according to a tribal cycle (S. B. Aleshire, Athenian Asklepieion, 1989, pp. 75-81, 372-73) and none of the other years of the tribe Kephisia belongs to (Erechtheis) fit the traces of the archon's name. However, there are significant discrepancies between the two inscriptions: the text that the decree instructs Diokles to have inscribed is different from this inscription, the decree does not mention an exedra, and refers explicitly to a temple (naos), not just a building (oikos). It seems, therefore, that this inscription must record further construction work undertaken by him during his year in office (Melfi 2007, 361).

There is an egg-and-dart pattern on one of the other sides of the stone from its reuse in an early Christian basilica.

Added: 12 Dec 2022
Updated: 12 Dec 2022
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ID: AIO_2399