IGII34 978 Dedication to Dionysos from Marathon

Dedication to Dionysos from Marathon

IG II³ 4 978 Date: Before 174/5 AD

Polydeukion (dedicated this) to Dionysos for the sake of piety (eusebeia).^[1]

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References:

IG II³ 4 978 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 4774 (PHI)

Translation by: Claudio Huayna Avila

Monument type: Block

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

Findspot: Attica (Pyrgos, near the tumulus of Marathon) (Lost)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is one of two extant inscribed dedications to Dionysos found on the plain of Marathon. For the other, made by the ancient association, the Tetrapolis, see IG II³ 4, 224. This dedication was made by Polydeukion, who is identifiable as the Polydeukion who was a pupil of Herodes Atticus, one of the wealthiest Romans and the most powerful Athenian of the second century AD. Cf. AIUK vol. 11, pp. 112-22, no. 15; AIUK vol. 4.5, pp. 110-13, no. 27. He possessed estates in Attica at Kephisia (J. Tobin, Herodes Attikos and the City of Athens, 1997, chapter 5) and Marathon (Tobin, chapter 6; this monument, p. 276). On the relationship of Herodes with Polydeukion, whose death as a youth (before 174/5 AD) prompted numerous posthumous monuments, cf. AIUK 11, no. 15 with notes. This is the only known dedication by Polydeukion himself. It indicates that "although Polydeukion died a youth, he may have been beginning to follow in his mentor's footsteps as a benefactor" (Tobin).

On the sanctuary and cult of Dionysos at Marathon see IG II³ 4, 224; IG II² 1243, ll. 23-24; I Rhamnous 402. The last inscription, published in 2020, implies that the Tetrapolis most likely possessed (or used) a theatre at Marathon and celebrated the Rural Dionysia there. Cf. Csapo and Wilson II, 192-94.

Added: 27 Apr 2023
Updated: 19 May 2023
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ID: AIO_2625