AIUK41 no. 1 Cult provisions on an inscribed altar from the City Eleusinion

Cult provisions on an inscribed altar from the City Eleusinion

AIUK 4.1 (BM, Cult Provisions) no. 1 Date: ca. 510-470 BC

Face A (front)

Fragment d

vacat? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (5)- - - τ̣ο̣- φ- - - - - - - - - ἐ̣λ̣α̣ί̣ο : τε̣τ̣- - - - - - - - -ν: (10)λει̣- - - [- - - μ]ύ̣στ- ε- - - - - - - - - - - -ν ε̣ - - - lacuna of unknown extent

Fragment c (BM fragment)

(15)[.]ια - - - - - - χρ- ιθ[ν - - -] [- - - hεμιε]κτ- έο[ν - - -] (20)- - -ουρ- ιοι- - - - - -: κα- ι τι - - - [- - - βο]τύπ- (25)οι: χ- - - - - - α ::: Δ- ι Πολ[ιεῖ - - -] - - - τρῖς χ- οίνι[κες - - -] (30)- - -ε : μ- - - - - - -

Fragments of uncertain location in Face A

Fragment a

- - - - - - - - - - - -ιν̣- - - [- - - πέν]τε χ[οίνικες - - -] [- - - ἀλ]φίτο̣[ν : - - -] [- - - οἴ]νο τε[τάρτε? - - -] (35)- - -ν ::: Κορ̣- - - - - - hιερέαι̣ - - - [- - - ο]ἴνο τετ[άρτε ? - - -] - - - ἔτνος |- - - [- - - ἀλ]φίτον : h- - - (40)- - -ρτε hε- - - [- - -]ν̣ πέντ[ε - - -] [- - -]: χριθο̣͂[ν - - -] [- - - φυλοβασι]λεῦσι : ν̣- [- - - ἐ]λυτρο̣ - - - (45)- - -ει : δι|- - - - - - ::: Ἐ- - -

Fragment b

- - - - - - - - - - - -ο- - - - - -α : - - - [- - - μ]υ̣στε̣ (?) - - - (50)- - - ::: Ἐρε̣[χθεῖ - - -] - - - vac. οἰν- - - - - -εντ- - - - - -οινε̣- - - - - - - - - - - -

Fragment e

- - - - - - - - - - - -ρ̣ο̣ - - - (55)- - - : ο- - - - - - αλ- - - - - - ελ- - - - - - σ- - - - - - - - - - - -

Face B (back)

Fragments fgh

vac. 0.016 [- - - χριθο͂ν? : hεμ]ιεκτ̣έα ḥ[ε]πτὰ : ο̣[ἴνο : χ]- (60)[όες hέ]χς : κα[ὶ h]εμίχον̣ [: - - -] [- - - hεκ]τεὺς : μέ[λ]ιτος : κο̣[τύλα]- [ι ὀκ]τὸ : ἐ̣λαίο [:] hεμίχο[ν - - -] [- - - ν : hεμ]ιτεταρ[τ]έον [:] τυρο̣͂ [τρ]- [ῖς] τ̣έτα[ρ]τ̣α̣ι̣ : [κ]υάμο[ν - - - σεσά]- (65)[μον λευκο͂ν? : τ]ρῖς χο[ίνικες :] μελ[ά]- [νον? : τρῖς χοί]νικε[ς - - - - - -] [- - - - - - δ]ύο - - - - - - ^{11 - 12} - - - - - - - - - - - ^{11 - 12} - - - - - υ- - - lacuna

Fragment n

[- - - hεμ]ι̣τ̣- (70)ετα[ρτέον? - - -] - - -τεο- ς : οἴ[νο? - - -] - - -ο̣ : μύ- στο - - - (75)- - - οτ[.] [. .]ν̣ - - - lacuna

Fragment o

ε[. .]ι - - - [- - - hεμι]κ̣ότυ- λα : h[επτά ? - - -] (80)[- - - ἀ]λφίτ- ον : - - - - - - : συ- - - -

Fragments i-m, p-v (we print only lines containing whole words)

Fragment j

(88)ὀ]βελ-

(96)ἀλ]φί[τον

Fragment k

(108)κοτ]υλα - (109)- ḥεμικ[ότυλα

(114)ἐλα[ίο

Fragment l

(120)χρι]θ̣ν̣

Fragment m

(130)δύ[ο - (131)- ἀλφ]ίτο[ν

Fragment o

(138)γ̣- (139)ρ̣[ος

Fragment p

(150)κέρ]υκα-

Fragment q

(158)hεμ]ιεκτ̣[έον

Fragment s

(172)τρ]ῖς χ[οίνικες

(174)hε]μ̣ιεκτ̣[έον

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Translated text

References:

AIUK 4.1 (BM, Cult Provisions) no. 1 (Translated text) (AIO) (AIUK)

IG I³ 232 (IG Online) (PHI)

SEG 12.3

SEG 25.1

GIBM I 74

Sokolowski, LSS 2

Immerwahr, Script, 77 no. 458b

CGRN 7 (CGRN)

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Feyo Schuddeboom

AIO Images: 1

Images: Agora Excavations - (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Aleshire - (1)
Ohio - (1)

Monument type: Fragments of a large structure, possibly an altar

Inscription type: Cult provisions

fr. c - Findspot: Athens (BM 1785,0527.3)
fr. h - Findspot: Athens (Lost)
fr. i - Findspot: Unknown (EM 101)
Findspot: Near the City Eleusinion (Ag. I 4390)
Findspot: Near the City Eleusinion (Ag. I 4432)
Findspot: Near the City Eleusinion (Ag. I 4721)
Findspot: Near the City Eleusinion (Ag. I 4800)
Findspot: Near the City Eleusinion (Ag. I 5033)
Findspot: Near the City Eleusinion (Ag. I 5318)
Findspot: Near the City Eleusinion (Ag. I 2253)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Though very fragmentary, this inscription has a claim to be the earliest substantial Attic example of a common genre of Greek inscription making provisions for religious cult, the "sacrificial calendar". Non-Attic examples are CGRN 1 Corinth, 2 Gortyn, 6 Miletos, 47 Thera, 62, 63, 115, 116, 117, 141, 179 Lindos, 83 Miletupolis, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 130, 149, 158 Kamiros, 146 Phyxa on Kos, 151 Halasarna on Kos, 154 Ialysos, 156 Mykonos, 210 Eleutherna. In Attica, in addition to fragments of the polis calendar as revised at the end of the 5th cent., SEG 52.48A and B, there are substantial calendars from the rural demes Thorikos, AIO 847, Erchia, AIO 593, from the Marathonian Tetrapolis, SEG 50.168 (to which the fragmentary AIO 505 also perhaps relates), and from the genos Salaminioi, RO 37, ll. 80-97. Less well preserved are calendars from Eleusis, I Eleusis 175 and Teithras, LSS 132. In addition to this one and I Eleusis 7, both apparently from the city Eleusinion, and the tiny archaic fragment, IG I³ 230, there are two other fragmentary early calendars, AIO 1303 and AIUK 4.1 no. 2. For an example of the genre dating to ca. 2nd cent. AD see AIUK 11 (Ashmolean), no. 2. At the margins the "sacrificial calendar" shades into less calendrically specific sacrificial regulations. AIUK 4.1 no. 3 (Skambonidai) for example (perhaps like this inscription) is structured by festival, but lacks specific dates, while IG I³ 250 (Paiania) and NGSL 3 (Phrearrhioi) provide for a limited group of related festivals. [2] Fragment c of this inscription (ll. 15-30) was found in Athens (in an unspecified wall) by Richard Chandler in 1765-6 and acquired by him for the Society of Dilettanti, which in turn presented it to the British Museum in 1785, along with other inscriptions. Chandler noted that it was inscribed in the old-fashioned "boustrophedon" style (i.e. alternately from left to right and right to left, a style which had fallen out of common use in Attica by ca. 530 BC), but neither he nor anyone else was able to make anything more of it until E. L. Hicks, in his 1874 publication of the Attic inscriptions in the British Museum, recognised that it contained provisions for sacrifices. In the 20th century a large number of other fragments came to light, mainly in the American excavations of the Athenian Agora, and in Hesperia 1948 L. H. Jeffery published the definitive edition of the inscription as a whole (SEG 12.3), identifying it as one of two inscribed altars from the City Eleusinion (the principal sanctuary in the city of Athens for the worship of the Eleusinian deities, Demeter and her daughter Persephone, usually called in Attica, Korē, "the Girl"). One of them, I Eleusis 7, contained provisions for the Mysteries, the Greater Mysteries celebrated at Eleusis, and the Lesser at Agrai, close to Athens, while this one contained provisions for other city festivals, including perhaps the Proarktouria (20), another name for the Proerosia, a pre-ploughing festival, cf. IG I³ 250, I Eleusis 175, 3-7; the Dipolieia (24-27), an ancient festival of Zeus on the acropolis, cf. SEG 52.48B, F1 col. 2, IG I³ 244, A18, IG II³ 1, 551; possibly the Thesmophoria (59-67), a women's fertility festival and, so far as we know, a diffused rite, celebrated in individual Attic demes. AIO 2841 may imply that it was celebrated in the 2nd century BC by the deme Melite in the City Eleusinion. Perhaps we have to do with a predecessor of these arrangements; or perhaps the provisions here related to a celebration by the Eleusinian genē, cf. I Eleusis 175, 22-26. On this festival see also IG II² 1177 (Piraeus), IG II² 1184 (Cholargos), CGRN 103 (Phrearrhioi). No provision for sacrificial animals is preserved, suggesting that the purpose of the inscription may have been to provide for sacrificial adjuncts or extras, the animals being provided from other sources. It is uncertain what authority was responsible for the inscription, but it may have been one or more of the Eleusinian genē (Kerykes and Eumolpidai). For more detailed analysis of the inscription see AIUK 4.1 (BM, Cult Provisions) no. 1, and for a video discussing it and two other Attic inscriptions of the 5th cent. BC in the British Museum making cult provisions see the AIO Youtube channel.

Added: 3 Jan 2018
Updated: 6 Jan 2024
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