FDIII4 204 Dedication of Chairephilos to Apollo at Delphi

Dedication of Chairephilos to Apollo at Delphi

F.Delphes III 4 204 Date: ca. 332/1 BC

Chairephilos son of Pheidon of Athens dedicated (this) to Apollo Pythios having made a vow^[1]

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F.Delphes III 4 204 (Translated text) (PHI)

Syll.³ 301

Osborne, Naturalization, T75

Translation by: Claudio Huayna Avila

Monument type: Base

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

Findspot: Delphi (south side of the Apollo’s temple) (Delphi Museum 953)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription was engraved on a base in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi (on Attic inscriptions at Delphi, see IG II³ 4, 17 with notes). The base has two cavities on the top for a dedicatory statue, probably of Apollo. The dedicator, Chairephilos son of Pheidon of Paiania, was a successful salt-fish seller, who amassed a great fortune and was granted Athenian citizenship, along with his sons Pheidon, Pamphilos and Pheidippos, on the proposal of Demosthenes (Dein. 1.43; cf. Davies, APF 15187; for naturalization decrees of this period see Osborne, Naturalization D12-D41 and the list in S. D. Lambert, IALD I, 2018, 101-5). The terminus ante quem for the naturalization is provided by the presence of Chairephilos' son, Pamphilos, in a list of liturgists from 333/2 or 332/1 BC (IG II³ 1, 550, l. 15). Deinarchos suggests that the enfranchisement was mainly due to bribery, but it is likely that it was due to large-scale benefactions and donations to the city, as in the case of the bankers Pasion and Phormion (cf. Engen, Honor and Profit, 2010, 204; also J. Trevett, Apollodoros the Son of Pasion, 1992, 1-9), perhaps in connection with the grain shortages of the 330s (Engen, 2010, 294-95, cf. IG II³ 1, 367, 430, 432). Chairephilos and, especially, his sons were the target of numerous comedies owing to their ties with the courtesan (hetaira) Pythionike, whose name has a Delphian flavour (Alexis, PCG II, 6, 77, 218 = Ath. 3.90; Antiphanes, PCG II, 27 = Ath. 8.21, 13.50; Mnesimachos, PCG VII, 4 = Ath. 9.67; Timokles PCG VII, 14 = Ath. 8.23). Chairephilos may have commissioned this dedication to give thanks for the grant of citizenship to him and his family, or for his acquittal before the Council of Areopagos thanks to the defence of Hypereides (cf. P. Oxy. 34.2686; D. Whitehead, Hypereides, the Forensic Speeches, 2000, App. no. 5). A homonymous grandson (Davies, APF 15188 ?) probably manumitted a slave at the end of the 320s (cf. Meyer, Metics no. 2-9, ll. 510-12).

Added: 5 Jun 2023
Updated: 5 Jun 2023
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