IGI3 1008 Dedication to Herakles

Dedication to Herakles

IG I³ 1008 Date: ca. 470?

To Herakles Gyres has dedicated me. uninscribed space ... -ocharis, Antiphanes’ child.^[1]

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References:

IG I³ 1008 (Translated text) (IG Online) (PHI)

SEG 10.329 (PHI)

SEG 26.50

SEG 30.36

Translation by: Liubov Eliseeva

Monument type: Pillar

Inscription type: Dedication (private, Herakles), Metrical (dactylic)

Findspot: Trachones (ancient Euonymon) (EM 12686)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note: In l. 3 W. Peek, Ath. Mitt. 59, 1934, 39-41 (= SEG 10.329) suggested reading [ἐ]γό̄ Χάρις ('I am Charis'). However, no traces of the gamma of 'I' have been found by other editors and Charis as a masculine name is quite rare, while composite names such as Androcharis, Timocharis, etc. are more common (O. Masson, ZPE 37, 1980, 112 = SEG 30.36); U. Wilamovitz suggested restoring the name [Θε]όχαρις 'Theocharis' (= SEG 26.50, cf. Athenian Onomasticon). There are 3-dot interpuncts after 'Herakles' (line 1) and '...ocharis' (line 3). Such interpuncts are known from a range of private dedications (see Threatte, The Grammar of Attic Inscriptions I, 1980, p. 77). In l. 1, it acts as punctuation linking the enclitic pronoun 'me' to the following verb 'has dedicated' (cf. R. S. D. Crellin, The Semantics of Word Division in Northwest Semitic Writing Systems, 2022, 255); the interpunct in l. 3 may similarly highlight the connection between the 'Antiphanes' and the 'child' in the next line ('child of' here is used instead of usual 'son of').

This is a pillar made of Pentelic marble with a statue of a boy on top. It was found at Trachones, at the site of the ancient Attic deme Euonymon, on which see AIO 2551 with notes. The four-line inscription forms a dactylic heptameter. The first two lines constitute the dedication itself. The next two lines give the name of the person depicted by the statue. Perhaps the vacant space at the end of l. 2 highlights the separation between these two phrases (cf. C. Gallavotti, BollClass 11, 1990, 147–152). The dedicator's father was Antiphanes; this name is quite common. However, there are two other dedications made by Antiphanes that are very close chronologically to this dedication; both were found on Acropolis: a marble base (IG I³ 806; ca. 500–480(?) BC) and a bronze base (IG I³ 533; ca. 490–480 BC). All three dedications have the same modest appearance (A. M. D'Onofrio, Ktèma 23, 1998, 111).

The dedicator and the depicted person could be related, but this cannot be definitively proven. W. Peek suggested that they were pederastic lovers, i.e., that Gyres was an adult male-lover (erastes) who dedicated a statuette of his young beloved (eromenos) to Herakles. There are no analogies for a dedication of this kind (M. Lazzarini, Le formule delle dediche votive nella Grecia arcaica, 1976, 113–114). However, C. Tsagalis noted that Herakles could be associated not only with youth, but also with the homosexual relationship between eromenos and erastes (Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica 139/1, 2011, 51–52, no. 4).

Added: 6 Mar 2026
Updated: 6 Mar 2026
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ID: AIO_3624