SEG 32.144 Citations commemorating honours awarded by a deme and by the Epakreis

Citations commemorating honours awarded by a deme and by the Epakreis

SEG 32.144 Date: ca. 350-300 BC

Erased text col. 1 The demesmen col. 2 The Epakreis (honour him) for his archonship at the Apollonia.^[1]

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References:

SEG 32.144 (Translated text) (PHI)

SEG 36.189

SEG 60.168

Russo, Ripartizioni, D77

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Kazuhiro Takeuchi

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (a deme of trittys Epakreis)?, Decree (trittys Epakreis)?

Findspot: In ruins of Early Christian Basilica on the hill of Amygdaleza in Stamata (At findspot)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription, first briefly edited by E. Tsophopoulou-Gkini, Arch. Eph. 1980, 94-95 (= SEG 32.144, partial ph.), was re-examined by Kazuhiro Takeuchi in 2024. At the top of the stele is an extent of erased text, followed by two citations, one to the left, one to the right (Takeuchi reports that the surface below the surviving citations is worn and it can not be ruled out that further citations followed). The citations perhaps imply that the original text above was an honorific decree, of the Epakreis, an association of demes in north-eastern Attica which was apparently a survival of an old (i.e. pre-Cleisthenic) Attic trittys, or of one of its component demes. Alternatively there may have been two inscribed decrees, of the Epakreis and of the honorand's deme. Takeuchi reports, however, that the erased text is not extensive and any decree or decrees must therefore have been brief. Alternatively the erased text might have contained a dedicatory heading, perhaps naming the honorand, the honouring bodies, the honour awarded (most likely crowns) and the circumstances. For erasures on honorific inscriptions of demes cf. SEG 21.644, SEG 51.153; note also the hostile graffito on IG I³ 84, and the tampering with inscriptions and registers documented in the deme Halimous by Demosthenes 57 (SEG 2.7 with notes). For the Epakreis see also IG I³ 258 and SEG 57.159, with fuller notes on the association.

The citation to the right implies that the Epakreis had awarded honours for service as "archon" for the Apollonia, a festival which is also documented by IG I³ 258, 8. The chief official of groups of this type might be called an archon (cf. from the same area of Attica, the archon of the Tetrapolis attested by SEG 50.168, 39-40; AIO 2618; IG II³ 4, 224); but an archon might also be appointed for a specific festival (cf. for the genos Salaminioi, RO 37, which refers to both types: festival archon, ll. 47-50; chief official of the group, l. 69) and the archon here was more likely of this "festival" type. It was common for "archonships" at festivals to be supplied by different components of an association in turn (as e.g. in the Salaminioi). The citation to the left most likely implies that on this occasion the "archon" was also honoured by his deme for his service at the Apollonia of the Epakreis.

The first editor identified the deme of this inscription as Hekale on the basis of its findspot at Mygdaleza, but Kukunari is now a more favoured site for Hekale, and it is uncertain whether Hekale was a component of the Epakreis (on this deme see further the notes to SEG 57.159). Whitehead, Demes (1986), 386-7 no. 97 (SEG 36.189) suggested that since the Apollonia and the Epakreis feature in the decree of the deme Plotheia, IG I³ 258, ll. 8 and 30, the deme of our inscription might be identified as Plotheia (see on this also Whitehead, Symposion 2009, 70-71 = SEG 60.168). On Traill's 1986 suggestion that the deme was Anakaia (SEG 36.189), see the notes to SEG 57.159.

Added: 1 Nov 2024
Updated: 1 Nov 2024
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