SEG 46.155 Decree of Gargettos honouring Epikydes

Decree of Gargettos honouring Epikydes

SEG 46.155 Date: 350-300 BC

. . . ^[1] [ . . . the demarch (?)] [shall inscribe this] decree on a stone stele and stand it in the precinct (temenei) of (5)Dionysos at Gargettos; and for inscribing the stele the treasurer shall allocate from the common revenues (koinōn prosodōn) whatever the cost may be. (10)The demesmen (crown) Epikydes son of Philokydes.

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References:

SEG 46.155 (Translated text) (PHI)

SEG 46.155/2 (PHI)

Humphreys, Kinship, 865-67

Csapo and Wilson II, 6

Russo, Ripartizioni, D41

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Kazuhiro Takeuchi

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Deme Gargettos)

Original location: Gargettos (Precinct of Dionysos)

Findspot: Gerakas (in front of chapel of Agios Georgios) (Brauron Museum BE 840)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual Note. Takeuchi reports from autopsy minor adjustments to the text which do not affect the sense. He also reports that ll. 10-12 were inscribed by a different hand from the main text, "weakly, imperfectly and shallowly".

This inscription, first published by W. Peek (in Ath. Mitt. 67, 1942 [1951]), is the only extant decree produced by Gargettos, a small-to-medium sized deme (bouleutic quota 4, see AIO 2776, with notes) of the inland trittys of Aigeis. Largely on the basis of the findspot of this decree, the deme has been located south of Mt Pentelikon, east of Pallene, in the area of modern Gerakas (cf. Humphreys; N. C. Kotzias, Polemon 4, 1949, 10-16 = SEG 46.155/2; H. R. Goette, Horos 10-12, 1992-1998, 109-12, who suggests that Gerakas was included within Pallene. If he is right, this inscription must have been moved from its original location prior to discovery). Though the father-son name pair, Philokydes – Epikydes, is attested in Acharnai, the fact that the honorand is named in 11-12 without demotic suggests that he was a demesman of Gargettos (thus Humphreys and the Athenian Onomasticon, aliter Whitehead, Demes) and this may be a case (not unusual given the common practice of fathers and sons sharing name components) of unrelated families in different demes using the same father-son name pair. There is no other evidence for a man of either name in Gargettos, but it is not unusual for prominent men in the demes to be otherwise undocumented.

On the deme Gargettos and its members, see Humphreys, who notes that the late-5th cent. BC politician and orator Andokides was a member. On demes in general RO 46.

The fact that the inscription was to be erected in a precinct (temenos, not, as more commonly in deme decrees, a sanctuary, hieron, or theatre) of Dionysos suggests, if it does not conclusively prove, that the deme Gargettos celebrated the most widespread festival of the Attic demes, the Rural Dionysia (on which see IG II³ 4, 498, with notes). Cf. Humphreys, Strangeness, 180-1; Csapo and Wilson.

Added: 28 Jul 2023
Updated: 21 Oct 2024
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ID: AIO_2695