AIO 1189 Sacrificial Calendar of Athens (later phase)

Sacrificial Calendar of Athens (later phase)

AIO 1189 Date: 403/2-400/399 BC

Fragment 1

col. 3

≥42 dr. (5) . . . . . . (10) . . . . . . . . . . . . (20) . . . >1/2 ob. 1 dr. (25)

^[1] . . . . . . . . . the Se[mnai?] . . . On the fifth^[2] From the month-by-month (kata mēna) for Erechtheus a lamb^[3] From the tribe- kingly (phulobasilikōn) for the tribe-kings . . . a wineless offering a sow from native stock (?) . . . a sow from native stock (?) 6 lines traces fiftieth (?) of . . . . . . fiftieth (?) of wine On the sixth^[4] From those on an unspecified day (mē rhētēi) for Athena

____________________________________________________________________

col. 4

Traces of numbers in price column ll. 4-7 only

Text inscribed below the line running under l. 25:^[5]

col. 2

____________________________________________________________________ (26) . . . indicate . . . according to . . . Harma . . .

col. 3

____________________________________________________________________ _ . . . for Apollo these things to follow the basket: tripod, little anchors (?) (epitoxidas), garland (?) (stemma), ancestral thing (?) (progonion), (30) little - (-iskon), ball (sphairan) . . .

Fragment 2

These sacrifices take place in alternate years . . . ____________________________________________________________________

. . . (5) . . . . . . (10) [17 dr.?] . . . (15) . . . . . . . . . (20)

On the eleventh or twelfth^[6] [From] new (?) (neōn) for Apollo a - for Leto a select (?) - for Kourotrophos . . . . . . for Zeus Ne[meios?] a ram . . . . . . of honey amount . . . of oil amount . . . . . . fi[ftieths?] . . . . . . . . .

Fragment 3

col. 1

____________________________________________________________________

^[7] . . . . . . . . . . . . (5) . . . (10) [12 dr.] (15) [12 dr.] (20) . . . . . . [3 dr.] (25) . . . . . .

six choes of wine a chous of oil a half-chous of honey priestly dues (hiereōsuna) On the penultimate day (?) (deuterai phthinontos) From the month-by-month for Athena a cloak (pharos) of pure [wool?] . . . . . . . . . for Athena Erganē a sheep for [Athen]a by (pros) . . . a sheep total: > 1 dr. 2 ob.

Skirophorion On the second or fourth or fifth or seventh From the month-by-month for [Athen]a a select cow priestly dues for Kourotrophos a piglet for - a medimnos of barley an amphora of wine On the third or sixth or eighth or ninth

col. 2

^[8] These sacrifices take place in alternate years . . . ____________________________________________________________________

(30) (35) 4 dr. 4 dr. 2 ob. (40) 1 dr. 4 ob. (45) (50) 50 dr. 16 dr. (55) 2 dr. 3 ob.

Hekatombaion On the fifteenth From the tribe- kingly for the tribe Gleontis the trittys Leukotainioi a sheep lacking age-teeth (leipognōmona) priestly dues for the tribe kings (phulobasileusi) (in lieu) of the back for the herald (in lieu) of the shoulder, feet, head On the sixteenth From the tribe- kingly for the tribe Gleontis for Zeus Phratrios and Athena Phratria two bovines lacking age teeth priestly dues for the tribe king a leg for the herald (in lieu) of the breast, feet, head for . . . medimno- of barley

col. 3

____________________________________________________________________

^[9] (60) 12 dr. 15 dr. 12 dr. 17 dr. (65) 15 dr. 15 dr. 15 dr. 15 dr. (70) 17 dr. 15 dr. 15 dr. (75) 100 dr. 3 dr. 12 dr. (80) 12 dr. 10 dr. 15 dr. 10 dr. (85) 15 dr. 15 dr.

for Themis a sheep for Zeus Herkeios a sheep for Demeter a sheep for Pherrephattē a ram for Eumolpos a sheep for the hero Melichos [a sheep] for the Founding Hero (Archēgetēi) [a sheep] for Polyxenos [a sheep] for Threptos a select - for Dioklos [a sheep] for Keleus [a sheep] The Eumolpidai _[sacrifice] these things for the priestess [of Demeter] perquisites (apometra) from the s[telai? ...] a piglet for Hestia [a sheep] for Athena [a sheep] for the Graces [-] for Hermes En[agonios a sheep] for E- . . . for E- [a sheep?] for D- [a sheep?] . . .

Fragment 5

col. 1

^[10]Uninscribed ____________________________________________________________________

. . . (5) . . . . . . . . . [17 dr.?] (10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (15) [17 dr.?]

. . . [for Apollo] Prostaterios [a full-grown offering (hieron teleon)] [for Apollo Under] the Long Rocks [a full-grown offering] [priestly dues?] [for Demeter?] in the city a sheep [for Pherrephattē?] a ram . . . at the Pythion a full-grown offering priestly dues for Athena Itonia a sheep priestly dues [for Demeter?] at Eleusis a sheep [for Pherrephattē?] [at Eleusis?] a ram . . .

col. 2

Traces of numbers in price column ll. 8-10 only

Fragment 6

col. 1

^[11] ≥30 dr. (5) . . . [4 dr.?] 2 ob. (10) [4 dr.] . . .

. . . for the priestess of Athena Polias perquisites (apometra) for Hermes in the Lykeion a sheep priestly dues On the seventh for the seventh-day offering (hebdomaion) a sheep lacking age-teeth for the Pythaistai . . . . . .

col. 2

Traces of numbers in price column ll. 3-4 only

Fragment 7

(5)

. . . On the -nth From the tribe- kingly for the tribe kings . . .

Fragment 8

col. 1

Traces

col. 2

^[12] 11 dr. 12 dr. (5) 12 dr. [12 dr.] (10) [17 dr.] [12 dr.]

. . . . . . [for ...] a [full-grown offering] for Apollo . . . a full-grown offering On Delos the [following?]: for Apollo . . . a full-grown offering for Poseidon . . . a ram for Leto a full-grown offering . . .

Fragment 9

Traces of two columns, probably including the expression “third of a chous” in col. 1 l. 3.

Fragment 12

^[13] . . . (5) 130 dr. . . . [130 dr.?] (10) [130 dr.]

. . . for the two heralds . . . Eleusis (?) At Oinoe for Artemis a triple offering led by a bovine . . . for the priestess perquisites for Zeus Morios a triple offering led by a bovine for Athena Oi[naia] a triple offering led by a bovine . . .

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Greek text

References:

AIO 1189 (Translated text) (AIO)

IG II² 1357 fr. a Face A (PHI)

IG II² 1357 fr. b (PHI)

SEG 67.30

SEG 52.48A

SEG 66.42

SEG 57.64A (fr. 5)

Sokolowski, LSS 10

Sokolowski, LSCG 17B

Sokolowski, LSCG 16

Sokolowski, LSCG 17C

Lambert, Sacrificial Calendar, 362-65

Rutherford, State Pilgrims B7

CGRN 45A (CGRN)

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Images: Agora Excavations - (1, 2)
Aleshire - (1, 2)
Krateros - (1)
Ohio - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Sacrificial Calendar

Fragment 2 - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 4310)
Fragment 3 - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 727)
Fragment 6 - Findspot: Acropolis, north-west slope (EM 286)
Fragment 7 - Findspot: Agora (Lost)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] These fragments belong to the revision of Athenian law which took place between 410/9 and 405/4 BC and was resumed after the fall of the Thirty, 403/2-400/399 BC (see IG I³ 104 with n. 1). They are part of the sacrificial calendar of Athens in Ionic script produced in the second phase of the revision (403/2-400/399). It completed and superseded a version in Attic script that had been erected in the first phase, see SEG 52.48B with notes (see also for findspots etc. of fragments preserving text on both sides). The first phase of the calendar revision may not have been complete when the Thirty came to power, but the reason why the operation had to be started again from scratch in 403/2 is not quite clear. If it had been because the work of Nikomachos’ commission had been officially found unsatisfactory under the democracy one would expect more to have been made of that in the attack on the commission’s work in Lysias 30 and would not expect Nikomachos to have been reappointed for a second term. The Thirty had their own programme of legal revision, however (Ath. Pol. 35.2, schol. Aischin. 1.39), and though the explicit evidence for this is not strong, J. L. Shear, Polis and Revolution, 2011, 173, suggests that they may have physically damaged some of the original set of stelai. Be that as it may, it was clearly decided that the restored democracy required a fresh start. In this second phase the calendar was inscribed on a number of stelai clamped together in a continuous series (or possibly more than one series) which apparently rested on a ledge within the Stoa Basileios (“Royal Stoa”) in the north-west corner of the Agora (cf. Shear, 243-7 with fig. 16). Stelai (of varying thicknesses) carrying sacrificial calendar and other law text from the earlier phase of the revision were redeployed for this purpose. (The back of F3 of this Face is inscribed with law relating to the trierarchy, IG I³ 236a). On at least some of the stelai, the original text inscribed on the front was erased (had it perhaps been damaged by the Thirty?) and replaced with the new text, but the text in Attic script on the back could be left untouched as it backed against the wall of the stoa and could not be seen. Though there are signs that this phase of the revision was carried out more carefully by Nikomachos’ commission than the first phase, it is the second phase that was the primary target of the attack in Lysias 30.17-22, which, among other things, alleged that Nikomachos had introduced expensive new sacrifices and caused ancestral ones to be omitted.

From the headings on Fragments 2 and 3 it is clear that the calendar on this face was arranged by frequency, annual provisions being followed by two sets of biennial provisions, followed presumably by provisions for those events that took place quadrennially and the few at still more infrequent intervals. We can tentatively figure out that F1 contained annual provisions, F2 and possibly F3 ll. 1-28 biennial dating to odd Julian years (i.e. those ending 9/8, 7/6 etc.), F3 ll. 30-86 biennial dating to even years, but the frequency of the provisions on the other fragments is obscure. There is a continuous horizontal line inscribed under the headings at the top of the stone(s) preserved on F2 and F3. In addition F1 and F5 preserve text that is inscribed underneath a continuous horizontal line inscribed some way down the stone. A possible explanation for this is that the events provided for below this lower line took place at times which did not fit the annual/biennial/quadrennial structure of the main body of the calendar. In this phase of the revision provisions were also cited from named sources of authority, “from the month-by-month”, “from the tribe-kingly”, and “from those on an unspecified day”. These may have been taken from Solon’s calendar, but we do not hear about them elsewhere. “From the s[telai?]”, F3 l. 77, is probably a reference to more recent festival provisions inscribed on stelai, and “from new”, if that is the correct interpretation of the rubric at F2 l. 3, may have had similar implications. As on Face B the calendar lists sacrificial and other ritual provisions in the main body of the text, with the financial provision for them noted in a column of figures to the left of each column. For more detail on the festivals provided for on this face of the calendar see Lambert, Sacrificial Calendar, 367-85 (modified in some details below; on F5, first edited in 2007, see further below). For a recent discussion (especially of F3 col. 2, ll. 30-58) see W. S. Bubelis, Hallowed Stewards, 2016 [work summarised at SEG 66.8], 61-91 (= SEG 66.42).

Textual Note. AIO's text of this Face follows the text published by Lambert, Sacrificial Calendar (= SEG 52.48A), except F5, which follows the text of Gawlinski (see below), subject to the insertion of some question marks against less secure restorations. The layout of our Greek text is schematic and does not seek to reproduce precisely the arrangement of the text on the stone, especially as regards the offsets and indented headings of the left margin of the main body of text. We have, however, attempted to reproduce these in the translation. We have reproduced paragraphoi as they are present on the stone, though on the stone the lines containing paragraphoi are not indented. [2] Probably provision for the Genesia, an ancient festival of ancestors/the dead (Hdt. 4.26), which took place in Attica on 5 Boedromion, FGH 328 Philochoros F168. Cf. Lambert, ZPE 139 (2002), 75-82. [3] “Him” (Erechtheus) “Athenian youths appease with bulls and lambs in the revolving cycle of the years”, Hom. Iliad 2.550-1, perhaps a Peisistratid interpolation into Homer’s text reflecting our rite as provided for in the Solonian calendar. [4] 6 Boedromion was the day on which the victory at Marathon was commemorated, Plut. Mor. 862a. Since the sacrifice was “from those on an unspecified day”, one wonders if a “floating” offering to Athena was anchored to this date after the battle. [5] These two columns provided for the pilgrimage to Delphi, the Pythais, which took place only when a lightning flash was seen over Harma (Strabo 9.2.11 404c). Col. 3 listed the items to be carried in the procession. On the Pythais see IG II³ 4, 18 with notes; I. Rutherford, State Pilgrimage and Sacred Observers in Ancient Greece (2013), 222-30, 375-77. [6] Though there is no obvious thematic connection, ll. 1-7 might have been linked with the festival of Kronos and Rhea, the Kronia, which took place on 12 Hekatombaion (Dem. 24.26; Phot. s.v. Kronia). An offering to Zeus Ne[meios] (10-11) would have been linked to the Nemean Games, which also perhaps took place in Hekatombaion (Metageitnion has also been suggested, but cf. note to IG II³ 1, 375). See now also, however, SEG 67.30. [7] This column listed provisions towards the end of the prior biennial sequence, the beginning of which is recorded in F2. Ll. 5-15 can be linked with the festival involving the “Washing” of the ancient statue of Athena, Plynteria, and/or the associated festival of “Beautification”, Kallynteria. According to Photios the Plynteria took place on the penultimate day of Thargelion (month before Skirophorion, l. 18). Cf. IG I³ 7. [8] This column listed biennial provisions for the (most likely annual) festival celebrating the union of Attica, the Synoikia, which took place on 16 Hekatombaion (Plut. Thes. 24.4, cf. Thuc. 2.15). The provisions, patently archaic in origin, involve the structures into which Athenians were organised before Cleisthenes’ reforms of 508 BC: the tribe-kings, heads of the four pre-Cleisthenic tribes; one of those tribes, Gleontis (the only appearance of an individual Ionian tribe in the historical record after Cleisthenes), an old trittys, Leukotainioi (attested only here, cf. for another old trittys, the "Epakreis", see IG I³ 258 and other inscriptions referred to there), and Zeus Phratrios and Athena Phratria, the patrons of the phratries, groups into which Athenians were organised both before and after Cleisthenes and which were particularly concerned with regulating access to rights based on descent, including inheritance and citizenship (cf. IG II² 1237). [9] This column apparently makes provision not for the Mysteries in Boedromion, but for the Eleusinia, an Eleusinian festival that probably took place in Metageitnion. The provisions in the first section, to l. 74, are for the genos Eumolpidai to sacrifice, one of the two leading priestly genē at Eleusis. We can observe provision by the city for genos rites from the perspective of a genos (the Salaminioi) at RO 37 l. 87 (Herakleia). [10] This text, first edited by L. Gawlinski, Hesp. 76 (2007), 40-7 (= SEG 57.64A), is comparable with that inscribed under the lower continuous line on F1, and perhaps, like those, these offerings did not take place in the regular cycles, annual, biennial etc. in which the main body of the text is structured. At least, Apollo Prostaterios, here in his earliest epigraphical attestation, is otherwise known as recipient of “traditional” sacrifices made before Assemblies (so, much more frequently than annual) by prytanies praised in honorific decrees from the early-3rd cent. onwards (see e.g. IG II³ 1, 900 l. 6). The other offerings in this list, however, are not easy to make sense of (Gawlinski’s restorations look to be along the right lines, though one could not rule out a rubric or other heading in l. 6). This is also much the earliest explicit epigraphical attestation of Apollo Under the Long Rocks, mainly known as recipient, in his cave sanctuary on the north slope of the acropolis, of numerous dedicatory plaques in the Roman period (see Gawlinski 44, IG II³ 4, 128 with notes), and an offering at the Pythion (l. 9) would also suit an Apollo-themed sequence; but it is difficult to see the connection with Demeter and Korē, who, if Gawlinski’s restorations are correct, appear twice in the same list, at Eleusis and in the City Eleusinion, or with Athena with the Thessalian epithet, Itonia, an obscure member of the group of deities whose finances were handled by the treasurers of the Other Gods (cf. IG II³ 1, 445 l. 36). The impression is of a miscellaneous jumble. [11] For the Lykeion, a gymnasium and military exercise area which later became the location of Aristotle’s school, see IG I³ 105 n. 6. Sacrifices to Hermes were common at such locations, cf. Aischin. 1.10; Plato Lysis 206 d-e. Though a cult of Apollo Hebdomaios is attested (Lambert, Phratries T2), ll. 7-10 is the only attestation in Attica of a hebdomaion, “seventh day offering”. The Pythaistai, who apparently have some kind of role in/portion of it, were required to watch on three consecutive days and nights for three consecutive months for the lightning over Harma which would indicate that the official pilgrimage to Delphi, the Pythais, should take place (Strabo 9.2.11, cf. above, F1 ll. 26-30, for the Pythais itself). [12] This provision was perhaps for the annual pilgrimage (theoria) to Delos (Plato Phaedo 58a-c, Xen. Mem. 4.8.2), ll. 1-5 perhaps before it set out for Delos, 6 ff. when it arrived. Since 426/5 there had also been a lavish quadrennial Delia, and there was also a sexennial celebration (Thuc. 3.104.2; Ath. Pol. 54.7; cf. Parker, Polytheism, 2005, 80-82). [13] The “two heralds” are perhaps those mentioned by Athenaios 6.234e-f (= Solon F 88): “in the kyrbeis concerning the Deliastai is written as follows: ‘and the two heralds from the genos of the Kerykes [one of the two major Eleusinian genē, cf. IG I³ 6], that of the Mysteries, they shall have the right to dine publicly (parasitein) in the Delion for the year’”. Sacrifices and divination connected with the theoria to Delos (see previous note) took place at the Delion at Marathon (FGrH 328 Philochoros F75). There was a (little-known) deme named Oinoe in Hippothontis, probably located at Myopolis in the area of Eleusis, but the one referred to in l. 4 (and cf. “Athena of Oinoe”, l. 10) was perhaps rather the Oinoe in Aiantis, at Ninoi west of Marathon and one of the "cities" of the Marathonian Tetrapolis. The priestess of Artemis Oinaia had a named seat in the theatre of Dionysos (IG II² 5116 = IG II³ 4, 1985 II). Zeus Morios oversaw the sacred olive trees of Attica (Soph. Oedipus at Kolonos 705 with schol.).

Added: 10 Jan 2017
Updated: 28 Sep 2024
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ID: AIO_1189