IGII34 632 Dedication by pilgrims on the Pythais

Dedication by pilgrims on the Pythais

IG II³ 4 632 Date: Before mid-4th cent. BC

The Pythaistai^[1] dedicated (this) to Apollo^[2] Relief

col. 1

Peithon son of Sosigenes

col. 2

Timokritos (5) son of Timokrates^[3]

col. 3

Ameinokles son of Ameinippos

col. 4

Hagnodemos son of Hagnotheos

Previous - SEG 67.86

References:

IG II³ 4 632 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 2816 (PHI)

SEG 68.90

Guarducci, Epigrafia greca, 194-95

Rutherford, State Pilgrims C5

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Salvatore Tufano

Monument type: Relief

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

Findspot: Ikarion? (Museo Barracco inv. 129)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] The dedicants were members of a Pythais, usually interpreted as the official Athenian pilgrimage to Delphi, on which see IG II³ 4, 18 with notes. Since they are depicted on the relief as children, it has been speculated that they may have participated in ritual choirs, which are attested for the Pythais in the late Hellenistic revival (Parker, Polytheism, 84). [2] The relief depicts four boys, with veiled hands, accompanied by an adult male, approaching a seated Leto, with Apollo and Artemis standing by. Though the findspot of the relief is not known, it has long been suspected that it is from the Pythion in the Attic deme Ikarion, the probable deme of at least one of the dedicants (cf. n. 3), and known or putative place of origin of a number of other votive reliefs, including IG II³ 4, 638 (also dedicated by a pythaist), IG II³ 4, 639, IG II³ 4, 942. Cf. E. Voutiras, AJA 86, 1982, 229-33; I. Rutherford, State Pilgrims, 312-16, who discusses the “embededness” of the Pythais in the Attic demes, attested also e.g. in Erchia, SEG 21.541, col. 3, 36 (see now also Humphreys, Kinship, 861-62). On the iconography of this relief see also M. Guarducci, Epigrafia greca IV (1978), 194-95. On the deme Ikarion and its inscriptions see IG I³ 1015, wth notes. [3] The same man may have been councillor from Ikarion in 341/0 BC, IG II³ 4, 76, l. 26. The Pythais was proverbially infrequent (Strabo 9.2.11, p. 404), but even if the city Pythais is at issue here rather than some local variant (cf. J. Bousquet, BCH 88, 1964, 666 n. 4; Humphreys, Kinship, 657 n. 49; 861-62), we could not be sure that this Pythais was the one attested ca. 355 BC by Isai. 7.27 (cf. Davies, APF p. 513).

Added: 1 Jul 2019
Updated: 1 Feb 2024
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ID: AIO_1800