IEleus 70 Decrees of Eleusis honouring two Thebans

Decrees of Eleusis honouring two Thebans

I Eleusis 70 Date: ca. mid-iv BC or a little later

Gods.^[1] Kallimachos son of Kallikrates proposed: since Damasias son of Dionysios of Thebes, having taken up residence in Eleusis, continues to conduct himself in an (5) orderly and generous (philanthrōpōs) manner towards all those living in the deme, both himself and his pupils, and when the Eleusinians conducted the Dionysia he was enthusiastic and honour-loving towards the gods and the (10) Athenian People and the Eleusinians, so that the Dionysia should be as fine as possible, and having provided at his own expense two choruses, one of boys, the other of men, he donated them to Demeter and Kore (15) and Dionysos, the Eleusinians shall decide, to praise Damasias son of Dionysios of Thebes for his moderation (sōphrosunēs) and piety towards the two goddesses and crown him with a gold crown of 1000 drachmas; (20) and the demarch following Gnathis shall announce it at the Dionysia at Eleusis in the tragedies, that the deme of Eleusis crowns Damasias son of Dionysios of Thebes for his moderation (sōphrosunēs) and piety (25) towards the two goddesses; and he shall have a seat of honour and freedom from all taxes over which the Eleusinians have control, both for himself and his descendants, and permission to seek any other benefit he wishes from the demesmen of Eleusis; and the demarch in office (30) shall take care of whatever he requires; and to choose immediately someone to arrange that this decree be inscribed and stood in the Dionysion; and the demarch shall give (35) 10 drachmas for the inscribing; and to give Damasias for a sacrifice 100 drachmas from common funds.

Kallimachos son of Kallikrates proposed: since Phryniskos of Thebes, having taken up residence in Eleusis . . . orderly . . . . . .

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References:

I Eleusis 70 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 1186 (PHI)

SEG 26.132

Syll.³ 1094

Wijma, Embracing the Immigrant, 116-19

Csapo and Wilson II, 95-102

Russo, Ripartizioni, D29

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Images: Cornell - (1)
Krateros - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Deme Eleusis)

Original location: Eleusis (Dionysion)

Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 176)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] For the deme Eleusis and its decrees see I Eleusis 68. For a recent thorough discussion of this decree, which awards an unusually rich set of honours, see Csapo and Wilson (noting that ll. 11-15 suggest that the honorand had undertaken duties at the Eleusinian Dionysia that would normally be expected of a choregos). There was a strong tradition of Theban pipers in the Athenian theatre and, though it is not strictly implied by the text, it is generally assumed that Damasias, and perhaps also Phryniskos (honoured, it seems, in comparable terms, at 37ff.), were active in that profession. The date of the decrees is ca. mid-iv BC, but cannot be pinned down very precisely. Csapo and Wilson emphasise features pulling towards the earlier 4th cent., including prosopοgraphy and e.g. –o for –ου, but I note that these are inconclusive against a somewhat later date which might be suggested by other features, e.g. the very “Hellenistic” reference to the “generosity” (philanthropia) of the honorand (5, this would appear to be the only occurrence of this word or cognates in Attic inscriptions earlier than iii BC) and the explicit reference to provision of choruses “at his own expense”, 12, cf. I Eleusis 95, l. 23 with note; –ει for –ηι in the subjunctive (ἀναγραφεῖ ... σταθεῖ, 32, 33, “occurs very rarely in the earlier fourth century ... increase may be observed” [in inscriptions of late 340s and early 330s], Threatte I 380); pace Csapo and Wilson, 101, -οι for –ωι in τοῖ δήμοι, 6, also at 15 and 21, is not “older Attic orthography”, but “virtually all the texts [in which it occurs] date from the second half of the fourth cent. BC”, Threatte I 335, who notes with caution the possibility of Boeotian influence, not perhaps entirely impossible given the honorand’s origin. I note also that the lettering would be comfortable ca. 340 BC and that there might be some attraction in interpreting these decrees and I Eleusis 71 as in part a diplomatic gesture in the context of the Theban-Athenian alliance in the lead-up to the battle of Chaironeia (or the honorands may even have been exiles from the sack of Thebes by Alexander the Great in 335 BC, thus Humphreys Kinship, 1119). For a funerary monument of the proposer’s family see SEG 56.259.

Added: 15 Dec 2020
Updated: 24 Jan 2024
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