IGII34 281 Dedication from Eleusis honouring Demetrios of Phaleron the Younger

Dedication from Eleusis honouring Demetrios of Phaleron the Younger

IG II³ 4 281 Date: 245-240 BC

The Athenians stationed by the People in Eleusis and Panakton and at Phyle, having crowned the general Demetrios son of Phanostratos of Phaleron, dedicated (this statue of him) to Demeter and Kore.^[1]

col. 1

row 1 In crown 5 The Athenians stationed at Eleusis.

col. 2

row 1 In crown The Athenians stationed 10 at Panakton.

col. 3

row 1 In crown The Athenians stationed 15 at Phyle.

col. 4

row 1 In crown The Council, the People (crown him), having served as cavalry commander.

col. 1

row 2 In crown 20 The Council, the People (crown him), having served as general.

col. 2

row 2 In crown The Council, 25 the People (crown him), having served as general.

col. 3

row 2 In crown The Council, the People (crown him), 30 having served as general.

col. 4

row 2 In crown The cavalry (crowns him), having served as cavalry commander.

35 Sositheos of Athens made it.

On left side In laurel crown In the chariot race at the Great Panathenaia.

In laurel crown The 40 Eleusinians.

On the right side In laurel crown In the chariot race at the Delia.

In laurel crown In the chariot race at the Hermaia.

Previous - Syll.³ 318 Next - Syll.³ 320

References:

IG II³ 4 281 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 2971 (PHI)

SEG 44.163

Syll.³ 319

Tracy, ADT 43-46, 171-74

Tracy, Athens and Macedon 132a

I Eleusis 195 (PHI)

DNO 3111

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Sean Byrne

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Dedication (soldiers), Dedication (Demeter and Kore)

Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 940)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] For this genre of inscription see IG II³ 4, 285 with notes. Tracy's identification (= SEG 44.163) of the mason as the “Cutter of IG II² 788”, whose work falls within the years ca. 260- ca. 235 BC (for the dates see Athens and Macedon, and most recently Horos 26-31, 2014-2019, 45), showed that this inscription related not, as previously thought, to the Demetrios of Phaleron who was in power at Athens 317-307 BC, but to his homonymous grandson, on whose career see R. Oetjen, ZPE 131, 2000, 111-17 (= SEG 50.191); C. Habicht, in The Macedonians in Athens, 53-53; Clinton, I Eleusis II, pp. 252-53. His career is also documented by the decree of soldiers based at Eleusis, Panakton and Phyle, I Eleusis 194, cut by the same mason, and apparently alluded to in the dedicatory formula and the first three crowns on this sizeable statue base. From this inscription we learn that, in addition to that decree, he had been honoured as cavalry commander (hipparch) both by the cavalry and by the Assembly, and was (subsequently, following the usual military career structure) general three times. In addition he had been victorious in chariot races, at the Panathenaia, Delia and Hermaia (on which see IG II³ 1, 1281 n. 6) and had been honoured also by the demesmen of Eleusis (laurel crown at 39-40). The deme is attested at this period passing honorific decrees for generals jointly with military units based at Eleusis (see I Eleusis 68, with notes). It is possible that I Eleusis 194, the surviving text on which is a decree of the soldiers, also contained elsewhere on the stone a decree of the deme and this is the decree to which ll. 39-40 of our inscription alludes. It is also possible that the deme passed a separate, not now extant, decree honouring him, and that the laurel crown at our ll. 39-40 alludes to that. From I Eleusis 194 we learn that, in addition, he was perhaps commander of a tribal cavalry contingent (phylarch) in 256/5 BC (l. 4, office completely restored, but plausibly), which must have preceded his appointment as (more senior) hipparch and his generalships. From SEG 28.63, l. 14, it is apparent that he also served as prytany treasurer ca. 240 BC.

This epigraphically attested career is embroidered by the very anecdotal account of Hegesandros ap. Athen. IV 64 p. 167 E-F, which reports that Demetrios was appointed thesmothetes by the agency of Antigonos Gonatas. What basis, if any, this had in reality is debatable. It used to be thought that Hegesandros meant to imply that the younger Demetrios was a "lawgiver", like his grandfather; more recently it has been pointed out that this does not fit either what Hegesandros says (a thesmothetes was a court president and is not the same as a nomothetes) or what else is known about the younger Demetrios' career. One recent suggestion is that the appointment represented a device to secure Demetrios' admission to the Areopagos (as thesmothetes he would have joined the Areopagos at the end of his year of office), with which, according to Hegesandros, he had been in conflict on account of his lifestyle (Clinton). Mistaken conflation of the younger Demetrios with his grandfather, who clearly did have a legislative role, seems a more likely explanation. Hegesandros' account does, however, have two points of connection with the epigraphical record of the younger Demetrios: he is said to have made special arrangements for his girlfriend, Aristagora, to occupy a "throne" next to the Telesterion at Eleusis; and, as hipparch, set up a viewing platform for her at the Panathenaia "higher than the Herms". The epigraphical record suggests that there was indeed a special connection between the younger Demetrios and Eleusis, that he was hipparch, and that he competed in the chariot race at the Panathenaia [SDL].

Added: 9 Mar 2017
Updated: 25 Jan 2024
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