IGII34 635 Dedication by the "launderers"

Dedication by the "launderers"

IG II³ 4 635 Date: Mid-4th cent. BC

Relief Having made a vow, the launderers dedicated this^[1] to the Nymphs and all the gods. Zoagoras son of Zokypros,^[2] Zokypros son of Zoagoras, Thallos, Leuke, Sokrates son of Polykrates, Apollophanes son of Euporion, Sosistratos, Manes,^[3] Myrrhine, Sosias,^[4] Sosigenes, Midas.^[3] Relief

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References:

IG II³ 4 635 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 2934 (PHI)

Löhr, Familienweihungen 116

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Salvatore Tufano

Monument type: Relief

Inscription type: Dedication ("launderers"), Dedication (Nymphs)

Findspot: Panathenaic Stadium (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin SK 709)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] The inscription is on a raised band between two sections of relief: the upper relief shows Hermes approaching a head of the river-god Acheloos to the left, accompanied by three Nymphs, with Pan seated to the right; the lower relief depicts a bearded figure (man? hero?) to the left leading a horse, approaching Demeter (seated) and Kore (standing) to the right, with an altar in between. The relief was found near the river Ilissos, where there was a famous sanctuary of Pan and the Nymphs (Plato's Phaidros is set in this location, see 229B-230B, "place sacred to Acheloos and some of the Nymphs"; Travlos, Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens, 289-91; M.-F. Billot, BCH 116, 1992, 156). Demeter and Kore are perhaps an allusion to the Lesser Mysteries which took place in this area (at Agrai). The Nymphs would seem to be an appropriate recipient of an offering by a group of "launderers" (M. Guarducci, Epigrafia greca II, 146; for other reliefs of Pan and the Nymphs cf. Agora XXXVIII, 64-5 n. 195). [2] This group of "launderers" had twelve members, two of them women (Leuke and Myrrhine). Some are named with patronymics (the father-and-son pair Zoagoras and Zokypros, Sokrates, Apollophanes), perhaps suggesting higher status (citizens? metics?) than the others. These "launderers" (plynes) are usually understood as a professional association. However, this would be a unique example of a dedication by such an association from Classical Athens, and an alternative possibility is that the "laundering" in question was a ritual function. Cf. the "Plynteria", the ancient festival of Athena at which the old wooden statue of Athena on the Acropolis and/or its vestments were washed (cf. IG I³ 7, with notes; festival also attested in Thorikos, Lupu, NGSL 1, l. 53, and in an unknown deme, IG I³ 246, l. 26). Compare my remarks on the significance of the "workers", ergazomenoi, on the dedication IG II ³ 4, 650 [SDL]. [3] Manes and Midas are typical Phrygian names (L. Zgusta, Kleinasiatische Personennamen, 1964, §858-1 and 912). [4] For the name Sosias cf. IG II ³ 4, 634, l. 6.

Added: 1 Jul 2019
Updated: 2 Jul 2021
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