IGII34 1067 Offering table dedicated to Artemis Soteira

Offering table dedicated to Artemis Soteira

IG II³ 4 1067 Date: 2nd-1st century BC

Maron son of Maron dedicated (this) to Artemis Soteira.^[1]

Next - Graml, Sanctuary of Artemis Soteiria cat. 8

References:

IG II³ 4 1067 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 4695 (PHI)

Graml, Sanctuary of Artemis Soteiria cat. 4b

Translation by: Chris de Lisle, Danielle Mackay

Monument type: Table

Findspot: Sanctuary of Artemis Soteira (Kerameikos Museum I 304)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription is carved into the narrow side of a marble plaque which served as the upper surface for an offering table attached to the altar in an open-air sanctuary south of the Street of the Tombs in the Kerameikos. This sanctuary has been conventionally associated with Hekate, but C. Graml argues it should instead be associated with Artemis Soteira, partially based on this inscription (The Sanctuary of Artemis Soteira in the Kerameikos of Athens, 2020, affirmed by K. Clinton, ZPE 227, 2023, 73). Two other dedications to Artemis Soteira were found in the sanctuary (IG II³ 4, 1058 and 1071), as well as a statuette depicting the goddess (Kerameikos inv. P 17). IG II³ 4, 1059, and 1065, found in the surrounding area, appear to be further dedications from the sanctuary. In the third-century AD, a prophetic well was added to the sanctuary, lined with tiles each inscribed with invocations of Paian (Graml, Artemis Soteira, p. 25). A thiasos based at the sanctuary in the third century BC is attested by IG II² 1298, K. Clinton, Γραμματεῖον 12, 2023, 85-104, and perhaps SEG 64.106 (= C. Graml, ZPE 190, 2014, 116-26). This may be the same as an association of Soteriastai attested in the sanctuary in the late first century BC (IG II² 1343). Cf. Kloppenborg and Ascough, Greco-Roman Associations I, p. 113; K. Clinton, ZPE 227, 2023, 69-80. The sanctuary of Ariste kai Kalliste in the northern Kerameikos was also dedicated to Artemis, but is to be distinguished from this structure (IG II³ 4, 962-967). Maron was perhaps a priest of the sanctuary. Graml suggests that funerary columellae found directly to the south of the sanctuary (IG II² 6590, 8052, 9075) may have belonged to his family members. If this is correct, then the family were originally metics from Antioch (cf. IG II³ 4, 1071) and the sanctuary may have been linked to a private funerary association.

The block was previously used as an orthostatic block, perhaps as part of a stone fence or barrier and bears a kalos inscription for two youths called Euphronios and Dion (SEG 70.128) on what is now the upper surface from that earlier use. At a later stage, the plaque was rotated such that the dedicatory inscription was no longer visible.

Added: 15 May 2025
Updated: 28 Mar 2026
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ID: AIO_3142