CsapWil 145-48 Dedication of a statue to Dionysos (and Apollo?) at Ikarion

Dedication of a statue to Dionysos (and Apollo?) at Ikarion

Csapo and Wilson II, 145-48 Date: ca. 525 BC

. . . to Dionysos . . . beautiful statue . . . and the - . . . to Apollo (?) . . . . . . ?^[1]

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References:

Csapo and Wilson II, 145-48 (Translated text) (AIO)

IG I³ 1015 (IG Online) (PHI)

SEG 63.48

SEG 12.58 (PHI)

CEG 1, no. 303

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Stele (?)

Inscription type: Dedication (Dionysos), Dedication (Apollo?)

Findspot: Ikarion (modern Dionyso) (NM 12507)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] On the Attic demes see RO 46, with notes. Ikarion was a medium-sized deme (bouleutic quota 5) of the tribe Aigeis in north-east Attica in the foothills of Mount Pentelikon on the far side from Athens. Its civic and religious centre has been known since the 18th century, and was first excavated in the late 19th century (C. D. Buck, Papers of the American School of Classical Studies 5, 1886-1890 [1892], 43-134 = AJA 5, 1889, 9-17, 18-33, 154-81, 304-19, 461-77; cf. W. R. Biers and T. D. Boyd, Hesperia 51, 1982, 1-18), though the location of the rest of the settlement has not been identified. It was named for the local hero Ikarios, who was supposed to have been responsible for introducing the cult of Dionysos into Attica, and whose cult is attested by IG I³ 253 (on the myth of Ikarios, the earliest surviving accounts of which date from the 3rd cent. BC, see Csapo-Wilson, 143, cf. Paus. 1.2.5; for a black-figure amphora of ca. 540-520 BC showing Ikarios welcoming Dionysos, BM GR 1836.2-24.46). As such the deme had a strong tradition of drama (in particular tragedy): Thespis, said to have been the first performer of tragedy was traditionally a member of the deme (late 530s BC, Ar. Wasps 1478-1481 shows that "already by 422 BC he was thought to be the exponent par excellence of early tragedy", Csapo and Wilson, 144); as, according to one tradition, was Susarion the first comic dramatist (though there is no evidence for performance of comedy at Ikarion); and much of the epigraphical evidence for Ikarion relates to its Rural Dionysia, the most widespread and characteristic festival of the Attic demes, on which see IG II³ 4, 498, with notes. There was also a Pythion (temple of Apollo) in the civic centre of the deme, which seems to have pre-dated the cult of Dionysos there.

For a thorough recent discussion of Ikarion, its theatrical tradition and Dionysia, see Csapo and Wilson, 136-39 (Introduction and site plan), 139-44 (theatre, including a number of marble thrones for proedria), 145-82 (editions of 11 inscriptions and one uninscribed relief). A briefer survey, and discussion of prosopography, is provided by Humphreys, Kinship, 855-63.

The deme is very well documented epigraphically: in addition to a dedication commemorating the 4th cent. restoration of the statue of Dionysos to which this inscription relates, IG II³ 4, 222, there is a set of deme accounts from the 5th cent. BC, IG I³ 253 and a decree regulating the local Dionysia and providing for the appointment of choral sponsors (choregoi), IG I³ 254; from the mid-late 4th cent. three decrees honouring demarchs, IG II² 1178 (also honours choregoi); IG II² 1179; SEG 22.117. The deme also boasts five inscribed choregic dedications, IG II³ 4, 497, 501, 505, 506, 508, and a further inscribed dedication to Dionysos of unknown context, 971. For the Pythion we have a 4th cent. BC marker, IG II³ 4, 1866, and four votive dedications, IG II³ 4, 632, 638 (by pilgrims to Delphi, Pythaistai), IG II³ 4, 639 (by Hebdomaistai), and most likely also IG II³ 4, 942.

There is inconclusive evidence that the old community of the Ikarians, which clearly existed before Cleisthenes created the demes in 508 BC, had a continuing institutional existence alongside the deme in the Classical period: (a) Ikarion is a candidate for identification as the third component of the pre-Cleisthenic trittys of the Epakreis, alongside the demes Plotheia (cf. IG I³ 258) and Semachidai (Philochoros FGH 328 F206 = Steph. Byz. s.v. Semachidai; N. Papazarkadas, CQ 57, 2007, 22-32, at 30; P. Ismard, La cité des réseaux, 2010, 215-18); (b) this is one of a number of possible explanations of the curiously repetitive reference to "the Ikarians ... and the deme of the Ikarians", IG II² 1178, ll. 4-6; (c) it is a possible implication of the (uncertain) reference to a komos of the Ikarians at SEG 22.117, l. 3 (see note thereto).

This inscription, datable from its lettering to ca. 525 BC, is associated with a colossal archaic marble statue (over 2 m. high) of a seated Dionysos, fragments of which are preserved, and which is datable independently on stylistic grounds to ca. 525 BC (for images see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7). The inscription seems not to be from the base of the statue, but a stele or plaque beside it (Takeuchi). It is notable as the earliest item of epigraphical evidence for the cult of Dionysos in the Attic demes, found appropriately in a deme which was traditionally linked with the origins of that cult. It is taken by Hansen (CEG) to be a verse epigram (doubted by Csapo and Wilson). The cult of Dionysos at Ikarion was closely related to that of Apollo: the Pythion there (on which see IG II³ 4, 1866) was close to the findspot of this inscription and adjoined the theatre on one side and the temple of Dionysos on the other, and l. 4 probably reflected that in some way. IG I³ 254 requires the choregoi and others to touch the statue as they swore the oath; and IG II³ 4, 222 is a dedication to Dionysos by those responsible for restoring the statue in the (early?) 4th century, a process which, to judge from its surviving remains, included physical repair of damage (including reworking of the head) and construction of a protective canopy.

Textual Note With Csapo and Wilson, AIO follows the text of this inscription as revised by K. Takeuchi, Horos 22-25, 2010-2013 [2014], 94-5 (SEG 63.48). L. 3 has been taken, following the first editor, Robinson, as referring to a "half-mina" (hεμιμ̣[ναῖον]), understood as a monetary gift to Apollo (4), but Takeuchi notes the alternative, "for us" (hεμῖν̣). The end of l. 4 has been read as Π̣[υθίοι] by Robinson, τ̣[ by Lewis (IG), but Takeuchi doubts that any letter trace at all is preserved and raises the alternative possibility that the line contains the name of a dedicator, e.g. Apollonios.

Added: 30 Sep 2022
Updated: 12 Mar 2024
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