IGI3 502 Dedication of statue of the Tyrannicides

Dedication of statue of the Tyrannicides

IG I³ 502 Date: 477/6 BC ?

[Indeed a great light came to the Athenians when Aristogeiton and] Harmodios [killed Hipparchos?]^[1] . . . they made their fatherland . . . ^[2]

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References:

IG I³ 502 (Translated text) (IG Online) (PHI)

Raubitschek, Dedications pp. 481-2, 513-4

CEG 1, no. 430

Petrovic, Versinschriften Ep. 1

Agora XVIII A1

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Agora Excavations - (1)
Aleshire - (1)
Ohio - (1)

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Dedication (Athenians), Statue base, Metrical (elegaic couplets)

Original location: Agora

Findspot: Agora, east of temple of Ares (Ag. I 3872)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This base supported the statues of the two tyrannicides, whose assassination of Hipparchos brother of the tyrant Hippias in 514 was a central part of Athenian popular history (Hdt. 5.55-7, Thuc. 6.53-59, Aristotle Ath. Pol. 17.3-19.1; V. Azoulay, The Tyrant-slayers of Ancient Athens, 2017).

The original monument was set up within a few years of the expulsion of Hippias in 511/0, with statues by the sculptor Antenor, but these were taken away as spoils by Xerxes in 480 and a new monument was set up in 477/6, with statues by Kritios and Nesiotes (Paus. 1.8.5; Pliny N.H. 34.17, 34.70). Following the conquest of Persia by Alexander the original statues by Antenor were returned to Athens, by Alexander (Arrian, Anab. 3.16.7-8, 7.19.2, Pliny NH 34.70), by Seleukos (Val. Max. 2.10 ext. 1) or Antiochos (Paus. 1.8.5. Cf. J. Finn, Historia 63, 2014, 385-403). It is not certain which set of statues this base belonged to. It is clear that the statues were in the agora (Aristophanes, Lysist. 631-4), but their exact location is uncertain. According to Arrian, Anab. 3.16.8 the statues by Antenor were set up on their return immediately opposite the Metroon, not far from the altar of the Heudanemoi. Pausanias 1.8.5 mentions both pairs of statues at once, but may only be referring to the statues by Kritios and Nesiotes when he gives their location, placing them "not far" from the temple of Ares before moving on to describe the Odeion. A location near the very centre of the agora, on the Panathenaic Way, would fit this evidence and the findspot of the inscription to the north of the Odeion.

The restoration of the text on the base translated here is based on an epigram ascribed to Simonides by Hephaistion, On Meters 4.6. Since, however, the couplet quoted by Hephaistion and the inscription only share the single word “Harmodios”, which is likely to have occurred in many epigrams on the tyrannicides, the restoration is very speculative. Alternatives have been proposed, e.g. by Day in Papers Presented to A. E. Raubitschek (1985), 25-46, using an epigram from a collection inscribed at Chios c. 200 BC, SEG 16.497, ll. 11-14. [2] Or perhaps “to be in freedom” (en eleutheriai). Cf. Petrovic.

Added: 13 Mar 2018
Updated: 18 Oct 2025
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