IGI3 606 Dedication to Athena by a carpenter

Dedication to Athena by a carpenter

IG I³ 606 Date: ca. 520s BC

. . . dedicated, the carpenter (tekton) (sc. dedicated this). ^[1]

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References:

IG I³ 606 (Translated text) (IG Online) (PHI)

SEG 14.12 (D196) (PHI)

Raubitschek, Dedications 196 (PHI)

CEG 1, 188

Kaczko, Attic Dedicatory Epigrams, 10

Translation by: Edmund Stewart

Monument type: Statue Base

Inscription type: Dedication (private, Athena), Metrical (dactylic hexameter)

Findspot: Acropolis (EM 6446)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note: Raubitschek suggests restoring [–⏑⏑ –⏑ Ἀθεναίαι μ’ ἀ]νέθεκεν ∶ ℎο τέκτον ("so-and-so dedicated [me to Athena], the carpenter") and W. Peek (Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift Halle-Wittenberg 3, 1953/4, 377-90 = SEG 14.12) suggests [τόνδε μ’ Ἀθεναίαι ⏑⏑– ἀ]νέθεκεν ∶ ℎο τέκτον ("so-and-so dedicated [me myself to Athena], the carpenter").

Holes on the top and base of the stone suggest that this block served as the base for an offering, perhaps a marble equestrian statue, and was in turn supported by two columns. The inscription preserves the second part of a hexameter, from which it can be estimated that the original length of the stone would have been approximately 1.6m. The lost part of the inscription would have contained the name of the dedicant. This was a substantial offering. It has been supposed that the dedicant may have worked on the Acropolis temples erected by the Peisistratid tyrants (see Raubitschek, Dedications, pp. 231-2). However, the suggestion that we should therefore read carpenter (tekton) as architect (architekton) has been rejected as unnecessary by Kaczko, Archaic and Classical Attic Dedicatory Epigrams, who notes the potential significance of punctuation consisting of three vertical dots before the occupational term ‘the carpenter’ (ho tekton). This may deliberately emphasise the occupation of the dedicant and may suggest, furthermore, the sense of pride this artisan took in his industry, the fruits of which are shown in this dedication. On dedications including occupational titles see IG I³ 546

Added: 19 Aug 2025
Updated: 19 Aug 2025
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ID: AIO_3438