IGII34 981 Dedication to Dionysos

Dedication to Dionysos

IG II³ 4 981 Date: 2nd century AD

[For Good] Fortune . . . (dedicated to) – and to Dionysos, [to the gods], the altar. ivy leaf^[1]

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References:

IG II³ 4 981 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 3323 (PHI)

SEG 21.802 (PHI)

Translation by: Liubov Eliseeva

Monument type: Altar

Inscription type: Dedication (private, Dionysos)

Findspot: Athens (northwestern suburb) (EM 3117)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note: There are several possible restorations for l. 2: 'to Herakles', 'to Apollo', 'to Demeter'. P. Graindor, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 51, 1927, 262, n. 25 suggested 'to Hadrian as New Dionysos' because the Emperor Hadrian was closely associated with Dionysos, and proposed that the dedication itself was made by the association of the Artists of Dionysos (technitai). However, as noted by Graindor himself and later by A. Benjamin (Hesperia 32, 1963, 71–72 = SEG 21.802), this restoration creates an unusual formula for a collective dedication made by this association; cf. IG II² 2955 for a regular one. A personal name of the dedicator also could be supplied here.

This is a marble altar decorated with cymatia, broken off on the left side. On the top there is a circular hollow, maybe used as a fire pan for incense. A. Benjamin proposed that this inscription was made by the same hand as the metrical inscription on another altar (IG II³ 4, 1140), dedicated to the Dioskouroi, so this one could be metrical too. These altars with metrical inscriptions seem to be connected to the Eleusinian Mysteries and typical of Hadrianic Athens. The altar was found somewhere in northwestern Athens, but it is unclear which of the many sanctuaries of Dionysios in Athens it should be associated with.

Added: 15 May 2025
Updated: 18 May 2025
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ID: AIO_3377