IGII34 1178 Dedication to the hero Kallistephanos by the cobbler Dionysios and sons

Dedication to the hero Kallistephanos by the cobbler Dionysios and sons

IG II³ 4 1178 Date: early fourth cent. BC

Relief Dionysios son of -on ^[1] and On pillar his sons dedicated this to the hero Kallistephanos, (sc. Dionysios) the cobbler (palaiorgos).^[2] uninscribed space (5) Having seen a divine vision in his sleep, Dionysios adorns the hero and the children of Kallistephanos; now you, in return for these things, grant wealth (10) and blessed health.

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References:

IG II³ 4 1178 (Translated text) (IG Online)

SEG 39.235 (PHI)

SEG 55.307

Löhr, Familienweihungen 81

Translation by: Edmund Stewart

Images: Agora Excavations - (1)

Monument type: Pillar

Inscription type: Dedications (private, Kallistephanos), Metrical (dactylic hexameter)

Original location: Sanctuary of the hero Kallistephanos

Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 7396)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This dedication consists of a pillar and capital, on which is included a relief depicting the family of Dionysios the cobbler at work in their workshop. This offering is a votive in response to a dream, with the expectation of subsequent reciprocal benefits for the dedicator. There is a slot at the top of the capital into which a dedicatory image of the otherwise unknown hero Kallistephanos (‘beautiful crown’) was probably inserted (cf. E. Kearns, The Heroes of Attica, 1989, 175). This may have been the 'adornment' of the hero to which this inscription refers. This relief, as a dedicatory inscription that includes an occupational term, is similar to a group of dedications from the Acropolis dating to the late sixth and early fifth centuries (for which see IG I³ 546). However, it differs in its findspot (the Agora) and the motivation of its dedicator (since many of the Acropolis dedications are, by contrast, thank offerings or tithes from benefits already received, specifically profits gained in trades or crafts). A change in dedicatory practice is perhaps evident among Athenian craftsmen in the hundred years between the early fifth century and the early fourth century BC. It is unlikely, however, that this change is due to a decline in the status of artisans (as is argued by S. C. Murray, in S. D. Gartland and D. W. Tandy, Voiceless, Invisible, and Countless in Ancient Greece, 2024, 85), since signatures of artisans are not unknown from the fourth century and the impact that philosophical criticisms of banausia (i.e. menial work) would have had on the actual status of craftsmen is likely to have been limited.

Depicted on the surviving relief are four men seated on chairs and one smaller figure of a boy or slave seated on the floor. The left hand half of the relief is best preserved. An older, bearded man (conceivably Dionysios or Dionysios’ father) hangs finished shoes on pegs fixed to a beam above. In front of his chair, the small figure of a boy or slave appears to be cutting leather. In the chair next to these two is a younger man (perhaps one of Dionysios’ sons) working on a shoe in his lap (perhaps sewing the parts together). To the right, the figures of two more men sit next to a low table in the foreground, on which two shoes have been placed. They are only partly preserved. The relief is potentially significant in displaying the division of labour among family members within a cobbler’s workshop. The four larger figures are all dressed in himatia rather than workmen’s tunics (not unlike the shoemaker Xanthippos in AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments), no. 16) and it is conceivable that this scene may have been designed to parallel a possible image of the ‘banqueting hero’ above the relief (on the relief, see C. Lawton, Agora XXXVIII 89; see also R. Parker, Polytheism and Society, 2005, 449-50, who suggests that the figures on the right of the composition may represent Kallistephanos and son as shoemaking heroes). The image thus attests to the pride Athenian workmen took in their work. J. M. Camp has suggested that the name of the father of Dionysios be restored either as Simon or Silon (The Athenian Agora, 1986, 147; in S. Keay and S. Moser, Greek Art in View 2004, 132-7). He identifies Simon with the shoemaker and companion of Socrates of the same name (DL 2.13; Plut. Mor. 776b), whose house and workshop has been plausibly identified at the southwestern boundary stone of the Agora (D.B. Thompson, Archaeology 13, 1960, 234-40). Silon is potentially identified with the dedicator of a stele depicting a sandal sole (IG II3 4, 732): another potential shoemaker. [2] The word palaiorgos (cobbler) in the nominative has been added in slightly smaller letters and it does not scan as part of the previous hexameter. It is perhaps a correction to the text or afterthought designed to account for the relief above. For this occupational term, see Poll. 7.82; O. Lau, Schuster und Schusterhandwerk 1967, 43.

Added: 19 Aug 2025
Updated: 19 Aug 2025
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ID: AIO_3451