IGII34 1751 Oracle of Hygieia and Asklepios

Oracle of Hygieia and Asklepios

IG II³ 4 1751 Date: 1st-2nd century AD

From an oracle (chrēsmou) of Hygieia and Asklepios: And a celestial snake . . . these statues (agalmata) of the gods, to whom it is also necessary to sacrifice wineless (nēphalious) sacrifices on the fifteenth, during a moonlit night, about [midnight], (5) send a good taste to the good [gods].

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References:

IG II³ 4 1751 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 4997 (PHI)

SEG 21.815 (PHI)

Sokolowski, LSS 16

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Cult table

Inscription type: Oracle, Metrical (elegaic couplets)

Findspot: Unknown (EM 5226)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note:: W. Peek, MDAI(A) 67, 1942, 73 (= SEG 21.815B) restores ἔχει "holds" in l. 2.

This stone tray appears to have been used as cult table for offerings at the sanctuary of Asklepios on the south slope of the Acropolis (on which, see IG II³ 4, 665 with notes). The inscription on the front regulates the table’s use. It is an excerpt from an oracle, as shown by the heading in l. 1 and the opening “and” in l. 2. For other inscribed oracles at Athens, see IG II³ 4, 1740-1741, 1769. The offerings are to be made to the celestial snake on the 15th of the month (i.e. at the full moon). It may be intended that they be offered every month, but is perhaps more likely that the 15th of Boedromion, the date of the Epidauria festival, is intended (F. Hiller von Gärtringen, Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 32, 1935, 367-70). “Wineless sacrifices” were usually honey or milk (cf. AIUK 11 (Ashmolean), no. 2 with notes). The celestial snake, identified with the constellation Serpens, was closely linked to Asklepios and is usually depicted in art wrapped around Asklepios’ staff. The upper surface of the table is decorated with a relief carving of a snake, which would thus literally receive the offerings made on the table. At the front right there is a raised oval shape, perhaps marking the spot where the offering was to be placed.

Added: 15 May 2025
Updated: 15 May 2025
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ID: AIO_3427