IGII34 969 Dedication to Dionysos

Dedication to Dionysos

IG II³ 4 969 Date: 4th century BC

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References:

IG II³ 4 969 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 2849 (PHI)

SEG 40.197 (PHI)

I Rhamnous 82 (PHI)

Csapo and Wilson II, 238-240

Translation by: Liubov Eliseeva

Monument type: Throne

Inscription type: Dedication (private, priest of the Founder Hero), Dedication (Dionysos)

Findspot: Rhamnous, theatre (Rhamnous Fortress 1695, 1696, 1697 Φ)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note: On throne 1, P. Eustratiades (SEG 40, 197) suggested "having become the priest of the Founder Hero and having been crowned" ([γενόμενος] καὶ στεφανωθείς).

This two-line inscription was placed on five marble seats (in the translation, the breaks in the text between each throne are marked with the vertical pipe symbol), comprising a row of front seats (proedria, προεδρία) in the theatre at Rhamnous, which was not only a place for performances, but also for meetings of the deme Assembly. They were found in situ on a marble base and are thus the clearest evidence for the site of the theatre. The first and fifth throne are lost, but it is possible that I Rhamnous 83 and 84 are fragments from them. There are slots at the far ends of the base which may be for a sunshade or for further seats. The priest of the deme's founder hero dedicated this set of seats to Dionysos after being honoured by the Athenian council, demesmen and soldiers (Rhamnous was a major defensive fortress), for more details see B. Petrakos, Ὁ Δῆμος τοῦ Ραμνοῦντος. I. Τοπογραφία, 1999, 89–94; Csapo and Wilson, pp. 234-45. IG II³ 4, 514 is another set of front seating from the same theatre. IG II³ 4, 292 and 972 are further dedications to Dionysos from the sanctuary in the area. [2] Cults of an eponymous hero are attested in many Attic demes; for more details on this matter see, for example, B. Steinbock in K.P. Hofmann, R. Bernbeck, U. Sommer, Between Memory Sites and Memory Networks (2017), 104–110. This founder hero is also mentioned in IG I³ 1019.

F. Kolb (Agora und Theater, Volks- und Festversammlung, 1981, 66–73) connected the cult of Dionysos Lenaios with the cult of the founder hero of Rhamnous as Dionysos played an important role in the political life of the deme; on which see N. Villacèque in Spectateurs de paroles (2013), 138–148.

Added: 15 May 2025
Updated: 8 Jun 2025
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ID: AIO_3294