AIO 2550 Decree of Ikarion honouring demarch

Decree of Ikarion honouring demarch

AIO 2550 Date: ca. 350-325 BC

[The Ikarians shall decide.? - proposed: since -aios son of -]igenes of Ikarion^[1] made the sacrifices to all the gods [and heroes?] . . . and managed . . . well and with love of honour (philotimōs), and announced that they were fine [and salutary? . . . by the?] revel (kōmōi) of the Ikarians?^[2] the crops turned out well throughout the countryside . . . and since he has presented the account (logon) on the tenth of Hekatombaion (5) . . . declares the surplus funds, having accounted for (logisamenos) the income (prosodous) and the expenditure (analōmata) . . . [so that he was deemed] to have performed his office [well] and justly, and handed over the surplus money? to Thoukydides the demarch after him^[3] . . . to praise -aios and crown him with a gold crown of 1000 drachmas for his excellence and justice towards the demesmen;^[4] and to inscribe this decree in the Dionysion;^[5] and to announce the crown at the Dionysia in the tragedies.

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References:

AIO 2550 (Translated text) (AIO)

SEG 22.117 (PHI)

SEG 63.105

Csapo and Wilson II, 174-78

Russo, Ripartizioni, D58

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Base ?

Inscription type: Decree (Deme Ikarion)

Original location: Ikarion (sanctuary of Dionysos)

Findspot: Ikarion, south of choregic exedra (EM 13319)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual Note. Except where noted below, AIO's text is based on Csapo and Wilson, which is itself based on D. M. Robinson, Hesperia 17, 1948, 142-3 no. 3; E. Mastrokostas, Arch. Eph. 1961, 23-4 no. 2 (SEG 22.117); and in particular S. Alipheri, Horos 22-5, 2010-2013, 145-53 (SEG 63.105). The letters are roughly cut with frequent orthographic mistakes. 1 ἔδοξεν τοῖς δημόταις· ἐπειδὴ ὁ δήμαρχος Νεαῖος ? Σωσ]ιγένους Alipheri, [ἔδοξεν Ἰκαριεῦσιν· Robinson. We follow more closely the prescript formulation in other decrees of this deme, which in every case includes a reference to the proposer, IG I³ 254, IG II² 1178 and 1179. Alternatively ἔδοξεν Ἰκαριεῦσιν, which occurs only in IG I³ 254, may have been omitted and the proposer, like the honorand, might have been named with patronymic and/or demotic. As Csapo and Wilson note, the restoration of the honorand's name as Neaios (syntrierarch ca. 356-346/5 BC, IG II² 1622, l. 674) is uncertain, since a Tolmaios of Ikarion is also attested in the 4th century BC (IG II² 2661). As for the patronymic, men named Sosigenes and Chairigenes are attested in Ikarion and either name is possible here | 2 [οἷς πάτριον ἦν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἐπεμε]λήθη Robinson, [καὶ τοῖς ἥρωσιν κατὰ τὰ πάτρια καὶ τῶν Διονυσίων Alipheri | 3 med. Alipheri, Ε̣ΩΝΚΜΩΙ stone (discussed, Cs-Wil 177-78, and see further below) | 6 ὥστε δοκεῖν καλῶς τ]ε Robinson, cf. 7-8, φιλοτίμως τ]ε Cs-Wil. | 7 in. Alipheri, ΔΕΙΤΩΠΕΗΟΝΑ̣ stone.

On the deme Ikarion and its inscriptions see IG I³ 1015, with notes. This is one of three honorific decrees of the deme datable to the mid-late 4th cent. BC. Like the other two, IG II² 1178 and IG II² 1179, it honours the demarch, but while they recognised specific services during the demarch's year in office (management of the Dionysia and conduct of litigation), this one was passed following the successful completion of the demarch's accounting (euthynai) after the end of his term of office and relates to the conduct of all his responsibilities throughout the year. (Alipheri's restored reference to the Dionysia in l. 2 is uncertain, not least because the text which follows, "announced that they were fine and salutary" seems to imply that the missing text referred to sacrifices rather than a festival). The only identifiable individual named in the decree is Thoukydides the honorand's successor as demarch (6), who is identifiable as the Thoukydides of Ikarion who was probably public arbitrator (i.e. in his sixtieth year) in 330/29 BC (IG II³ 4, 33, ll. 33-34). This implies a date for this decree of ca. 350-325 BC, which is consistent with its lettering and orthography. Behind the allusion to good crops in l. 3 may lie the grain shortages of the 330s and early 320s BC (Alipheri; cf. IG II³ 1, 367, with notes). [2] A komos is a type of revel associated with Dionysos. If (what is not certain) it was referred to here (see Textual Note with Csapo and Wilson, 177-78) it might have been articulated as having been instrumental in securing a good local harvest. The komos is attested above all in Attica in connection with the Tetrakomoi (IG II³ 4, 225), based in the Piraeus area, and also in Acharnai, where it might have featured as part of the local Dionysia (IG II³ 4, 234). In the case of the Tetrakomoi at least (it is uncertain whether this applies also to Acharnai), the revels appear to have been organised on the basis of "villages" (komai), which apparently had a continuing institutional existence in the 4th cent. BC alongside their equivalent demes, Piraeus, Phaleron, Xypete and Thymaitadai. For other indications that the pre-Cleisthenic community of Ikarion might have had a continuing existence alongside the deme cf. IG I³ 1015 with notes. [3] For the demarch of Ikarion handing over the balance of the deme's funds to his successor cf. IG I³ 253. This passage of the decree goes into unusual detail regarding the accounting (euthynai) undergone by the demarch following the conclusion of his term of office, including the information that he had submitted his financial accounts on 10 Hekatombaion, i.e. ten days after the end of his term. Euthynai were a fundamental aspect of Athenian democraic ideology, but the detail of procedure differed from one deme to another, cf. IG II² 1199, with n. 2; IG II² 1174 (Halai Aixonides); RO 63 = IG II² 1183 (ascribed in RO to Hagnous, but the earlier attribution to Myrrhinous has since been confirmed by new evidence, see SEG 63.156 with Csapo and Wilson II, 196). [4] Gold crowns in demes were more commonly worth 500 dr. (Whitehead, Demes, 1986, 163). The 1,000 dr. value here is all the more notable in contrast with the mere ivy crown awarded the demarch in IG II² 1178. The discrepancy is probably accounted for largely by the fact that this crown was awarded following the euthynai in respect of the demarch's entire conduct of office, whereas in 1178 it was awarded while he was still in office and specifically for his management of the Dionysia. [5] This is the only epigraphical reference to the sanctuary of Dionysos, the Dionysion, at Ikarion. The findspot of this inscription near an altar to the south of the choregic exedra of Deinias/Hagnias, Xanthippos, and Xanthides (IG II³ 4, 506) has helped to identify it as the structure (or complex of structures, including a stoa) adjoining the Pythion to the north, the deme theatre being to the south of the Pythion. See the plan, Csapo and Wilson, p. 137. As was commonly (but not uniformly) the case in other demes, the theatre and/or sanctuary of Dionysos were characteristic locations for erecting inscriptions of the deme.

Added: 30 Sep 2022
Updated: 13 Mar 2024
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ID: AIO_2550