CsapWil 247-52 Decree of Sphettos honouring a benefactor

Decree of Sphettos honouring a benefactor

Csapo and Wilson II, 247-52 Date: ca. 350-300 BC

. . . ^[1] . . . drachmas . . . . . . dwelling round about or build a surrounding wall (?) (perioiko-) . . . . . . the sanctuary of Demeter (?) . . . . . . [praise?] Apollodoros son of A- (?) . . . (5) . . . to the sanctuary . . . . . . contributes at the same time . . . . . . the . . . . . . as piously as possible . . . . . . the demesmen [shall decide, to grant] . . . (10) . . . [priority seating] in the theatre . . . . . . [next to?] the priest of Dionysos; . . . ? and the demarch shall inscribe this decree . . . . . . and stand it in . . . . . .

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Greek text

References:

Csapo and Wilson II, 247-52 (Translated text) (AIO)

SEG 36.187 (PHI)

SEG 64.99

Russo, Ripartizioni, D95

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Stele (?)

Inscription type: Decree (Deme Sphettos)

Findspot: Philiati (= ancient Sphettos) (Brauron Museum BE 848)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual Note. With minor adjustments, AIO's text is based on that of Csapo and Wilson, which is itself based on the first edition by A. Kalogeropoulou, AncW 13, 1986, 3-5 (SEG 36.187), with amendments proposed by K. Takeuchi and P. Wilson, Logeion 4, 2014, 40-69 (SEG 64.99). 2 περιοικο[υντ- Kal., περιοικο[δομῆσαι Tak.-Wil. 3 or τῆς Μ]ητρὸς ("of the Mother") ? Tak.-Wil., p. 52, drawing attention to an uninscribed relief from this area depicting two seated goddesses, generally identified as Kybele (Meter) and Demeter (cf. M. J. Vermaseren, Corpus Cultis Cybelae Attidisque II, 1982, 114-15 no. 386). 5 ἀφ]ίει ? Kal., πο]ιεῖ or α]ἰεί Tak.-Wil. 7 στήλη]ν τὴν ἐστη[κυῖαν] Kal., σκηνὴ]ν ? Tak.-Wil. 11 or καθάπερ τῶι τοῦ Διο]νύσου ἱερε[ῖ] ("just as for the priest of Dionysos") Tak.-Wil. 13 [τῶι θεάτρωι ? eds.

This fragmentary inscription is identifiable from its findspot as the only extant decree of Sphettos, an ancient community thought to have been a city of the Attic Dodecapolis (FGrH 328 Philochoros F94). In the Cleisthenic system it was a medium-sized deme (bouleutic quota 5, Agora XV 42, 307-312) of the inland trittys of Akamantis located east of the southern reaches of Mt. Hymettos, north of Lamptrai. It was at the eastern end of the only pass through Mt. Hymettos, making the deme accessible from Athens (on the "Sphettian Road", Sphettia hodos, FGrH 328 Philochoros F108, Plut. Thes. 13.2, IG I³ 1023, a late-6th cent. BC herm from Sphettos marking the half-way point between Athens and Kephale, one of a series erected by the Peisistratid Hipparchos); and also, via another branch, providing good access to the demes of the west coast (cf. Csapo and Wilson II, 247). The other inscription produced by this deme is the base of a statue of Demetrios of Phaleron, SEG 25.206, which, though it does not say so, was most likely also erected as a consequence of a decree of the deme (perhaps like the decree of Aixone honouring Demetrios, IG II² 1201). For recent discussions of the deme see Csapo and Wilson II, 247-52; Humphreys, Kinship, 973-78; on demes in general RO 46, with notes.

Sphettos sold at least 7 properties (choria) in the Lykourgan public land sale programme, Rationes F6B, ll. 27-42, cf. Lambert, Rationes Centesimarum (1997), 186-7 no. 14. Earlier in the 4th cent. the deme was involved in a legal dispute when it seized land from a member who had leased it or used it as security for a loan from the deme. Isaios wrote the speech for the aggrieved member (F4 Thalheim = D. H. Isai. 10; Harp. s.v. Sphettos, cf. Whitehead, Demes, 1986, 130). It is possible that this case underlay, or was thought to confirm, the reputation the deme had for sharpness, Ar. Wealth 720-721 with Athen. 2.67c-d; Whitehead, 334 n. 51; see also Menander, Samia 606 with Lambert, Horos 14-16, 2000-2003, 104 and IG II³ 4, 518, with n. 2. We also hear of an estate of Erasistratos at Sphettos at issue in a dispute over a debt (Lys. 17.5) and an eschatia (outlying estate) at Sphettos owned by Aischines' enemy, Timarchos of Sphettos (Aischin. 1.97). Both of these properties were owned together with properties in other demes, as probably was the estate bought by Demokedes in the Lykourgan public land-sale programme (cf. R. Osborne, Demos, 1985, 49; Lambert, Rationes, 187).

This decree, datable, like the large majority of honorific decrees of the demes, to ca. 350-300 BC on the basis of its letter forms and orthography, honoured a man, perhaps the Apollodoros [son of?] A- of l. 4 (not identifiable - the name is common), for services which seem, also quite characteristically of honorific decrees of the demes, to have been of a religio-financial character. It is largely notable as providing evidence for a theatre in Sphettos (l. 10) in which the honorand was apparently awarded proedria. That the deme celebrated the quintessential deme festival, the Rural Dionysia, is confirmed by the discovery there of uninscribed sculpture associated with the theatre, including an uninscribed relief depicting a tragic chorus, perhaps erected by a theatrical sponsor (choregos) (NM 2400 = A. Milchhoefer, Ath. Mitt. 12, 1887, 98 no. 103 = H. R. Goette in E. Csapo et al eds., Greek Theatre in the Fourth Century, 2014, 89-90; discussed more fully by Csapo and Wilson; for the Rural Dionysia see IG II³ 4, 498, with notes). If l. 11 has been correctly understood, it provided for proedria "next to the priest of Dionysos". This would be a unique provision in a deme decree, though an unsurprising one. The priest of Dionysos in the city enjoyed the seat of greatest honour in the theatre on the south slope of the Acropolis (IG II³ 4, 1916). As Csapo and Wilson note, however (p. 251), an alternative possibility is that the proedria provided for was "as for the priest of Dionysos" (see above, Textual Note, and cf. e.g. IG II² 1214, ll. 23-25). Despite the abundant evidence for the Rural Dionysia, this is the only epigraphical reference to a priest of Dionysos in an Attic deme, though priestesses of Dionysos are attested in Erchia, SEG 21.541, D33-40, Aixone, SEG 54.214, ll. 9-11, and Semachidai, FGrH Philochoros 328 F206 (cf. Csapo and Wilson II, p. 4). An exception is the priest of Dionysos in the Piraeus, who, in the one case we know of, was not a demesman of Piraeus and may have been appointed from a genos or, like the Piraeus demarch, from all Athenians, cf. IG II³ 1, 416; Lambert, Historia 59, 2010, 170.

Added: 27 Apr 2023
Updated: 2 Nov 2024
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