IGII34 518 Dedication by the competition-director, [Androkles?] of Sphettos, 307/6 BC

Dedication by the competition-director, [Androkles?] of Sphettos, 307/6 BC

IG II³ 4 518 Date: 307/6 BC

The People were the sponsor (echorēgei) in the archonship of Anaxikrates (307/6 BC)^[1] Competition-director (agōnothetēs) [Androkles?] son of Xeinis of Sphettos^[2] Victorious poet for tragedies Phanostratos son of Herakleides of Halikarnassos^[3] Victorious actor for tragedies Hieromnemon son of Euanorides of Kydathenaion^[4] (5) Victorious poet for comedies Philemon son of Damon of Diomeia^[5] Victorious actor for comedies Kallippos son of Kallias of Sounion.

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References:

IG II³ 4 518 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 3073 (PHI)

SEG 65.18

SEG 51.194a

Syll.³ 1089

Agelidis, Weihgeschenke 170

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Epistyle

Inscription type: Dedication (competition-director (agonothetes))

Original location: [Athens, theatre of Dionysos]

Fr. a + b - Findspot: Athens, theatre of Dionysos (Athens Ephoria NK 307)
Fr. c - Findspot: Athens, theatre of Dionysos (EM 8726)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] On the choregic monuments of the 5th and 4th centuries BC see IG II³ 4, 460, with notes. At some point between 320/19 BC (IG II³ 4, 467 and 468) and 307/6 BC (date of this inscription and cf. IG II³ 4, 519), the “People” replaced individual sponsors (choregoi) of performance competitions, and the office of “competition-director” (agonothetes) was introduced (see also IG II³ 4, 528 with notes). It is commonly supposed that this change was made by Demetrios of Phaleron, who controlled Athens 317-307 BC, and who, as a Peripatetic, might plausibly have been influenced by the prejudice of Aristotle against “useless liturgies”, Pol. 1309a, 11, cf. 1320b, 4; for Demetrios’ own scepticism about competition between choregoi, cf. Plut. De Gloria Ath. 349A-B = FGrH 228 F 25: "the outcome for the defeated was to be insulted and ridiculed, for the victors it was a tripod, not a victory dedication, as Demetrios says, but a last libation of exhausted livelihoods (epispeisma tōn ekkechymenōn biōn), and a cenotaph for extinct houses (tōn ekleloipotōn kenotaphion oikōn)". On the context of this measure in Demetrios’ reforms, cf. AIUK 2 (BSA), pp. 6-7. For this view of the timing of the change see most recently D. Ackermann and C. Sarrazanas, JHS 140 (2020), 34-68; and now for a very detailed analysis of the origins and development of the Athenian agonothesia, with full documentation, C. Sarrazanas, La cité des spectacles permanents (2021). The alternative view is that the new system, as evidenced by this inscription and IG II³ 4, 519, was introduced by the re-established democracy of 307/6 BC (for this view cf. L. O’Sullivan, The Regime of Demetrius of Phaleron, 2009, 169-85; E. Csapo and P. Wilson, in L’argent dans les concours du monde grec, 2010, 83-105, and in Greek Drama IV, 2012, 300-21). The implication is that the costs previously carried by the choregoi were now carried by the city and that the agonothesia was essentially an administrative office. However, it is unlikely to be coincidental that the first agonothetai were very wealthy individuals (cf. below n. 2), and as with office-holding generally in Hellenistic Athens, there was doubtless a more or less tacit assumption that they would contribute to the costs from their own resources. This is clear from Assembly decrees honouring agonothetai, e.g. IG II³ 1, 877, ll. 39-48; IG II³ 1, 985, ll. 53-60; IG II³ 1, 991, IG II³ 1, 995, IG II³ 1, 1035. For the full series of monuments commemorating agonothesia see IG II³ 4, 518 - 539.

Except for this one, all the surviving monuments appear to relate to the mens’ and/or boys’ competition in dithyramb at the City Dionysia. It is unclear whether this implies a substantive difference in the organisation of the agonothesia in 307/6 BC as compared with later years, but in any case the focus on the dithyramb makes clear the monumental continuity of the agonothetic series from the choregic monuments of the earlier period (cf. IG II³ 4, 531 with note). The scope of the actual responsibility of an individual agonothetes is unclear from these monuments, but is sometimes implied by the wording of the honorific decrees. M. J. Osborne, in Matthaiou and Papazarkadas eds., Axon ... Stroud (2015), 65-75 = SEG 65.18 argues that, in the 3rd cent., one agonothetes oversaw all the major agonistic festivals in his year of office, and that agonothetai for specific festivals were not introduced until well into the 2nd cent. (first separate agonothetes for the Panathenaia in IG II² 968, archon Theaitetos; also in IG II² 1036+1060, l. 30, of 108/7 BC), i.e. after the end of the series of agonothetic monuments. The last surviving agonothetic monument is IG II³ 4, 539, of 175/4 BC. Choregic monuments were revived in the 1st century AD, IG II³ 4, 558. [2] Previous editors restored the same agonothetes here as in IG II³ 4, 519, Xenokles of Sphettos, but Lambert, Horos 14-16, 2000-2003, 99-105 (SEG 51.194) pointed out that spacing suggests that the agonothetes here was Xenokles' brother, Androkles. It is possible that the two brothers served as agonothetai for different competitions in the same year, Androkles for the tragedies and comedies at the City Dionysia or the Lenaia, Xenokles for the dithyrambic competion at the City Dionysia. Or the two brothers may have served as agonothetai in different years, perhaps for all the competitive festivals in their year (cf. Osborne, previous note). Androkles was the speaker of Dem. 35 (sects. 10 and 14), contributed to the Eutaxia liturgy in 333/2 or 332/1 BC (IG II³ 1, 550, l. 20, cf. Lambert, ZPE 135, 2000, 52-60 no. 4 = IALD 224-35), was a purchaser in an unknown context together with his brother (IG II² 1593, ll. 19-23, with Lambert, ZPE 141, 2002, 123-24 and Papazarkadas, Sacred and Public Land, Appendix 3, with Lambert, AJP 134, 2013, 507) and was perhaps the vigorous old gentleman named Androkles alluded to in Menander, Samia 606, cf. Horos 14-16, 104, pointing out that Menander puns there on the demotic of Sphettos (NB the discussion of the brothers of Xenokles of Sphettos at APF p. 415 is outdated). [3] Phanostratos was honoured by the Halikarnassians with a statue, IG II² 2794. These inscriptions = Phanostratus TrGF 94, T1-T2. [4] Stefanis, Dionysiakoi Technitai 1260. He is also mentioned as a victorious actor in tragedy at the Lenaia, ca. 330 BC, IG II² 2325, l. 279. [5] Philemon was a contemporary and rival of Menander, PCG VII pp. 221-317 (this inscription = T15).

Added: 23 Jul 2020
Updated: 28 Apr 2024
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